As soon as Alexander entered the French territory, the disaffected placed themselves in communication with his cabinet. I have already mentioned the mission of M. de Vitrolles, who, with a view to the restoration, had informed the Czar of the state of the public mind; and Count Nesselrode had hardly arrived in Paris before he was surrounded and assailed by a thousand conflicting intrigues and negotiations of all sorts, for the purpose of inducing his cabinet to decide in favour of the Bourbons. It was the general bent of the period, as the revolutionary principle had been that of a former era. The first steps taken by the Russian minister were full of caution; he wanted to feel his way and judge of the public feeling, and it was also necessary to induce Prince Schwartzenberg, who commanded the active army, to make an open demonstration in favour of the Bourbons; yet, at the same time, they were not quite certain what was the ultimate decision of Austria, and, more especially, of Prince Metternich. All the papers written about this time by Count Nesselrode bear evidence of this complicated situation; he, however, spoke in plain terms in an official letter addressed to M. Pasquier, that he might set at liberty some people arrested on account of _the good cause_, and this _good cause_ was the restoration of Louis XVIII. It was evident from this expression of opinions favourable to legitimate sovereignty, that the decision had been made before it was officially announced. Never, perhaps, at any time had more activity been displayed than at this period; Nesselrode must remember it as the most brilliant and busy part of his life. His _salon_ never was empty; at one time Caulaincourt, with full powers from the Emperor, solicited peace; at another, the marshals of the empire stipulated for the rights of the army, and a special treaty for Napoleon; then, again, Talleyrand, D'Alberg, and De Jaucourt, came to press the Russian minister to put an end to all uncertainty by pronouncing the downfall of Buonaparte; and, finally, the royalists devoted to the Bourbons, such as Sosthènes de la Rochefoucauld, and De Vitrolles, endeavoured to obtain the triumph of the ancient dynasty.