and was
already threatening her long-planned attack on the Scheldt. Whatever real
importance might attach to these movements, the Austrian cabinet made them
the pretext for demanding more favorable conditions; and Metternich was
emboldened to go so far as to ask for the restoration of the Empire in all
its former integrity.

These negotiations between the two cabinets at the time assumed the most
singular form which probably was ever adopted in such intercourse; all the
disagreeable intelligences and disastrous tidings being communicated from
one side to the other with the mock politeness of friendly relations. As
for instance, the Austrian cabinet would forward an extract from one of
Hofer's descriptions of a victory; to which the French would reply by a
bulletin of Eugene Beauharnois, or, as Napoleon on one occasion did, by a
copy of a letter from the Emperor Alexander, filled with expressions of
friendship, and professing the most perfect confidence in his "brother of
France." So far was this petty and most contemptible warfare carried, that
every little gossip and every passing story was pressed into the service,
and if not directly addressed to the cabinet, at least conveyed to its
knowledge by some indirect channel.

It is probable I should have forgotten this curious feature of the time,
if not impressed on my memory by personal circumstances too important to
be easily obliterated from memory. An Austrian officer arrived one morning
from Komorn, with an account of the defeat of Lefebre's force before
Schenatz, and of a great victory gained by Hofer and Spechbacher over the
French and Bavarians. Two thousand prisoners were said to have been taken,
and the French driven across the Inn, and in full retreat on Kuffstein.
Now, as I had been confined at Kuffstein, and could speak of its
impregnable character from actual observation, I was immediately sent off
with dispatches about some indifferent matter, to the cabinet, with
injunctions to speak freely about the fortress, and declare that we were
perfectly confident of its security. I may mention incidentally, and as
showing the real character of my mission, that a secret dispatch from
Lefebre had already reached Vienna, in which he declared that he should be
compelled to evacuate the Tyrol, and fall back into Bavaria.

"I have provided you with introductions that will secure your friendly
reception," said Marmont to me. "The replies to these dispatches will
require