n out, and that Austria was about to assume the
role of mediator. It was to his purpose that, on the other hand, he
promised to treat Russia as Russia had treated Austria in 1809. When,
in his despair, Napoleon wrote to Francis from Dresden demanding an
increase of the Austrian contingent to check Kutusoff's advance
through Poland, Metternich suffered his master to give no answer, but
sent a special peace embassy to London, and despatched Bubna, a
favorite with Napoleon, to seek the same end at Paris. The Emperor of
the French laid down his old ultimatum, but offered a subsidy to
Austria if she would double the number of her auxiliaries. Thereupon
Metternich prepared to desert Napoleon, refused to furnish the
auxiliaries, ordered Schwarzenberg "to save his troops for the next
campaign," and secretly advised Prussia to join her cause with that of
Russia. Careful not to formulate any definite terms for the peace he
so clamorously invoked, he refused to intervene with Russia for the
restoration of Prussian Poland, thus avoiding an open rupture with
France, assuring that the seat of war would be in Saxony, and gaining
time to secure Austria's dignity as a mediator by the preparation of
armaments strong enough to enforce her suggestions.

This attitude compelled Prussia to make a decision. Frederick William
could no longer wage a sham warfare nor cover hostile intentions by a
pretense of disinterestedness. A decision must be taken, and the
conduct of General York had indicated what the painful conclusion must
be. The convention of Tauroggen had been duly disavowed; but an envoy
was at Russian headquarters, and Alexander had entered Prussian
territory in his advance against Eugene; Napoleon was demanding an
increased auxiliary force. The temporizer could temporize no longer.
He firmly believed that nothing short of a coalition between Austria,
Russia, and Prussia could annihilate France, and Austria had virtually
refused to enter such a combination. Russia, moreover, was under no
engagement in regard to Prussian Poland. What was to be done? The
King's first instinct led him to seek refuge with Napoleon, and he
despatched an envoy, offering his continued alliance for either an
increase of territory, or for ninety million francs in payment of the
commissary supplies furnished during 1812. With every day, however,
the Prussian people grew more Russian in feeling, and on January
twenty-second, 1813, before the return of the ambas