is disposal, he might hope, at the close of 1804, to
confront the flag of St. George with a superiority of force. That was
the time which his secret instructions to Decaen marked out for the
outbreak of the war that would yield to the tricolour a world-wide
supremacy.

These schemes miscarried owing to the impetuosity of their contriver.
Hustled out of the arena of European politics, and threatened with
French supremacy in the other Continents, England forthwith drew the
sword; and her action, cutting athwart the far-reaching web of the
Napoleonic intrigues, forced France to forego her oceanic plans, to
muster her forces on the Straits of Dover, and thereby to yield to the
English race the supremacy in Louisiana, India, and Australia, leaving
also the destinies of Egypt to be decided in a later age. Viewed from
the standpoint of racial expansion, the renewal of war in 1803 is the
greatest event of the century.

[Since this chapter was printed, articles on the same subject have
appeared in the "Revue Historique" (March-June, 1901) by M.
Philippson, which take almost the same view as that here presented. I
cannot, however, agree with the learned writer that Napoleon wanted
war. I think he did not, _until his navy was ready_; but it was not in
him to give way.]

NOTE TO THE FIFTH EDITION

M. Coquelle, in a work which has been translated into English by
Mr. Gordon D. Knox (G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.), has shown clearly that
the non-evacuation of Holland by Napoleon's troops and the
subjection of that Republic to French influence formed the chief
causes of war. I refer my readers to that work for details of the
negotiations in their final stages.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVIII

EUROPE AND THE BONAPARTES

The disappointment felt by Napoleon at England's interruption of his
designs may be measured, first by his efforts to postpone the rupture,
and thereafter by the fierce energy which he threw into the war. As
has been previously noted, the Czar had responded to the First
Consul's appeal for mediation in notes which seemed to the British
Cabinet unjustly favourable to the French case. Napoleon now offered
to recognize the arbitration of the Czar on the questions in dispute,
and suggested that meanwhile Malta should be handed over to Russia to
be held in pledge: he on his part offered to evacuate Hanover,
Switzerland, and Holland, if the British would