Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia

by L. Mühlbach

  CHAPTER VI.

  THE FAITHFUL PEOPLE OF STETTIN.

  The hope of the queen had not been fulfilled. Her children had leftStettin an hour before she reached the city.

  "I shall immediately continue my journey," said she, resolutely.

  "Your majesty, I beseech you to remain here," said Madame von Berg. "Youhave scarcely had any sleep for the last three nights; last night youdid not leave the carriage at all, and hardly took any food. Oh, thinkof the king, of your children, and economize your strength! Take somerest."

  "Rest!" repeated the queen, with a melancholy smile. "There will be,perhaps, no more rest for me on earth! My heart is filled withgrief--how, then, can I sleep? But you have reminded me of my husband,of my children, and you are right; I must live for them. Therefore, Iwill stop here for an hour and take some refreshment, in order not togive way under the heavy burden weighing down my mind. Come, we willalight and go into the house."

  Madame von Berg made a sign to the footman to open the coach door, andfollowed Louisa into the royal villa, to the rooms usually occupied bytheir majesties during their visits to Stettin. "When I was last in thisroom," whispered the queen, "the king and the crown prince were with me.There was nothing but joy in my heart. I was a happy wife, a happymother, and a happy queen! And, to-day, what am I?" She heaved aprofound sigh, and, sinking down on the sofa, pressed her face upon thecushions. "Into what an abyss I have been hurled from my heaven!" shemurmured in a low voice. "Once a happy sovereign--now a poor, fleeingwoman, who can excite only pity. Oh, mother, mother, God be praised thatyou do not behold my distress!" She clasped her hands, and her tremblinglips whispered prayers to heaven. Her large blue eyes were raised withan expression of fervent supplication, and tears rolled like pearls overher cheeks. She sat a long while pondering over her misfortunes, andshuddering at the prospects of the future.

  Finally, Madame von Berg ventured to approach and arouse her from hermeditation.

  "Your majesty," she said, in an imploring voice, "you promised to takerest, for the sake of the king and of your children. Remember the burdenof care weighing down the heart of his majesty. Remember that his griefwould be more intense if he should see your eyes reddened with weeping,and find you prostrated in your distress."

  "He shall not see it," said Louisa. "In his presence I will conceal mytears, and seem hopeful and courageous. Let me, therefore, now at least,pour out my overwhelming sorrow, for tears are the only consolation ofthe afflicted. When I am with my husband once more, I shall try tosmile, and only weep in secret. Are you now satisfied, my faithfulfriend?"

  "Your majesty had graciously promised me to take some refreshment, butthe footman has long since announced that dinner is ready."

  "Come, Caroline, we will eat," said the queen, rising hastily, andlaying her hand on her friend's shoulder.

  She kept her word, and did eat a little, trying to become more cheerfulby conversing with Madame von Berg about her children and herapproaching reunion with her husband.

  "Believe me, Caroline," she then said gravely, "it is not vanity andlonging for worldly splendor that causes me to bewail our presenttrouble. For my part, I would gladly lead a private life, and becontented in retirement and obscurity, if I could only see my husbandand my children happy at my side. But the king is not allowed to be asother men are--merely a husband and father; he must think of his people,of his state, and of his royal duties. He is not at liberty to lay downhis crown any more than we to destroy voluntarily the life we havereceived from God. 'With it or on it,' said the heroic mothers of Spartato their sons, when delivering to them the shield with which they wentinto battle. And thus the king's ancestors, who have bequeathed thecrown to him, call from their graves: 'With it, or buried under it!' Itis the inheritance of his fathers, which he must leave to his children;he must fight for it, and either triumph or perish with it. That is thereason why I weep, and see nothing but years of disaster and bloodshedin store for me. Prussia must not make peace with Napoleon; she mustnot, in hypocritical friendship, give her hand to him who is her mortalenemy. She must remain faithful to the alliance which her king has swornon the coffin of Frederick the Great to maintain; and France will resentthis constancy as though it were a crime. But, in spite of her anger, wemust not recede; we must advance on our path if we do not wish to losealso our honor, and if history is not to mention the name of FrederickWilliam III. in terms of reproach. Germany hopes that Prussia will saveher--the whole of Europe expects us to do our duty to the fatherland,and this duty is to wage war against the tyrant who wants to subjugateGermany, and transform her into a French province--to resist him as longas we have an inch of territory or a drop of blood in our veins! See, myfriends, such are the thoughts that move my heart so profoundly, andcause me to weep. I clearly foresee the great misfortunes that willcrush us in case we should proceed on the path which we have entered,but I am not allowed to wish that Prussia should turn back, for we maybe permitted to be unfortunate, but never to act dishonorably. And Iknow these to be the king's views, too--he--but hark, what is that?" sheinterrupted herself. "Did it not sound as if a noisy crowd wereapproaching? The tumult draws nearer and nearer! If they are Frenchsoldiers, I am lost!" She rushed to the window, and looked anxiouslydown on the street. A vast multitude approached, yelling with rage, andthreatening with their hands a pale, trembling man walking between twoothers who had seized him, and whose eyes closely watched every motionhe made. That man was Cabinet-Counsellor Lombard, who, on his escapefrom Berlin, had safely reached Stettin.

