NAPOLEON AND THE PRUSSIAN MINISTER.
Napoleon had left Austerlitz, and had, for some days, again resided at
Schonbrunn. The country palace of the great empress Maria Theresa was
now the abode of him who had driven her grandson from his capital,
defeated his army, and was just about to dictate a peace to him, the
terms of which would be equivalent to a fresh defeat of Austria and a
fresh victory for France. The plenipotentiaries of Austria and France
were already assembled at Presburg to conclude this treaty, and every
hour couriers reached Schonbrunn, who reported to the emperor the
progress of the negotiations and obtained further instructions from him.
But while Austria now, after the disastrous battle of the 2d of
December, was treating with Napoleon about the best terms of peace,
the Prussian envoy, Count Haugwitz, who was to deliver to Napoleon the
menacing declaration of Prussia, was still on the road, or, at least,
had not been able to lay his dispatch before the emperor.
Prussia demanded, in this dispatch, which had been approved by Russia,
that Napoleon should give up Italy and Holland, and recognize the
independence of both countries, as well as that of Germany. Prussia gave
France a month’s time to take this proposition into consideration; and
if it should be declined, then Prussia would declare war against the
Emperor Napoleon.
This month had expired on the 15th of December, and, as previously
stated, Count Haugwitz had not yet succeeded in delivering his dispatch
to the Emperor Napoleon.
It is true, he had set out from Berlin on the 6th of November; but the
noble count liked to travel as comfortably as possible, and to repose
often from the hardships of the journey. He had, therefore, travelled
every day but a few miles, and stopped several days in every large city
through which he had passed. Vainly had Minister von Hardenberg and the
Russian and Austrian ministers in Berlin sent courier upon courier after
him, in order to induce him to accelerate his journey.
Count Haugwitz declared himself unable to travel any faster, because he
was afraid of stating that he was unwilling to do so.
Now, he was unwilling to travel any faster, because the message, of
which he was the bearer, was a most oppressive burden to him, and
because he felt convinced that the energetic genius, by some rapid and
crushing victory, would upset all treaties, change all standpoints, and
thereby render it unnecessary for him to deliver to him a dispatch of so
harsh and hostile a description.
Thanks to his system of delay, Count Haugwitz had succeeded in obtaining
a first interview with Napoleon on the day before the battle of
Austerlitz. But instead of presenting the ominous note to the emperor,
he had contented himself, after the fashion of a genuine courtier, with
offering incense to the great conqueror, and Napoleon had prevented him
from transacting any business by putting off all negotiations with him
until after the great battle.
After the battle of Austerlitz, the emperor had received the envoy
of the King of Prussia at Schonbrunn, and granted him the longed-for
audience. Napoleon greeted him in an angry voice, and reproached him
violently for having affixed his name to the treaty of Potsdam.
But Haugwitz had managed, by his skilful politeness, to appease the
emperor’s wrath, and to regain his favor. Since then Count Haugwitz had
been at Schonbrunn every day, and Napoleon had always received him with
especial kindness and affability. For the emperor, who knew very well
that Austria was still hoping for an armed intervention by Prussia,
wished to delay his decision, as to the fate of Prussia at least, until
he had made peace with Austria. Only when he had trampled Austria under
foot, he would think of chastising Prussia for her recent arrogance, and
to humiliate her as he had hitherto humiliated all his enemies. Hence
he had received Count Haugwitz every day, and succeeded gradually and
insensibly in winning him for his plans. Today, on the 13th of December,
Count Haugwitz had repaired to Schonbrunn to negotiate with Napoleon.
He wore his full court-costume, and was adorned with the grand cordon
of the Legion of Honor, which he had received a year ago, and which the
Prussian minister seemed to wear with especial predilection.
