“I am happy to see you,” said the emperor to the envoy.  “The occasion has been very glorious for your arms.  That day will take nothing from the reputation your master has earned in so many battles.  It was my first engagement.  I confess that the rapidity of his maneuvers gave me no time to succor the menaced points.  Everywhere you were at least double the number of our forces.”

“Sire,” Savary replied, “our force was twenty-five thousand less than yours.  And even of that the whole was not very warmly engaged.  But we maneuvered much, and the same division combated at several different points.  Therein lies the art of war.  The emperor, who has seen forty pitched battles, is never wanting in that particular.  He is still ready to march against the Archduke Charles, if your majesty does not accept the armistice.”

“What guarantee does your master require,” continued Alexander, “and what security can I have that your troops will not prosecute their movements against me?”

“He asks only your word of honor,” Savary replied.  “He has instructed me the moment it is given to suspend the pursuit.”

“I give it with pleasure,” rejoined the emperor, “and should it ever be your fortune to visit St. Petersburg, I hope that I may be able to render my capital agreeable to you.”

Hostilities immediately ceased, and the broken columns of the Russian troops returned to their homes.  The Austro-Russian army, in the disastrous day of Austerlitz, lost in killed, wounded and prisoners, over forty thousand men.  It is stated that Alexander, when flying from the bloody field with his discomfited troops, his path being strewed with the wounded and the dead, posted placards along the route, with the inscription,

“I commend my unfortunate soldiers to the generosity of the Emperor Napoleon!”

Alexander, young and ambitions, was very much chagrined by this utter discomfiture.  Austerlitz was his first battle; and instead of covering him with renown it had overwhelmed him with disgrace.  He was anxious for an opportunity to wipe away the stain.  A new coalition was soon formed against France, consisting of England, Russia, Prussia and Sweden.  Alexander eagerly entered into this coalition, hoping for an opportunity to acquire that military fame which, in this lost world, has been ever deemed so essential to the reputation of a sovereign.  The remonstrance of Napoleon, with Russia, was noble and unanswerable.

“Why,” said he, “should hostilities arise between France and Russia?  Perfectly independent of each other, they are impotent to inflict evil, but all-powerful to communicate benefits.  If the Emperor of France exercises a great influence in Italy, the tzar exerts a still greater influence over Turkey and Persia.  If the cabinet of Russia pretends to have a right to affix limits to the power of France, without doubt it is equally disposed to allow the Emperor of the French to prescribe the bounds beyond which Russia is not to pass.  Russia has partitioned Poland.  Can she then complain that France possesses Belgium and the left banks of the Rhine?  Russia has seized upon the Crimea, the Caucasus, and the northern provinces of Persia.  Can she deny that the right of self-preservation gives France a right to demand an equivalent in Europe?