2. “Young Guard” In November 1968, I already worked in the editorial office of the magazine. A week or two later, he convened a meeting of critics, prose writers, and art historians to discuss the editorial plan for the future, 1969. The meeting was attended by Oleg Mikhailov, Viktor Chalmaev,

Trying to figure out what Sergei Snezhkin filmed and showed us on the Rossiya channel, I re-read “The White Guard” itself, and also read an early version of the end of the novel and the play “Days of the Turbins”. Some of the fragments that, as it seemed to me while watching, were out of the style of the novel and are present in the film, I found either in an early edition or in the play, but some were not found anywhere: for example, the scenes where Thalberg hints to the German leadership about the presence in the palace of valuable paintings, a crazy scene with a rooster that Myshlaevsky killed, a pathetic scene of Shervinsky’s farewell singing to the fleeing Hetman Skoropadsky and some others. But the main thing is, of course, the ending, blatant in its distortion, invented by Snezhkin and not only not fitting into any of the texts I have indicated, but also generally unthinkable for Bulgakov.

(I never tire of being amazed at what conceit, what impudence, what arrogance you need to have in order not just to add, but to rewrite Bulgakov! However, we will talk about this in one of the following posts, about the film itself).

In the meantime, a few important notes about the literary basis of the film itself.

Despite the fact that I was unable to find complete information about how Bulgakov worked on “The White Guard,” I still got the strong impression that the ending of the novel was deliberately rewritten, and the early edition quite deliberately did not satisfy the author. Indeed, there is much more pathos in it, banal plot moves that stand out from the style of the novel, the language is more weighty, “larger” and therefore less elegant. The artistic style of the early edition of the end of the novel is an immature Bulgakov, and I think he fully felt this himself. That is why, despite the fact that some fragments from the early edition ended up in the final version, he still rewrote most of the finale. I rewrote it in such a way that not a single word makes you flinch: everything is extremely laconic and just enough to be understood by the reader, but not to give the impression of spoken vulgarity. Artistically, in my opinion, “The White Guard” is simply impeccable.

Talberg is, without a doubt, a scoundrel, but this is written and read only between the lines, and the absence of gross accusations in the text of the novel is very important for understanding the level of Bulgakov’s artistic talent. Shervinsky, of course, calls everything except music nonsense, but not in direct speech addressed to other guests, but in the author’s text, i.e. as if to himself, which characterizes him completely differently.

In the early version, Elena feels undisguised sympathy for Shervinsky, and their relationship develops into a romance. In the final version, Bulgakov abandons this move and introduces a letter from Talberg, who is leaving for Europe from Poland and is going to get married, but Elena keeps her distance from Shervinsky.

In the early version, after Turbin's recovery, the family arranges a traditional Christmas party: in the final version, Turbin simply returns to medical practice without unnecessary pomp.

Finally, in the early edition, Turbin’s romance with Yulia Reiss and the figure of Shpolyansky are written out: in the final edition, only the silent campaigns to Malo-Provalnaya remain (the same as with Nikolka, while in the early edition his affair with Irina Nai-Tours is written out more details).

The scene with the identification of Nai-Tours in the morgue was also excluded from the final version - it turned out to be quite Balabanovsky in the film, but unthinkable in the aesthetics of the final “White Guard”.

In general, the final edition is more harmonious, elegant, but at the same time definite: there are no “intelligent” throwings in the heroes, they clearly know how and when to act, and understand perfectly well what is happening, and scold the Germans rather out of habit. They are courageous and do not try to hide in the smoke of their own evenings (as in “Days of the Turbins”). And in the end they come not even to the awareness of peace and quiet as the highest good (as in the early edition), but to something even more absolute and important.

A number of differences in the early and final editions are quite convincing that mixing them is impossible, because Bulgakov deliberately abandoned the earlier edition in favor of the later, realizing that the earlier one was guilty of a number of unacceptable, from his point of view, first of all, artistic weaknesses.

If we talk about the play “Days of the Turbins” in connection with the novel, then we can briefly say one thing: these are two completely different works both in content and in artistic expression, and therefore to confuse them means demonstrating a complete misunderstanding of what a novel is and that there is a play.