Napoleon received the count in the former drawing-room of Maria Theresa,
which had now become Napoleon’s study. On a large round table in the
centre of the room, there lay maps, dotted with variously colored pins;
the green pins designated the route fixed by Napoleon for the retreat of
the Russian army; the dark-yellow pins surrounded the extreme boundaries
of Austria, and according to the news which Napoleon received from
Presburg, and which informed him of constantly new concessions made by
the Austrian plenipotentiaries, who declared their willingness to cede
several provinces, he changed the position of these pins, which embraced
every day a more contracted space; while the blue pins, designating the
boundaries of Bavaria, advanced farther and farther, and the red pins,
representing the armies of France, seemed to multiply on the map.
Napoleon, however, was not engaged in studying his maps when Count
Haugwitz entered his room, but he was seated at the desk placed close to
the table with the maps, and seemed to write assiduously. On the raised
back part of this desk the busts of Frederick the Great and Maria
Theresa had been placed. Napoleon sometimes, when he ceased writing,
raised his gloomy eyes to them, and then it seemed as though these
three heads, the two marble busts and the marble head of Napoleon, bent
threateningly toward each other, as though the flashes bursting from
Napoleon’s eyes kindled the fire of life and anger in the marble eyes of
the empress and the great king; their frowning brows seemed to ask him
then, by virtue of what right the son of the Corsican lawyer had taken a
seat between their two crowned heads, and driven the legitimate Emperor
of Austria from the house of his fathers.
When Count Haugwitz entered, Napoleon cast the pen impetuously aside and
rose. He saluted the count, who bowed to him deeply and respectfully,
with a pleasant nod.
“You are there,” said the emperor, kindly, “and it is very lucky. I was
extremely impatient to see you.”
“Lucky?” asked Count Haugwitz, with the inimitable smile of a well-bred
courtier. “Lucky, sire? It seems to me as though there were neither luck
nor ill-luck in the world, nay; I am now more than ever convinced of it.
Have not I heard men say more than a hundred times, ‘He is lucky! he
is lucky!’ Since I have made the acquaintance of the great man who owes
every thing to himself, I have become convinced that luck should not be
taken into consideration, and that it is of no consequence.”
Napoleon smiled. “You are a most adroit and well-bred cavalier and
courtier,” he said, “but it is a rule of wisdom for princes not to
repose any confidence in the words of courtiers and flatterers, but
always to translate them into the opposite sense. Therefore, I translate
your words, too, into the contrary, and then they signify, ‘It seems,
unfortunately, as though luck had deserted us, and particularly the
third coalition, forever, but still sticks to the colors of France.’”
“Oh, sire,” exclaimed Count Haugwitz, in a tone of grievous reproach,
“can your majesty really doubt my devotion and admiration? Was I not the
first man to congratulate your majesty, the indomitable chieftain, on
the fresh laurels with which you had wreathed your heroic brow, even in
the cold days of winter?”
“It is true,” said Napoleon, “you did so, but your compliment was
intended for others; fate, however, had changed its address. [Footnote:
The whole conversation is strictly in accordance with history.--Vide
“Memoires in edits du Comte de Haugwitz,” 1837.] Of your sincerity
I have hitherto had no proofs whatever, but a great many of your
duplicity; for, at all events, you have affixed your name to the treaty
of Potsdam?”
“I have done so, and boast of it,” said Count Haugwitz, quickly.
“A glance into the heart of Napoleon satisfied me that he who stands
at the head of human greatness knew no higher aim than to give peace to
mankind, and thus complete the great work which Providence has intrusted
to him.”
“Words, words!” said Napoleon. “Let me see actions at last. The
instructions that were given to you before leaving Berlin have been
annulled by the recent events in Moravia; we are agreed about this
point. Now, you are a member of the Prussian cabinet. By sending you to
me, the king has intrusted to you alone the welfare of his monarchy.
We shall see, therefore, whether you will know how to profit by a
rare, perhaps never-recurring opportunity, and to crown the work which
Frederick II., notwithstanding his victories, left unfinished. Come
hither and see.”
