Nothing definite came of the affair, and chiefly, it would seem, owing to the influence of the Empress Eugenie and the French clerics.

She is said to have remarked: "Better the Prussians in Paris than the Italian troops in Rome." The diplomatic situation therefore remained vague, though in the second week of July 1870, the Emperor again took up the threads which, with greater firmness and foresight, he might have woven into a firm design.
[13] _Revue des deux Mondes_ for April 1, 1878.
The understanding between the three Powers advanced only in regard to military preparations.

The Austrian Archduke Albrecht, the victor of Custoza, burned to avenge the defeat of Koeniggraetz, and with this aim in view visited Paris in February to March 1870.

He then proposed to Napoleon an invasion of North Germany by the armies of France, Austria, and Italy.

The French Emperor developed the plan by more specific overtures which he made in the month of June; but his Ministers were so far in the dark as to these military proposals that they were then suggesting the reduction of the French army by 10,000 men, while Ollivier, the Prime Minister, on June 30 declared to the French Chamber that peace had never been better assured[14].
[14] Seignobos, _A Political History of Contemporary Europe_, vol.ii.
pp.