  Just as he was about entering his carriage, in order to leave the lattercity, a few of the bystanders recognized and detained him. Those whowere in the streets soon gathered around and curiously looked on duringhis altercation with the men who had stopped him.

  Suddenly one of them turned to the crowd and exclaimed in a loud voice:"Do not permit this fellow to depart. It is Lombard, the Frenchman, thetraitor; he has assuredly come to Stettin in order to prevent the queenfrom continuing her journey, or to inform the enemy whither she isgoing. Let us arrest him, that he may not betray her!"

  "Yes, yes, arrest him; do not release him until long after the queen'sdeparture," cried the people. Threatening men surrounded the traitor onall sides, and anxiously scanned his pale, cowardly face.

  "Let me go, kind friends, let me go!" begged Lombard, and now all hisarrogance and haughtiness had disappeared. "You do me the greatestinjustice; I am a faithful servant of the king, and have come to Stettinin order to wait on her majesty, and to offer my services to her."

  "He lies! he lies!" said those who had recognized him. "Let us go withhim to the royal villa; the queen is there. If she wants to see him, shewill order him to be admitted; if not, he shall witness her departure."

  "Yes, he shall witness her departure," exclaimed the rest approvingly;"let us go to the royal villa!"

  Dragged, pushed, and carried along, Lombard arrived, followed bythousands, at the royal residence, which was situated at the lower endof Broad Street, near the parade-grounds.

  The carriage and horses stood in front of the house, and every thing wasready for the queen's departure. But Louisa was still at the window, andlooked from behind the curtains down on the vast mass which filled thewhole street. Suddenly she uttered a low cry; and hastily placing herhand on her friend's shoulder, she pointed to the street. "Look," shewhispered, trembling, "look! there is the evil demon who has done somuch to bring about the present calamities of our country; it isLombard, my most dangerous, nay, I must say, my only enemy! He hates me,because he knows that I distrusted him, and asked the king for hisdismission. He has dealt treacherously with Prussia--I know and feel it,and felt convinced of it long before this time. The presence of this manproves that some new calamity is menacing me, for he is plotting myruin. I wonder what brought him here?"

  "Let me go!" cried Lombard just then, in a loud and ringing voice. "Letme go! I will and must see the queen!"

  "See me?" said Louisa, in terror. "No, I will not
see him; I havenothing to do with him."

  In her excitement, and anxious to see what would occur, she came forthfrom behind the curtain, and appeared in full view at the window. Thepeople greeted her with loud cheers, and then turned their eyes againtoward Lombard. He had also seen her, and now raised his hands in asuppliant manner, saying: "Oh, I beseech your majesty, call me up toyour room! I have come to offer my services and to communicate importantnews. Grant me an audience!"

  But she did not stir; she had apparently not heard his words, and hereyes, usually so gentle, now looked gloomy and angry.

  "The queen does not call him!" exclaimed hundreds of voices on thestreet. "She does not want to have any thing to do with him! He is atraitor."

  "What have I done, then, kind friends, that you should call me atraitor?" asked Lombard. "State the crimes you charge me with, so that Imay justify myself!"

  "We will state them to you!" said the men who had detained him and whowere wealthy and highly-esteemed merchants of Stettin.

  "Yes, yes, Mr. Grunert, and Mr. Pufahl, state his crimes to him, andprove to him that he is a traitor!"

  "We will; be quiet and listen!" replied Mr. Grunert.

  "The people are going to sit in solemn judgment over him," whispered thequeen; "they will ferret out his crimes and punish him for them!"

  Breathless silence reigned now. A chair was brought from one of theadjoining houses, and Lombard compelled to mount on it, so that everyone might be able to see him. It was a strange sight, that of histottering, feeble form, with a pale and terror-stricken face, risingabove the crowd, whose eyes were all turned toward him, and who castglances like daggers at him.

  "He is a traitor, and I will prove it to him," repeated Mr. Grunert,closely approaching Lombard. "In 1803, when the king sent him toBrussels to negotiate with Bonaparte, about an honorable peace betweenPrussia and France, he allowed himself to be bribed. He exercised aninfluence humiliating and disadvantageous to us; but Bonaparte bribedhim by paying him the sum of six thousand _Napoleons d'or_. Deny it ifyou can!"

