ternative but to
conform to my will."

The imperious tones which Napoleon employed towards his enemies
almost always succeeded, and it produced the accustomed effect upon
Mack. On the same day that Prince Liechtenstein had been at our
headquarters Mack wrote to the Emperor, stating that he would not
have treated with any other on such terms; but that he yielded to
the ascendency of Napoleon's fortune; and on the following day
Berthier was sent into Ulm, from whence he returned with the
capitulation signed. Thus Napoleon was not mistaken respecting the
Caudine Forks of the Austrian army. The garrison of Ulm marched out
with what are called the honours of war, and were led prisoners into
France.--Bourrienne.]--

Napoleon, who was so violently irritated by any obstacle which opposed
him, and who treated with so much hauteur everybody who ventured to
resist his inflexible will, was no longer the same man when, as a
conqueror, he received the vanquished generals at Ulm. He condoled with
them on their misfortune; and this, I can affirm, was not the result of a
feeling of pride concealed beneath a feigned generosity. Although he
profited by their defeat he pitied them sincerely. How frequently has he
observed to me, "How much to be pitied is a general on the day after a
lost battle." He had himself experienced this misfortune when he was
obliged to raise the siege of St. Jean d'Acre. At that moment he would,
I believe, have strangled Djezzar; but if Djezzar had surrendered, he
would have treated him with the same attention which he showed to Mack
and the other generals of the garrison of Ulm. These generals were
seventeen in number, and among them was Prince Liechtenstein. There were
also General Klenau (Baron de Giulay), who had acquired considerable
military reputation in the preceding wars, and General Fresnel, who stood
in a more critical situation than his companions in misfortune, for he
was a Frenchman, and an emigrant.

Rapp told me that it was really painful to see these generals. They
bowed respectfully to the Emperor, having Mack at their head. They
preserved a mournful silence, and Napoleon was the first to speak, which
he did in the following terms: "Gentlemen, I feel sorry that such brave
men as you are should be the victims of the follies of a Cabinet which
cherishes insane projects, and which does not hesitate to commit the
dignity of the Austrian nation by trafficking wit