Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia

by L. Mühlbach

  CHAPTER XXII.

  PEACE NEGOTIATIONS.

  General von Zastrow, who had temporarily taken charge of the Prussiandepartment of foreign affairs, was pacing his room. His whole appearancewas indicative of care and anxiety. Whenever he passed the door leadinginto the anteroom, he stood still and listened, and then, heaving a sighand muttering angry words, continued his walk. But at length it seemedas if his expectations were to be fulfilled; he heard approaching steps.The door opened, and the footman announced General von Koeckeritz.

  General von Zastrow quickly went to meet his visitor, and offered himboth his hands. "I thank your excellency from the bottom of my heart forhaving yielded to my urgent supplications," he said, passionately, "andat the same time I beg your pardon for having been so bold as torequest you to call upon me. But as you reside in the same house astheir majesties, and as the king comes to see you frequently andunexpectedly, I believe we can converse here more freely and withoutfear of being disturbed."

  "You are right, my dear general," said Koeckeritz; "it is better for usto hold our little conferences at your house. My room, moreover, haswalls so thin that every word spoken there can be heard outside. Alas,it is on the whole a miserable barrack in which the royal couple andmyself are obliged to stay here in Memel! Low, dark rooms--no elegance,no accommodations, no comfort. Every thing is as narrow, gloomy, andsmoky as possible and then this fearfully cold weather! Yesterday,during the heavy storm, an inch of snow lay on the window-sill in thequeen's room, and, I assure you, it did not melt! Nevertheless, hermajesty is perfectly calm and composed; she never complains, neverutters any dissatisfaction, but always tries to prove to the king thatshe likes Memel very well, and that it is as beautiful a capital asBerlin."

  "Ah, my respected friend," said General von Zastrow, mournfully, "thiscomposure of the queen is very injurious to us. If she were moremelancholy--if she bewailed her misfortunes more bitterly--if shemanifested a more poignant sorrow, we should not be doomed to sit hereon the extreme frontier of Prussia, but might hope to make our triumphalentry into Berlin, perhaps, in two weeks."

  "Into Berlin?" asked General von Koeckeritz, greatly surprised. "Why, youare talking of a miracle which I am unable to comprehend."

  "Oh, your excellency will understand it soon enough," replied Generalvon Zastrow, smiling, "if you will only be so kind as to listen to me alittle."

  "I assure you, my friend, I am most anxious to hear your explanations; Iam burning with the desire to know how we are to bring it about to leavethis accursed, cold Memel and return to Berlin within so short a time."

  "Well, what is the cause of our sojourn here?" asked General vonZastrow. "What has driven us hither? What has deprived the king, ouraugust master, of his states, of his happiness--nay, almost of hiscrown? What is the cause that our beautiful and amiable queen has toundergo all sorts of privations and inconveniences, and is compelled toreside, instead of in her palace at Berlin, in a miserable, leaky housein Memel, where she is closer to the Bashkirs than to civilized people?The war is the cause of all this!"

  "Yes, if my advice had been followed, these calamities would never havebefallen us," replied General von Koeckeritz, sighing; "we would haveremained on terms of friendship and peace with the great man whom Heavenhas sent to subjugate the world, and resistance against whom is almostequivalent to blasphemy. He frequently and magnanimously offered us hisfriendship, but at that time more attention was paid to the vainboastings of the lieutenants of the guard; and the rhodomontades ofPrince Louis Ferdinand unfortunately found an echo in the heart of thequeen. The advice of older and more prudent officers was disregarded,and the king, in spite of himself, was dragged into this war, which wehave had to expiate by the defeats of Jena and Auerstadt, and by theloss of so many fortresses and provinces. And who knows what may be instore for us yet? Who knows what mischief may yet threaten the crown andlife of Frederick William!"

  "Well," said General von Zastrow, with a sarcastic smile, "it looks asthough the fortune of war were now turning in favor of the Russians.Think of the great victories which the Russian General Benningsen hasalready won. Did not twenty-four trumpeting postilions proclaim to us atKoenigsberg, on new-year's-day, the Russian victory of Pultusk?"

  "Yes, but those twenty-four postilions and that emphatic announcementwere the most brilliant parts of the victory," said General vonKoeckeritz, shrugging his shoulders. "Benningsen was not defeated byNapoleon at Pultusk, but honorably maintained his position on thebattle-field--that is what the whole amounted to."