Firstly, completely different characters are written and presented in the play, both in character and in formal characteristics (take Alexey Turbin alone: ​​the colonel and the doctor are completely, not at all the same thing, even in a sense opposites).

Secondly, while preparing the play, Bulgakov could not help but understand that in order for it to be staged, certain concessions to censorship were necessary: ​​hence, in particular, Myshlaevsky’s sympathy for the Bolsheviks, expressed clearly and categorically. And the whole eccentric atmosphere of the Turbins’ house also comes from here.

The heroes of “Days of the Turbins” are really just trying to lose themselves in their narrow circle in the haze of evening fun, Elena openly sympathizes with Shervinsky, but in the end Talberg, who is going to the Don, returns for her (also, oh, what a discrepancy with the novel!)

In a sense, the decaying company of White Guards in “Days of the Turbins” has nothing in common with the circle of people shown in the novel (by the way, the author does not call them White Guards either). One gets a strong feeling that the heroes of the final edition of “The White Guard” are in fact not White Guards, their spiritual and spiritual height is already enough to rise “above the fray”: we do not see this either in the early edition of the novel, much less in play. And it is precisely this height that must be realized when filming “The White Guard”. In no case can it be reduced to “Days of the Turbins” or, even more so, to self-invented and unnatural endings for Bulgakov. This is undisguised literary blasphemy and a mockery of - I'm not afraid of this epithet! - a brilliant novel.

Michael Bulgakov. Collected works

White Guard

Victor Petelin. Days of the Turbins

The novel "The White Guard", chapters from which Bulgakov read in friendly companies, in the literary circle "Green Lamp", attracted the attention of Moscow publishers. But the real publisher is Isai Grigorievich Lezhnev with his magazine “Russia”. An agreement had already been concluded and an advance had been paid when Nedra became interested in the novel. In any case, one of the publishers of Nedra suggested that Bulgakov give them the novel for publication. “...He promised to talk about this with Isai Grigorievich, because the conditions for the novel were enslaving, and in our “Nedra” Bulgakov could have received incomparably more,” recalled the secretary of the “Nedra” publishing house P. N. Zaitsev. - There were two members of the Nedra editorial board in Moscow at that time: V.V. Veresaev and me... I quickly read the novel and forwarded the manuscript to Veresaev in Shubinsky Lane. The novel made a great impression on us. Without hesitation, I spoke out for its publication in Nedra, but Veresaev was more experienced and sober than me. In a reasonable written review, V.V. Veresaev noted the merits of the novel, the skill, objectivity and honesty of the author in showing events and characters, white officers, but wrote that the novel is completely unacceptable for “Nedra”.

And Klestov-Angarsky, who was vacationing in Koktebel at that time and became acquainted with the circumstances of the case, completely agreed with Veresaev, but immediately offered to conclude an agreement with Bulgakov for some other thing of his. A week later, Bulgakov brought the story “Fatal Eggs.” Both Zaitsev and Veresaev liked the story, and they urgently sent it to type, without even coordinating its publication with Angarsky.

So Bulgakov had to publish the novel under enslaving conditions in the magazine “Russia” (No. 4–5, January - March 1925).

After the release of the first parts of the novel, all connoisseurs of great Russian literature responded vividly to its appearance. On March 25, 1925, M. Voloshin wrote to N. S. Angarsky: “I really regretted that you still did not decide to publish The White Guard, especially after I read an excerpt from it in Rossiya.” In print you see things more clearly than in the manuscript... And on secondary reading, this thing seemed to me very large and original; As a debut of a beginning writer, it can only be compared with the debuts of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.”

From this letter it is clear that Angarsky, during Zaitsev’s stay in Koktebel, gave the novel to M. Voloshin to read, who spoke in favor of its publication in Nedra, because even then he saw in the novel the “soul of Russian strife” for the first time captured in literature.

Gorky asks S. T. Grigoriev: “Are you familiar with M. Bulgakov?” What is he doing? “The White Guard” is not on sale?

