yro in dynastic politics. Austria has
been made, aggrandized, and saved by marriages; but no conception of
the duty imposed on families by that relation as understood in private
life has ever controlled her politics. Francis was never unwilling to
use his daughter for public ends, and seems to have delighted in the
construction of family feeling formed in his son-in-law's mind by
homely sentiment. It is preposterous to suppose that Napoleon really
entertained such a view of his marriage as that of the Parisian
bourgeois; but viewing himself as an established dynastic ruler, he
could well imagine that when Austria had her choice between two purely
dynastic alliances, she would, for the sake of Maria Louisa, have
chosen that with France. This rather simple conception he seems to
have entertained for a time, because when Maret and Metternich met,
the former urged the matrimonial bond as a consideration. "The
marriage," rejoined the latter, with a cough--"yes, the marriage; it
was a match founded on political considerations, but--" and the
conclusion of the sentence was a significant wag of the head.

Napoleon's first instinct of treachery was that of the general, and
it was sound. His suspicions were fully aroused as soon as he reached
Dresden; for Bubna began at once to stickle for antiquated formalities
in negotiation, and stung Napoleon to exasperation by his evident
determination to procrastinate. Accordingly the Emperor summoned
Metternich to a personal meeting. The minister could not well explain.
Since Castlereagh's return to power in January, 1812, Great Britain
had kept at Berlin, St. Petersburg, and Vienna able diplomats ready,
with purse in hand, to pay almost any sum for a strong coalition. It
had been the appearance of Sir Charles Stewart from Berlin, and of
Lord Cathcart from St. Petersburg, at the allied headquarters which
accounted for the arrogant firmness of Shuvaloff and Kleist, and
determined the character of the armistice. On June fourteenth and
fifteenth those envoys further concluded treaties with Prussia and
Russia respectively which explain the performances of Bubna at
Dresden, and of the congress which later met at Prague. Prussia
promised, in return for a subsidy of two thirds of a million pounds
sterling, to cede a certain portion of lower Saxony, with the
bishopric of Hildesheim, to the electorate of Hanover, and agreed to
keep on foot eighty thousand men; Russia was to maintain a hundred and