in his sledge only Caulaincourt as company and a small escort, for they
were now in supposedly friendly territory. The temperature was -zso F
and Napoleon, whose penchant for hot baths and roaring fires was well
known, complained of the cold. Caulaincourt remembered how their
breath froze on the lips and how small icicles fo rmed under the nose, on
the eyebrows and round the eyelids. The Emperor kept going over and
over the details of the campaign he had just lost, wondering at what
points he should have done things differently. Occasionally Caulaincourt
would interrupt the litany of 'if onlys' to tell the Emperor a few home
truths about the unpopularity of the imperial regime, the high taxes,
suppression of liberties and general bitterness about nepotism and
favouritism. Napoleon took the criticism well, smiled occasionally and,
when Caulaincourt expressed himself forcefully, tried to pinch his ear;
unable to find it under the snowcap, he tweaked his neck and cheek
instead.
On 10 December they reached Warsaw, where the Emperor thought it
safe enough to abandon his incognito. He summoned the French
ambassador, the Abbe Pradt, and treated him to another sermon on the
Russian campaign. He ended by asking Pradt sharply where were the
IO,ooo Polish cavalry he had been promised. Pradt replied that there was
no money, whereat Napoleon lost his temper and accused him of
defeatism. According to Caulaincourt he repeated obsessively the line
about 'from the sublime to the ridiculous'. Continuing the journey that
evening, he and Caulaincourt arrived in Posan on 12 December. This was
the first town which had secure communications with France, so
Napoleon was able to read a stack of letters. The ones that pleased him
most were from Marie-Louise, reporting the progress of their son. He
beamed, read some extracts to Caulaincourt and said: 'Haven't I got a
good wife?'
The 13th of December, as he sped across northern Germany, saw
Napoleon at his oddest. He discussed his career and personality with his
companion as if they were talking dispassionately about a third party.
Caulaincourt thought him a man who had lost touch with reality. He
seemed unaware of the scale of his losses and fu ll of self-delusion and
unrealistic plans for the future. His mood swings were violent. One
moment he would be complaining, rightly, that far too many people had
taken advantage of him. Next moment he would be roaring with laughter
at the conceit that the Prussians might ambush them and deliver them
over to the British, to be exhibited in London in an iron cage. Those who
hold that Napoleon was the great existentialist like to cite this sleigh-ride,
marcin
(Marcin)
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