Bulgakov loved this novel, a lot of autobiographical things were embodied in it, thoughts, feelings, experiences not only of his own, but also of his loved ones, with whom he went through all the changes of power in Kyiv and in Ukraine in general. And at the same time, I felt that more work needed to be done on the novel... In the words of the writer himself, “The White Guard” is “a persistent depiction of the Russian intelligentsia as the best layer in our country...”, “a depiction of an intellectual-noble family, by the will of an immutable historical the fate of being thrown into a White Guard camp during the Civil War, in the traditions of “War and Peace.” Such an image is quite natural for a writer who is closely connected with the intelligentsia. But this kind of image leads to the fact that in the USSR their author, along with his heroes, receives, despite his great efforts to become dispassionately above the Reds and Whites, a certificate of a White Guard enemy, and having received it, as everyone understands, he can consider himself a complete man. in USSR".

Bulgakov's heroes are very different, different in their aspirations, in their education, intellect, in their place in society, but all his heroes are characterized by one, perhaps the most important quality - they want something of their own, something inherent only to them, something... then personal, they want to be themselves. And this trait was especially clearly embodied in the heroes of The White Guard. It tells about a very complex and contradictory time, when it was impossible to immediately sort everything out, understand everything, and reconcile contradictory feelings and thoughts within ourselves. With his entire novel, Bulgakov wanted to affirm the idea that people, although they perceive events differently, treat them differently, strive for peace, for the established, familiar, established. Whether this is good or bad is another matter, but it is absolutely true. A person does not want war, does not want external forces to interfere with the usual course of his life’s destiny, he wants to believe in everything that is done as the highest manifestation of justice.

So the Turbins want them all to live together as a family in their parents’ apartment, where everything is familiar and familiar since childhood, from the slightly worn carpets with Louis to the clumsy clocks with a loud chime, where they have their own traditions, their own human laws, moral, moral, where a sense of duty to the Motherland, Russia is a fundamental feature of their moral code. Friends are also very close to them in their aspirations, thoughts, and feelings. All of them will remain faithful to their civic duty, their ideas about friendship, decency, and honesty. They have developed ideas about man, about the state, about morality, about happiness. The circumstances of life were such that they did not force us to think deeper than was customary in their circle.

The mother, dying, admonished the children - “live together.” And they love each other, worry, suffer if one of them is in danger, experience together these great and terrible events taking place in the beautiful City - the cradle of all Russian cities. Their life developed normally, without any life shocks or mysteries, nothing unexpected or random came into the house. Here everything was strictly organized, streamlined, and determined for many years to come. And if not for the war and revolution, their lives would have passed in peace and comfort. War and revolution disrupted their plans and assumptions. And at the same time, something new has appeared that becomes predominant in their inner world - a keen interest in political and social ideas. It was no longer possible to remain on the sidelines as before. Politics was part of everyday life. Life required everyone to decide the main question - who to go with, who to join, what to defend, what ideals to defend. The easiest way is to remain faithful to the old order, based on the veneration of the trinity - autocracy, Orthodoxy, nationality. Few people at that time understood politics, the programs of parties, their disputes and disagreements.

The play was allowed to be staged.

Subsequently, it was edited several times. Currently, three editions of the play are known; the first two have the same title as the novel, but due to censorship problems it had to be changed. The title “Days of the Turbins” was also used for the novel. In particular, its first edition (1927 and 1929, Concorde publishing house, Paris) was entitled “Days of the Turbins (White Guard)”. There is no consensus among researchers as to which edition is considered the latest. Some point out that the third appeared as a result of the ban on the second and therefore cannot be considered the final manifestation of the author's will. Others argue that “Days of the Turbins” should be recognized as the main text, since performances based on it have been staged for many decades. No manuscripts of the play have survived. The third edition was first published by E. S. Bulgakova in 1955. The second edition was first published in Munich.

Characters

• Turbin Alexey Vasilievich - artillery colonel, 30 years old.
• Turbin Nikolay - his brother, 18 years old.
• Talberg Elena Vasilievna - their sister, 24 years old.
• Talberg Vladimir Robertovich - General Staff colonel, her husband, 38 years old.
• Myshlaevsky Viktor Viktorovich - staff captain, artilleryman, 38 years old.
• Shervinsky Leonid Yurievich - lieutenant, personal adjutant of the hetman.
• Studzinsky Alexander Bronislavovich - captain, 29 years old.
• Lariosik - cousin from Zhitomir, 21 years old.
• Hetman of All Ukraine (Pavel Skoropadsky).
• Bolbotun - commander of the 1st Petliura Cavalry Division (prototype - Bolbochan).
• Galanba is a Petliurist centurion, a former Uhlan captain.
• Hurricane.
• Kirpaty.
• Von Schratt - German general.
• Von Doust - German major.
• German army doctor.
• Sich deserter.
• Man with a basket.
• Chamber footman.
• Maxim - former gymnasium teacher, 60 years old.
• Gaydamak the telephone operator.
• First officer.
• Second officer.
• Third officer.
• The first cadet.
• Second cadet.
• Third cadet.
• Junkers and Haidamaks.

