All doubt is now at an end; your troops do not
come up; you are too weak; march I must, and I must excuse myself from
further negotiation, which may cost me my head." The Author said that be
would make no opposition to all this, but begged for a candle, as he
had letters to show the General, and, as the latter seemed still to
hesitate, the Author added, "Your Excellency will not surely place me in
the embarrassment of departing without having executed my commission."
The General ordered candles, and called in Colonel von Roeder, the chief
of his staff, from the ante-chamber. The letters were read. After a
pause of an instant, the General said, "Clausewitz, you are a Prussian,
do you believe that the letter of General d'Auvray is sincere, and that
Wittgenstein's troops will really be at the points he mentioned on the
31st?" The Author replied, "I pledge myself for the sincerity of this
letter upon the knowledge I have of General d'Auvray and the other men
of Wittgenstein's headquarters; whether the dispositions he announces
can be accomplished as he lays down I certainly cannot pledge myself;
for your Excellency knows that in war we must often fall short of the
line we have drawn for ourselves." The General was silent for a few
minutes of earnest reflection; then he held out his hand to the Author,
and said, "You have me. Tell General Diebitsch that we must confer early
to-morrow at the mill of Poschenen, and that I am now firmly determined
to separate myself from the French and their cause." The hour was fixed
for 8 A.M. After this was settled, the General added, "But I will not
do the thing by halves, I will get you Massenbach also." He called in
an officer who was of Massenbach's cavalry, and who had just left them.
Much like Schiller's Wallenstein, he asked, walking up and down the
room the while, "What say your regiments?" The officer broke out with
enthusiasm at the idea of a riddance from the French alliance, and said
that every man of the troops in question felt the same.

"You young ones may talk; but my older head is shaking on my shoulders,"
replied the General.(*)

(*) "Campaign in Russia in 1812"; translated from the German
of General Von Clausewitz (by Lord Ellesmere).

After the close of the Russian campaign Clausewitz remained in the
service of that country, but was attached as a Russian staff officer to
Blucher's headquarters till the Armistice in 1813.

In 1814, he became Chief of the Staf