Eylau: Precis Des Travaux de la Grande Armée
Senate Proceedings: 17 February 1807
Official details of all that occurred in the Senate, at the meeting of February 17.
Today at midday, pursuant to the orders of H. M. the Emperor and King, H. A. S. Mgr. the prince arch-chancellor of the Empire, went to the Senate, where, after being received with the usual ceremony, he began the meeting and said:
“SIRS,
I bring to you, in the name of H. M. the Emperor and King, two treaties concluded with the king of Saxony and the princes from his house and a report from the minister of foreign relations, that H. M. wanted to be given to you as communication.
“The letter addressed by H. M. to the senate, and of which you will hear the reading, will explain to you the reasons for these diplomatic transactions.
“It will make known to you also the need for the resolve taken by H. M., according to the situation of the Ottoman Empire, whose independence is threatened by an ambitious neighbor, and whose preservation primarily relates to is security of Europe. If the significant considerations exposed in the report of the minister appear to by necessity differ from the re-establishment of peace some times, it is that this same peace cannot be worthy of the French people and the great vision of H. M., that as far as it will be glorious for the Empire; that as far as it will ensure her a durable prosperity, by providing a guarantee to the other powers against the ambition of Russia, whose progress always increasing must excite serious attention.
“The recent successes of the arms of H. M., those which still await them, brings neither obstacle, nor delay in the consummation of this desirable work.
“I already had, Sirs, told you the statement, and I enjoy to repeat it. The Emperor wants peace, he offers it, he seeks it. However, he wants it only on conditions of which he will not be separated from, awaiting until they are prescribed to him by the feeling of his glory, the councils of his precaution and his righteous solicitude for the good of his Empire.
“The confidence that a higher genius than all the obstacles inspires does not exclude the painful feeling caused by the absence from H. M. But, while most highly resentful of this deprivation, it is softened for the habitants of the town of Paris to have received a new mark of the affection of our Sovereign, by the return to this large city of his cherished partner.
“The presence of our majestic Empress, will be at all the times for the French, one that predicts happiness and a source of consolation.
H. A. S. then deposited on the desk the pieces that he was to communicate, and whose reading was made in the following order:
Of our imperial camp of Warsaw, January 29, 1807.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy.
We issued and issue what follows:
The Senate will meet the 17th of the month of next February in the usual place of its assembly, under the presidency of our cousin the arch-chancellor of the Empire.
Signed, NAPOLEON.
By the Emperor,
The minister Secretary of State, Signed, H. B MARET.
[ Military Index | Battles Index | More on “Precis Des Travaux de la Grande Armee” ]
© Copyright 1995-2012, The Napoleon Series, All Rights Reserved.