This etext was produced by David Widger
[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, at the end of several of thefiles for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before makingan entire meal of them. D.W.]
By LOUIS ANTOINE FAUVELET DE BOURRIENNE
His Private Secretary
Edited by R. W. Phipps
Colonel, Late Royal Artillery
1891
CONTENTS:
CHAPTER XI. to CHAPTER XVIII. 1807-1809
1807
Abuse of military power—Defence of diplomatic rights—Marshal Brune —Army supplies—English cloth and leather—Arrest on a charge of libel—Dispatch from M. Talleyrand—A page of Napoleon's glory— Interview between the two Emperors at Tilsit,—Silesia restored to the Queen of Prussia—Unfortunate situation in Prussia— Impossibility of reestablishing Poland in 1807—Foundation of the Kingdom of Westphalia—The Duchy of Warsaw and the King of Saxony.
Meanwhile the internal affairs of the towns over which my diplomaticjurisdiction extended soon gave me more employment than ever. Thegreatest misfortune of the Empire was, perhaps, the abuse of the rightarrogated by the wearers of epaulettes. My situation gave me anopportunity of observing all the odious character of a militarygovernment. Another in my place could not have done all that I did. Isay this confidently, for my, situation was a distinct and independentone, as Bonaparte had told me: Being authorised to correspond directlywith the Emperor; the military chiefs feared, if they did not yield to myjust representations, that I would made private reports; thisapprehension was wonderfully useful in enabling me to maintain the rightsof the towns, which had adopted me as their first citizen.
A circumstance occurred in which I had to defend the rights of thediplomatic and commercial agents against the pretensions of militarypower. Marshal Brune during his government at Hamburg, went to Bremman.to watch the strict execution of the illusive blockade against England.The Marshal acting no doubt, in conformity with the instructions ofClarke, then Minister of War and Governor of Berlin, wished to arrogatethe right of deciding on the captures made by our cruisers.
He attempted to prevent the Consul Lagau from selling the confiscatedships in order to sell them himself. Of this M. Lagau complained to me.The more I observed a disposition to encroach on the part of the militaryauthorities, the more I conceived it necessary to maintain the rights ofthe consuls, and to favour their influence, without which they would havelost their consideration. To the complaints of M. Lagau I replied,"That to him alone belonged the right of deciding, in the first instance,on the fate of the ships; that he could not be deprived of that rightwithout changing the law; that he was free to sell the confiscatedPrussian ships; that Marshall Brune was at Bremen only for the executionof the decree respecting the blockade of England, and that he ought notto interfere in business unconnected with that decree." Lagau showedthis letter to Brune, who then allowed him to do as he wished; but it wasan affair of profit, and the Marshal for a long time owed me a grudge.
Bernadotte was exceedingly disinterested, but he loved to be talkedabout. The more the Emperor endeavoured to throw accusations upon him,the more he was anxious to give publicity to all his actions. He sent tome an ac