Bernadotte,
therefore, did not arrive. Bonaparte, who always liked to throw blame on
some one if things did not turn out exactly as he wished, attributed the
doubtful success of the day to the absence of Bernadotte; in this he was
right; but to make his absence a reproach to that Marshal was a gross
injustice. Bernadotte was accused of not having been willing to march on
Preussich-Eylau, though, as it was alleged, General d'Hautpoult had
informed him of the necessity of his presence. But how can that fact be
ascertained, since General d'Hautpoult was killed on that same day? Who
can assure us that that General had been able to communicate with the
Marshal?

Those who knew Bonaparte, his cunning, and the artful advantage he would
sometimes take of words which he attributed to the dead, will easily
solve the enigma. The battle of Eylau was terrible. Night came
on--Bernadotte's corps was instantly, but in vain, expected; and after a
great loss the French army had the melancholy honour of passing the night
on the field of battle. Bernadotte at length arrived, but too late. He
met the enemy, who were retreating without the fear of being molested
towards Konigsberg, the only capital remaining to Prussia. The King of
Prussia was then at Memel, a small port on the Baltic, thirty leagues
from Konigsberg.

After the battle of Eylau both sides remained stationary, and several
days elapsed without anything remarkable taking place. The offers of
peace made by the Emperor, with very little earnestness it is true, were
disdainfully rejected, as if a victory disputed with Napoleon was to be
regarded as a triumph. The battle of Eylau seemed to turn the heads of
the Russians, who chanted Te Deum on the occasion. But while the Emperor
was making preparations to advance, his diplomacy was taking effect in a
distant quarter, and raising up against Russia an old and formidable
enemy. Turkey declared war against her. This was a powerful diversion,
and obliged Russia to strip her western frontiers to secure a line of
defence on the south.

Some time after General Gardanne set out on the famous embassy to Persia;
for which the way had been paved by the success of the mission of my
friend, Amedee Jaubert. This embassy was not merely one of those pompous
legations such as Charlemagne, Louis XIV., and Louis XVI. received from
the Empress Irene, the King of Siam, and Tippoo Saib. It was connected
with ideas which Bonaparte had conceived at the v