Plot

The events described in the play take place at the end of 1918 - beginning of 1919 in Kyiv and cover the fall of the regime of Hetman Skoropadsky, the arrival of Petliura and his expulsion from the city by the Bolsheviks. Against the backdrop of a constant change of power, a personal tragedy occurs for the Turbin family, and the foundations of the old life are broken.

The first edition had 5 acts, while the second and third editions had only 4.

Criticism

We are ready to agree with some of our friends that “Days of the Turbins” is a cynical attempt to idealize the White Guard, but we have no doubt that “Days of the Turbins” is an aspen stake in its coffin. Why? Because for a healthy Soviet viewer, the most ideal slush cannot present a temptation, and for dying active enemies and for passive, flabby, indifferent ordinary people, the same slush cannot provide either emphasis or charge against us. Just as a funeral hymn cannot serve as a military march.

However, Stalin himself, in a letter to the playwright V. Bill-Belotserkovsky, indicated that he liked the play on the contrary, because it showed the defeat of the whites:

Why are Bulgakov's plays staged so often? Because it must be that there are not enough plays of our own suitable for production. Without fish, even “Days of the Turbins” is a fish. (...) As for the play “Days of the Turbins” itself, it is not so bad, because it does more good than harm. Do not forget that the main impression that remains with the viewer from this play is an impression favorable to the Bolsheviks: “if even people like the Turbins are forced to lay down their arms and submit to the will of the people, recognizing their cause as completely lost, it means that the Bolsheviks are invincible, “Nothing can be done with them, the Bolsheviks,” “Days of the Turbins” is a demonstration of the all-crushing power of Bolshevism.

Well, we watched “Days of the Turbins”<…>Tiny ones, from officers’ meetings, with the smell of “drink and snacks,” passions, love affairs, affairs. Melodramatic patterns, a little bit of Russian feelings, a little bit of music. I hear: What the hell!<…>What have you achieved? The fact that everyone watches the play, shaking their heads and remembering the Ramzin affair...

- “When I will soon die...” Correspondence between M. A. Bulgakov and P. S. Popov (1928-1940). - M.: EKSMO, 2003. - P. 123-125

For Mikhail Bulgakov, who did odd jobs, a production at the Moscow Art Theater was perhaps the only opportunity to support his family.

Productions

• - Moscow Art Theater. Director Ilya Sudakov, artist Nikolai Ulyanov, artistic director of the production K. S. Stanislavsky. Roles performed by: Alexey Turbin- Nikolay Khmelev, Nikolka- Ivan Kudryavtsev, Elena- Vera Sokolova, Shervinsky- Mark Prudkin, Studzinski- Evgeny Kaluzhsky, Myshlaevsky- Boris Dobronravov, Thalberg- Vsevolod Verbitsky, Lariosik- Mikhail Yanshin, Von Schratt- Victor Stanitsyn, von Doust- Robert Schilling, Hetman- Vladimir Ershov, deserter- Nikolai Titushin, Bolbotun- Alexander Anders, Maksim- Mikhail Kedrov, also Sergei Blinnikov, Vladimir Istrin, Boris Maloletkov, Vasily Novikov. The premiere took place on October 5, 1926.

In the excluded scenes (with the Jew captured by the Petliurists, Vasilisa and Wanda) Joseph Raevsky and Mikhail Tarkhanov with Anastasia Zueva were supposed to play, respectively.

Typist I. S. Raaben (daughter of General Kamensky), who typed the novel The White Guard and whom Bulgakov invited to the performance, recalled: “The performance was amazing, because everything was vivid in people’s memory. There were hysterics, fainting, seven people were taken away by ambulance, because among the spectators there were people who survived Petliura, these horrors in Kyiv, and the difficulties of the civil war in general...”

