Champagny entered, carrying under his arm a large portfolio.
"Well, Champagny, what brings you hither at so early an hour? What has occurred? What did you do last night?"
"Sire," said Champagny, composedly, "I have made peace."
"What? Peace!" exclaimed Napoleon, and his countenance brightened, as if the morning had suddenly cast on him its earliest golden beams. "Peace! And the treaty has already been signed?"
"Yes, sire, and I bring it to your majesty."
"Signed! But how did you do that?"
"Sire, as soon as I reached Vienna last night, I sent for the Prince von Lichtenstein and Count Bubna, and locked myself with them in my room. We had a long and exciting discussion; but I saw that the plenipotentiaries had received fresh instructions from their emperor, and that he had ordered them to make peace. I extorted million by million from them; at one o'clock in the morning I had already made them consent to the payment of seventy-five millions, the sum demanded by your majesty; but I saw that I could go farther, and I did. At two o'clock I succeeded in a war contribution of eighty-five millions, and with that I was satisfied."
"What!" exclaimed the emperor, gayly; "you have obtained eighty-five millions when I told you I would be content with seventy-five millions! That was well done, Champagny, and I am highly pleased with your conduct. Give me the treaty. I wish to read it."
Champagny handed the emperor the papers, and he read them attentively. "Very well," he said, when he had finished, and with a smile—"we have accomplished, indeed, a very favorable peace. Austria has concluded four treaties with me within the last twelve years, but I must confess that this is the most advantageous to us—more so than the treaties of Campo Formio, Luneville, and Presburg. Austria loses two thousand square leagues, with three millions and a half of inhabitants, and pays us a war contribution of eighty-five millions of francs. I think France may be thankful, for, from this campaign, we bring her territory, money, and glory. We have done with Austria; and the insurgents of the Tyrol, headed by their peasant-prince, Andrew Hofer, will likewise have to submit. Their own emperor will command the insurgents to lay down their arms. But I will make an example, and show the world how such people ought to be chastised. Andrew Hofer must be delivered to me; he must be punished as a demagogue! Come, Champagny, let us lose no time. I will sign the treaty. It is very good. I am content with it." He stepped to his desk and hastily affixed his signature. He then cast the pen aside, and his features assumed an expression of proud scorn. "Henceforth Austria is nothing but a vassal of France, and I can annihilate her whenever I please. Her frontiers are open and unprotected on all sides; she is weakened within and without, and hemmed in everywhere by French territories. She dares no longer breathe freely, or raise her arm against us. If, however, she should, we shall crush her, and reconstruct the throne of Charlemagne on the ruins of Austria. His crown belongs to me already; I have it at Aix-la-Chapelle, and I do not see what should prevent me from placing it on my brow in Vienna."
"Sire," said Champagny, smilingly, "it would, perhaps, be more desirable for your majesty to allow the throne of the Hapsburgs to exist, and to render Austria harmless, not by destroying her, but by attaching the imperial family to your majesty by intimate and sacred ties. A vanquished enemy is always dangerous; but an ally, even though weak, will strengthen your own power, and Austria is able to give to the throne of your majesty the last and only jewel that, to the infinite regret of your subjects, it still lacks."