428 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



these unsuccessful endeavours for 

 peace, soon destroyed the best 

 hopes that were entertained. In- 

 stead of endeavouring by a moderate 

 language to improve at least our 

 view of the future, and to lessen 

 the general despondency, it was 

 on every occasion solemnly de- 

 clared, before the highest authori- 

 ties in France, that the emperor 

 would hear of no proposition for 

 peace that should violate the inte- 

 grity of the French empire, in the 

 French sense of the word, or that 

 should make any pretension to the 

 arbitrarily incorporated provinces. 



At the same time, eventual con- 

 ditions, with which this self-created 

 boundary did not even appear to 

 have any relation, were spoken of; 

 at one time menacing indignation, 

 at another with bitter contempt ; 

 as if it had not been possible to de- 

 clare in terms sufficiently distinct, 

 the resolution of the emperor Na- 

 poleon, not to make to the repose of 

 the xvorld even one single nominal 

 sacrifice. 



These hostile demonstrations 

 were attended with this particular 

 mortification to Austria, that they 

 placed even the invitations to 

 peace which this cabinet, with the 

 knowledge and apparent consent of 

 France, made to other courts, in a 

 false and highly disadvantageous 

 light. The sovereigns united 

 -against France, instead of any 

 answer to Austria's propositions for 

 Jiegociation, and her offers of me- 

 diation, laid before her the public 

 declarations of the French emperor. 

 And when, in the month of March, 

 his majesty sent a minister to 

 X-ondon, to invite England to share 

 in a negociation for peace, the 

 British ministry replied, " that 

 •they could not believe Austria 



still entertained any hopes of peace, 

 when the emperor Napoleon had 

 in the mean time expressed senti- 

 ments which could only tend to 

 the perpetuation of war ;" a decla- 

 ration which was the more painful 

 to his majesty, the more it was 

 just and well-founded. 



Austria, however, did not, upon 

 this account, cease to impress in 

 more forcible and distinct terms, 

 the necessity of peace, upon the 

 mind of the emperor of France ; 

 directed in all her measures by this 

 principle, that, as all order and 

 balance of power in Europe had 

 been destroyed by the boundless 

 superiority of France, no real peace 

 was to be expected, unless that su- 

 periority were diminished. His 

 majesty in the mean time adopted 

 every necessarymeasure to strength- 

 en and concentrate his armies ; 

 sensible that Austria must be pre- 

 pared for war, if her mediation 

 were not to be entirely unavailing. 

 His imperial majesty had more- 

 over been long since persuaded, 

 that the probability of an imme- 

 diate share in the war would no 

 longer be excluded from his calcu- 

 lations. The actual state of things 

 could not be continued ; of this the 

 emperor was convinced ; this con- 

 viction was the main spring of his 

 actions, and was naturally strength- 

 ened by the failure of any attempt 

 to procure a peace. The result 

 was apparent. By one means or 

 the other, either by negociation or 

 by force of arms, a new state of 

 things must be effected. 



The emperor Napoleon was not 

 only aware of the Austrian prepa- 

 rations for war, but even acknow- 

 ledged them as necessarj'-, and jus- 

 tified them in more than one 

 instance. He had sufHcient reason 



I 



