"I shall never feel assured," the Emperor wrote to his Marshal, "until Hamburg can be looked on as a stronghold provisioned for several months and prepared in every way for a long defence."-- The ruin of commercial interests was nought to him; and when Savary ventured to hint at the discontent caused in French mercantile circles by these steps, he received a sharp rebuke: " ...

The cackling of the Paris bankers matters very little to me.

I am having Hamburg fortified.

I am having a naval arsenal formed there.

Within a few months it will be one of my strongest fortresses.