Memoirs of General Count Rapp, First aide-de-camp to Napoleon. Jean Comte Rapp
However, Sir, you may assure the inhabitants of Brunswick, that the French will prove themselves generous enemies; that it is my desire, as far as regards them, to alleviate the miseries of war; and that the evils which may arise from the passage of the troops through their territory, is contrary to my wish. Tell the Duke of Brunswick that he shall be treated with all the consideration due to an enemy's officer; but that I cannot acknowledge one of the King of Prussia's generals as a sovereign. If the House of Brunswick should forfeit the sovereignty of its ancestors, the blame must rest with the author of the two wars; who, in the one, wished to sap the very foundation of the great French capital; and, in the other, attempted to cast disgrace on 200,000 brave troops, who, though they may perhaps be defeated, will never be found to depart from the path of glory and honour. Much blood has been shed within a few days. Prussia is the victim of great disasters; and she may justly blame the man who, with a word, might have averted them, if, like Nestor, raising his voice in the Council, he had said:—
"Inconsiderate youths, be silent! Women, return to your domestic duties. And you, Sire, listen to the companion of the most illustrious of your predecessors. Since the Emperor Napoleon does not wish to maintain hostilities, do not oblige him to chose between war and dishonour. Do not engage in a dangerous conflict with an army, which prides itself in fifteen years of glorious achievements, and whom victory has accustomed to subdue every thing.
"Instead of holding this language, which would have been so well suited to the prudence of his age and the experience of his long career, he was the first to raise the cry of war. He had even violated the ties of blood, by arming a son (Prince Eugène of Wirtemberg) against his father. He threatened to plant his standard on the palace of Stuttgard; and accompanying all these acts by imprecations against France, he declared himself the author of that wild manifesto, the production of which he had disavowed for the space of fourteen years, though it was out of his power to deny having affixed his signature to it."
Spandau had been surrendered to Marshal Lannes. Napoleon visited the fortress, and inspected it minutely. He sent me to Berlin, which had been entered by Davoust, and directed me to present his compliments to old Ferdinand and his wife. I found the Prince very melancholy and dejected: he had just lost his son. The Princess appeared more calm and resigned. I also went to pay compliments to the Prince Henry and the Princess of Hesse, sister to the King of Prussia. The former appeared very sensible to the attention evinced by Napoleon; the latter had retired to a wing of the castle, where she lived tranquilly in the society of her grand-children. The situation of this Princess inspired me with interest and veneration. She appeared to take courage, and she begged me to recommend her to Napoleon, who paid her a visit immediately on his arrival. She inspired him with the same favourable sentiments which I had conceived for her.
The Emperor fixed his head-quarters at Charlottemburgh. On the following day, he made his entrance into the capital, and addressed the following proclamation to the army:—
"Soldiers!
"You have fulfilled my expectations, and fully justified the confidence of the French people. You have endured privation and fatigue with courage, equal to the intrepidity and presence of mind which you evinced on the field of battle. You are the worthy defenders of the honour of my crown, and the glory of the great French people. So long as you continue to be animated by the spirit which you now display, nothing can oppose you. I know not how to distinguish any particular corps.... You have all proved yourselves good soldiers. The following is the result of our exertions in this campaign.
"One of the first powers in Europe, which lately proposed to us a dishonourable capitulation, has been overthrown. The forests and defiles of Franconia, the Saale, and the Elbe, which our fathers would not have crossed in seven years, we have traversed in seven days; and in that short interval we have had four engagements, and one great battle. Our entrance into Potsdam and Berlin has preceded the fame of our victories. We have made 60,000 prisoners, taken sixty-five standards, (among which are the colours of the King of Prussia's guards), six hundred pieces of cannon, and three fortresses. Among the prisoners, there are upwards of twenty generals. But notwithstanding all this, more than half our troops regret not having fired a single musket. All the provinces of the Prussian monarchy, as far as the Oder, are in our power.
"Soldiers! the Russians boast of coming to meet us, but we will advance to meet them; we will save them half their march: they will meet with another Austerlitz in the midst of Prussia. A nation which can so soon forget our generous treatment of her, after that battle, in which the Emperor, his court, and the wrecks of his army, owed their safety only to the capitulation we granted them, is a nation that cannot successfully contend with us.
"While we march to meet the Russians, new corps, formed in the interior of our empire, will repair hither, to occupy our present stations, and protect our conquests. My people all rose indignantly on hearing the disgraceful capitulation which the Prussian ministers, in their madness, proposed to us. Our frontier roads and towns are filled with conscripts, who are burning with eagerness to march in your footsteps. We will not again be the dupes of a treacherous peace. We will not lay down our arms until we compel the English, those eternal enemies of France, to renounce their plan of disturbing the Continent, and to relinquish the tyranny which they maintain on the seas.
"Soldiers! I cannot better express the sentiments I entertain for you, than by assuring you that I bear in my heart the love which you daily evince for me."
CHAPTER XIV
Napoleon next proceeded to the camp, and reviewed the third corps; and every individual who had particularly distinguished himself was rewarded, either by promotion or by a decoration. The generals, officers, and subalterns, were assembled round the Emperor. "I wished to call you together," said he "in order to express my satisfaction of your brilliant conduct in the battle of the 14th. I lost many brave men, whom I looked upon as my sons; I deeply regret them; but, after all, they fell on the field of glory—they perished like true soldiers! You have rendered me a signal service on this memorable occasion. We are, in particular, indebted to the excellent conduct of the third corps, for the great results we have obtained. Tell your men that I am satisfied with the courage they have displayed. Generals, officers, subaltern officers, and privates, you possess eternal claims on my gratitude and kindness." The Marshal replied, that the third corps would always prove itself worthy of the Emperor's confidence; that it would constantly be to him what the 10th legion was to Cæsar.
M. Denon was present at this interesting scene, which his pencil will, perhaps, commemorate: but, whatever be the talent of the artist, he can never convey an idea of the satisfaction and kindness which beamed in the features of the sovereign; or the devotedness and gratitude expressed in the countenances of all present, from the Marshal down to the meanest soldier.
The proclamation which Napoleon had addressed to the troops inspired them with new ardour. They rushed forward to pursue the wrecks of the forces, which had been engaged at Halle and Jena. The Prince of Hohenlohe had rallied a considerable mass, with which he might have escaped us; but he was not sufficiently speedy, he lost time, and these delays afforded us the hope of seeing him cut off. Napoleon impatiently looked for this event. "Bernadotte," said he to me, as we were entering the palace, "must by this time be at Bremen. He will surely have come up with the Prussians; Murat will attack them with his usual impetuosity; both together must have a greater force than is necessary to beat them. In a few days hence the Prince of Hohenlohe, with all his corps, will be in my hands; and I shall soon after have all their artillery and baggage. But we must act together; for it is not probable that they will suffer themselves to be taken without coming to an engagement."
Every thing happened as Napoleon had foretold. The Prussians, who were thrown into disorder by the attack of our cavalry, and the showers of grape shot, were summoned to surrender by General Belliard, and they laid down their arms. Twenty-five thousand picked troops, forty-five standards, seventy-four pieces of artillery, defiled before us: it was another conquest of Ulm. The Emperor was transported with his success: "This is well," said he; "but we have not yet got Blucher, who is so clever at making extempore armistices. We must have him also." He immediately addressed the following lines to Murat: "Nothing is done, so long as any thing remains undone. You have turned General Blucher's cavalry; let me soon hear that his force has experienced the fate of Hohenlohe's." Berthier also wrote to him as follows, to call his attention