Napoleon's Dangerous Charm Offensive — War and Peace

After the bursts of anger and the dry dismissal, Balashëv is convinced Napoleon will avoid another meeting with an insulted envoy who has witnessed unseemly rage. To his surprise, Duroc brings an invitation to dine that day. Bessières, Caulaincourt, and Berthier are present. Napoleon meets him cheerfully, shows no constraint or self-reproach, and tries to reassure him. It is evident he has long been convinced he cannot err: whatever he does is right because he did it.

He is in very good spirits after a ride through Vílna, where crowds followed him, rugs and monograms hung from windows, and Polish ladies waved handkerchiefs. At dinner he places Balashëv beside him as if the Russian were one of his own courtiers who ought to rejoice at his success. He questions him about Moscow not as a traveler but as if a Russian must be flattered by the curiosity: how many inhabitants, how many houses, is it called Holy Moscow, how many churches? More than two hundred. Why such a quantity? The Russians are very devout. A large number of churches, Napoleon remarks to Caulaincourt, is always a sign of backwardness. Balashëv respectfully disagrees: every country has its character; besides Russia there is Spain. The hint at recent French defeats is much appreciated later at Alexander's court and unnoticed here; the marshals' faces say that if there is a point they do not see it. Napoleon naïvely asks the direct road to Moscow. Balashëv, on the alert, answers that all roads lead there, among them the road through Poltáva, which Charles XII chose. He flushes with pleasure; Caulaincourt is already talking of the badness of the Petersburg road.

After dinner, coffee in the study that four days before was Alexander's. Napoleon toys with a Sèvres cup, smiles at the strangeness of occupying that room, and cannot understand why Alexander surrounds himself with his personal enemies. Has he not thought that Napoleon may do the same? Let him know that he will: Württemberg, Baden, and Weimar relations driven from Germany, an asylum prepared in Russia. Why has Alexander taken command? War is Napoleon's profession; a monarch's business is to reign. Then, as if doing something not merely important but pleasing, he raises his hand to the forty-year-old general's face and pulls his ear gently, the greatest mark of favour at the French court. Well, adorer of Alexander, why say nothing? Let him have one of Napoleon's horses; he has a long way to go. The letter Balashëv takes is the last Napoleon sends. Every detail is communicated to the Russian monarch, and the war begins.