hood, many superstitions have been attached; it was looked on as a sign
of good luck, and when preserved, was kept as a protection against
drowning.

CAULAINCOURT, ARMAND AUGUSTIN LOUIS, MARQUIS DE (1773-1827), French
general and diplomatist, was born of a noble family. He early entered
the army, did not emigrate in the revolution, but was deprived of his
grade as captain in 1793 and served in the ranks. In 1795, through the
protection of L. Hoche, he became captain again, was colonel in the Army
of the Rhine in 1799-1800, and after the peace of Luneville (1801) was
sent to St Petersburg to negotiate an understanding between Russia and
France. On his return he was named aide-de-camp of the First Consul. He
was employed to seize some agents of the English government in Baden in
1804, which led to the accusation that he was concerned in the arrest of
the due d'Enghien, an accusation against which he never ceased to
protest. After the establishment of the empire he received various
honours and the title of duke of Vicenza (1808). Napoleon sent him in
1807 as ambassador to St Petersburg, where Caulaincourt tried to
maintain the alliance of Tilsit, and although Napoleon's ambition made
the task a difficult one, Caulaincourt succeeded in it for some years.
In 1811 he strongly advised Napoleon to renounce his proposed expedition
to Russia. During the war he accompanied the emperor, and was one of
those whom Napoleon took along with him when he suddenly abandoned his
army in Poland to return to Paris (December 1812). During the last years
of the empire, Caulaincourt was charged with all the diplomatic
negotiations. He signed the armistice of Pleswitz, June 1813,
represented France at the congress of Prague, in August 1813, at the
congress of Chatillon, in February 1814, and concluded the treaty of
Fontainebleau on the 10th of April 1814. During the first Restoration,
Caulaincourt lived in obscure retirement. When Napoleon returned from
Elba, he became minister of foreign affairs, and tried to persuade
Europe of the emperor's peaceful intentions. After the second
Restoration, Caulaincourt's name was on the list of those proscribed,
but it was erased on the personal intervention of Alexander I. with
Louis XVIII.

Caulaincourt's memoirs appeared under the title _Souvenirs du duc de
Vicence_ in 1837-1840. See A. Vandal, _Napoleon et Alexandre_ (Paris,
1891-1895); Tatischeff, _Alexandre I^er et Napoleon_ (Paris, 1892);