f Finland,
and even of the Isle of Aland, which was so near Stockholm. That he had
only replied to the distressed appeal of the Swedes, by advising them to
make the cession.

"That, nevertheless, since 1809, the Russian army destined to act in
concert with Poniatowski in Austrian Gallicia had come forward too late,
was too weak, and had acted perfidiously; that since that time,
Alexander, by his ukase of the 31st of December, 1810, had abandoned the
continental system, and by his prohibitions declared an actual war
against French commerce; that he was quite aware that the interest and
national spirit of the Russians might have compelled him to that, but
that he had then communicated to their emperor that he was aware of his
position, and would enter into every kind of arrangement which his
repose required; in spite of which, Alexander, instead of modifying his
ukase, had assembled 80,000 men, under pretence of supporting his
custom-house officers; that he had suffered himself to be seduced by
England; that, lastly, he even now refused to recognize the
thirty-second military division, and demanded the evacuation of Prussia
by the French; which was equivalent to a declaration of war."

Through all these complaints, some persons thought they perceived that
the pride of Napoleon was wounded by the independent attitude which
Russia was daily resuming. The dispossession of the Russian Princess of
Oldenburg of her duchy led to other conjectures; it was said that hints
had been given both at Tilsit and Erfurt about a divorce, after which a
closer alliance might be contracted with Russia; that these hints had
not been encouraged, and that Napoleon retained a resentful remembrance
of it. This fact is affirmed by some, and denied by others.

But all those passions which so despotically govern other men, possessed
but a feeble influence over a genius so firm and vast as his: at the
utmost, they may have imparted the first momentum which impelled him
into action earlier than he would have wished; but without penetrating
so deeply beneath the folds of his great mind, a single idea, an obvious
fact, was enough to hurry him, sooner or later, into that decisive
struggle,--that was, the existence of an empire, which rivalled his own
in greatness, but was still young, like its prince, and growing every
day; while the French empire, already mature, like its emperor, could
scarcely anticipate any thing but its decrease.

Whatever was th