The Poischwitz armistice was his first
fatal blunder; before the close of the interview he consented to its
prolongation until August tenth, ostensibly that the Congress of
Prague might arrange terms for a continental peace; and this was his
undoing.

The Congress of Prague was a puppet-show, and has no place in history
except as it displayed the character of Metternich, deceiving himself
to its close with the belief that he was what he professed to be--an
armed mediator turning the course of European politics back into
dynastic channels. In reality it was as Napoleon said--he believed
himself to be directing everybody, when everything was directing him.
Behind the puppets were Alexander's fatalism, Prussia's regenerated
nationality, the half-awakened sensibility of Austria, and lastly,
British gold with British victories. Wellington had finally focused
the national power of Spain, and was actually menacing the soil of
France. His famous "march to Vitoria," as it has been called because
of the decisive battle fought at that place on June twenty-first,
1813, forced Napoleon finally to abandon Spain. Already the Emperor
had withdrawn his choicest veterans thence, and he was well aware how
futile any further struggles for Joseph's throne must be. His conduct,
therefore, was perfectly consistent; with a bold front he laid down
the ultimatum of _uti possidetis_ for the congress, and left for
Mainz, where he remained from July twenty-fifth to August first,
arranging his military plans for the defense of the Pyrenees, and
despatching Soult, who went against his will, for the campaign which
sealed the marshal's reputation as a great soldier. Doubtless, too,
Napoleon felt that distance from the absurd congress would absolve him
from the guilt of its empty pretense.

There, too, he met his empress; perhaps he fondly dreamed that she
might intercede with her sire; in the long interviews they held he was
probably drilling her in the functions of a regent chosen to sustain
in Paris the tottering cause of her consort and her child. Fouche,
too, was recalled from his suspicious retirement to untangle the
thread of Austrian duplicity. But the long hours of consultation,
arrangement, and execution were mainly concerned, we may suppose, with
the hurrying in of new levies, the raising of cavalry, the creation of
artillery, and the general preparation for the life-and-death struggle
which was soon to take place. The Danish alliance was