The Emperor Alexander had looked with secret satisfaction upon the events in Spain. Constantly influenced by the hopes by which Napoleon had dazzled him at Tilsit, and haunted by that passion for obtaining Constantinople which had so long been common to all the Russian sovereigns, he had accepted without any difficulty the spoliation of the Spanish Bourbons, in order to justify beforehand the spoliations in which he was interested. The national rising of the Spanish people served his design: the all- powerful conqueror had met with a serious resistance, undergone checks, and had need of the moral support of his allies; their material assistance might be needed. Alexander reckoned upon gaining at Erfurt the cession of that 'cat's tongue which was the key of the Bosphorus,' and which he coveted so eagerly. He set out from St. Petersburg on the 7th of September, somewhat against the will of his mother and the "Russian party," and with but few attendants. The Emperor Napoleon, on the contrary, had assembled at Erfurt all the resources of French elegance, joined to the brilliance which is inseparable from a powerful and victorious court. All the small princes of Germany were present, and the great sovereigns sent their most able representatives. The celebrated actors of the Théâtre Français, with Talma at their head, were appointed to amuse the two emperors in the intervals of business. The representation of _Cinna_ was the first of a series of master-pieces of the French stage. The emperor forbade comedies, saying that the Germans did not understand Molière. A fortnight was thus spent in the midst of the most magnificent fêtes combined with serious negotiations. Napoleon decided to at once abandon the Danubian provinces to his ally, though resolved never to grant Constantinople. After long conferences between Champagny and Romanzoff, as to the suitable form to give to this division of other people's property which was to render the Franco-Russian alliance indissoluble, the convention was signed on the 12th October. Both emperors agreed to address to England a formal demand for immediate peace, the base of the negotiations to be the _uti possidetis_, that is to say, the acknowledgment of conquests and occupations which were already accomplished. France was only to agree to a peace which should secure Finland, Wallachia, and Moldavia to Russia; and Russia only to one which should secure to France all her possessions, including the crown of Spain for King Joseph.