Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 10 | Page 5

cloaks, coats; boots, all were promptly
made, and our soldiers thus were sheltered from the severity of the
season. To preserve peace with the Imperial Custom-house I wrote to
M. Collie, then Director-General, that M. Eudel having wished to put in
execution the law of the 10th Brumaire and complaints had been made
on every side. Marshal Brune asked for my opinion on this matter, and
I gave it to him. I declared to M. Collie that the full execution of the
decree of 31st October 1796 was impracticable, injurious to France,
and to the Hanseatic Towns, without doing harm to England. Indeed,
what said article 5 of this law? "All goods imported from foreign
countries, whatever may be their origin, are to be considered as coming
from English manufacturers." According to this article France was a
foreign country for the Hanseatic Towns, and none of the objects
enumerated in this article ought to enter Hamburg! But the town
received from England a large quantity of fine cloths, buttons;
ironmongery, toys, china; and from France only clocks, bronzes,
jewellery, ribbons, bonnets, gauzes and gloves. "Let," said I to M.
Eudel, "the Paris Duane be asked what that town alone exports in
matters of this sort and it will be seen how important it is not to stop a
trade all the more profitable to France, as the workmanship forms the
greatest part of the price of the goods which make up this trade. What
would happen if the importation of these goods were absolutely
prohibited in Hamburg? The consignments would cease, and one of the

most productive sources of trade for France, and especially for Paris
would be cut off."
At this time neither Hamburg nor its territory had any manufacture of
cloth. All woollen stuffs were prohibited, according to M. Eudel, and
still my duty was to furnish, and I had furnished, 50,000 cloaks for the
Grand Army. In compliance with a recent Imperial decree I had to have
made without delay 16,000 coats, 37,000 waistcoats, and the Emperor
required of me 200,000 pairs of boots, besides the 40,000 pairs I had
sent in. Yet M. Eudel said that tanned and worked leather ought not to
enter Hamburg! If such a ridiculous application of the law of 1796 had
been made it would have turned the decree of 21st November 1796
against France, without fulfilling its object.
These reflections, to which I added other details, made the Government
conclude that I was right, and I traded with England to the great
advantage of the armies, which were well clothed and shod. What in
the world can be more ridiculous than commercial laws carried out to
one's own detriment?
At the beginning of 1807 my occupations at Hamburg were divided
between the furnishing of supplies for the army and the inspection of
the emigrants, whom Fouche pretended to dread in order to give greater
importance to his office.
I never let slip an opportunity of mitigating the rigour of Fouche's
orders, which, indeed, were sometimes so absurd that I did not attempt
to execute them. Of this an instance occurs to my recollection. A
printer at Hamburg had been arrested on the charge of having printed a
libel in the German language. The man was detained in prison because,
very much to his honour, he would not disclose the name of the writer
of the pamphlet. I sent for him and questioned him. He told me, with
every appearance of sincerity, that he had never but once seen the man
who had brought him the manuscript. I was convinced of the truth of
what he said, and I gave an order for his liberation. To avoid irritating
the susceptibility of the Minister of Police I wrote to him the following
few lines:--"The libel is the most miserable rhapsody imaginable. The
author, probably with the view of selling his pamphlet in Holstein,

predicts that Denmark will conquer every other nation and become the
greatest kingdom in the world. This alone will suffice to prove to you
how little clanger there is in rubbish written in the style of the
Apocalypse."
After the battle of Eylau I received a despatch from M. de Talleyrand,
to which was added an account in French of that memorable battle,
which was more fatal to the conqueror than to the other party,--I cannot
say the conquered in speaking of the Russians, the more especially
when I recollect the precautions which were then taken throughout
Germany to make known the French before the Russian version. The
Emperor was exceedingly anxious that every one should view that
event as he himself viewed it. Other accounts than his might have
produced an unfavourable impression in the north. I therefore had
orders to publish that account. I caused 2000 copies of it