l demand, but was to ask
for some expression of general intentions and feelings. Alexander was
in the provinces, and did not return until the middle of December.
Meantime Caulaincourt, after careful inquiry, had learned that the
young princess was frail in health and not yet of marriageable age.
The letter to his master conveying this information was crossed by one
of Napoleon's making a formal demand. The difference in confessional
adherence was of no account, he said, and an immediate answer was
desired. "Take as your standpoint that children are wanted." This put
the Czar in a serious dilemma. An alliance with France was still near
his heart. By the treaty of Friedrichshamn, which had been signed on
September ninth, 1809, he had secured Finland at last, but of the
other splendid projects suggested at Tilsit and confirmed at Erfurt
not one was realized. Aside from the chagrin he had felt at the war
with Austria, and its menacing results in the enlargement of Poland,
there was now an additional cause of anxiety; for in the conflict with
Turkey his troops had but recently been driven back across the Danube.
If he broke with Napoleon he might even lose Moldavia and Wallachia,
and realize nothing further. A few weeks had softened the displeasure
he felt after Schoenbrunn, and he now began to shower favors on
Caulaincourt, expressing the greatest anxiety for the match. The youth
of the princess was, however, a serious obstacle, and he must consult
his empress-mother. Of course the dowager made every objection to the
marriage; she was an ardent sympathizer with the old Russian party,
and hated Napoleon. There is little doubt that she was entirely right,
moreover, in declaring at last as an insuperable obstacle that her
daughter was too young. Alexander then turned his whole attention to
cajoling the French ambassador in order to gain time. He had always
been more Napoleon's friend than his ally, he said; surely the Emperor
would grant a delay for a few months.

But this was exactly what the suitor would not do. His dignity
forbade him to abide the empress-dowager's time; the divorce had been
pronounced, and state reasons made his marriage imperative. "To
adjourn is to refuse," he replied; "and besides, I want no strange
priests in my palace between my wife and me." This was apparently a
complete somersault, for it meant that either Alexander must yield or
the alliance would be jeopardized. No one can divine from the evidenc