Publicist I. L. Solonevich subsequently described the extraordinary events associated with the production:

... It seems that in 1929 the Moscow Art Theater staged Bulgakov’s then-famous play “Days of the Turbins.” It was a story about deceived White Guard officers stuck in Kyiv. The audience at the Moscow Art Theater was not an average audience. It was "selection". Theater tickets were distributed by trade unions, and the top of the intelligentsia, bureaucracy and party received, of course, the best seats in the best theaters. I was among this bureaucracy: I worked in the very department of the trade union that distributed these tickets. As the play progresses, the White Guard officers drink vodka and sing “God Save the Tsar! " It was the best theater in the world, and the best artists in the world performed on its stage. And so it begins - a little chaotic, as befits a drunken company:

“God Save the Tsar”...

And then the inexplicable comes: the hall begins get up. The artists' voices are growing stronger. The artists sing standing and the audience listens standing: sitting next to me was my boss for cultural and educational activities - a communist from the workers. He also stood up. People stood, listened and cried. Then my communist, confused and nervous, tried to explain something to me, something completely helpless. I helped him: this is mass suggestion. But this was not only a suggestion.

Because of this demonstration, the play was removed from the repertoire. Then they tried to stage it again - and they demanded from the director that “God Save the Tsar” be sung like a drunken mockery. Nothing came of it - I don’t know why exactly - and the play was finally removed. At one time, “all of Moscow” knew about this incident.

- Solonevich I. L. The mystery and solution of Russia. M.: Publishing house "FondIV", 2008. P.451

After being removed from the repertoire in 1929, the performance was resumed on February 18, 1932 and remained on the stage of the Art Theater until June 1941. In total, the play was performed 987 times between 1926 and 1941.

M. A. Bulgakov wrote in a letter to P. S. Popov on April 24, 1932 about the resumption of the performance:

From Tverskaya to the Theater, male figures stood and muttered mechanically: “Is there an extra ticket?” The same thing happened on the Dmitrovka side.
I was not in the hall. I was backstage, and the actors were so worried that they infected me. I began to move from place to place, my arms and legs became empty. There are ringing calls in all directions, then the light will hit the spotlights, then suddenly, as in a mine, darkness, and<…>it seems that the performance is going on with head-turning speed... Toporkov plays Myshlaevsky first-class... The actors were so worried that they turned pale under the makeup,<…>and the eyes were tormented, wary, questioning...
The curtain was given 20 times.

- “When I will soon die...” Correspondence between M. A. Bulgakov and P. S. Popov (1928-1940). - M.: EKSMO, 2003. - P. 117-118

