ABSTRACT
Most of the minor Powers had sought to safeguard their interests by the expedient, from which it might have been foreseen that France rather than any German Power would play the chief part at Rastatt, and that her interests would prevail in the resettlement of Germany. Abortive though the Congress was, the foundations of the Confederation of the Rhine were laid at Rastatt. The change was seen in the private negotiations between the Hapsburgs and the French, which took place at Selz near Rastatt; for Francis was anything but bellicose, and Cobenzl would have been glad to avert a renewal of hostilities by coming to terms With France. Meanwhile the Congress of Rastatt had been continuing its sessions. The campaign of 1799 had ended in defeat and disappointment for the Coalition. In May the deliberations of the Congress were rudely enlivened by the production by the French emissaries of an entirely new series of demands.
