[Footnote 72: This was doubtless facilitated by the death of the
Czarina, Catherine II., in November, 1796. She had been on the point
of entering the Coalition against France. The new Czar Paul was at
that time for peace. The Austrian Minister Thugut, on hearing of her
death, exclaimed, "This is the climax of our disasters."]

[Footnote 73: Hueffer, "Oesterreich und Preussen," p. 263.]

[Footnote 74: "Moniteur," 20 Floreal, Year V.; Sciout, "Le
Directoire," vol. ii., ch. vii.]

[Footnote 75: See Landrieux's letter on the subject in Koch's
"Memoires de Massena," vol. ii.; "Pieces Justif.," _ad fin._; and
Bonaparte's "Corresp.," letter of March 24th, 1797. The evidence of
this letter, as also of those of April 9th and 19th, is ignored by
Thiers, whose account of Venetian affairs is misleading. It is clear
that Bonaparte contemplated partition long before the revolt of
Brescia.]

[Footnote 76: Botta, "Storia d'Italia," vol. ii., chs. x., etc.; Daru,
"Hist. de Venise," vol. v.; Gaffarel, "Bonaparte et les Republiques
Italiennes," pp. 137-139; and Sciout, "Le Directoire," vol ii., chs.
v. and vii.]

[Footnote 77: Sorel, "Bonaparte et Hoche en 1797," p. 65.]

[Footnote 78: Letter of April 30th, 1797.]

[Footnote 79: Letter of May 13th, 1797.]

[Footnote 80: It would even seem, from Bonaparte's letter of July
12th, 1797, that not till then did he deign to send on to Paris the
terms of the treaty with Venice. He accompanied it with the cynical
suggestion that they could do what they liked with the treaty, and
even annul it!]

[Footnote 81: The name _Italian_ was rejected by Bonaparte as too
aggressively nationalist; but the prefix _Cis_--applied to a State
which stretched southward to the Rubicon--was a concession to Italian
nationality. It implied that Florence or Rome was the natural capital
of the new State.]

[Footnote 82: See Arnault's "Souvenirs d'un sexagenaire" (vol. iii.,
p. 31) and Levy's "Napoleon intime," p. 131.]

[Footnote 83: For the subjoined version of the accompanying new letter
of Bonaparte (referred to in my Preface) I am indebted to Mr. H.A.L.
Fisher, in the "Eng. Hist. Rev.," July, 1900:

"Milan, 29 Thermidor [l'an IV.]

"A LA CITOYENNE TALLIEN

"Je vous dois des remerciements, belle citoyenne, pour le souvenir
que vous me conservez et pour les choses aimables contenues dans
votre apostille. Je sais bien qu'en vous disant que je regrette les
moments heureux