stoi wrote to St. Petersburg that France
was postponing the evacuation of Prussia for selfish purposes, meaning
to dismember her; and from that starting-point depicted the horrors of
a Napoleonic Europe. Such opinions dismayed Alexander, and although he
received Caulaincourt with distinction equal to that which had been
accorded to Tolstoi, he firmly refused the bargain offered by him. He
would not consent to a further dismemberment of Prussia, partly for
sentimental reasons, chiefly because he could not endure the
strengthening of the grand duchy of Warsaw, the new political organism
which suggested the restoration of Poland. As to the principalities,
these he would have. Russian society had for the moment repressed
its hostility to the Czar and his treaty of Tilsit, and was quietly
waiting to see what would be the substantial results. No gain less
than the acquisition of Wallachia and Moldavia would reinstate
Alexander in their good will or make the French alliance endurable.
This was of course a serious crisis; but Caulaincourt, nothing
dismayed, set himself, by the exercise of all those social arts of
which he had such a mastery, to win the aristocratic circles of St.
Petersburg.

In the month of December, 1807, Napoleon was on a royal progress
through his kingdom of Italy, and the news of the diplomatic crisis in
Russia reached him at Venice, which had become his as a result of
Austerlitz and by the treaty of Presburg. Although he had gone thither
for a serious consultation with Joseph, its fascinations were already
weaving curious plans in the Emperor's mind. His rapid journey through
Lombardy and a short visit to Milan, whence he fulminated his reply to
the English admiralty, had convinced him of the firm sovereignty he
exercised throughout these splendid realms. In the few days of his
presence he had further strengthened his power by many generous and
beneficent decrees. It was with a sense of security that he came to
Venice; at once he yielded to her spell, realizing that at last his
control of the Adriatic was complete, inasmuch as now he held both
shores and commanded the entrance by the possession of Corfu. Just
beyond was the brilliant East, ripe for conquest. Could he or should
he lose the opportunity to use such a superb base of operations, win
the gratitude of all Venetia by restoring the ancient glories of her
capital, and thereby lay his hand at last on the bauble which had once
before so dazzled him?