and for months the young Czar had seen his dream of a free and happy Europe fade away amidst the smoke of Napoleon’s guns and the mists of English muddling.  At first he blenched not even at the news of Friedland.  In an interview with our ambassador, Lord Gower, on June the 17th, he bitterly upbraided him with our inactivity in the Baltic and the Mediterranean, and the non-fulfilment of our promise of a loan; as for himself, “he would never stoop to Bonaparte:  he would rather retire to Kazan or even to Tobolsk.”  But five days later, acting under pressure from his despairing generals, some of whom reminded him of his father’s fate, he arranged an armistice with the conqueror.[135] Five days only were allowed in which Prussia might decide to follow his example or proceed with the war alone.  She accepted the inevitable on the following day.

The international situation was now strangely like that which followed immediately upon the battle of Austerlitz.  Then it was Prussia, now it was Austria, that played the part of the cautious friend at the very time when the beaten allies were meditating surrender.  For some time past the Court of Vienna had been offering its services for mediation:  they were well received at London, with open disappointment by Prussia, and with ill-concealed annoyance by Napoleon.  As at the time when Haugwitz came to him to dictate Prussia’s terms, so now the Emperor kept the Austrian envoy waiting without an answer, until the blow of Friedland was dealt.[136] Even then Austria seemed about to enter the lists, when news arrived of the conclusion of the armistice at Tilsit.  This enabled her to sheathe her sword with no loss of honour; but, as was the case with Prussia at the close of 1805, her conduct was seen to be timid and time-serving; and it merited the secret rebuke of Canning that she “was (as usual) just ten days too late in her determination, or the world might have been saved."[137]

Whether Austria had been beguiled by the recent diplomatic caresses of Napoleon may well be doubted; for they were obviously aimed at keeping her quiet until he had settled scores with Prussia and Russia.  His advances only began on the eve of the last war, and the sharpness of the transition from threats to endearments could not be smoothed over even by Talleyrand’s finesse.[138] When the slaughter at Eylau placed him in peril, he again bade Talleyrand soothe the Austrian envoy with assurances that, if his master was anxious to maintain the integrity of Turkey, France would maintain it; or if he desired to share in an eventual partition, France would also arrange that to his liking.[139] But as the prospects for the campaign improved, Napoleon’s tone hardened.  On March the 14th he states that he has enough men to keep Austria quiet and to “get rid of the Russians in a month.”  And now he looks on an alliance with the Hapsburgs merely as giving a short time of quiet, whereas an alliance with Russia would be “very advantageous."[140] He had also felt the value of alliance with Prussia, as his repeated overtures during the campaign testify; but when Frederick William persistently rejected all accommodation with the man who had so deeply outraged his kingly honour, he turned finally to Alexander.