t was held
in check while the swamp-fever devastated its ranks. About the same
time a plague also broke out in the Austrian army, and, as was
claimed, destroyed its efficiency. Wellesley, unsupported, saw himself
threatened by a flank movement of Soult and drew back, while, in
August, Sebastiani defeated a division of the Spanish army.

These were the circumstances which turned the pretended peace
negotiations of Francis into reality. When proceedings first began at
Altenburg they were simply farcical. Napoleon really needed peace, if
Prussia and Russia were meditating war; but the first proposal made
by Austria he scorned, and talked of Francis's abdication, with a
partition of Hapsburg lands among the new Napoleonic states. When the
nominal plenipotentiaries, Champagny and Metternich, actually met, the
former still scouted anything like reasonable terms, demanding for his
Emperor the lands occupied by French troops. The Austrian, anxious to
gain time, replied with equally impossible propositions. But as the
summer passed, and Francis's hopes of support grew fainter and
fainter, he sent a personal representative, General Bubna, to
Napoleon, and this plenipotentiary began to display sincerity.
Thereupon the Emperor of the French manifested his earnest desire for
peace. So far he had relied on the Czar, who stood by the alliance in
the face of his people's opposition. How much longer, Alexander must
have asked himself, could this state of things continue? It was
praiseworthy in him that he cared nothing for popular opinion, but he
might not be able to hold out against it much longer. It was very
significant that in a formal note just received from St. Petersburg by
the hand of a Russian officer, Alexander advised peace. To this
messenger, when speaking of the chances for renewing hostilities,
Napoleon exclaimed in undisguised horror, "Blood, blood, always
blood!" And then, with a sudden change of manner, he said: "I am
anxious to get back to Paris." Like his generals, the Emperor of the
French was plainly sick of war. His sad countenance, like theirs, was
an open book in which the Russian could clearly read this important
fact. Indeed, the anxious, war-worn, unsettled Napoleon actually
contemplated an alliance with Austria. It was clear that if her
territories were left intact she would gladly join in one. He had need
to be done with her in order to settle his affairs in Spain and
elsewhere. But he feared Francis, and h