Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 12 | Page 9

reaped the fruits of the
official falsehood contained in the bulletin above mentioned. To
expiate the crime of rebellion Hamburg was required to pay an
extraordinary contribution of 48,000,000 francs, and Lubeck a
contribution of 6,000,000. The enormous sum levied on Hamburg was
to be paid in the short space of a month, by six equal instalments, either
in money, or bills on respectable houses in Paris. In addition to this the
new Prefect of Hamburg made a requisition of grain and provisions of

every kind, wines, sailcloth, masts, pitch, hemp, iron, copper, steel, in
short, everything that could be useful for the supply of the army and
navy.
But while these exactions were made on property in Hamburg, at
Dresden the liberties of individuals and even lives were attacked. On
the 15th of June Napoleon, doubtless blinded by the false reports that
were laid before him, gave orders for making out a list of the
inhabitants of Hamburg who were absent from the city. He allowed
them only a fortnight to return home, an interval too short to enable
some of them to come from the places where they had taken refuge.
They consequently remained absent beyond the given time. Victims
were indispensable but assuredly it was not Bonaparte who conceived
the idea of hostages to answer for the men whom prudence kept absent.
Of this charge I can clear his memory. The hostages, were, however,
taken, and were declared to be also responsible for the payment of the
contribution of 48,000,000. In Hamburg they were selected from
among the most respectable and wealthy men in the city, some of them
far advanced in age. They were conveyed to the old castle of Haarburg
on the left bank of the Elbe, and these men, who had been accustomed
to all the comforts of life, were deprived even of necessaries, and had
only straw to lie on. The hostages from Lubeck were taken to,
Hamburg: they were placed between decks on board an old ship in the
port: this was a worthy imitation of the prison hulks of England. On the
24th of July there was issued a decree which was published in the
Hamburg Correspondent of the 27th. This decree consisted merely of a
proscription list, on which were inscribed the names of some of the
wealthiest men in the Hanse Towns, Hanover, and Westphalia.

CHAPTER XXIX.
1813.
Napoleon's second visit to Dresden--Battle of Bantzen--The Congress
at Prague--Napoleon ill advised--Battle of Vittoria--General Moreau
Rupture of the conferences at Prague--Defection of Jomini--Battles of

Dresden and Leipsic--Account of the death of Duroc--An interrupted
conversation resumed a year after--Particulars respecting
Poniatowski--His extraordinary courage and death-- His monument at
Leipsic and tomb in the cathedral of Warsaw.
On the 2d of May Napoleon won the battle of Lutzen. A week after he
was at Dresden, not as on his departure for the Russian campaign, like
the Sovereign of the West surrounded by his mighty vassals: he was
now in the capital of the only one of the monarchs of his creation who
remained faithful to the French cause, and whose good faith eventually
cost him half his dominions. The Emperor stayed only ten days in
Dresden, and then went in pursuit of the Russian army, which he came
up with on the 19th, at Bautzen. This battle, which was followed on the
two succeeding days by the battles of Wurtchen and Oclikirchen, may
be said to have lasted three days--a sufficient proof that it was
obstinately disputed. It ended in favour of Napoleon, but he and France
paid dearly for it: while General Kirschner and Duroc were talking
together the former was killed by a cannon-ball, which mortally
wounded the latter in the abdomen.
The moment had now arrived for Austria to prove whether or not she.
intended entirely to desert the cause of Napoleon.
--[There is a running attack in Erreurs (tome, ii. pp, 289-325) on all this
part of the Memoirs, but the best account of the negotiations between
France, Austria, and the Allies will be found in Metternich, Vol. i. pp.
171-215. Metternich, with good reason, prides himself on the skill with
which he gained from Napoleon the exact time, twenty days, necessary
for the concentration of the Austrian armies. Whether the negotiations
were consistent with good faith on the part of Austria is another matter;
but, one thing seems clear--the Austrian marriage ruined Napoleon. He
found it impossible to believe that the monarch who had given him his
daughter would strike the decisive blow against him. Without this
belief there can be no doubt that he would have attacked Austria before
she could have collected her forces, and Metternich seems to have
dreaded the result. "It was necessary, therefore to prevent Napoleon
from carrying out his usual system of leaving