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"The
campaign began only a week ago, and you haven't even been able to
defend
Vilna. You are cut in two and have been driven out of the Polish
provinces.
Your army is grumbling."
"On
the contrary, Your Majesty," said Balashev, hardly able to
remember
what
had been said to him and following these verbal fireworks with
difficulty,
"the troops are burning with eagerness..."
"I
know everything!" Napoleon interrupted him. "I know everything. I
know
the number of your battalions as exactly as I know my own. You
have
not
two hundred thousand men, and I have three times that number. I
give
you
my word of honor," said Napoleon, forgetting that his word of
honor
could
carry no weight--"I give you my word of honor that I have five
hundred
and thirty thousand men this side of the Vistula. The Turks will
be
of no use to you; they are worth nothing and have shown it by
making
peace
with you. As for the Swedes--it is their fate to be governed by
mad
kings. Their king was insane and they changed him for another--
Bernadotte,
who promptly went mad--for no Swede would ally himself with
Russia
unless he were mad."
Napoleon
grinned maliciously and again raised his snuffbox to his nose.
Balashev
knew how to reply to each of Napoleon's remarks, and would have
done
so; he continually made the gesture of a man wishing to say
something,
but Napoleon always interrupted him. To the alleged insanity
of
the Swedes, Balashev wished to reply that when Russia is on her
side
Sweden
is practically an island: but Napoleon gave an angry exclamation
to
drown his voice. Napoleon was in that state of irritability in
which
a
man has to talk, talk, and talk, merely to convince himself that he
is
in
the right. Balashev began to feel uncomfortable: as envoy he
feared
to
demean his dignity and felt the necessity of replying; but, as a
man,
he
shrank before the transport of groundless wrath that had
evidently
seized
Napoleon. He knew that none of the words now uttered by Napoleon
had
any significance, and that Napoleon himself would be ashamed of
them
when
he came to his senses. Balashev stood with downcast eyes, looking
at
the movements of Napoleon's stout legs and trying to avoid
meeting
his
eyes.
"But
what do I care about your allies?" said Napoleon. "I have
allies--
the
Poles. There are eighty thousand of them and they fight like
lions.
And
there will be two hundred thousand of them."
And
probably still more perturbed by the fact that he had uttered
this
obvious
falsehood, and that Balashev still stood silently before him in
the
same attitude of submission to fate, Napoleon abruptly turned
round,
drew
close to Balashev's face, and, gesticulating rapidly and
energetically
with his white hands, almost shouted:
"Know
that if you stir up Prussia against me, I'll wipe it off the map
of
Europe!" he declared, his face pale and distorted by anger, and
he
struck
one of his small hands energetically with the other. "Yes, I will
throw
you back beyond the Dvina and beyond the Dnieper, and will re-
erect
against you that barrier which it was criminal and blind of
Europe
to
allow to be destroyed. Yes, that is what will happen to you. That
is
what
you have gained by alienating me!" And he walked silently several
times
up and down the room, his fat shoulders twitching.
He
put his snuffbox into his waistcoat pocket, took it out again,
lifted
it
several times to his nose, and stopped in front of Balashev. He
paused,
looked ironically straight into Balashev's eyes, and said in a
quiet
voice:
"And
yet what a splendid reign your master might have had!"
Balashev,
feeling it incumbent on him to reply, said that from the
Russian
side things did not appear in so gloomy a light. Napoleon was
silent,
still looking derisively at him and evidently not listening to
him.
Balashev said that in Russia the best results were expected from
the
war. Napoleon nodded condescendingly, as if to say, "I know it's
your
duty to say that, but you don't believe it yourself. I have
convinced
you."
When
Balashev had ended, Napoleon again took out his snuffbox, sniffed
at
it, and stamped his foot twice on the floor as a signal. The door
opened,
a gentleman-in-waiting, bending respectfully, handed the Emperor
his
hat and gloves; another brought him a pocket handkerchief.
Napoleon,
without
giving them a glance, turned to Balashev:
"Assure
the Emperor Alexander from me," said he, taking his hat, "that I
am
as devoted to him as before: I know him thoroughly and very
highly
esteem
his lofty qualities. I will detain you no longer, General; you
shall
receive my letter to the Emperor."
And
Napoleon went quickly to the door. Everyone in the reception room
rushed
forward and descended the staircase.
CHAPTER
VII
After
all that Napoleon had said to him--those bursts of anger and the
last
dryly spoken words: "I will detain you no longer, General; you
shall
receive my letter," Balashev felt convinced that Napoleon would
not
wish to see him, and would even avoid another meeting with
him--an
insulted
envoy--especially as he had witnessed his unseemly anger. But,
to
his surprise, Balashev received, through Duroc, an invitation to
dine
with
the Emperor that day.
Bessieres,
Caulaincourt, and Berthier were present at that dinner.
