Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 10 | Page 7

shelves and pegs; on which were hung fifty or sixty jackets of different
patterns. Every day he changed his fashion and put on a different one.
He attached more importance to this than was necessary for the
salvation of a kingdom." (O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile.)]--
I, however, learned one circumstance peculiarly worthy of remark
which occurred in the Emperor's apartments at Tilsit the first time he
received a visit from the King of Prussia. That unfortunate monarch,
who was accompanied by Queen Louisa, had taken refuge in a mill
beyond the town. This was his sole habitation, whilst the Emperors
occupied the two portions of the town, which is divided by the Niemen.
The fact I am about to relate reached me indirectly through the medium
of an offices of the Imperial Guard, who was on duty in Napoleon's
apartments and was an eye-witness of it. When the Emperor Alexander
visited Napoleon they continued for a long time in conversation on a
balcony below, where as immense crowd hailed their meeting with
enthusiastic shouts. Napoleon commenced the conversation, as he did
the year preceding with the Emperor of Austria, by speaking of the

uncertain fate of war. Whilst they were conversing the King of Prussia
was announced. The King's emotion was visible, and may easily be
imagined; for as hostilities were suspended, and his territory in
possession of the French, his only hope was in the generosity of the
conqueror. Napoleon himself, it is said, appeared moved by his
situation, and invited him, together with the Queen, to dinner. On
sitting down to table Napoleon with great gallantry told the beautiful
Queen that he would restore to her Silesia, a province which she
earnestly wished should be retained in the new arrangements which
were necessarily about to take place.
--[Las Cases mentions that at the time of the treaty of Tilsit Napoleon
wrote to the Empress Josephine as follows:
"'The Queen of Prussia is really a charming woman. She is fond of
coquetting with me; but do not be jealous: I am like oilcloth, along
which everything of this sort elides without penetrating. It would cost
me too dear to play the gallant'
"On this subject an anecdote was related in the salon of Josephine. It
was said that the Queen of Prussia one day had a beautiful rose in her
hand, which the Emperor asked her to give him. The Queen hesitated
for a few moments, and then presented it to him, saying, 'Why should I
so readily grant what you request, while you remain deaf to all my
entreaties?' (She alluded to the fortress of Magdeburg, which she had
earnestly solicited)." (Memorial de St. Helene).]--
The treaty of peace concluded at Tilsit between France and Russia, on
the 7th of July, and ratified two days after, produced no less striking a
change in the geographical division of Europe than had been effected
the year preceding by the Treaty of Presburg. The treaty contained no
stipulation dishonourable to Russia, whose territory was preserved
inviolate; but how was Prussia treated? Some historians, for the vain
pleasure of flattering by posthumous praises the pretended moderation
of Napoleon, have almost reproached him for having suffered some
remnants of the monarchy of the great Frederick to survive. There is,
nevertheless, a point on which Napoleon has been wrongfully
condemned, at least with reference to the campaign of 1807. It has been

said that he should at that period have re-established the kingdom of
Poland; and certainly there is every reason to regret, for the interests of
France and Europe, that it was not re-established. But when a desire,
even founded on reason, is not carried into effect, should we conclude
that the wished- for object ought to be achieved in defiance of all
obstacles? At that time, that is to say, during the campaign of Tilsit,
insurmountable obstacles existed.
If, however, by the Treaty of Tilsit, the throne of Poland was not
restored to serve as a barrier between old Europe and the Empire of the
Czars, Napoleon founded a Kingdom of Westphalia, which he gave to
the young 'ensigne de vaisseau' whom he had scolded as a schoolboy,
and whom he now made a King, that he might have another crowned
prefect under his control. The Kingdom of Westphalia was composed
of the States of Hesse- Cassel, of a part of the provinces taken from
Prussia by the moderation of the Emperor, and of the States of
Paderborn, Fulda, Brunswick, and a part of the Electorate of Hanover.
Napoleon, at the same time, though he did not like to do things by
halves, to avoid touching the Russian and Austrian provinces of old
Poland, planted on the banks of the Vistula the Grand Duchy of
Warsaw, which he gave to the King of Saxony,