sister.  The whole emigration, with its misfortunes, its nobility, its valour, its illusions, seemed personified in him.  The Marquis de Bouille and M. de Calonne, the genius of war and the genius of intrigue, had followed him to these conferences.  He obtained several audiences of the two sovereigns, he inveighed with respect and energy against the temporising system of the emperor, and violently roused the Germanic sluggishness.  The emperor and the king of Prussia authorised the Baron de Spielman for Austria, the Baron de Bischofswerden for Prussia, and M. de Calonne for France, to meet the same evening, and draw up a declaration for the signature of the monarchs.

The Baron de Spielman, under the immediate dictation of the emperor, drew up the document.  M. de Calonne in vain combated, in the name of the Count d’Artois, the hesitation that disconcerted the impatience of the emigres.  The next day, on their return from a visit to Dresden, the two sovereigns, the Count d’Artois, M. de Calonne, the Marechal de Lascy, and the two negotiators, met in the emperor’s apartment, where the declaration was read and discussed, every sentence weighed, and some expressions modified; and at the proposal of M. de Calonne, and the entreaties of the Count d’Artois, the emperor and the king of Prussia consented to the insertion of the last phrase, that threatened the Revolution with war.

Subjoined is the document that was the date of a war of twenty-two years’ duration.

“The emperor and the king of Prussia, having listened to the wishes and representations of Monsieur and Monsieur le Comte d’Artois, declare conjointly that they look upon the present position of the king of France as an object of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe.  They trust that this interest cannot fail to be acknowledged by all the powers whose assistance is claimed; and that, in consequence, they will not refuse to employ, conjointly with the emperor and the king of Prussia, the most efficacious means, proportioned to their forces, for enabling the king of France to strengthen with the most perfect liberty the bases of a monarchical government, equally conformable to the rights of sovereigns and the welfare of the French nation.  Then, and in that case, their aforesaid majesties are resolved to act promptly and in concert with the forces requisite to attain the end proposed and agreed on.  In the mean time they will issue all needful orders to their troops to hold themselves in a state of readiness.”

This declaration, at once timid and threatening, was evidently too much for peace, too little for war; for such words encourage the revolution, without crushing it.  They at once showed the impatience of the emigres, the resolution of the king of Prussia, the hesitation of the powers, the temporising policy of the emperor.  It was a concession to force and weakness, to peace and war; the whole state of Europe was there unveiled, for it was the declaration of the uncertainty and anarchy of its councils.