The Happy Days of the Empress Marie Louise by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron, 1834-1900

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I. Early Years.

Ii. 1809.

Iii. The Preliminaries Of The Wedding.

The Betrothal.

V. The Religious Difficulty.

Vi The Ambassador Extraordinary.

Vii. The Wedding At Vienna.

Xii. The Civil Wedding.

Xiii. The Entrance Into Paris.

Xiv. The Religious Ceremony.

Women. Men. Men And Women.

Xv. The Honeymoon.

Xvi. The Trip In The North.

Xvii. The Month Of June, 1810.

Xviii. The Ball At The Austrian Embassy.

Xix. The Birth Of The King Of Rome.

Xx. The Recovery.

Xxi. The Baptism.

Xxii. Saint Cloud And Trianon.

Xxiii. The Trip To Holland.

Napoleon At The Height Of His Power.

Xxv. Marie Louise In 1812.

Xxvi. The Empress's Household.

Xxvii. Dresden.

Xxviii. Prague.

THE BETROTHAL.

February 7, 1810, M. Champagny, Duke of Cadore, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Prince Charles of Schwarzenberg, met at the Tuileries, and signed, without the slightest hitch, the marriage contract of Napoleon and the Archduchess Marie Louise. The text was a copy almost word for word of Marie Antoinette's marriage contract, which had been signed forty years before.

On leaving the Tuileries, Prince Schwarzenberg despatched a messenger to Vienna to announce the momentous news, which possibly would arouse more surprise than delight. "Count," he wrote to M. de Metternich, "in signing the marriage contract, while protesting that I was in no way clothed with power _ad hoc_, I believe that I have merely signed a paper which can guarantee to the Emperor Napoleon the determination already formed by my August Sovereign of meeting him half-way in negotiation on this subject. The despatches with which you have honored me made the course that I was to follow perfectly clear. His Majesty, as Your Excellency assures me, approves of my conduct by bidding me follow the same course; hence the marriage is an affair which my government naturally regards as one of the greatest interest, and one which it desires to see arranged. It will be evident to those who know the character of Emperor Napoleon that if I had shown the slightest hesitation, he would have abandoned this plan and have formed another. If this affair was hurried, it was because that is the way in which Napoleon acts, and it seemed to me best to seize the favorable moment. I have the most profound conviction of having been of service to my sovereign on this occasion; and if by any possibility I have had the misfortune to displease him by the course that I took in perfect sincerity, His Majesty can disavow it, but in that case I shall instantly demand my recall."