After thus finally belittling the two poets, he shot a parting shaft at German idealism in his farewell to the academicians.  He bade them beware of idealogues as dangerous dreamers and disguised materialists.  Then, raising his voice, he exclaimed:  “Philosophers plague themselves with weaving systems:  they will never find a better one than Christianity, which, reconciling man with himself, also assures public order and repose.  Your idealogues destroy every illusion; and the time of illusions is for peoples and individuals alike the time of happiness.  I carry one away, that you will think kindly of me.”  He then mounted his carriage and drove away to Paris to resume his conquest of Spain.[204]

The last diplomatic proceeding at Erfurt was the drawing up of a secret convention which assigned Finland and the Danubian Provinces to Russia, and promised Russia’s help to Napoleon in case Austria should attack him.  The Czar also recognized Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain and joined Napoleon in a joint note to George III. summoning him to make peace.  On the same day (October 12th) that note was drawn up and despatched to London.  In reply, Canning stated our willingness to treat for peace, provided that it should include all parties:  that, although bound by no formal treaty to Ferdinand VII. and the Spanish people, yet we felt ourselves none the less pledged to them, and presumed that they, as well as our other allies, would be admitted to the negotiations.  Long before this reply reached Paris, Napoleon had left for Spain.  But on November 19th, he charged Champagny to state that the Spanish rebels could no more be admitted than the Irish insurgents:  as for the other parties to the dispute he would not refuse to admit “either the King reigning in Sweden, or the King reigning in Sicily, or the King reigning in Brazil.”  This insulting reply sufficiently shows the insincerity of his overtures and the peculiarity of his views of monarchy.  The Spaniards were rebels because they refused to recognize the forced abdication of their young King; and the rulers of Sweden, Naples and Portugal, were Kings as long as it suited Napoleon to tolerate them, and no longer.  It is needless to add that our Government refused to desert the Spaniards; and in his reply to St. Petersburg, Canning expressed George III.’s deep regret that Alexander should sanction

“An usurpation unparalleled in the history of the world....  If these be the principles to which the Emperor of Russia has inviolably attached himself ... deeply does His Majesty [George III.] lament a determination by which the sufferings of Europe must be aggravated and prolonged.  But not to His Majesty is to be attributed the continuance of the calamities of war, by the disappointment of all hope of such a peace as would be compatible with justice and honour."[205]

No open-minded person can peruse the correspondence on this subject without concluding that British policy,