to Vienna and announce my speedy arrival to the
Emperor Francis," exclaimed Napoleon, impatiently.

"Sire, Count Metternich will meet the emperor no longer in Vienna," said
Champagny calmly.

"No longer in Vienna!" exclaimed Napoleon, laughing scornfully. "Does
Francis II. suspect already that I am about to come, and has he taken to
his heels even before I have left Paris?"

"No, sire; it seems, on the contrary, that the Emperor Francis intends
to put himself at the head of his troops."

Napoleon burst into a loud laugh. "The Austrians, then, believe my
soldiers to be sparrows, and think they can drive them out by setting
up a scarecrow! If the Emperor Francis himself intends to command, he
will command the army only to retreat, for the word 'forward' is not to
be found in his dictionary. Have you looked over the dispatches from
Germany, and can you report to me what they contain?"

"I am ready, sire," said Champagny, glancing at the papers.

"Then commence," ordered the emperor, sitting down, and taking from the
table a penknife, with which he whittled the back of the chair.

"The four corps of the Austrian army, with the two reserve corps, moved
on the first of April toward the frontier of Bavaria," said Champagny.

"As soon as they cross the Inn and enter the territory of my ally, war
will break out," exclaimed Napoleon. "Proceed!"

"On the evening of the 9th of April, the Archduke Charles and his
brother, the emperor, arrived with the army at Linz. Thence he sent one
of his adjutants to the King of Bavaria, to whom was to be delivered an
autograph letter, in which the archduke announced to the king that he
had received orders to advance, and would regard and treat as enemies
all that would resist his progress, no matter whether they were German
or foreign troops."

"Why, that is a regular declaration of war," said the emperor, piercing
the velvet cushion of the chair with his penknife.

"Yes, sire, it is," said Champagny, taking up another paper. "We have
received, moreover, a copy of the war manifesto which the Emperor of
Austria has published in the _Vienna Court Gazette_, and which was drawn
up by Gentz, the well-known pamphleteer."

"Gentz!" ejaculated Napoleon. "Do not those warlike Austrians see that
that is their death-knell, and that it is a bad omen for them that Gentz
had to blow the war-trumpet? Is it not the same Gentz who drew up the
high-sounding manifesto for the King of Prussia, previous