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 Madame de stael and napoleon bonaparte. 271 French army, as war material of which the Elector has no need. . . . Use as many forms, as many ceremonies, as many politenesses, as you please ; but the main point is, to take possession of everything, especially war material, under pretext that the Elector has no longer need of such things." The only offence of the Elector of Saxony was, that in a war which threatened the independence of every German State, he had sided with the power with which he was most intimately bound. Nine days after the battle of Jena, Napoleon issued an order for taking possession of Berlin, preparatory to his own formal entry. The follow- ing passage occurs in this order : " As his Majesty expects to make his entry into Ber- lin, you can provisionally receive the keys. But give the magistrates to understand, that they will not the less place them in the hands of the Emperor, when he shall make his entry. But you are to exact, that the magis- trates and chief men of the city shall come to receive you at the city gates, with all suitable forms." Prussia, in fact, was spared neither penalty nor humilia- tion. In relating these scenes, in the bulletins pub- lished in the Moniteur for the entertainment of Paris, the Emperor took a tone of lightness and humor ; telling comic anecdotes and describing current caricatures, very much in the style of " Our Own Correspondent," when, in the intervals of conflict, he relates the gossip of the camp. He tells the Parisians how pleasant he found the royal palaces of Prussia, particularly Potsdam ; describing the apartments of the great Frederick, and making merry upon the Queen of Prussia, " who left the care of her household, and the grave business of the toilet, to mingle in' affairs of state, to mislead the King, and to communi- cate in every direction the fire of which she was herself possessed." Nothing softened this conqueror, so gay and