  "I deny it," replied Lombard. "It is true, I suffered myself to be dupedby that monster for a moment. When I saw Bonaparte in 1803 in Brussels,he managed to inspire me with confidence in his magnanimity andgreatness of character. But the deception did not last long, and soon Iperceived that this incarnate fiend would not stop in his career untilhe had destroyed all existing thrones and states.[11] But I deny everhaving received money from him--I deny ever having accepted anypresents from him. And the best proof of it is that I have not anyproperty whatever, but I am as poor as a church mouse. My wife hasscarcely a decent parlor for the reception of her friends; and as formyself, a plain arm-chair and a tobacco-pipe were always the goal of mywishes."

  [Footnote 11: Lombard's own words.--Vide Gentz's "Miscellanies," vol.ii., p. 194.]

  "You are poor, because you squander at the gaming-table and in secretorgies what you obtain by your intrigues," said Grunert, sternly. "Yourpoverty does not absolve you, for it is the direct consequence of yourdissipated life. You are a traitor. It was owing to your machinations inthe interest of Napoleon that our army, last year, when it ought to havetaken the field with the Austrian and Russian forces against France, wasplaced so late on the war-footing, and finally returned to its garrisonswithout having drawn the sword. You are to blame for the disgracefultreaty of Vienna, for Count Haugwitz is merely a tool in your hands. Yourule over him. You laughed and rejoiced when the treaty of Vienna hadbeen concluded, for you are a descendant of the French colony of Berlin,and you have no heart for the honor of Germany and Prussia."

  "He is a traitor!" cried the people; "do not let him go! Detain him! Heshall not betray the queen!"

  The crowd approached Lombard in the most menacing manner, and were aboutto drag him from his chair, but Grunert and Pufahl warded them off, andprotected him with their broad and vigorous bodies.

  "You do not yet know all he has done," exclaimed Mr. Pufahl, in apowerful voice. "I will tell you about the last and most infamousinstance of his treachery. It is his fault that we lost the battle ofJena--his fault alone."

  "What am I to hear?" whispered Louisa.

  Perfectly beside herself, she approached closer to the window, andlistened in breathless suspense to every word that was uttered.

  "Well, let me tell you what Lombard has done," added Mr. Pufahl. "In themiddle of last month our king sent Lieutenant-Colonel von Krusemark withan autograph letter to St. Petersburg, in which he informed the czarthat he intended to declare war against France, and requested the latterto send him the assistance that had been agreed upon between them.Lieutenant-Colonel von Krusemark was accompanied by a single footmanonly, whom he had taken into his service for this special purpose, andwho had been warmly recommended to him. During the whole journey thecolonel kept the dispatches on his bare breast. It was only when he hadarrived at St. Petersburg that he laid them for a little while upon thetable, in order to change his dress, and deliver them immediately to theczar. The servant was engaged in arranging his clothes. M. von Krusemarkwent for a minute into an adjoining room, and when he returned, thefootman had disappeared with the dispatches. All the efforts made byKrusemark and the police to recover the important papers were fruitless.They found neither them nor the servant. Krusemark, therefore, had tosend a courier to Berlin, and ask for new instructions. This caused adelay of several weeks, in consequence of which the Russian army wasunable to be here in time to join our troops and assist them inattacking the French. We would not have lost the battle of Jena, if theking's dispatches had been delivered to the Emperor of Russia at anearlier moment, and if his army had set out in time for the seat of war.We would not have lost the battle, if the dispatches had not beenstolen. Now listen to what I am going to tell you: _That footman hadbeen recommended by Lombard to Lieutenant-Colonel von Krusemark, and wasa near relative of the former_!"

  "He is a traitor!" cried the people, "it is his fault that we lost thebattle of Jena! But he shall atone for it! Woe to the traitor!"

  "Oh, your majesty!" exclaimed Madame von Berg, in terror, "just see! thefurious men are dragging him from his chair. They will assassinate him.Have mercy on him and save his life!"

  "Yes," said the queen, stepping back from the window, "yes, I willprotect him, but I will also protect myself."

  And hurrying across the apartment, she opened the door of the anteroom,where the major of the garrison of Stettin and a few staff-officers wereassembled.

  "Major," said she, in a commanding voice, "hasten down-stairs, andarrest Cabinet-Counsellor Lombard. Take him to the guard-house, whereyou will detain him until the king sends you further orders. I willreport in person to his majesty what I commanded you to do."

  It was high time to interfere, in order to save Lombard's life. Theenraged people had already thrown him down, and, regardless of thesupplications of the two merchants, commenced belaboring himunmercifully, when the major appeared with a few soldiers and policeofficers.

  "Order! order!" he called in a loud voice. "Order, in the name of thequeen!"

  The noise immediately died away; and those who had already seizedLombard turned around and stepped respectfully aside to let the majorpass.

  "In the name of the queen," he repeated, placing his hand on Lombard'sshoulder, and assisting him to rise, "I arrest you, Cabinet-CounsellorLombard! You will accompany me to the guard-house."

