Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 12 | Page 8

of Gustavus Adolphus. The Cossacks of the Elbe could not
sustain the shock of the French; Vandamme repulsed the troops who
defended Wilhelmsburg, the largest of the two islands, and easily took
possession of the smaller one, Fidden, of which the point nearest the
right bank of the Elbe is not half a gunshot distant from Hamburg. The
9th of May was a fatal day to the people of Hamburg; for it was then
that Davoust, having formed his junction with Vandamme, appeared at
the head of a corps of 40,000 men destined to reinforce Napoleon's
Grand Army. Hamburg could not hold out against the considerable

French force now assembled in its neighbourhood. Tettenborn had, it is
true, received a reinforcement of 800 Prussians and 2000, Swedes, but
still what resistance could he offer to Davoust's 40,000 men?
Tettenborn did not deceive himself as to the weakness of the allies on
this point, or the inutility of attempting to defend the city. He yielded to
the entreaties of the inhabitants, who represented to him that further
resistance must be attended by certain ruin. He accordingly evacuated
Hamburg on the 29th of May, taking with him his Hanseatic legions,
which had not held out an hour in the islands of the Elbe, and
accompanied by the Swedish Doctor Von Hess, whose imprudent
advice was the chief cause of all the disasters to which the unfortunate
city lied been exposed.
Davoust was at Haarburg, where he received the deputies from
Hamburg with an appearance of moderation; and by the conditions
stipulated at this conference on the 30th of May a strong detachment of
Danish troops occupied Hamburg in the name of the Emperor. The
French made their entrance the same evening, and occupied the posts as
quietly as if they had been merely changing guard. The inhabitants
made not a shadow of resistance. Not a drop of blood was issued; not a
threat nor an insult was interchanged. This is the truth; but the truth did
not suit Napoleon. It was necessary to getup a pretext for revenge, and
accordingly recourse was had to a bulletin, which proclaimed to France
and Europe that Hamburg had been taken by main force, with a loss of
some hundred men. But for this imaginary resistance, officially
announced, how would it have been possible to justify the spoliations
and exactions which ensued?
The Dutch General, Hogendorff, became Governor of Hamburg in lieu
of Carra St. Cyr, who had been confined at Osnabruck since his
precipitate retreat. General Hogendorff had been created one of the
Emperor's aides de camp, but he was neither a Rapp, a Lauriston, nor a
Duroc. The inhabitants were required to pay all the arrears of taxes due
to the different public offices during the seventy days that the French
had been absent; and likewise all the allowances that would have been
paid to the troops of the garrison had they remained in Hamburg.
Payment was also demanded of the arrears for the quartering of troops

who were fifty leagues off. However, some of the heads of the
government departments, who saw and understood the new situation of
the French at Hamburg, did not enforce these unjust and vexatious
measures. The duties on registrations were reduced. M. Pyonnier,
Director of the Customs, aware of the peculiar difficulty of his situation
in a country where the customs were held in abhorrence, observed great
caution and moderation in collecting the duties: Personal examination,
which is so revolting and indecorous, especially with respect to females,
was suppressed. But these modifications did not proceed from the
highest quarter; they were due to the good sense of the subordinate
agents, who plainly saw that if the Empire was to fall it would not be
owing to little infractions in the laws of proscription against coffee and
rhubarb.
If the custom-house regulations became less vexatious to the
inhabitants of Hamburg it was not the same with the business of the
post-office. The old manoeuvres of that department were resumed more
actively than ever. Letters were opened without the least reserve, and
all the old post-office clerks who were initiated in these scandalous
proceedings were recalled. With the exception of the registrations and
the customs the inquisitorial system, which had so long oppressed the
Hanse Towns, was renewed; and yet the delegates of the French
Government were the first to cry out, "The people of Hamburg are
traitors to Napoleon: for, in spite of all the blessings he has conferred
upon them they do not say with the Latin poet, 'Deus nobis haec otia
fecit."
But all that passed was trifling in comparison with what was to come.
On the 18th of June was published an Imperial decree, dated the 8th of
the same month, by virtue of which were to be