Despite Balashev's habit of court solemnity, the luxury and pomp of Emperor Napoleon's court amazed him.
Count Turen led him into a large reception room, where many generals, chamberlains and Polish magnates were waiting, many of whom Balashev had seen at the court of the Russian emperor. Duroc said that Emperor Napoleon would receive the Russian general before his walk.
After several minutes of waiting, the chamberlain on duty went out into the large reception room and, bowing politely to Balashev, invited him to follow him.
Balashev entered a small reception room, from which there was one door to an office, the very office from which the Russian emperor sent him. Balashev stood there for about two minutes, waiting. Hasty steps were heard outside the door. Both halves of the door quickly opened, the chamberlain who opened it stopped respectfully, waiting, everything became quiet, and other, firm, decisive steps sounded from the office: it was Napoleon. He had just finished his riding toilet. He was wearing a blue uniform, open over a white vest that hung down over his round belly, white leggings that hugged the fat thighs of his short legs, and boots. His short hair had obviously just been combed, but one strand of hair hung down over the middle of his wide forehead. His white, plump neck protruded sharply from behind the black collar of his uniform; he smelled of cologne. On his youthful, plump face with a prominent chin there was an expression of gracious and majestic imperial greeting.
He walked out, shaking quickly with every step and throwing his head back a little. His entire plump, short figure with broad, thick shoulders and an involuntarily protruding belly and chest had that representative, dignified appearance that forty-year-old people living in the hallway have. In addition, it was clear that he was in the best spirits that day.
He nodded his head, responding to Balashev’s low and respectful bow, and, approaching him, immediately began to speak like a man who treasures every minute of his time and does not deign to prepare his speeches, but is confident in what he will always say. ok and what needs to be said.
- Hello, general! - he said. “I received the letter from Emperor Alexander that you delivered, and I am very glad to see you.” “He looked into Balashev’s face with his big eyes and immediately began to look ahead past him.
It was obvious that he was not at all interested in Balashev’s personality. It was clear that only what was happening in his soul was of interest to him. Everything that was outside of him did not matter to him, because everything in the world, as it seemed to him, depended only on his will.
“I do not want and did not want war,” he said, “but I was forced into it.” Even now (he said this word with emphasis) I am ready to accept all the explanations that you can give me. - And he clearly and briefly began to state the reasons for his displeasure against the Russian government.
Judging by the moderately calm and friendly tone with which the French emperor spoke, Balashev was firmly convinced that he wanted peace and intended to enter into negotiations.
- Sire! L "Empereur, mon maitre, [Your Majesty! The Emperor, my lord,] - Balashev began a long-prepared speech when Napoleon, having finished his speech, looked questioningly at the Russian ambassador; but the look of the emperor's eyes fixed on him confused him. “You are confused “Get over yourself,” Napoleon seemed to say, looking at Balashev’s uniform and sword with a barely noticeable smile. Balashev recovered and began to say that Emperor Alexander did not consider Kurakin’s demand for passports a sufficient reason for the war, that Kurakin acted this way on his own. without the consent of the sovereign, that Emperor Alexander does not want war and that there are no relations with England.
“Not yet,” Napoleon interjected and, as if afraid to give in to his feelings, he frowned and nodded his head slightly, thereby letting Balashev feel that he could continue.
Having expressed everything that was ordered to him, Balashev said that Emperor Alexander wants peace, but will not begin negotiations except on the condition that... Here Balashev hesitated: he remembered those words that Emperor Alexander did not write in the letter, but which he certainly ordered that Saltykov be inserted into the rescript and which Balashev ordered to hand over to Napoleon. Balashev remembered these words: “until not a single armed enemy remains on Russian land,” but some complex feeling held him back. He could not say these words, although he wanted to do so. He hesitated and said: on the condition that the French troops retreat beyond the Neman.
Napoleon noticed Balashev's embarrassment when uttering his last words; his face trembled, his left calf began to tremble rhythmically. Without leaving his place, he began to speak in a voice higher and more hasty than before. During the subsequent speech, Balashev, more than once lowering his eyes, involuntarily observed the trembling of the calf in Napoleon’s left leg, which intensified the more he raised his voice.
“I wish peace no less than Emperor Alexander,” he began. “Isn’t it me who has been doing everything for eighteen months to get it?” I've been waiting eighteen months for an explanation. But in order to start negotiations, what is required of me? - he said, frowning and making an energetic questioning gesture with his small, white and plump hand.
“The retreat of the troops beyond the Neman, sir,” said Balashev.
- For Neman? - Napoleon repeated. - So now you want them to retreat beyond the Neman - only beyond the Neman? – Napoleon repeated, looking directly at Balashev.
Balashev bowed his head respectfully.
Instead of the demand four months ago to retreat from Numberania, now they demanded to retreat only beyond the Neman. Napoleon quickly turned and began to walk around the room.
– You say that they require me to retreat beyond the Neman to begin negotiations; but they demanded of me in exactly the same way two months ago to retreat beyond the Oder and Vistula, and, despite this, you agree to negotiate.
