onarchs by the grace of God, of time,
and the custom of nations. But as to you, you are only a king by the
grace of Napoleon, and of the blood of Frenchmen; you cannot remain so
but through Napoleon, and by continuing united to France. You are led
away by the blackest ingratitude!" And he declared to him that he would
immediately denounce his treachery to his Emperor; the other marshals
remained silent. They made allowance for the violence of the king's
grief, and attributed solely to his inconsiderate heat, the expressions
which the hatred and suspicious character of Davoust had but too clearly
comprehended.

Murat was put entirely out of countenance; he felt himself guilty. Thus
was stifled the first spark of treachery, which at a later period was
destined to ruin France. It is with regret that history commemorates it,
as repentance and misfortune have atoned for the crime.

We were soon obliged to carry our humiliation to Koenigsberg. The grand
army, which, during the last twenty years, had shown itself successively
triumphant in all the capitals of Europe, now, for the first time,
re-appeared mutilated, disarmed, and fugitive, in one of those which had
been most humiliated by its glory. Its population crowded on our passage
to count our wounds, and to estimate, by the extent of our disasters,
that of the hopes they might venture to entertain; we were compelled to
feast their greedy looks with our miseries, to pass under the yoke of
their hope, and while dragging our misfortunes through the midst of
their odious joy, to march under the insupportable weight of hated
calamity.

The feeble remnant of the grand army did not bend under this burden. Its
shadow, already almost dethroned, still exhibited itself imposing; it
preserved its royal air; although vanquished by the elements, it kept
up, in the presence of men, its victorious and commanding attitude.

On their side, the Germans, either from slowness or fear, received us
docilely; their hatred restrained itself under an appearance of
coolness; and as they scarcely ever act from themselves, they were
obliged to relieve our miseries, during the time that they were looking
for a signal. Koenigsberg was soon unable to contain them. Winter, which
had followed us thither, deserted us there all at once; in one night the
thermometer fell twenty degrees.

This sudden change was fatal to us. A great number of soldiers and
generals, whom the tension of the atmosphere had h