the east against Russia and on the
west against France. If her identity were not destroyed, she might
hope at some distant day to regain her strength and her place in
Europe.

At St. Petersburg the news produced different effects. The
conservatives were not greatly disturbed, for now they were freed from
the possible disgrace of an imperial marriage with the Bonapartes, and
they could put up with the insult if only it should break the bonds
which tied them to the hated Continental System of Napoleon. But the
Czar was outraged; he had been personally insulted, and his policy was
toppling. He had secured nothing, he would be the laughing-stock of
his people, and he could no longer justify himself in resistance to
popular tendencies. He was likewise true-hearted enough to feel the
loss of a friend, and proud enough to smart under the feeling that he
had been duped. Much of this he concealed, although his suite thought
they could discern all these emotions. In the face of both Austria and
France he could not attack the deed itself. Caulaincourt assured him
in Napoleon's name that the match had no political character, and
changed nothing in the personal friendship which his Emperor continued
to feel. He insinuated that the real cause of the decision was the
religious difference. But this Alexander would not accept.
"Congratulate the Emperor on the choice he has made," was the reply.
"He wants children; all France wants them for him. The decision was
the one which should have been taken, but it is fortunate that the
matter of age stopped us here. Where would we have been if I had not
spoken of it to my mother? What reproaches could she not have heaped
on me? What must I not have said to you? for it is clear you were
dealing in both quarters. Why," he concluded, "has anything been said
about the difference in religion, when at the outset the Emperor
declared it would be no obstacle?" Thus was reached the second stage
in the dissolution of the famous alliance of Tilsit.

The scenes in Vienna were brilliant in the extreme. On the one hand,
they marked the Austrian approach to democracy, because for the first
time the tricolor was displayed in the streets, and the rigid
etiquette of the Hapsburgs, preserved from hoary antiquity with pious
care, snapped at every turn which Berthier took. On the other hand,
they marked the approach of France to absolutism. Napoleon ordered
that his bride should receive the same presents as those