Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 10 | Page 4

sample the author's ideas before
making an entire meal of them. D.W.]

MEMOIRS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, VOLUME 10.
By LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE

His Private Secretary
Edited by R. W. Phipps Colonel, Late Royal Artillery
1891

CONTENTS:

CHAPTER XI.
to
CHAPTER XVIII.
1807-1809

CHAPTER XI.
1807
Abuse of military power--Defence of diplomatic rights--Marshal Brune
--Army supplies--English cloth and leather--Arrest on a charge of
libel--Dispatch from M. Talleyrand--A page of Napoleon's glory--
Interview between the two Emperors at Tilsit,--Silesia restored to the
Queen of Prussia--Unfortunate situation in Prussia-- Impossibility of
reestablishing Poland in 1807--Foundation of the Kingdom of
Westphalia--The Duchy of Warsaw and the King of Saxony.
Meanwhile the internal affairs of the towns over which my diplomatic
jurisdiction extended soon gave me more employment than ever. The
greatest misfortune of the Empire was, perhaps, the abuse of the right
arrogated by the wearers of epaulettes. My situation gave me an
opportunity of observing all the odious character of a military
government. Another in my place could not have done all that I did. I
say this confidently, for my, situation was a distinct and independent
one, as Bonaparte had told me: Being authorised to correspond directly
with the Emperor; the military chiefs feared, if they did not yield to my
just representations, that I would made private reports; this
apprehension was wonderfully useful in enabling me to maintain the
rights of the towns, which had adopted me as their first citizen.
A circumstance occurred in which I had to defend the rights of the
diplomatic and commercial agents against the pretensions of military

power. Marshal Brune during his government at Hamburg, went to
Bremman. to watch the strict execution of the illusive blockade against
England. The Marshal acting no doubt, in conformity with the
instructions of Clarke, then Minister of War and Governor of Berlin,
wished to arrogate the right of deciding on the captures made by our
cruisers.
He attempted to prevent the Consul Lagau from selling the confiscated
ships in order to sell them himself. Of this M. Lagau complained to me.
The more I observed a disposition to encroach on the part of the
military authorities, the more I conceived it necessary to maintain the
rights of the consuls, and to favour their influence, without which they
would have lost their consideration. To the complaints of M. Lagau I
replied, "That to him alone belonged the right of deciding, in the first
instance, on the fate of the ships; that he could not be deprived of that
right without changing the law; that he was free to sell the confiscated
Prussian ships; that Marshall Brune was at Bremen only for the
execution of the decree respecting the blockade of England, and that he
ought not to interfere in business unconnected with that decree." Lagau
showed this letter to Brune, who then allowed him to do as he wished;
but it was an affair of profit, and the Marshal for a long time owed me a
grudge.
Bernadotte was exceedingly disinterested, but he loved to be talked
about. The more the Emperor endeavoured to throw accusations upon
him, the more he was anxious to give publicity to all his actions. He
sent to me an account of the brilliant affair of Braunsburg, in which a
division of the first corps had been particularly distinguished. Along
with this narrative he sent me a note in the following terms:--"I send
you, my dear. Minister, an account of the affair of Braunsburg. You
will, perhaps, think proper to publish it. In that case I shall be obliged
by your getting it inserted in the Hamburg journals," I did so. The
injustice of the Emperor, and the bad way in which he spoke of
Bernadotte, obliged the latter,--for the sake of his own credit, to make
the truth known to the world.
I have already mentioned that I received an order from the Emperor to

supply 50,000 cloaks for the army. With this order, which was not the
only one I received of the same kind, some circumstances were
connected which I may take the present opportunity of explaining.
The Emperor gave me so many orders for army clothing that all that
could be supplied by the cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck
would have been insufficient for executing the commissions. I entered
into a treaty with a house in Hamburg, which I authorised, in spite of
the Berlin decree, to bring cloth and leather from England. Thus I
procured these articles in a sure and cheap way. Our troops might have
perished of cold had the Continental system and the absurd mass of
inexecutable decrees relative to English merchandise been observed.
The Director of the Customs at Hamburg got angry, but I held firm: my
cloths and my leather arrived;