declaring for an independent Poland. He let it be known that he would
make such a proclamation if the Polish leaders would put 4o,ooo good
soldiers in the field. Meanwhile he sent Duroc on a mission to browbeat
or cajole the Prussians into signing the proposed peace treaty. He began
to proceed slowly through Poland. When the deputies of Poznan asked
him (on 19 November) if he would declare Polish independence, he gave
an evasive reply, stalling until he heard fr om Duroc. A week later he
heard from Duroc that his mission had failed. But still there was no
declaration. The Emperor finally revealed his hand to Murat on 6
December when he told his brother-in-law that he would not make such a
proclamation until he was sure the Poles were prepared to do the hard
work to sustain it. That meant 4o,ooo well-trained and organized men,
fu lly armed, led by a mounted nobility ready to sacrifice their lives in
battle instead of conspiring in coffee houses. Predictably, the leaders of
the Polish independence movement were dismayed. Kosciuszko noted
bitterly: 'He will not reconstitute Poland; he thinks only of himself and
he is a despot. His only aim is personal ambition.' Kosciuszko was right:
in his heart the Emperor had nothing but contempt fo r Polish national
aspirations though he was prepared to pose as the deliverer of the Polish
nation to win recruits for his armies.
Having convinced himself there was nothing substantial to hope for
from the Poles, Napoleon began intriguing with the Turks. On r
December he wrote to Selim III, Sultan of the Sublime Porte, suggesting
that this was the moment to strike against Islam's ancient enemy (Russia)
and so restore the former splendour of the Ottoman empire. This must
be read as part of a continuing obsession with turning the Russian flank,
manifest in the letters in this period from the Emperor to his marshals,
and the frustration he felt, openly admitted in correspondence with
Talleyrand, that the Russians were avoiding a battle. There is some
anxiety just below the surface in some of his billets doux to Josephine,
especially one on z December when he writes: 'It's raining but I'm all
right. I love you and desire you. These nights are long, all alone.'
To forestall the Russians Napoleon decided to occupy Russia and sent
instructions to Davout to meet him there with his corps. The Russian
General Bennigsen, playing Fabius to the Emperor's Hannibal, decided
not to oppose the French invasion of Poland and withdrew his army to
the banks of the Vistula. The prize for entering Warsaw first went, as
such prizes usually did, to the dashing Murat. But Napoleon was not yet
finished with the Russians. In December he tried to cut the Russian
communications by getting behind them to the river Narew. As a first
step he sent forces to seize the town of Pultusk. But this was exactly
marcin
(Marcin)
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