“What has prevented the Emperor till now from coming to a decision in this respect is the news contained in the English journals of an arrangement between England and America, and announced by a Proclamation of the President of the United States, April 19, 1806. If from this act should result the certainty that the English renounce their principle of blockade, then the Emperor would revoke the whole of his measures relative to neutral commerce. But the ‘Gazette de France’ of June 5, for I have no other authority, pretends that the British ministry refuse to sanction the arrangement concluded in America; and the result of all this is an extreme uncertainty, which prevents a decision as to the course proper to be taken.” This was the situation of the American dispute June 13, 1809, at Vienna, at the moment Canning’s disavowal of Erskine became certain. Thus far Napoleon’s mind had passed through two changes,--the first, in consequence of the British Order in Council of April 26, which led him to decide on withdrawing the Milan Decree; the second, in consequence of Erskine’s arrangement, which led him to promise America everything she asked. The news of Canning’s refusal to carry out the arrangement stopped Napoleon short in his career of concession; he left the American affair untouched until after the battle of Wagram, July 6, which was followed by the submission of Austria, July 12. The battle of Wagram placed him in a position to defy resistance. Immediately afterward he sent orders to Paris to stop Hauterive’s negotiation. About the middle of July Hauterive told the American minister “that a change had taken place in the views of the Emperor; and in particular that a decree prepared by his orders as a substitute for those of November, 1806, and December, 1807, and which would have been a very material step toward accommodation, had been laid aside.”[107] In the heat and fury of the battle of Wagram this order must have been given, for it was known at Paris only one week afterward, and Armstrong reported the message, July 24, as a notice that unless America resisted the British doctrines of search and blockade she need expect no relaxation on the part of Napoleon; while this notice was supported by a menace that until the Emperor knew the President’s decision he would take no step to make matters worse than they already were.[108] If Armstrong put trust in this last promise or menace, he showed once more his want of sympathy with the Emperor’s character. Quick to yield before an evident disaster, Napoleon was equally quick to exhaust the fruits of an evident victory; and the advantage he had obtained over the United States was as decided, if not as extensive, as that which he had gained over Austria. In one way or another America must pay for rebellion, and she could be made to pay only by the usual process of seizing her commerce.