uring the entire passage through Holland, the Emperor showed himself
cordial and affable, welcoming every one most kindly, and accosting each
in a suitable manner, and at no time was he ever more amiable or anxious
to please. He visited the manufactures, inspected dock-yards, reviewed
troops, addressed the sailors, and attended the ball's given in his honor
in all the towns through which he passed; and amid this life of seeming
pleasure and distraction, he exerted himself almost more than in the
quiet, monotonous life of the camp, and was affable, gracious, and
accessible to all his subjects. But in these processions, in the very
midst of these fetes, amid all this acclamation of whole cities rushing
out to meet him, eager to serve as his escort, under these arches of
triumph which were erected to him sometimes even at the entrance of an
obscure village, his abstraction was deeper than ever, and his heart more
oppressed with care; for his thoughts were from this time filled with the
expedition to Russia. And perhaps into this amenity of manner, this
friendliness, and these acts of benevolence, most of which were foreign
to his character, there entered the design of lessening in advance the
discontent which this expedition would produce; and perhaps in attaching
all hearts to himself, in exhausting every means of pleasing, he imagined
he was obtaining pardon in advance, by means of the enthusiasm of his
subjects, for a war which, whatever might be the result, was to cost the
Empire so much blood and so many tears.

During their Majesties' stay at Amsterdam, there was placed in the
apartments of the Empress a piano so constructed as to appear like a desk
with a division in the middle, and in this space was placed a small bust
of the Emperor of Russia. Soon after, the Emperor wished to see if the
apartments of the Empress were suitable, and while visiting them
perceived this bust, which he placed under his arm without a word.
He afterwards said to one of the ladies of the Empress, that he wished
this bust removed; and he was obeyed, though this caused considerable
astonishment, as it was not then known that any coolness had arisen
between the two Emperors.

A few days after his arrival at Amsterdam, the Emperor made several
excursions into the country, accompanied by a somewhat numerous suite.
He visited at Saardam the thatched cottage which sheltered Peter the
Great when he came to Holland under the name of Pierre Michael