mperor
reached the latter just after the Pyrrhic victory at Craonne, which
left him more stubborn than ever. Far from meeting the allies halfway,
he let fall words that bespoke only injured pride: "If one must
receive lashes," he said within hearing of the courier, "it is not for
me to offer my back to them." On the morrow he charged Maret to reply
to his distressed plenipotentiary that he (Napoleon) knew best what
the situation demanded; the demand of the allies that France should
retire within her old frontiers was only their _first word:_
Caulaincourt must get to know their ultimatum: if this was their
ultimatum, he must reject it. He (Napoleon) would possibly give up
Dutch Brabant and the fortresses of Wesel, Castel (opposite Mainz),
and Kehl, but would make no substantial changes on the Frankfurt
terms. Still, Caulaincourt struggled on. When the session of March
10th was closing, he produced a declaration offering to give up all
Napoleon's claims to control lands beyond the natural limits.

The others divined that it was his own handiwork, drawn up in order to
spin out the negotiations and leave his master a few days of
grace.[434] They respected his intentions, and nine days of grace were
gained; but the only answer that Napoleon vouchsafed to Caulaincourt's
appeals was the missive of March 17th from Rheims: "I have received
your letters of the 13th. I charge the Duke of Bassano to answer them
in detail. I give you directly the power to make the concessions which
would be indispensable to keep up the activity of the negotiations,
and to get to know at last the ultimatum of the allies, it being well
understood that the treaty would have for result the evacuation of our
territory and the release of all prisoners on both sides." The
instructions which he charged the Duke of Bassano to send to
Caulaincourt were such as a victor might have dictated. The allies
must evacuate his territory and give up all the fortresses as soon as
the preliminaries of peace were signed: if the negotiations were to
break off they had better break off on this question. He himself would
cease to control lands beyond the natural frontiers, and would
recognize the independence of Holland: as regards Belgium, he would
refuse to cede it to a prince of the House of Orange, but he hinted
that it might well go to a French prince as an indemnity--evidently
Joseph Bonaparte was meant. If this concession were made, he expected
that all the French co