After proceeding towards Vienna and being sent back to Bruenn, Haugwitz arrived there on November 29th.[39] Of the four hours’ private conference that ensued with Napoleon we have but scanty records, and those by Haugwitz himself, who had every reason for warping the truth.  He states that he was received with icy coldness, and at once saw that the least threat of hostile pressure by Prussia would drive Napoleon to make a separate peace with Austria.  But after the first hour the Emperor appeared to thaw:  he discussed the question of a Continental peace and laid aside all resentment at Prussia’s conduct:  finally, he gave a general assent to her proposals, on two conditions, namely, that the allied force then in Hanover should not be allowed by Prussia to invade Holland, and that the French garrison in the fortress of Hameln, now compassed about by Prussians, should be provisioned.  To both of these requests Haugwitz assented, and pledged the word of his King, an act of presumption which that monarch was to repudiate.

While exceeding his instructions on this side, Haugwitz did practically nothing to advance the chief business of his mission.  Either his own fears, or the crafty mixture of threats and flattery that cajoled so many envoys, led him to neglect the interests of Prussia, and to play into the hands of the very man whose ambition he was sent to check.  After the interview, when the envoy had retired to his lodging, Caulaincourt came up in haste to warn him that a battle was imminent, that his personal safety might be endangered, and that Napoleon requested him to repair to Vienna, where he might consult with Talleyrand on affairs of State.  Horses and an escort were ready, and Haugwitz set out for that city, where he arrived on November 30th, only to find that Talleyrand was strictly forbidden to do more than entertain him with commonplaces.  Thus, the all-important question as to the action of Prussia’s legions was again postponed, even when 150,000 Prussians and Saxons were ready to march against the French communications.

Napoleon’s letter of November 30th to Talleyrand reveals his secret anxiety at this time.  In truth, the crisis was terrible.  With a superior force in front, with the Archdukes Ferdinand and Charles threatening to raise Bohemia and Hungary on his flanks, while two Prussian armies were about to throw themselves on his rear, his position was fully as serious as that of Hannibal before Cannae, from which the Carthaginian freed himself only by that staggering blow.  Did that example inspire the French Emperor, or did he take counsel from his own boundless resources of brain and will?  Certain it is that, after a passing fit of discouragement, he braced himself for a final effort, and staked all on the effect of one mighty stroke.  In order to hurry on the battle he feigned discouragement and withdrew his lines from Austerlitz to the Goldbach.  Already he had sent General Savary to the Czar with proposals for a short truce.[40]