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Page 28
CHAPTER XXVI.
My return to Hamburg--Government Committee established there--
Anecdote of the Comte de Chaban--Napoleon's misunderstanding with
the Pope--Cardinal Fesch--Convention of a Council--Declaration
required from the Bishops--Spain in 1811--Certainty of war with
Russia--Lauriston supersedes Caulaincourt at St. Petersburg--The war
in Spain neglected--Troops of all nations at the disposal of
Bonaparte--Levy of the National Guard--Treaties with Prussia and
Austria--Capitulation renewed with Switzerland--Intrigues with
Czernischeff--Attacks of my enemies--Memorial to the Emperor--Ogier
de la Saussaye and the mysterious box--Removal of the Pope to
Fontainebleau--Anecdote of His Holiness and M. Denon--Departure of
Napoleon and Maria Louisa for Dresden--Situation of affairs in Spain
and Portugal--Rapp's account of the Emperor's journey to Dantzic--
Mutual wish for war on the part of Napoleon and Alexander--Sweden
and Turkey--Napoleon's vain attempt to detach Sweden from her
alliance with Russia.
As I took the most lively interest in all that concerned the Hanse Towns,
my first care on returning to Hamburg was to collect information from the
most respectable sources concerning the influential members of the new
Government. Davoust was at its head. On his arrival he had established
in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, in Swedish Pomerania, and in Stralsund, the
capital of that province, military posts and custom-houses, and that in a
time of profound peace with those countries, and without any previous
declaration. The omnipotence of Napoleon, and the terror inspired by the
name of Davoust, overcame all obstacles which might have opposed those
iniquitous usurpations. The weak were forced to yield to the strong.
At Hamburg a Government Committee was formed, consisting of the Prince of
Eekmuhl as President, Comte de Chaban, Councillor of State, who
superintended the departments of the Interior and Finance, and of M.
Faure, Councillor of State, who was appointed to form and regulate the
Courts of Law. I had sometimes met M. de Chaban at Malmaison. He was
distantly related to Josephine, and had formerly been an officer in the
French Guards. He was compelled to emigrate, having been subjected to
every species of persecution during the Revolution.
M. de Chaban was among the first of the emigrants who returned to France
after the 18th Brumaire. He was at first made Sub-Prefect of Vendome,
but on the union of Tuscany with France Napoleon created him a member of
the Junta appointed to regulate the affairs of Tuscany. He next became
Prefect of Coblentz and Brussels, was made a Count by Bonaparte, and was
afterwards chosen a member of the Government Committee at Hamburg. M. de
Chaban was a man of upright principles, and he discharged his various
functions in a way that commanded esteem and attachment.
--[I recollect an anecdote which but too well depicts those
disastrous times. The Comte de Chaban, being obliged to cross
France during the Reign of Terror, was compelled to assume a,
disguise. He accordingly provided himself with a smockfrock; a cart
and horses, and a load of corn. In this manner he journeyed from
place to place till he reached the frontiers. He stopped at
Rochambeau, in the Vendomais, where he was recognised by the Marshal
de Rochambeau, who to guard against exciting any suspicion among-
his servants, treated him as if he had really been a carman and said
to him, "You may dine in the kitchen."--Bourrienne.]--
The Hanseatic Towns, united to the Grand Empire professedly for their
welfare, soon felt the blessings of the new organisation of a
regenerating Government. They were at once presented with; the stamp-
duty, registration, the lottery, the droits reunis, the tax on cards, and
the 'octroi'. This prodigality of presents caused, as we may be sure,
the most lively gratitude; a tax for military quarters and for warlike
supplies was imposed, but this did not relieve any one from laving not
only officers and soldiers; but even all the chiefs of the administration
and their officials billeted on them: The refineries, breweries, and
manufactures of all sorts were suppressed. The cash chests of the
Admiralty, of the charity houses, of the manufactures, of the savings-
banks, of the working classes, the funds of the prisons, the relief meant
for the infirm, the chests of the refuges, orphanages; and of the
hospitals, were all seized.
More than 200,000 men, Italian, Dutch, and French soldiers came in turn
to stay there, but only to be clothed and shod; and then they left newly
clothed from head to foot. To leave nothing to be wished for, Davoust,
from 1812, established military commissions in all the thirty-second.
military division, before he entered upon the Russian campaign. To
complete these oppressive measures he established at the same time the
High Prevotal Court of the Customs. It was at this time that M. Eudes,
the director of the ordinary customs, a strict but just man, said that
the rule of the ordinary customs would be regretted, "for till now you
have only been on roses.." The professed judgments of this court were
executed without appeal and without delay. From what I have just said
the situation and the misery of the north of Germany, and the consequent
discontent, can be judged.
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