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Still, however, the cause of his animosity was an enigma which I was unable to guess, but I obtained its solution some time afterwards. General Driesen, who was the Governor of Mittau while Louis XVIII. resided in that town, came to Paris in 1814. I had been well acquainted with him in 1810 at Hamburg, where he lived for a considerable time.
I observed that if the King should one day return to France and act as the general advised he would not keep possession of his throne six months. Driesen then requested me to dictate a draft of a proclamation conformably with my ideas. This I consented to do on one condition, viz. that he would never mention my name in connection with the business, either in writing or conversation.
"MEINE HERREN," said Friedrich that night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you deserve rest. This day will bring the renown of your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest posterity." High and low had shone this day; especially these four: Ziethen, Driesen, Retzow, and above all Moritz of Dessau.
General Driesen looked forward with certainty to the return of the Bourbons to France, and in the course of our frequent conversations on his favourite theme he gradually threw off all reserve, and at length disclosed to me that he was maintaining a correspondence with the King.
Message to Madame de Bourrienne on the 20th of March Napoleon's nocturnal entrance into Paris General Becton sent to my family by Caulaincourt Recollection of old persecutions General Driesen Solution of an enigma Seals placed on my effects Useless searches Persecution of women Madame de Stael and Madame de Recamier Paris during the Hundred Days The federates and patriotic songs Declaration of the Plenipotentiaries at Vienna.
The truth is, that Alexander was ignorant even of the King's intention to go away until he heard from Baron von Driesen, Governor of Mittau, that he had actually departed. Having now stated the truth on this point I have to correct another error, if indeed it be only an error, into which some writers have fallen.
During the four years which intervened between my return to Paris and the downfall of the Empire it several times occurred to me that General Driesen had betrayed my secret, and on his very first visit to me after the Restoration, our conversation happening to turn on Hamburg, I asked him whether he had not disclosed what I wished him to conceal?
I observed that if the King should one day return to France and act as the general advised he would not keep possession of his throne six months. Driesen then requested me to dictate a draft of a proclamation conformably with my ideas. This I consented to do on one condition, viz. that he would never mention my name in connection with the business, either in writing or conversation.
General Driesen promised this, and then I dictated to him a draft which I would now candidly lay before the reader if I had a copy of it. I may add that in the different proclamations of Louis XVIII. I remarked several passages precisely corresponding with the draft I had dictated at Hamburg.
Message to Madame de Bourrienne on the 20th of March Napoleon's nocturnal entrance into Paris General Becton sent to my family by Caulaincourt Recollection of old persecutions General Driesen Solution of an enigma Seals placed on my effects Useless searches Persecution of women Madame de Stael and Madame de Recamier Paris during the Hundred Days The federates and patriotic songs Declaration of the Plenipotentiaries at Vienna.
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