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Napoleon was compelled to remain, attending in person tothe anxious deliberations. Every hour lost, at that season,was pregnant with consequences to the operations of thecoming campaign, when all depended on the seasons.
It was not till the 9th of May, 1812, that Napoleon leftParis. The Emperor of Austria , the Kings of Prussia,Bavaria, Wirtemburg, Westphalia, Saxony , and a crowd ofprinces, met him on his way to pay him homage. All thesole and real aim of Napoleon was, to oblige the Emperorof Russia to shut his ports to the English , and sincerelyjoin him in his “ Continental system.” “ After which,” hesaid confidingly to Murat, “ the British government willfeel the policy of making peace with me upon the solid,durable, and advantageous basis of mutual concessions, andcommercial exchange.”*
A conference at Dresden gave some hopes of peace, butit was only a plan of Alexander’s to allow the summer toslip away. Napoleon pushed on his armies towards theNiemur. On the 28th of April, King Joachim left Naplesfor Dresden , after naming his queen regent of the kingdom.He took with him, or rather contributed to the imperialforces, two thousand of his guard, and eight thousandtroops of the line, infantry, cavalry, and artillery.
The numbers of the grand invading army have beenexaggerated, but they certainly were greater than any thatNapoleon had commanded at one time. One hundred andsixty thousand veteran French , and one hundred and seventy-six thousand allies, of whom, by far the most efficient por-tion were the Italians of the army of the kingdom of Italy,about sixty-four thousand men of all arms, commandedby Prince Eugene Beauharnais, son of the ex-EmpressJosephine .
* These very words I had from Murat, when one day in confidentialconverse with him.