ABSTRACT
Statesmen and diplomats found spas extremely convenient when they wanted secrecy. Monarchs used secrecy when they wanted to take diplomacy out of professionals' hands. Emperor Napoleon III greatly diminished the role of French diplomacy by his secret moves. In his secret diplomacy, Napoleon dealt with the other party personally or through his cousin, Prince Jérome-Napoleon. In the 14 years between the end of the Crimean War and the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III went to French spas many times. In May 1858, Cavour heard from Prince Napoleon that the emperor had 'propositions which cannot be discussed either in a letter or by means of diplomatic agents'. In September 1858, once again secretly, Napoleon sent his cousin Prince Napoleon from Biarritz to Warsaw to warn Alexander II that he was going to attack Austria in the spring of 1859. Napoleon offered to Russia a defensive and offensive alliance.
