"
"Ah, in Prenzlau!" exclaimed Napoleon. "The gates have opened to him,
then! Give me your dispatches, and then go and take rest. I see you
stand in need of it!"
"Sire, I have been ten hours on horseback, and have just dismounted."
"Breakfast shall be served you. Apply for it to the _valet de chambre_
in the anteroom. Go!"
The courier had not yet closed the door of the cabinet after him, when
Napoleon opened the dispatches, and rapidly glanced over their contents.
With a proud, triumphant smile he turned toward Talleyrand. "I was right
in saying that we ought to delay the definite conclusion of peace," he
said; "we shall now be able to impose more onerous conditions on
Prussia, and she will have to submit to them. The Grand-duke of Berg has
sent me excellent news. The corps of the Prince von Hohenlohe has
capitulated near Prenzlau. The Prussian army exists no more. Ten
thousand men, with three hundred and twenty-five officers, about two
thousand horses, and fifty-four field-pieces, have been captured by our
forces. Ten thousand men! Now, if ever I should live to see the disgrace
of such a surrender of any of my own corps, I would make peace with the
enemy for the sole purpose of recovering my captured troops, and of
having the miserable officers shot who entered into such a capitulation.
Ten thousand men, and three hundred officers! Truly, my brother the
King of Prussia is unlucky, and I am sure the beautiful queen will
bitterly repent of her hatred against me.
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