r that of Wagram.

Napoleon was again the master of Germany; and Austria, like the rest of
the country, had to bow humbly to his imperious will. The "first soldier
of Aspern," brave Prince John of Lichtenstein, was sent to Napoleon's
headquarters at Znaim to request an armistice and the opening of peace
negotiations. Napoleon, whose armies were exhausted, whose attention,
besides, was absorbed by the war in Spain, and who had found out at his
late battles what resistance was now beginning to be made in Germany,
granted the request, consented to a cessation of hostilities, and that
the envoys of France and Austria should agree upon terms of peace.

These negotiations had already been carried on for months, and no
conclusion had yet been arrived at. Vienna was still a French city, and
the Viennese had to submit to the rule of a new governor, and to the
galling yoke imposed on them by a foreign police, who kept a close
surveillance over every action--nay, every expression and look. They had
to bow to stern necessity, and to celebrate Napoleon's birthday, the
15th of August, by festivities and an illumination, as though it were
the birthday of their own sovereign.

Napoleon was still residing at Schoenbrunn, at the palace which Maria
Theresa had built, and where she had signed the marriage-contract of her
daughter Marie Antoinette with the Dauphin of France. Marie Antoinette
had been guillotined, and the heir of the Revolution and of the French
crown was dwelling at her mother's palace.

Every morning the French Emperor reviewed his guards in the large
palace-yard, and thousands of the inhabitants of Vienna hastened
regularly to Schoenbrunn in order to see him and witness the parade.
These morning reviews had become a favorite public amusement, and, when
listening to the music of the French bands, and beholding the emperor
(in his gray coat, with his broad brow covered with the three-cornered
hat) gallop down the ranks of his troops, followed by the brilliant
staff of his marshals and generals, amid shouts of "_Vive l'Empereur_"
the kind-hearted citizen sometimes forgot that it was their enemy who
was displaying his power, and rejoicing in his ambition; instead of
cursing, they admired him and his veterans, whose scars were the signs
of many a victory.

Napoleon was but too well aware of the influence which these parades
were exerting on the minds of the people; he knew the fascination which
his person produced not onl