  But Lombard, unable to stand, had sunk down on the chair, half dead withterror.

  "You see, sir, I am unable to accompany you," he groaned, faintly, "Icannot walk."

  "My soldiers will carry you, then," said the major; making a sign tothem, he added, "Take the prisoner in your arms, and carry him to theguard-house."

  Amid the loud applause of the crowd the order was immediately obeyed.The soldiers seized Lombard, and started off with him. A large numberfollowed, laughing and deriding him, and congratulating each other thattheir queen would now be able to continue her journey uninterruptedly,as the traitor had been a
rrested.

  After reaching the guard-house, M. Lombard was locked up in one of thecommon cells, but the major dared not condemn the influential andpowerful friend of Minister von Haugwitz to lie on the hard bench of thecriminals, and to eat the ordinary prisoner's fare. He, therefore, sentto the first hotel in Stettin, and requested the landlord to furnishLombard with bedding and food, and to send both immediately. But thesoldiers returned without having obtained either one or the other.

  "Well, will the landlord send the articles?" asked the major.

  "No, sir," was the reply; "the landlord declined doing so. He said, hewould not furnish a traitor with any thing, no matter what price heoffered him."

  The major tried in vain to look angry. The reply pleased him just asmuch as the chastisement inflicted on Lombard by the people had pleasedhim previously.

  "Then go to another landlord," he said, "and make the same request ofhim. If he should also decline complying with it, go to a third. Inshort, go and find a landlord who is willing to send bedding and food toCabinet-Counsellor Lombard."

  The people, who had gathered in front of the guard-house, heard thewords of the soldiers as well as the renewed order of the major, andaccompanied them to find a landlord willing to furnish bedding and foodfor the traitor.

  An hour elapsed before they returned, still accompanied by the crowd,whose numbers had vastly increased. The major was in Lombard's cell, andhad left orders for the soldiers to report to him there. He anticipated,perhaps, the answer they would bring back to him, and wished theprisoner to hear it.

  He who had hitherto sat at tables laden with delicacies and slept onlyon silken beds--the epicurean and sensual spendthrift--lay on the hardwooden bench, groaning with pain and terror, when the soldiers enteredhis cell. The major stood at the window, and drummed on the panes.

  "Well," he said, "do you at length come, and bring bedding and food forM. Lombard? But why did you tarry so long, you lazy fellows? Did you notknow that until your return he would have to lie on the bench here likea common felon?"

  "We could not return at an earlier time, sir," replied they. "We havegone from hotel to hotel; we have informed all the landlords in Stettinof your orders, and requested them to furnish Cabinet-Counsellor Lombardwith bedding and food. But all of them made the same reply--all of themanswered: 'Tell the major that I shall not comply with his orders. Iwill not furnish a traitor with any thing!'"

  "Oh!" groaned Lombard; "then they want me to die with my sick, bruisedbody on the hard boards here!"

  "No!" exclaimed the major, "I will obtain another couch for you. I willimmediately go to the governor and procure an order from him that willcompel the hotel-keepers to furnish you with the necessary articles."

  Half an hour afterward he returned to Lombard, who had meanwhile vainlytried to sleep.

  "Now, sir," said the major, "your wishes will soon be fulfilled. Thegovernor has ordered the proprietor of the hotel _Zum Kronprinzen_,under pain of severe punishment, to furnish you with all necessaries,and I have sent some of my men to him with this written order. They willdoubtless speedily return."

  A few minutes later, in fact, the door opened, and the soldiers carrieda bed into the cell; two others followed with smoking dishes.

  "Well," said the major, "then the landlord of the hotel that I sent youto has no longer refused to give you the required articles? Thegovernor's order had a good effect."

  "Yes, sir, it had a good effect. But the proprietor of the hotel _ZumKronprinzen_ sends word to you, that inasmuch as the governor had issuedso stringent an order, nothing remained for him but to obey; but as soonas he should be compelled no longer to furnish M. Lombard with anything, he would smash the dishes and plates from which the cabinetcounsellor had eaten, and burn the bedding on which he had slept."

  M. Lombard had apparently not heard these mortifying words. Assisted byhis footman, who had been sent for, he hastily rose, and sat down at thetable to dinner.

  In the evening the major repaired with a few officers to the hotel, andinquired for the landord.

  He came in, somewhat confused, and convinced that the major wouldcensure him for his conduct. The latter, however, went to meet him, and,with a kindly smile, offered him his hand. "Sir," he said, "thesegentlemen and I have taken it upon ourselves to express to you, in thename of all our comrades, our delight at the brave and manly reply youmade to-day, when compelled to furnish Lombard, the traitor, with foodand bedding. The officers of the garrison have resolved to board withyou, for we deem it an honor to be the guests of so patriotic a man."