gland, Russia, and Prussia were likely to give their
moral support as a basis of mediation.]

[Footnote 67: Lord Cowley wrote to Lord John Russell on the
20th of July:--

"... The two Emperors met in the most cordial manner, shaking
hands as if no difference had existed between them. As soon as
they were alone, the Emperor of Austria took the initiative,
and stated at once that he was ready to cede to the Emperor
of the French, for the sake of the restoration of peace, the
territory which the latter had conquered, but that he could
not do more, giving the reasons which I have mentioned to
your Lordship in former despatches. The Emperor of the French
replied that his own position in France, and the public
declarations which he had made, rendered something in addition
necessary: that the war had been undertaken for the freedom of
Italy, and that he could not justify to France a peace
which did not ensure this object. The Emperor Francis
Joseph rejoined that he had no objection to offer to the
Confederation which formed part of the Emperor Napoleon's
programme, and that he was ready to enter it with Venetia, and
when the Emperor Napoleon remarked that such a result would be
a derision, if the whole power and influence of Austria were
to be brought to bear upon the Confederation, the Emperor
Francis Joseph exclaimed against any such interpretation being
given to his words, his idea being that Venetia should be
placed on the same footing, in the Italian Confederation, as
Luxemburg holds in the Germanic Confederation....

"In the course of conversation between the two Imperial
Sovereigns, the Emperor of Austria remarked to the Emperor of
the French with many expressions of goodwill, and of a desire
to see the dynasty of the latter firmly established on
the throne of France, that His Majesty took an odd way to
accomplish his end. 'Believe me,' said the Emperor Francis
Joseph, 'dynasties are not established by having recourse to
such bad company as you have chosen; revolutionists overturn,
but do not construct.' The Emperor Napoleon appears to have
taken the remark in very good part, and even to have excused
himself to a certain degree, observing that it was a further
reason that the Emperor Francis Joseph should aid him in
putting an end to the war, and to the revoluti