Amidst the glories of Erfurt, Oudinot saw an incident that revealed the Czar’s hidden feelings.  During one of their rides, the Emperors were stopped by a dyke, which Napoleon’s steed refused to take; accordingly the Marshal had to help it across; but the Czar, proud of his horsemanship, finally cleared the obstacle with a splendid bound, though at the cost of a shock which broke his sword-belt.  The sword fell to the ground, and Oudinot was about to hand it to Alexander, when Napoleon quickly said:  “Keep that sword and bring it to me later”:  then, turning to the Czar, he added:  “You have no objection, Sire?” A look of surprise and distrust flashed across the Czar’s features; but, resuming his easy bearing, he gave his assent.  Later in the day, Napoleon sent his own sword to Alexander, and thus came off easily best from an incident which threatened at first to throw him into the shade.  The affair shows the ready wit and mental superiority of the one man no less than the veiled reserve and uneasiness of the other.

At the close of 1809, Alexander confessed his inner feeling to Czartoryski.  Napoleon, he said, was a man who would not scruple to use any means so long as he gained his end:  his mental strength was unquestioned:  in the worst troubles he was cool and collected:  his fits of passion were only meant to intimidate:  his every act was the result of calculation:  it was absurd to say that his prodigious exertions would drive him mad:  his health was splendid and was equal to any effort provided that he had eight hours’ sleep every day.  The impression left on the ex-Minister was that Alexander understood his ally thoroughly and feared him greatly.[243]

A few days later came Napoleon’s request for the hand of the Czar’s sister, a request which Alexander declined with many expressions of goodwill and regret.  What, then, was his surprise to find that, before the final answer had been returned, Napoleon was in treaty for the hand of an Austrian Archduchess.[244] This time it was for him to feel affronted.  And so this breathless search for a bride left sore feelings at both capitals, at Paris because the Czar declined Napoleon’s request, at St. Petersburg because the imperial wooer was off on another scent before the first had given out.

Alexander’s annoyance was increased by his ally’s doubtful behaviour about Poland.  After the recent increase of the Duchy of Warsaw he had urged Napoleon to make a declaration that “the Kingdom of Poland shall never be re-established.”  This matter was being discussed side by side with the matrimonial overtures; and, after their collapse, Napoleon finally declined to give this assurance which Alexander felt needful for checking the rising hopes of Poles and Lithuanians.  The utmost the French Emperor would do was to promise, in a secret clause, that he would never aid any other Power or any popular movement that aimed at the re-establishment of that kingdom.[245] In fact, as the Muscovite alliance was on the wane, he judged it bad policy to discourage the Poles, who might do so much for him in case of a Franco-Russian war.  He soon begins to face seriously the prospect of such an event.  At the close of 1810 he writes that the Russians are intrenching themselves on the Dwina and Dniester, which “shows a bad spirit.”