[Footnote 244: Tatischeff, p. 526; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii.]
[Footnote 245: "Corresp.," No. 16178; Vandal, vol. ii., ch. vii. The exposé of December 1st, 1809, had affirmed that Napoleon did not intend to re-establish Poland. But this did not satisfy Alexander.]
[Footnote 246: Letters of October 23rd and December 2nd, 1810.]
[Footnote 247: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 529.]
[Footnote 248: Tatischeff, p. 555.]
[Footnote 249: Vandal, vol. ii., p. 535, admits that we had no hand in it. But the Czar naturally became more favourable to us, and at the close of 1811 secretly gave entry to our goods.]
[Footnote 250: Quoted by Garden, vol. xiii., p. 171.]
[Footnote 251: Bernhardi's "Denkwürdigkeiten des Grafen von Toll," vol. i. p. 223.]
[Footnote 252: Czartoryski, vol. ii., ch. xvii. At Dresden, in May, 1812, Napoleon admitted to De Pradt, his envoy at Warsaw that Russia's lapse from the Continental System was the chief cause of war; "Without Russia, the Continental System is absurdity.">[
[Footnote 253: For the overtures of Russia and Sweden to us and their exorbitant requests for loans, see Mr. Hereford George's account in his careful and systematic study, "Napoleon's Invasion of Russia," ch. iv. It was not till July, 1812, that we formally made peace with Russia and Sweden, and sent them pecuniary aid. We may note here that Napoleon, in April, 1812, sent us overtures for peace, if we would acknowledge Joseph as King of Spain and Murat as King of Naples, and withdraw our troops from the Peninsula and Sicily: Napoleon would then evacuate Spain. Castlereagh at once refused an offer which would have left Napoleon free to throw his whole strength against Russia (Garden, vol. xiii., pp. 215, 254).]