The day succeeding this famous concert, the treaty of peace between the
three sovereigns was signed, and his Majesty made a visit to the Emperor
Alexander, who received him at the head of his guard. The Emperor
Napoleon asked his illustrious ally to show him the bravest grenadier of
this handsome and valiant troop; and when he was presented to his
Majesty, he took from his breast his own cross of the Legion of Honor,
and fastened it on the breast of the Muscovite soldier, amid the
acclamations and hurrahs of all his comrades. The two Emperors embraced
each other a last time on the banks of the Niemen, and his Majesty set
out on the road to Koenigsberg.

At Bautzen the King of Saxony came out to meet him, and their Majesties
entered Dresden together. King Frederick Augustus gave a most
magnificent reception to the sovereign who, not content with giving him a
scepter, had also considerably increased the hereditary estates of the
elector of Saxony. The good people of Dresden, during the week we passed
there, treated the French more as brothers and compatriots than as
allies.

But it was nearly ten months since we had left Paris; and in spite of all
the charms of the simple and cordial hospitality of the Germans, I was
very eager to see again France and my own family.




CHAPTER III.

It was during the glorious campaign of Prussia and Poland that the