THE CAMP-FIRE AT FRIEDLAND. Page 258.
Friedland was a decisive field. Konigsberg surrendered soon afterwards; and the Russians were pursued till they took refuge beyond the Niemen. Here ended that daring march of the French Emperor—the new Alexander—from Boulogne to the Niemen, to crush the only power which could offer any effectual resistance to his arms. In the transport of triumph, the Emperor issued the following noble proclamation to his soldiers:
Soldiers—On the 5th of June we were attacked in our cantonments by the Russian army. The enemy had mistaken the causes of our inactivity. He perceived too late that our repose was that of the lion: he repents of having disturbed it.
“In the battles of Guttstadt and Heilsberg, and in that ever memorable one of Friedland, in a campaign of ten days; in short, we have taken one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, seven colors, killed, wounded, or made prisoners, sixty thousand Russians, taken from the enemy’s army all its magazines, its hospitals, its ambulances, the fortress of Konigsberg, the three hundred vessels which were in that port, laden with all kinds of military stores, one hundred and sixty thousand muskets which England was sending to arm our enemies.
“From the banks of the Vistula, we have come with the speed of the eagle to those of the Niemen. You celebrated at Austerlitz the anniversary of the coronation; this year you have worthily celebrated that of the battle of Marengo, which put an end to the war of the second coalition.
“Frenchmen, you have been worthy of yourselves and of me. You will return to France covered with laurels, and, after obtaining a glorious peace, which carries with it the guarantee of its duration. It is high time for our country to live in quiet, screened from the malignant influence of England. My bounties shall prove to you my gratitude, and the full extent of the love I feel for you.”
Then followed the interview of Napoleon and Alexander upon the Niemen, and the treaty of Tilsit, by which the two emperors parcelled out Europe as if it were their own. The star of Napoleon had reached its zenith, and truly its lustre dazzled the eyes of the world.