When Count Haugwitz entered, Napoleon cast the pen impetuously aside and rose. He saluted the count, who bowed to him deeply and respectfully, with a pleasant nod.
"You are there," said the emperor, kindly, "and it is very lucky. I was extremely impatient to see you."
"Lucky?" asked Count Haugwitz, with the inimitable smile of a well- bred courtier. "Lucky, sire? It seems to me as though there were neither luck nor ill-luck in the world, nay; I am now more than ever convinced of it. Have not I heard men say more than a hundred times, 'He is lucky! he is lucky!' Since I have made the acquaintance of the great man who owes every thing to himself, I have become convinced that luck should not be taken into consideration, and that it is of no consequence."
Napoleon smiled. "You are a most adroit and well-bred cavalier and courtier," he said, "but it is a rule of wisdom for princes not to repose any confidence in the words of courtiers and flatterers, but always to translate them into the opposite sense. Therefore, I translate your words, too, into the contrary, and then they signify, 'It seems, unfortunately, as though luck had deserted us, and particularly the third coalition, forever, but still sticks to the colors of France.'"
"Oh, sire," exclaimed Count Haugwitz, in a tone of grievous reproach, "can your majesty really doubt my devotion and admiration?
Was I not the first man to congratulate your majesty, the indomitable chieftain, on the fresh laurels with which you had wreathed your heroic brow, even in the cold days of winter?"
"It is true," said Napoleon, "you did so, but your compliment was intended for others; fate, however, had changed its address.
[Footnote: The whole conversation is strictly in accordance with history.--Vide "Memoires in edits du Comte de Haugwitz," 1837.] Of your sincerity I have hitherto had no proofs whatever, but a great many of your duplicity; for, at all events, you have affixed your name to the treaty of Potsdam?"
"I have done so, and boast of it," said Count Haugwitz, quickly.
"A glance into the heart of Napoleon satisfied me that he who stands at the head of human greatness knew no higher aim than to give peace to mankind, and thus complete the great work which Providence has intrusted to him."
"Words, words!" said Napoleon. "Let me see actions at last. The instructions that were given to you before leaving Berlin have been annulled by the recent events in Moravia; we are agreed about this point. Now, you are a member of the Prussian cabinet. By sending you to me, the king has intrusted to you alone the welfare of his monarchy. We shall see, therefore, whether you will know how to profit by a rare, perhaps never-recurring opportunity, and to crown the work which Frederick II., notwithstanding his victories, left unfinished. Come hither and see."
He stepped rapidly to the table with the maps, and in obedience to a wave of his hand, Count Haugwitz glided, with his imperturbable smile, to his side.
"See here," exclaimed Napoleon, pointing at the map; "this is Silesia, your native country. The king does not rule over the whole of it, the Emperor of Austria still retaining a portion of it; but that splendid province ought to belong exclusively to Prussia. We will see and consider how far your southern frontier ought to be extended. Just follow my finger on the map; it will designate to you the new boundaries of Prussian Silesia." [Footnote: Napoleon's own words.--"Memoires inedits," p. 17.]
And Napoleon's forefinger passed, flashing like a dagger-point, across the map, and encircled the whole Austrian portion of Silesia, from Teschen to the Saxon frontier, and from the mountains of Yablunka to the point where the Riesengebirge disappears in Lusatia.
[Footnote: Ibid., p. 18.] "Well," he then asked, hastily, "would not such an arrangement round off your Silesian province in the most desirable manner?"
Count Haugwitz did not reply immediately, but continued gazing at the map. Napoleon's eagle glance rested on him for a moment, and then passed on to the busts of Maria Theresa and Frederick the Great.
"Oh," he exclaimed, with a triumphant smile, pointing to the bust of Frederick, "that great man would have accepted my proposition without any hesitation whatever."
"Sire," said Count Haugwitz, hesitatingly, "but that great woman, Maria Theresa, would not have permitted it so easily."
"But now," exclaimed Napoleon, "now there is no Maria Theresa to hinder the King of Prussia; now I am here, and I grant the whole of Silesia to your king if he will conclude a close alliance with me.
Consider well; can you be insensible of the glory which awaits you?"
And his eyes again pierced the embarrassed face of the count like two dagger-points.
"Sire," said Haugwitz, in a low voice, "your proposition is tempting, it is admirable; but as far as I know his majesty the king, I must?"
"Oh," said Napoleon, impatiently, "do not allude to the king and his person. We have nothing to do with that. You are minister, and it behooves you to fulfil the duties which your position demands from you, and to embrace the opportunity which will never return. One must be powerful, one can never be sufficiently so, believe me, and consider well before replying to me."
"But, perhaps, sire, it would be better for us to seek for aggrandizement on another side," said Haugwitz.