'Good,' the Czar nodded. 'Then tomorrow we will talk again.' Picking up a silver hand-bell from his desk, he rang it. Chernicheff, who had been waiting outside, came in and escorted Roger back to the rooms that had been assigned to him. By then it was getting on for one o'clock in the morning. Well satisfied with the way things had gone, Roger got out of his clothes and tumbled into bed.
The following day was Sunday and, after attending service in the big, onion-domed Orthodox Cathedral, the Czar again sent for Roger. This time Alexander had with him Prince Adam Czartoryski and a secretary sitting at a small table, ready to take notes. Prince Adam, although a Pole, was the Czar's principal Minister and closest friend. He had travelled widely, twice made prolonged visits to England, and spoke English fluently.
Alexander was no fool and had evidently decided to make certain that Roger really was an Englishman and not an English-speaking Frenchman who, in fact, was devoted to Napoleon; so the interview opened by Czartoryski's asking him a series of questions about London's leading hostesses and clubs.
Somewhat amused, Roger, as a member of White's, was readily able to convince the Prince that he was well known in London society, and it soon transpired that they had numerous acquaintances in common, including Roger's closest friend,
Lord Edward Fitz-Deveril, known to his intimates as 'Droopy Ned'.
Fully satisfied, Alexander invited him to sit down and join them in a glass of wine, then began to question him about the French Army. Roger said that, to the best of his belief, it had numbered some seventy-five thousand men, only about half of whom were French; but the day-long conflict at Eylau had been so fierce that he thought it possible that dead, wounded and prisoners might well have reduced its effectives by a third or more.
At that the Czar smiled. 'We, too, suffered very heavily, but my domains are greater than those of France, Austria and Prussia put together. It takes many weeks for contingents mobilised in distant parts to reach the battle-front; but they are arriving daily. Moreover, I am shortly about to leave for Memel to confer with the King of Prussia, and I have good hopes that between us we will be able to put into the field an army considerably superior to that of the French.'
Roger shook his head. 'I would not count on it, Sire. Bonaparte's greatest assets are his organising ability and the speed with which he carries out his intentions. You may be certain that, within twelve hours of his having been checked at Eylau, his Chief of Staff was sending scores of couriers to every country now under French control—Poland, Hanover, the Confederation of the Rhine, Holland, Piedmont, Vcnetia, Dalmatia and Italy, as well as France—demanding the immediate despatch of reinforcements. It would not surprise me if he had not doubled his numbers by the time you engage him in another pitched battle.'
'Perhaps,' remarked Czartoryski. 'But most of his troops will be newly-conscripted, and of poor quality. From the conduct of certain regiments at Eylau and the prisoners we took there, it became evident to us that the Grande Armee is no longer the formidable force it was at Ulm and Austerlitz.'
'True, Prince,' Roger agreed. 'The foreign elements naturally resent having to go to war for the aggrandisement of France, and the French no longer display the elan that they did, except when under the eye of the Emperor or there is easy loot to be had. Most of them long to be done with campaigning, and return to their homes. That applies even to many of the Marshals. They would be only too glad to cease having to risk their lives and, instead, spend their remaining years enjoying their wealth and honours.'
The Czar took a pinch of snuff. 'They must be a most unusual body of men, and one cannot know too much about the personalities of enemy Generals. Tell me what you know of them.'
Roger smiled. 'The only thing they have in common, Sire, is their comparative youth, combined with long experience of war. Of those on the active list, if one excepts Berthier, the Emperor's Chief of Staff, and the dull Moncey, who is Chief of the Gendarmerie, their average age is a little over forty. They are a self-opinionated, quarrelsome lot and so bitterly jealous of one another that no lesser man than Napoleon could keep them in order. Massena is probably the most skilful of them; but when they were created Marshals in 1804 and a friend congratulated him, he exclaimed in disgust, "I see nothing to be pleased about—just one of fourteen." ' 'I thought he created eighteen,' interjected the Prince. 'There are, but four of them—Kellermann, Lefebvre, Perignon and Serurier—are only honorary Marshals, given the rank for their services in the Revolutionary wars. The Emperor's policy, as you may know, has been to overcome the antagonism of the most influential Jacobins who resented his making himself a monarch, by elevating them, too. Lannes, Augereau, Jourdan and Bernadotte were all red-hot Republicans, but have since come to heel. The last, although his worst enemy, he made Prince of Ponte Corvo, whereas most of the others he made only Dukes.'
'Whom would you say was the bravest of them?' asked the Czar.
'Ney, Lannes and Murat must share that honour, Sire. As a cavalry leader, Murat is incomparable. He leads every major charge himself, in uniforms he has designed, smothered in gold and jewels, and wearing a busby from which sprout white ostrich feathers a foot high.'
'And the most able?'
'Massena, Soult, Mortier and Davoust. When they were created, all the others sneered at Davoust's being included among them; but he has since more than justified it. At Auerstadt, without aid or direction from the Emperor, he won a great victory over an army more than twice the size of his corps, and since, so I have been told, he saved the French from defeat at Eylau. Perhaps I should include Berthier: not as a General, but in his own highly-specialised work. That big head of his is a living card index. He could tell you at any moment where every unit in the Army is, and how long it would take to move it from one place to another. As a Chief of Staff, he is incomparable.'
'You have not mentioned Bessieres or Brune.'
'Bessieres' promotion was also resented by the others, Sire, on account of his youth. But, as Commander of the Imperial Guard, with no disrespect to your own Household troops, he has made his corps probably the most formidable fighting force in Europe. As for Brune, he is a nonentity, and received his baton only because he defeated the English when they sent an expeditionary force to Holland, shortly before Napoleon got back from Egypt. But any bonehead could have out-generalled a man as stupid as our Duke of York.'
'What of those who were passed over?' enquired the Prince. 'From what I have heard, Marmont, Macdonald, Suchet, Victor and Junot seem to have proved just as able as several of the others.'
Roger laughed. 'The rage they displayed for weeks had to be seen to be believed. Mortier was made virtual Viceroy in Dalmatia, and why he did not get his baton I cannot think. Macdonald, Suchet and Victor also deserved theirs for their fine performances in Italy. But Junot, no. Napoleon realised that he would be hopeless as a corps commander; but he never forgets his old friends, and Junot practically kept him years ago when he had very little money, so he consoled him by making him Military Governor of Paris.'
They talked on for another hour about Napoleon's military campaigns and his ability as an administrator. At length, the Czar said, 'Upstart though he may be, I cannot but admire the man for the way in which he has restored France from a state of anarchy to good order, and in his new code of law he has embodied many benefits that I should like to grant to my own people. For obvious reasons, Mr. Brook, I must continue to treat you as a prisoner; but as soon as I can, I will arrange an exchange for you, and I have good hopes that in the months to come you will find means to convey to me information about Napoleon's intentions, that will prove of value.'