He silently walked from one corner of the room to the other and again stopped opposite Balashev. His face seemed to harden in its stern expression, and his left leg trembled even faster than before. Napoleon knew this trembling of his left calf. “La vibration de mon mollet gauche est un grand signe chez moi,” he said later.
“Such proposals as clearing the Oder and Vistula can be made to the Prince of Baden, and not to me,” Napoleon almost cried out, completely unexpectedly for himself. – If you had given me St. Petersburg and Moscow, I would not have accepted these conditions. Are you saying I started the war? Who came to the army first? - Emperor Alexander, not me. And you offer me negotiations when I have spent millions, while you are in an alliance with England and when your position is bad - you offer me negotiations! What is the purpose of your alliance with England? What did she give you? - he said hastily, obviously already directing his speech not in order to express the benefits of concluding peace and discussing its possibility, but only in order to prove both his rightness and his strength, and to prove Alexander’s wrongness and mistakes.
The introduction of his speech was made, obviously, with the aim of showing the advantage of his position and showing that, despite the fact, he accepted the opening of negotiations. But he had already begun to speak, and the more he spoke, the less able he was to control his speech.
The whole purpose of his speech now, obviously, was only to exalt himself and insult Alexander, that is, to do exactly what he least wanted at the beginning of the date.
- They say you made peace with the Turks?
Balashev tilted his head affirmatively.
“The world is concluded...” he began. But Napoleon did not let him speak. He apparently needed to speak on his own, alone, and he continued to speak with that eloquence and intemperance of irritation to which spoiled people are so prone.
– Yes, I know, you made peace with the Turks without receiving Moldavia and Wallachia. And I would give these provinces to your sovereign just as I gave him Finland. Yes,” he continued, “I promised and would have given Moldavia and Wallachia to Emperor Alexander, but now he will not have these beautiful provinces. He could, however, annex them to his empire, and in one reign he would expand Russia from the Gulf of Bothnia to the mouths of the Danube. “Katherine the Great could not have done more,” said Napoleon, becoming more and more excited, walking around the room and repeating to Balashev almost the same words that he said to Alexander himself in Tilsit. “Tout cela il l"aurait du a mon amitie... Ah! quel beau regne, quel beau regne!” he repeated several times, stopped, took a golden snuffbox out of his pocket and greedily sniffed from it.
- Quel beau regne aurait pu etre celui de l "Empereur Alexandre! [He would owe all this to my friendship... Oh, what a wonderful reign, what a wonderful reign! Oh, what a wonderful reign the reign of Emperor Alexander could have been!]
He looked at Balashev with regret, and just as Balashev was about to notice something, he again hastily interrupted him.
“What could he desire and seek that he would not find in my friendship?..” said Napoleon, shrugging his shoulders in bewilderment. - No, he found it best to surround himself with my enemies, and who? - he continued. - He called to him the Steins, Armfelds, Wintzingerode, Bennigsenov, Stein - a traitor expelled from his fatherland, Armfeld - a libertine and intriguer, Wintzingerode - a fugitive subject of France, Bennigsen somewhat more military than the others, but still incapable, who could not do anything to do in 1807 and which should arouse terrible memories in Emperor Alexander... Suppose, if they were capable, one could use them, - continued Napoleon, barely managing to keep up with the words that constantly arise, showing him his rightness or strength (which in in his concept were one and the same) - but even that is not the case: they are not suitable for either war or peace. Barclay, they say, is more efficient than all of them; but I won’t say that, judging by his first movements. What are they doing? What are all these courtiers doing! Pfuhl proposes, Armfeld argues, Bennigsen considers, and Barclay, called to act, does not know what to decide on, and time passes. One Bagration is a military man. He is stupid, but he has experience, an eye and determination... And what role does your young sovereign play in this ugly crowd. They compromise him and blame him for everything that happens. “Un souverain ne doit etre a l"armee que quand il est general, [The sovereign should be with the army only when he is a commander,] he said, obviously sending these words directly as a challenge to the sovereign’s face. Napoleon knew how the emperor wanted Alexander to be a commander.
– It’s already been a week since the campaign began, and you have failed to defend Vilna. You are cut in two and driven out of the Polish provinces. Your army is grumbling...
“On the contrary, Your Majesty,” said Balashev, who barely had time to remember what was said to him and could hardly follow this fireworks of words, “the troops are burning with desire...
“I know everything,” Napoleon interrupted him, “I know everything, and I know the number of your battalions as accurately as mine.” You don’t have two hundred thousand troops, but I have three times that much. “I give you my word of honor,” said Napoleon, forgetting that his word of honor could not have any meaning, “I give you ma parole d"honneur que j"ai cinq cent trente mille hommes de ce cote de la Vistule. [on my word of honor that I have five hundred and thirty thousand people on this side of the Vistula.] The Turks are no help to you: they are no good and have proven this by making peace with you. The Swedes are destined to be ruled by crazy kings. Their king was mad; they changed him and took another - Bernadotte, who immediately went crazy, because a crazy person only being a Swede can enter into alliances with Russia. - Napoleon grinned viciously and again brought the snuffbox to his nose.