He stepped rapidly to the table with the maps, and in obedience to a
wave of his hand, Count Haugwitz glided, with his imperturbable smile,
to his side.
“See here,” exclaimed Napoleon, pointing at the map; “this is Silesia,
your native country. The king does not rule over the whole of it, the
Emperor of Austria still retaining a portion of it; but that splendid
province ought to belong exclusively to Prussia. We will see and
consider how far your southern frontier ought to be extended. Just
follow my finger on the map; it will designate to you the new boundaries
of Prussian Silesia.” [Footnote: Napoleon’s own words.--“Memoires
inedits,” p. 17.]
And Napoleon’s forefinger passed, flashing like a dagger-point, across
the map, and encircled the whole Austrian portion of Silesia, from
Teschen to the Saxon frontier, and from the mountains of Yablunka to the
point where the Riesengebirge disappears in Lusatia. [Footnote: Ibid.,
p. 18.] “Well,” he then asked, hastily, “would not such an arrangement
round off your Silesian province in the most desirable manner?”
Count Haugwitz did not reply immediately, but continued gazing at the
map. Napoleon’s eagle glance rested on him for a moment, and then passed
on to the busts of Maria Theresa and Frederick the Great.
“Oh,” he exclaimed, with a triumphant smile, pointing to the bust of
Frederick, “that great man would have accepted my proposition without
any hesitation whatever.”
“Sire,” said Count Haugwitz, hesitatingly, “but that great woman, Maria
Theresa, would not have permitted it so easily.”
“But now,” exclaimed Napoleon, “now there is no Maria Theresa to hinder
the King of Prussia; now I am here, and I grant the whole of Silesia to
your king if he will conclude a close alliance with me. Consider well;
can you be insensible of the glory which awaits you?”
And his eyes again pierced the embarrassed face of the count like two
dagger-points.
“Sire,” said Haugwitz, in a low voice, “your proposition is tempting, it
is admirable; but as far as I know his majesty the king, I must?”
“Oh,” said Napoleon, impatiently, “do not allude to the king and his
person. We have nothing to do with that. You are minister, and it
behooves you to fulfil the duties which your position demands from you,
and to embrace the opportunity which will never return. One must be
powerful, one can never be sufficiently so, believe me, and consider
well before replying to me.”
“But, perhaps, sire, it would be better for us to seek for
aggrandizement on another side,” said Haugwitz.
“On the side of Poland or France, I suppose?” asked Napoleon, harshly.
“You would like to deprive me again of Mentz, Cleves, and the left bank
of the Rhine, and you flirt with Russia and Austria because you
hope they might assist you one day, after all, in obtaining those
territories? But, on the other hand, you would not like to quarrel
with me, because there is a possibility that your hopes will not be
fulfilled, and because, in such an eventuality, you would fear my
enmity. You Prussians want to be the allies of every one; that is
impossible, and you must decide for me or for the others. I demand
sincerity, or shall break loose from you, for I prefer open enemies to
false friends. Your king tolerates in Hanover a corps of thirty thousand
men, which, through his states, keeps up a connection with the great
Russian army; that is an act of open hostility. As for me, I attack my
enemies wherever I may find them. If I wished to do so, I might take a
terrible revenge for this dishonesty. I could invade Silesia, cause
an insurrection in Poland, and deal Prussia blows from which she would
never recover. But I prefer forgetting the past, and pursuing a generous
course. I will, therefore, forgive Prussia’s rashness, but only on
condition that Prussia should unite with France by indissoluble ties;
and as a guaranty of this alliance, I require Prussia to take possession
of Hanover.” [Footnote: Napoleon’s own words.? “Memoires ineidits,” p.
20]
“Sire,” exclaimed Haugwitz, joyfully, “this was the desirable
aggrandizement which I took the liberty of hinting at before, and I
believe it is the only one which the king’s conscience would allow him
to accept.”
