The Poles had imagined that they were addressing the sovereign arbiter of the world, whose every word was a law, and whom no political compromise was capable of arresting.  They were unable to comprehend the cause of the circumspection of this reply.  They began to doubt the intentions of Napoleon; the zeal of some was cooled; the lukewarmness of others confirmed; all were intimidated.  Even those around him asked each other what could be the motives of a prudence which appeared so unseasonable, and with him so unusual.  “What, then, was the object of this war?  Was he afraid of Austria?  Had the retreat of the Russians disconcerted him?  Did he doubt his good fortune, or was he unwilling to contract, in the face of Europe, engagements which he was not sure of being able to fulfil?

“Had the coldness of the Lithuanians infected him? or rather, did he dread the explosion of a patriotism which he might not be able to master?  Was he still undecided as to the destiny he should bestow upon them?”

Whatever were his motives, it was obviously his wish that the Lithuanians should appear to liberate themselves; but as, at the same time, he created a government for them, and gave a direction to their public feeling, that circumstance placed him, as well as them, in a false position, wherein every thing terminated in errors, contradictions, and half measures.  There was no reciprocal understanding between the parties; a mutual distrust was the result.  The Poles desired some positive guarantees in return for the many sacrifices they were called upon to make.  But their union in a single kingdom not having been pronounced, the alarm which is common at the moment of great decisions increased, and the confidence which they had just lost in him, they also lost in themselves.  It was then that he nominated seven Lithuanians to the task of composing the new government.  This choice was unlucky in some points; it displeased the jealous pride of an aristocracy at all times difficult to satisfy.

The four Lithuanian provinces of Wilna, Minsk, Grodno, and Bialystok, had each a government commission and national sub-prefects.  Each commune was to have its municipality; but Lithuania was, in reality, governed by an imperial commissioner, and by four French auditors, with the title of intendants.

In short, from these, perhaps inevitable, faults, and from the disorders of an army placed between the alternative of famishing, or plundering its allies, there resulted a universal coolness.  The emperor could not remain blind to it; he had calculated on four millions of Lithuanians; a few thousands were all that joined him!  Their pospolite, which he had estimated at more than 100,000 men, had decreed him a guard of honour; only three horsemen attended him!  The population of Volhynia remained immoveable, and Napoleon again appealed from them to victory.  When fortunate, this coolness did not disturb him sufficiently; when unfortunate, whether through pride or justice, he did not complain of it.