Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 12 | Page 6

of the French troops, amounting to 3000,
exclusive of men in the customhouse service, no attempt would have
been made upon Hamburg; but the very name of the Cossacks inspired
a degree of terror which must be fresh in the recollection of every one.
Alarm spread in Hamburg, which, being destitute of troops and artillery,
and surrounded with dilapidated fortifications, could offer no defence.
The Senator Bartch and Doctor Know took upon themselves to proceed
to Bergdorf to solicit Colonel Tettenborn to take possession of
Hamburg, observing that they felt sure of his sentiments of moderation,
and that they trusted they would grant protection to a city which had
immense commercial relations with Russia. Tettenborn did not place
reliance on these propositions because he could not suppose that there
had been such a precipitate evacuation; he thought they were merely a
snare to entrap him, and refused to accede to them. But a Doctor Von
Hess, a Swede, settled. in Hamburg some years, and known to

Tettenborn as a decided partisan of England and Russia, persuaded the
Russian Commander to comply with the wishes of the citizens of
Hamburg. However, Tettenborn consented only on the following
conditions:--That the old Government should be instantly
re-established; that a deputation of Senators in their old costume should
invite him to take possession of Hamburg, which he would enter only
as a free and Imperial Hanse Town; that if those conditions were not
complied with he would regard Hamburg as a French town, and
consequently hostile. Notwithstanding the real satisfaction with which
the Senators of Hamburg received those propositions they were
restrained by the fear of a reverse of fortune. They, however,
determined to accept them, thinking that whatever might happen they
could screen themselves by alleging that necessity had driven them to
the step they took. They therefore declared their compliance with the
conditions, and that night and the following day were occupied in
assembling the Senate, which had been so long dissolved, and in
making the preparations which Tettenborn required.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of the 17th of March a picket of
Cossacks, consisting of only forty men, took possession of a town
recently flourishing, and containing a population of 124,000, but ruined
and reduced to 80,000 inhabitants by the blessing of being united to the
French Empire. On the following day, the 18th, Colonel Tettenborn
entered Hamburg at the head of 1000 regular and 200 irregular
Cossacks. I have described the military situation of Hamburg when it
was evacuated on the 12th of March, and Napoleon's displeasure may
be easily conceived. Tettenborn was received with all the honours
usually bestowed upon a conqueror. Enthusiasm was almost universal.
For several nights the people devoted themselves to rejoicing. The
Cossacks were gorged with provisions and drink, and were not a little
astonished at the handsome reception they experienced.
It was not until the expiration of three or four days that the people
began to perceive the small number of the allied troops. Their amount
gradually diminished. On the day after the arrival of the Cossacks a
detachment was sent to Lubeck, where they were received with the
same honours as at Hamburg. Other detachments were sent upon

different places, and after four days' occupation there remained in
Hamburg only 70 out of the 1200 Cossacks who had entered on the
18th March.
The first thing their commander did was to take possession of the post-
office and the treasuries of the different public offices. All the movable
effects of the French Government and its agents were seized and sold.
The officers evinced a true Cossack disregard of the rights of private
property. Counts Huhn, Buasenitz, and Venechtern, who had joined
Tettenborn's staff, rendered themselves conspicuous by plundering the
property of M. Pyonnier, the Director of the Customs, and M. Gonae,
the Postmaster, and not a bottle of wine was left in their cellars.
Tettenborn laid hands upon a sum of money, consisting of upwards of
4000 Louis in gold, belonging to M. Gonse, which had been lodged
with M. Schwartz, a respectable banker in Hamburg, who filled the
office of Prussian Consul. M. Schwartz, with whom this money had
been deposited for the sake of security, had also the care of some
valuable jewels belonging to Mesdames Carry St. Cyr and Daubignoac;
Tettenborn carried off these as well as the money. M. Schwartz
remonstrated in his character of Prussian Consul, Prussia being the ally
of Russia, but he was considered merely as a banker, and could obtain
no redress. Tettenborn, like most of the Cossack chiefs, was nothing
but a man for blows and pillage, but the agent of Russia was M. Steuve,
whose name I have already mentioned.
Orders were speedily given for a levy of troops, both in infantry and
cavalry,