The arrival of Baron Sprengporten at Paris caused great satisfaction among the partisans of the Consular Government, that is to say, almost every one in Paris.  M. Sprengporten was a native of Swedish Finland.  He had been appointed by Catherine chamberlain and lieutenant-general of her forces, and he was not less in favour with Paul, who treated him in the most distinguished manner.  He came on an extraordinary mission, being ostensibly clothed with the title of plenipotentiary, and at the same time appointed confidential Minister to the Consul.  Bonaparte was extremely satisfied with the ambassador whom Paul had selected, and with the manner in, which he described the Emperor’s gratitude for the generous conduct of the First Consul.  M. Sprengporten did not conceal the extent of Paul’s dissatisfaction with his allies.  The bad issue, he said, of the war with France had already disposed the Czar to connect himself with that power, when the return of his troops at once determined him.

We could easily perceive that Paul placed great confidence in M. Sprengporten.  As he had satisfactorily discharged the mission with which he had been entrusted, Paul expressed pleasure at his conduct in several friendly and flattering letters, which Sprengporten always allowed us to read.  No one could be fonder of France than he was, and he ardently desired that his first negotiations might lead to a long alliance between the Russian and French Governments.  The autograph and very frequent correspondence between Bonaparte and Paul passed through his hands.  I read all Paul’s letters, which were remarkable for the frankness with which his affection for Bonaparte was expressed.  His admiration of the First Consul was so great that no courtier could have written in a more flattering manner.

This admiration was not feigned on the part of the Emperor of Russia:  it was no less sincere than ardent, and of this he soon gave proofs.  The violent hatred he had conceived towards the English Government induced him to defy to single combat every monarch who would not declare war against England and shut his ports against English ships.  He inserted a challenge to the King of Denmark in the St. Petersburg Court Gazette; but not choosing to apply officially to the Senate of Hamburg to order its insertion in the ‘Correspondant’, conducted by M. Stoves, he sent the article, through Count Pahlen, to M. Schramm, a Hamburg merchant.  The Count told M. Schramm that the Emperor would be much pleased to see the article of the St. Petersburg Court Gazette copied into the Correspondant; and that if it should be inserted, he wished to have a dozen copies of the paper printed on vellum, and sent to him by an extraordinary courier.  It was Paul’s intention to send a copy to every sovereign in Europe; but this piece of folly, after the manner of Charles XII., led to no further results.

Bonaparte never felt greater satisfaction in the-whole course of his life than he experienced from Paul’s enthusiasm for him.  The friendship of a sovereign seemed to him a step by which he was to become a sovereign himself.  At the same time the affairs of La Vendee began to assume a better aspect, and he hoped soon to effect that pacification in the interior which he so ardently desired.