laimed the emperor, menacingly, "those Austrians believe they
can bid me defiance. They have not yet been humbled enough, although I
have defeated their army, foiled the plans of their commander-in-chief,
expelled their emperor from his capital, and am residing at his palace.
They wish for further humiliations, and they shall have them. If they do
not change their mind very speedily, I shall send for the Grand-duke of
Wuerzburg and adorn his head with the imperial crown of Austria."

"Sire, that would be replacing one puppet by another, but not removing
the men pulling the wires; and they are all animated by the same spirit.
Prince Lichtenstein and Count Bubna are no less inflexible than was
Count Metternich. It is true they have already yielded in some points,
and declared to-day that the Emperor Francis had authorized them to
accept some of the conditions proposed."

"Which?" asked Napoleon, hastily.

"The emperor is ready to cede to France Dalmatia and Croatia, the
territories demanded by your majesty."

"Well!" exclaimed Napoleon, "we obtain thereby the chief point. I shall
extend the territory of France to the Save, and become the immediate
neighbor of Turkey. Let the Emperor of Russia try then to carry his
plans against Constantinople into effect: France will know how to
protect her neighbor, and her troops will always be ready to defend the
Porte. When I have extended my frontiers into the interior of Dalmatia
and Croatia, Russia's influence in the Orient is paralyzed, and France
will be all-powerful in Constantinople. What is it that Austria refuses
after granting our principal demands?"

"Sire, she consents further to cede to Bavaria part of Upper Austria,
namely: Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, and part of the district of the Inn and
Hausruck, but she refuses to give up one-half of Upper Austria, which we
claimed; she refuses further to cede to Saxony such large territories in
Bohemia, and to Russia in Galicia, as was demanded by your majesty."

"We may yield a little as to these points," said Napoleon. "It is always
better to make exorbitant demands, because it is easier then to abate,
and appear accommodating. I do not attach, moreover, any great value to
the enlargement of Bavaria, Saxony, and Russia. Only the aggrandizement
of France by the extension of our frontiers to the boundaries of Turkey
was to be the object of our ambition. Having attained this, we will
yield as to the cession of other territories, a