Rapp said it was impossible to imagine the embarrassment of Prince Liechtenstein whilst the Emperor was speaking.  He, however, somewhat regained his self-possession, and observed that, unless the conditions which he proposed were granted the army would not capitulate.  “If that be the case,” said Napoleon. “you may as well go back to Mack, for I will never grant such conditions.  Are you jesting with me?  Stay; here is the capitulation of Memingen—­show it to your General—­let him surrender on the same conditions—­I will consent to no others.  Your officers may return to Austria, but the soldiers must be prisoners.  Tell him to be speedy, for I have no time to lose.  The more he delays the worse he will render his own condition and yours.  To-morrow I shall have here the corps to which Memingen capitulated, and then we shall see what is to be done.  Make Mack clearly understand that he has no alternative but to conform to my will.”

The imperious tones which Napoleon employed towards his enemies almost always succeeded, and it produced the accustomed effect upon Mack.  On the same day that Prince Liechtenstein had been at our headquarters Mack wrote to the Emperor, stating that he would not have treated with any other on such terms; but that he yielded to the ascendency of Napoleon’s fortune; and on the following day Berthier was sent into Ulm, from whence he returned with the capitulation signed.  Thus Napoleon was not mistaken respecting the Caudine Forks of the Austrian army.  The garrison of Ulm marched out with what are called the honours of war, and were led prisoners into France.—­Bourrienne.]—­

Napoleon, who was so violently irritated by any obstacle which opposed him, and who treated with so much hauteur everybody who ventured to resist his inflexible will, was no longer the same man when, as a conqueror, he received the vanquished generals at Ulm.  He condoled with them on their misfortune; and this, I can affirm, was not the result of a feeling of pride concealed beneath a feigned generosity.  Although he profited by their defeat he pitied them sincerely.  How frequently has he observed to me, “How much to be pitied is a general on the day after a lost battle.”  He had himself experienced this misfortune when he was obliged to raise the siege of St. Jean d’Acre.  At that moment he would, I believe, have strangled Djezzar; but if Djezzar had surrendered, he would have treated him with the same attention which he showed to Mack and the other generals of the garrison of Ulm.  These generals were seventeen in number, and among them was Prince Liechtenstein.  There were also General Klenau (Baron de Giulay), who had acquired considerable military reputation in the preceding wars, and General Fresnel, who stood in a more critical situation than his companions in misfortune, for he was a Frenchman, and an emigrant.