y the French and German historians in a widely different
sense. The French historians, without exception, treat it as a touching
proof of the emperor's generosity. So does Thiers in his "Histoire du
Consulat et de l'Empire," vol. vii., p. 148; and the Duchess d'Abrantes,
in her "Memoires," vol. xi., p. 340; as well as Constant, in his
"Memoires," vol. iii., p. 380. But the German historians treat it as a
well-calculated intrigue, in order to intimidate the nobility by an act
of severity, and to conciliate them by the subsequent generosity
displayed by the emperor.--Vide "Memoires d'un Homme d'Etat," vol. ix.,
p. 316; Schlosser's "History of the Nineteenth Century," vol. vi., p.
232; Haeusser's "History of Germany," vol iii., p. 42. The view taken by
the German historians is supported by the letter of the Prince von
Hatzfeld, which formed the sole basis of the charges preferred against
him, and which the French take care not to lay before their readers. The
incriminated passage was as follows: "Officially I know nothing of the
French army, but that I saw yesterday a requisition upon the
municipality of Potsdam, signed by D'Aultanne. The French say their army
is eighty thousand strong. Others state the number at only fifty
thousand. The horses of the cavalry are said to be greatly exhausted."]

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SUPPLIANT PRINCES.

The hour when Napoleon was to give audience had come, and the ministers
of the petty German princes, who had hitherto vainly implored Talleyrand
to procure them admission to the emperor, were at length to accomplish
their purpose, and to receive from the mouth of the conqueror himself
the decision of their fate. He was in his cabinet pacing with rapid
steps, while Talleyrand was standing at the desk, and with a pencil
entering a few notes in his memorandum-book.

"No," said the emperor, sullenly, "I shall have no mercy on these petty
German princes, and their miserable whining shall not shake my
resolution. Frederick II., who uttered the most cutting sarcasms against
these petty sovereigns, would have done much better if he had destroyed
these grubs in the tree of royalty--if he had made a new crown from
their small coronets. As he failed to do so, I shall not imitate the
example set by him, and my brother Jerome shall wear the crown which
shall make him a German king."

"Your majesty, then, will adopt the plan of a new kingdom in Northern
Germany, which I had the honor to draw up