Napoleon listened attentively to these prophetic words, showing surprise
and emotion; then he fell into a profound reflection, but at the end of his
revery, having enumerated once more his armies, all his people, he said:
"Bah! a good battle will bring to reason the good determination of your
friend Alexander."
And in his entourage there were many who shared his optimism. The brilliant
youth of that new aristocracy which had begun to fill his staff was anxious
to equal the old soldiers of the revolution, the plebeian heroes.
They prepared for war in a luxurious way and ordered sumptuous outfits and
equipages which later on encumbered the roads of Germany, just as the
carriages of the Prussian army had done in 1806.
These French officers spoke of the Russian campaign as a six months'
hunting party.
Napoleon had calculated not to occupy the country between the Vistula and
the Niemen before the end of May, when the late spring of those regions
would have covered the fields with green, so that the 100 thousand horses
marching with the army could find feed.
He traversed Germany between a double lane of kings, and princes bowed in
an attitude of adoration.
He found them at Mainz, at Wuerzburg, at Bamberg, and his advance might be
compared to the royal progress of an Asiatic potentate.
Whole populations were turned out to salute him, and during the night the
route over which the imperial carriages passed was illuminated by lighted
piles of wood--an extensive line of fire in his honor.
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