  "Yes, but we are celebrating again a great and brilliant triumph. On the7th and 8th of February the Russian General Benningsen and our GeneralLestocq claim to have obtained another advantage over Napoleon and hismarshals. I suppose you are aware that Benningsen himself has arrivedhere in order to communicate the news of the victory of Eylau to theroyal couple?"

  "Yes, I know," said Koeckeritz. "But I know also what this new successreally amounts to. The Russians are very liberal in issuing victoriousbulletins, and if they have not been massacred in a battle to a man, thelast ten survivors shout invariably, 'Victory! We have won the battle!'That of Eylau is even more problematic than that of Pultusk. Pray tellme, who held the battle-field of Eylau?"

  "Napoleon with his French, of course."

  "And who retreated from Eylau toward Koenigsberg?"

  "General Benningsen with his Russians."

  "And these Russians, nevertheless, are audacious enough to claim avictory!" exclaimed General von Koeckeritz. "These fellows regard it suchwhen Napoleon, instead of pressing them on their retreat, remains wherehe is, and gives them time to escape."

  "They are in ecstasies, because they infer from this delay of Napoleon,and from his unwonted inactivity, that he also stands in need of reposeand recreation," said General von Zastrow. "The severe winter, badquarters, hunger, and thirst, have greatly exhausted the strength of thegrand army, and the lion would like to rest a little. For thisreason--and now I come to the point concerning which I requested yourexcellency to call on me--for this reason, the great Napoleon desires tomake peace. The conqueror of Jena himself offers it to the vanquishedKing of Prussia."

  "What? Do you really think that to be true?" asked General vonKoeckeritz.

  "I do not only think, but know it to be true," said Zastrow. "GeneralBertrand arrived here an hour ago, and called on me with the request topresent him to the king, that he might deliver him an autograph letterfrom the Emperor Napoleon. I told the general that I should return hisvisit in half an hour, and then conduct him to his majesty. I wished toprofit by this half hour, my dear friend, to confer with you about thismatter."

  "And did General Bertrand inform you that Napoleon would offer peace toour king?"

  "Yes, your excellency. He communicated to me the contents of theimperial letter. The lion of Jena magnanimously offers once more to makepeace."

  "We must strain every nerve to induce the king to accept theseovertures," exclaimed Koeckeritz, quickly.

  "Your excellency is the only man sufficiently powerful to induce theking to come to such a decision," said Zastrow. "You must be so kind asto prove to him that to continue the war with France is to bring aboutthe ruin of Prussia. If he does not accept the offer of Napoleon, he isruined, for the emperor would not forgive such obstinate hostility; and,if Prussia will not live with him on terms of friendship, he willannihilate her in order to be done with her."

  "I shall not threaten the king by laying too much stress on the strengthof his enemy," said Koeckeritz, "for that would wound the pride of hismajesty, and provoke his sense of honor to renewed resistance. But Ishall call his attention to the weakness and fickleness of Russia,informing him that our friends, the Russians, are behaving in the mostshameful manner in those parts of Prussia which they are occupying, andcommitting so many outrages that the inhabitants are praying on theirknees to God to grant victory to the French, so that they might deliverthem from the Russians. I shall tell him that the distress and theextortions th
e Prussian farmers have to suffer at the hands of ourallies are perfectly incredible; that the peasants in the villages havebeen stripped of every thing, to such an extent that they beg theCossacks, who have robbed them of their provisions, for their dailybread; that many of them are dying of hunger, and that unburied corpseshave been found in the houses of several villages now occupied by ourtroops. And, above all, I shall beseech his majesty to repose noconfidence in the Russian friendship! Whatever the czar may say abouthis fidelity, he has not the power of carrying his point, and all hisresolutions will be frustrated by the resistance of his generals and ofhis brother. The Grand-Duke Constantine and the larger and more powerfulpart of the Russian nobility are anxious for peace; and Constantine,whose views are shared by Benningsen, will leave no intrigues, no cabalsuntried in order to gain the czar over to his opinion, and plunge himinto difficulties from which he will finally be able to extricatehimself only by making peace--a peace concluded at the expense ofPrussia. Russia and France will be reconciled over the corpse ofPrussia! Even now it is distinctly to be seen what we have to expectfrom the czar's assistance. Our allies are doing nothing really to helpus, but whatever steps they are taking are exclusively for their ownsafety. It is true, they advanced at first, but only in order to preventthe French from approaching their frontier. Since that time, however, inspite of the battle of Pultusk, the Russians have steadily retreated,although the enemy did not compel them to do so. They accomplished thustheir own purpose, that is, to devastate a province of Prussia, andprotect themselves by this desert from a French invasion."

