War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [463]
No one argued against that.
On the twenty-fourth of July, that was perfectly correct. But on the twenty-ninth of July, princely dignity was bestowed upon Kutuzov. Princely dignity might also mean that they wanted to get rid of him—and therefore Prince Vassily’s opinion continued to be correct, though he was no longer in a hurry to voice it. But on the eighth of August, a committee was assembled made up of General Field Marshal Saltykov, Arakcheev, Vyazmitinov, Lopukhin, and Kochubey, to discuss matters of war. The committee decided that the failures came from multiplicity of command, and though the persons who made up the committee knew that the sovereign was ill-disposed towards Kutuzov, the committee, after a brief consultation, suggested the appointment of Kutuzov as commander in chief. And that same day Kutuzov was appointed commander in chief, with full power over the armies and the entire region occupied by the troops.
On the ninth of August, Prince Vassily again met l’homme de beaucoup de mérite at Anna Pavlovna’s. L’homme de beaucoup de mérite was paying court to Anna Pavlovna on the occasion of his wish to be appointed a trustee of the empress Maria Feodorovna’s institute for girls. Prince Vassily came into the room with the air of a happy victor, of a man who has achieved the aim of his desires.
“Eh bien, vous savez la grande nouvelle? Le prince Koutouzoff est maréchal. All the disagreements are over. I’m so happy, so glad!” Prince Vassily was saying. “Enfin voilà un homme,”*436 he said, casting a significant and stern glance at everyone in the drawing room. L’homme de beaucoup de mérite, despite his wish to obtain a post, could not help reminding Prince Vassily of his former opinion. (This was impolite both towards Prince Vassily in Anna Pavlovna’s drawing room and towards Anna Pavlovna, who had received the news with as much joy; but he could not help himself.)
“Mais on dit qu’il est aveugle, mon prince?”†437 he said, reminding Prince Vassily of his own words.
“Allez donc, il y voit assez,”‡438 Prince Vassily said in his brisk bass voice with a little cough, the voice and the little cough with which he resolved all difficulties. “Allez, il y voit assez,” he repeated. “And what makes me glad,” he continued, “is that the sovereign has given him full power over all the armies, over the entire region—a power that no commander in chief has ever had. He’s another autocrat,” he concluded with a victorious smile.
“God grant it, God grant it,” said Anna Pavlovna. L’homme de beaucoup de mérite, still a novice in court society, wishing to flatter Anna Pavlovna by defending her former opinion on this judgment, said:
“They say the sovereign gave Kutuzov this power reluctantly. On dit qu’il rougit comme une demoiselle à laquelle on lirait ‘Joconde,’11 en lui disant: ‘Le souverain et la patrie vous decernent cet honneur.’”§439
“Peut-être que le coeur n’était pas de la partie,”#440 said Anna Pavlovna.
“Oh, no, no,” Prince Vassily stepped in vehemently. Now he could not yield Kutuzov to anybody. In Prince Vassily’s opinion, Kutuzov was not only good in himself, but everyone adored him. “No, that can’t be, because the sovereign was able to value him so much before,” he said.
“God grant only,” said Anna Pavlovna, “that Prince Kutuzov may exercise real power without letting anyone put spokes in his wheels—des bâtons dans les roues.”
Prince Vassily understood at once who this anyone was. He said in a whisper:
“I know for certain that Kutuzov stated as an absolute condition that the grand duke should not be with the army. Vous savez ce qu’il a dit à l’Empereur?”**441 And Prince Vassily repeated the words Kutuzov was supposed to have said to the sovereign: “‘I can neither punish him if he does wrong, nor reward him if he does well.’ Oh, he’s a most intelligent man, Prince Kutuzov, et quel caractère. Oh, je le connais de longue date.”††442