in its deadly grip.[195] And
finally it disarranged schemes that reached far beyond Europe. To
these we must now briefly recur.

Even amidst his greatest military triumphs Napoleon's gaze turned
longingly towards the East; and no sooner did he force peace on the
conquered than his thoughts centred once more on his navy and
colonies, on Egypt and India. The Treaty of Tilsit gave him leisure to
renew these designs. The publication in 1807 of his official Atlas of
Australia, in which he claimed nearly half that continent for France,
proves that he never accepted Trafalgar as a death-blow to his
maritime and colonial aspirations. And the ardour of his desire for
the conquest of India is seen in the letter which he wrote to the Czar
on February 2nd, 1808. After expressing his desire for the glory and
expansion of Russia, and advising the Czar to conquer Finland, he
proceeds:

"An army of 50,000 men, Russians, French, and perhaps a few
Austrians, that penetrated by way of Constantinople into Asia,
would not reach the Euphrates before England would tremble and bow
the knee before the Continent. I am ready in Dalmatia. Your
Majesty is ready on the Danube. A month after we came to an
agreement the army could be on the Bosporus.... By the 1st of May
our troops can be in Asia, and at the same time those of Your
Majesty, at Stockholm. Then the English, threatened in the Indies,
and chased from the Levant, will be crushed under the weight of
events with which the atmosphere will be charged."[196]

There were several reasons why Napoleon should urge on this scheme. He
was irritated by the continued resistance of Great Britain, and
thought to terrify us into surrender by means of those oriental
enterprises which convinced our statesmen that we must fight on for
dear life. He also desired to restore the harmony of his relations
with Alexander. For, in truth, the rapturous harmonies of Tilsit had
soon been marred by discord. Alexander did not withdraw his troops
from the Danubian provinces; whereupon Napoleon declined to evacuate
Silesia; and the friction resulting from this wary balancing of
interests was increased, when, at the close of 1807, a formal proposal
was sent from Paris that, if Russia retained those provinces, Silesia
should be at the disposal of France.[197] The dazzling vistas opened
up to Alexander's gaze at Tilsit were thus shrouded by a sordid and
distasteful bargain, which