“Very well, take Hanover, then,” said Napoleon, “I cede my claims on it
to Prussia; but in return Prussia cedes to France the principality of
Neufchatel and the fortress of Wesel, and to Bavaria the principality of
Anspach.”
“But, sire,” exclaimed Haugwitz, anxiously, “Anspach belongs to Prussia
by virtue of family treaties which cannot be contested; and Neufchatel?”
“No objections,” interrupted Napoleon, sternly; “my terms must be
complied with. Either war or peace. War, that is to say, I crush
Prussia, and become her inexorable enemy forever; peace, that is to say,
I give you Hanover and receive for it Neufchatel, Wesel, and Anspach.
Now, make up your mind quickly; I am tired of the eternal delays and
procrastinations. I want you to come at length to a decision, and you
will not leave this room until I have received a categorical reply. You
have had time enough to take every thing into consideration; hence
you must not equivocate any more. Tell me, therefore, quickly and
categorically, what do you want, war or peace?”
“Sire,” said Haugwitz, imploringly, “what else can Prussia want than
peace with France.”
“Indeed, it is an excellent bargain you make on this occasion,”
exclaimed Napoleon. “Neufchatel is for Prussia a doomed position, to
which, moreover, she has got but extremely doubtful rights. In return
for it, for Wesel and Anspach, with their four hundred thousand
inhabitants, you receive Hanover, which is contiguous to Prussia, and
contains more than a million inhabitants! I believe Prussia ought to be
content with such an aggrandizement.”
“Sire,” said Hangwitz, “she would be especially content if she should
obtain the faithful and influential friendship of France, and be able to
retain it forever.”
“You may rely on my word,” replied the emperor, “I am always faithful to
my enemies as well as to my friends. I crush the former and promote
the interests of the latter whenever an opportunity offers. We will,
however, prove to each other that we are in earnest about this alliance,
and draw up its stipulations even to day. Grandmarshal Duroc has already
received my instructions concerning this matter, and he will lay before
you the particulars of the offensive and defensive alliance to be
concluded between France and Prussia. Be kind enough to go to him and
settle every thing with him, so that we may sign the document as soon as
possible. Go, my dear count; but first accept my congratulations, for at
this hour you have done an important service to Prussia: you have saved
her from destruction. I should have crushed her like a toy in my hand
if you had rejected my offers of friendship. Go, the grand-marshal
is waiting for you.” [Footnote: The offensive and defensive alliance
between the Emperor of France and the King of Prussia was concluded
agreeably to the demands of Napoleon. Count Haugwitz, without obtaining
further instructions from his sovereign, signed it on the 15th of
December. The same day, in accordance with the treaty of Potsdam, he was
to have delivered to Napoleon Prussia’s declaration of war. Owing to
the conclusion of this alliance, the position of Austria became utterly
untenable, and she was obliged to accept the humiliating terms of
Napoleon, and to sign, on the 26th of December, 1805, the peace of
Presburg. This treaty deprived Austria of her best provinces, which were
annexed to France, Bavaria, Wurtemberg and Baden. It is true, Prussia
obtained the kingdom of Hanover by virtue of the treaty with France, but
this was an illusory aggrandizement which Prussia would have to conquer,
sword in hand, from England.] He nodded a parting greeting to the
confused, almost stunned count, and returned to his maps, thus depriving
the Prussian minister of the possibility of entering into further
explanations. The latter heaved a profound sigh, and, walking backward,
turned slowly to the door.
Napoleon took no further notice of him; he seemed wholly absorbed in his
maps and plans; only when the door closed slowly behind the count, he
said, in a low voice: “He will sign the treaty, and then Austria’s last
hope is gone! Now I shall assume a more decided attitude in Presburg,
and Austria will accept all my conditions; she will be obliged to cede
to me the Netherlands, Venice, and Tuscany, for now she cannot count any
longer on Prussia’s armed intervention.”