Napoleon
met Balashev cheerfully and amiably. He not only showed no sign
of
constraint or self-reproach on account of his outburst that
morning,
but,
on the contrary, tried to reassure Balashev. It was evident that
he
had
long been convinced that it was impossible for him to make a
mistake,
and that in his perception whatever he did was right, not
because
it harmonized with any idea of right and wrong, but because he
did
it.
The
Emperor was in very good spirits after his ride through Vilna,
where
crowds
of people had rapturously greeted and followed him. From all the
windows
of the streets through which he rode, rugs, flags, and his
monogram
were displayed, and the Polish ladies, welcoming him, waved
their
handkerchiefs to him.
At
dinner, having placed Balashev beside him, Napoleon not only
treated
him
amiably but behaved as if Balashev were one of his own courtiers,
one
of those who sympathized with his plans and ought to rejoice at
his
success.
In the course of conversation he mentioned Moscow and
questioned
Balashev about the Russian capital, not merely as an
interested
traveler asks about a new city he intends to visit, but as if
convinced
that Balashev, as a Russian, must be flattered by his
curiosity.
"How
many inhabitants are there in Moscow? How many houses? Is it true
that
Moscow is called 'Holy Moscow'? How many churches are there in
Moscow?"
he asked.
And
receiving the reply that there were more than two hundred
churches,
he
remarked:
"Why
such a quantity of churches?"
"The
Russians are very devout," replied Balashev.
"But
a large number of monasteries and churches is always a sign of
the
backwardness
of a people," said Napoleon, turning to Caulaincourt for
appreciation
of this remark.
Balashev
respectfully ventured to disagree with the French Emperor.
"Every
country has its own character," said he.
"But
nowhere in Europe is there anything like that," said Napoleon.
"I
beg your Majesty's pardon," returned Balashev, "besides Russia
there
is
Spain, where there are also many churches and monasteries."
This
reply of Balashev's, which hinted at the recent defeats of the
French
in Spain, was much appreciated when he related it at Alexander's
court,
but it was not much appreciated at Napoleon's dinner, where it
passed
unnoticed.
The
uninterested and perplexed faces of the marshals showed that they
were
puzzled as to what Balashev's tone suggested. "If there is a
point
we
don't see it, or it is not at all witty," their expressions seemed
to
say.
So little was his rejoinder appreciated that Napoleon did not
notice
it at all and naively asked Balashev through what towns the
direct
road from there to Moscow passed. Balashev, who was on the alert
all
through the dinner, replied that just as "all roads lead to
Rome,"
so
all roads lead to Moscow: there were many roads, and "among them
the
road
through Poltava, which Charles XII chose." Balashev involuntarily
flushed
with pleasure at the aptitude of this reply, but hardly had he
uttered
the word Poltava before Caulaincourt began speaking of the
badness
of the road from Petersburg to Moscow and of his Petersburg
reminiscences.
After
dinner they went to drink coffee in Napoleon's study, which four
days
previously had been that of the Emperor Alexander. Napoleon sat
down,
toying with his Sevres coffee cup, and motioned Balashev to a
chair
beside him.
Napoleon
was in that well-known after-dinner mood which, more than any
reasoned
cause, makes a man contented with himself and disposed to
consider
everyone his friend. It seemed to him that he was surrounded by
men
who adored him: and he felt convinced that, after his dinner,
Balashev
too was his friend and worshiper. Napoleon turned to him with a
pleasant,
though slightly ironic, smile.
"They
tell me this is the room the Emperor Alexander occupied? Strange,
isn't
it, General?" he said, evidently not doubting that this remark
would
be agreeable to his hearer since it went to prove his,
Napoleon's,
superiority
to Alexander.
Balashev
made no reply and bowed his head in silence.
"Yes.
Four days ago in this room, Wintzingerode and Stein were
deliberating,"
continued Napoleon with the same derisive and self-
confident
smile. "What I can't understand," he went on, "is that the
Emperor
Alexander has surrounded himself with my personal enemies. That
I
do not... understand. Has he not thought that I may do the same?"
and
he
turned inquiringly to Balashev, and evidently this thought turned
him
back
on to the track of his morning's anger, which was still fresh in
him.
"And
let him know that I will do so!" said Napoleon, rising and
pushing
his
cup away with his hand. "I'll drive all his Wurttemberg, Baden,
and
Weimar
relations out of Germany.... Yes. I'll drive them out. Let him
prepare
an asylum for them in Russia!"
Balashev
bowed his head with an air indicating that he would like to
make
his bow and leave, and only listened because he could not help
hearing
what was said to him. Napoleon did not notice this expression;
he
treated Balashev not as an envoy from his enemy, but as a man now
fully
devoted to him and who must rejoice at his former master's
humiliation.
"And
why has the Emperor Alexander taken command of the armies? What
is
the
good of that? War is my profession, but his business is to reign
and
not
to command armies! Why has he taken on himself such a
responsibility?"
Again
Napoleon brought out his snuffbox, paced several times up and
down
the
room in silence, and then, suddenly and unexpectedly,
wen
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