y.

CHAPTER XIX

THE AUSTRIAN MARRIAGE[34]

[Footnote 34: See Welschinger: Le Divorce de Napoleon.
Vandal: Napoleon et Alexandre Ier, Vol. II, Le second mariage
de Napoleon. Correspondance de Marie Louise 1799-1847.
Lettres intimes et inedites a la C^tesse de Colloredo et a
Mlle de Poutet, depuis 1810 C^tesse de Crenneville.
Welschinger: Le mariage de Napoleon et de Marie Louise, in
Revue de la revolution, Paris, Nov., 1788. Durand, Madame la
Generale, A Memoir, Napoleon and Marie-Louise ("Memoires sur
Napoleon et Marie-Louise").]

Anxieties of the Austrian Court -- The Plan for a Matrimonial
Alliance with Napoleon -- Opening of Formal Negotiations -- The
Deliberations in Paris -- Napoleon's Decision -- The Czar's
Indignation -- The Ceremonies at Vienna -- Napoleon's
Preparations -- His Meeting with Maria Louisa -- The Wedding --
Gifts and Rejoicings -- Impressions of the New Empress -- The New
Dynasty.

[Sidenote: 1809-10]

The court of Vienna had regarded what were apparently preparations for
a matrimonial alliance between France and Russia with nothing less
than consternation. Such an arrangement would, if consummated,
temporarily seal the political bond already existing, and might
guarantee it indefinitely. The empire of Austria, already shorn of so
many fair territories, was no longer a first-rate power. The language
used by Napoleon after the armistice of Znaim about Francis and the
necessity for his abdication, had made a deep impression in view of
the events at Bayonne. Was the ancient monarchy really to be
humiliated and remain permanently dismembered? Not if an imperial
alliance was the only thing necessary to secure Napoleon's favor.
There was an archduchess of the proper age, and the house of Hapsburg
was far more ancient and splendid than the house of Romanoff.

Among the many confidential agents of Napoleon concerned in
formulating the treaty of Schoenbrunn was a certain Alexandre de
Laborde, who had once been in the Austrian service and knew Vienna
well. Remaining behind after his employer's departure, he wrote a
memoir in December, 1809, which, though sent to Maret, was intended
for the Emperor himself, and was seen by him. In it is detailed a
conversation with Metternich, in which the latter had first vaguely
and then distinctly spoken of a match between Napoleon and the