  "It is true," said General von Zastrow, "our friends are ruining us by amere semblance of aid. If they really were honest and faithful allies,would they not strain every nerve to preserve Dantzic to us? GeneralBenningsen did promise to succor the fortress and raise the siege, ifDantzic held out only two months longer. But what is he doing to redeemhis promise? Absolutely nothing! We reproached him with his inactivity,and he excused it by asserting that the army would first have to bereenforced. He admits that the fall of that seaport would be a greatdisaster, but refuses to do any thing decisive for its safety.Therefore, if we do not give up the equivocal friendship of theRussians--if we do not now make peace with France, Dantzic will be lost,and Colberg and Graudenz will likewise fall, in spite of the efforts oftheir heroic defenders, Schill and Colomb. Oh, I beg you induce the kingto accept the peace if the terms offered to him be not utterlyinadmissible. These Russians will never deliver us. Suppose even anothergeneral than Benningsen, and better disposed than he, should advanceafter his so-called victories in the same manner as Benningsen isretreating now, he would restore to us no state, only a desert. The kingought to believe us that they are utterly unwilling to render usassistance, and that they only intend devastating our country in orderto protect themselves. Whatever the noble and generous Emperor Alexandermay order, it is certain that nothing will be done. Even though weshould protest and clamor against it in the most heart-rending manner,we should be unable to bring about a change."

  "But should we succeed in convincing the king," said General vonKoeckeritz, "how are we to persuade the queen? Her heart, otherwise sogentle and generous, is filled with hatred against Napoleon, and shebelieves in the friendship of the Russian emperor."

  "Will you take it upon yourself, your excellency, to persuade the kingto make peace with France?"

  "I believe I shall be able to do it," said General von Koeckeritz, aftera brief reflection.

  "Well, for my part, I undertake to persuade the queen to acquiesce, atleast in silence, and not advocate so warmly the alliance with Russia."

  "I should like to know by what charm you intend to accomplish such amiracle."

  "By a very simple one, your excellency. I shall cause my niece, theCountess von Truchsess, who is not merely lady of honor, but also readerto the queen, to read to her majesty the last numbers of the _BerlinTelegraph_, which I have just received. This seems like a riddle, but itis not. That journal contains charges against the queen, which, itappears to me, render it impossible for her to declare so loudly andpublicly in favor of a continued alliance with the Russian emperor. Hermajesty, therefore, must be informed of the contents of those articles;she must know in what sense public opinion--or, if you prefer, thewicked world--is interpreting her enthusiasm for the Russian alliance.She must learn it this very hour, that, at this momentous crisis, shemay not try to stem the tide of events. We must tie her hands in orderto prevent her from destroying the work we are taking so much pains toaccomplish. While your excellency goes to the king in order to take hisheart by storm with your convincing eloquence, and I am afterwardconducting General Bertrand to his majesty (to whom he will present thepacific overtures and the autograph letter from Napoleon), my niece, theCountess von Truchsess, will read to the queen the articles published inthe _Telegraph_, and if the king should really hesitate, and desire tohear the opinion of his wife, she, in her just indignation, willassuredly not advocate his cause for whose sake she has to bear theslanders of the public press."

  "Heaven grant that you may be a true prophet, general!" said Koeckeritz,heaving a sigh. "The queen, however, is so magnanimous that she mighteven overlook her personal wrongs, and the slanders heaped on her, ifshe thought the welfare of the country was at stake. I believe sheesteems the honor of Prussia even higher than her own, and in case sheshould believe the former to be endangered, would be willing tosacrifice herself."

  "I believe your excellency is mistaken, so far as that is concerned,"said General von Zastrow, smiling. "The wife of Frederick William, asidefrom being a high-minded queen, is a woman who has the utmost regard forher reputation and virtue, and who, for the sake of her husband andchildren, would not suffer a breath of suspicion upon her honor. Well,we shall see whether you are right or not. It is high time for us to goto work. As you have promised me your assistance, I am quite hopeful,and believe we shall succeed in restoring peace to poor tormentedPrussia. Go, then, your excellency, to perform your part; I will go tothe Countess von Truchsess, to bring her the newspapers, and then itwill be high time to conduct General Bertrand to the king. Well, Heavenbless us all, and cause Prussia to make peace at last with the Corsicanlion!"