of Napoleon's wish that there
should be an end to their civil discords. Returning to Genoa, and
posting with all speed to Paris, he arrived there on January 25th,
1803. Five days later that gay capital was startled by the report of
his mission, which was printed in full in the "Moniteur." It described
the wretched state of the Turks in Egypt--the Pacha of Cairo
practically powerless, and on bad terms with General Stuart, the
fortifications everywhere in a ruinous state, the 4,430 British troops
cantoned in and near Alexandria, the Turkish forces beneath contempt.
"Six thousand French would at present be enough to conquer Egypt." And
as to the Ionian islands, "I do not stray from the truth in assuring
you that these islands will declare themselves French as soon as an
opportunity shall offer itself."[242]

Such were the chief items of this report. Various motives have been
assigned for its publication. Some writers have seen in it a crushing
retort to English newspaper articles. Others there are, as M. Thiers,
who waver between the opinion that the publication of this report was
either a "sudden unfortunate incident," or a protest against the
"latitude" which England allowed herself in the execution of the
Treaty of Amiens.

A consideration of the actual state of affairs at the end of January,
1803, will perhaps guide us to an explanation which is more consonant
with the grandeur of Napoleon's designs. At that time he was
all-powerful in the Old World. As First Consul for Life he was master
of forty millions of men: he was President of the Italian Republic: to
the Switzers, as to the Dutch, his word was law. Against the
infractions of the Treaty of Luneville, Austria dared make no protest.
The Czar was occupied with domestic affairs, and his rebuff to
Napoleon's oriental schemes had not yet reached Paris. As for the
British Ministry, it was trembling from the attacks of the Grenvilles
and Windhams on the one side, and from the equally vigorous onslaughts
of Fox, who, when the Government proposed an addition to the armed
forces, brought forward the stale platitude that a large standing army
"was a dangerous instrument of influence in the hands of the Crown."
When England's greatest orator thus impaired the unity of national
feeling, and her only statesman, Pitt, remained in studied seclusion,
the First Consul might well feel assured of the impotence of the
Island Power, and view the bickering of her politicians with