/Anecdotes of modern Diplomucy — Due D^Enghein. 5 



by the queen; who, after a few intro- 

 duclory com|)liments, politely pro- 

 ceeded to tender lier sincere thanks to 

 the French enii>eror. 



Pnissiiiii Silesia was instantly eva- 

 cuated by the Frencli commandant, 

 and taken possession of by the Prus- 

 sian general, the Prince D'Anhalt 

 Pless. 



1823.] 



wish, and not without strong expres- 

 sions of curiosity, to see the Queen of 

 Prussia. Her aversion to see Napo- 

 leon had been noticed as a fact of 

 public notoriety, and her journey was 

 constantly deferred, under the pretext 

 of indisposition. But Napoleon was 

 not to be diverted from the inclination 

 which he had avowed ; and, perseve- 

 ring in his endeavours, he exclaimed 

 one day, in great good humour, to the 

 Emperor Alexander : "I see I must 

 send Davoust, with his cnrps d'armee, 

 to Memel, to get a sight of this beau- 

 tiful queen !" The necessary conse- 

 quence was, that the Emperor and 

 King of Prussia secretly dispatched 

 their chamberlains to Memel, with 

 letters, entreating her majesty to re- 

 pair speedily to Tilsit, as feeling it to 

 be their common interest to court Na- 

 poleon's good graces by every possible 

 exertion. 



The queen consented, and arrived 

 at 'I'ilsit at the day and hour agreed 

 upon. The sovereigns went to meet 

 her. Napoleon entertained high senti- 

 mejits of her personal merits, and the 

 attentions which he directed to her 

 were not such as to reflect dishonour 

 on his conduct. Turning to Marshal 

 Duroc, he ejaculated, " Voits mavez 

 bien dit, Duroc; elle est vraiment belle!" 

 Napoleon gave, one day, a dinner 

 to the queen, which might modestly 

 lay claim to rank and precedency be- 

 fore any other ever given in that poor 

 little town. This may rationally be 

 presumed from the time and sums 

 expended in the provision. Every 

 delicacy of the French kitchen, the 

 most exquisite fruits of France and 

 Ital}', were served up in profusion ; 

 and with the dessert, on a plate which 

 Napoleon's chamberlain presented to 

 the queen, was a letter for her majesty 

 the Queen of Prussia. "What! (ex- 

 claimed the queen, in surprise,) a let- 

 ter for me !" ' Yes, (replied Napo- 

 leon,) but it is an open letter.' The 

 queen unfolded it, and found another 

 inclosed within it, in like manner un- 

 sealed, with an order to King Jerome 

 Bonaparte, who commanded the 

 French army in Silesia, to evacuate 

 a certain part of that province, as 

 (herein specified; the same to be at 

 the disposition of h<r majesty, the 

 Queen of Prussia, agreeably to a secret 

 article in the Treaty of 'I'ilsit. 



This liberal and beneficial donation 

 was highly approved of and extolled 



EFFECTS PRODUCED ON THE FEELINGS 

 OF CERTAIN ELEVATED CHARACTERS 

 AT ST. PETERSBURGH, WHEN THE 

 NEWS ARRIVED OF THE DEATH OF THE 



Duc d'enghien. 



It was in the month of March, and 

 year 1804, that a gentleman brought a 

 brief notice of that event to the em- 

 press dowager or mother. He had 

 been dispatched by her brother-in-law, 

 the Duke of Oldenburgh, Bishop of 

 F'litin, with some general but correct 

 information relative to the above state- 

 ment. It was such a circumstance as 

 could nut fail to attract the notice of 

 politicians in general, whether bene- 

 volent and disinterested, or savage, 

 aud;icious, and abandoned. 



Many were the evils which the 

 times had then to complain of: the 

 tranquillity of peace every-where dis- 

 turbed, war obtaining its malignant 

 triumphs, and the demons of mischief 

 deluging every country with miser}'. 

 Koyal families were not in too great 

 security ; and, among others of the 

 French dynasty, the Due d'Enghien 

 had been familiar with humiliations 

 and danger. His, too, was a portion 

 of that misery, to which the lot of hu- 

 manity seems, alas ! predestined. 



The news of that fatal tragedy was 

 like ponring vinegar into wounds 

 already probed. The mind of the 

 empress was disturbed and irritated 

 at so singular and extraordinary an 

 event beyond measure. "With consi- 

 derable alarm and consternation, she 

 communicated it to her son, the Em- 

 peror Alexander, who, from the pecu- 

 liar circumstances of the case, would 

 not give it credit. A transaction so 

 odious and disgraceful could never, 

 he said, find its perpetrator in Bona- 

 parte ; and his uncle, the Duke of 

 Oldenburgh, must have been misin- 

 formed. 



But here, as it happens on other 

 occasions, the surprise of novelty was 

 rekindledby the introduction of Prince 

 Czartorinsky, minister of foreign af- 

 fairs, who had arrived at the palace, 



and 



