ar. Vorontzoff prevailed on Pitt to defer reporting his refusal to St.
Petersburg. But on 27th May he stated that the last ray of hope had
disappeared, as neither Court would give way. On 5th June, then,
Mulgrave penned for Gower a despatch summarizing Pitt's reasons why
England must retain Malta. She was ready to restore her valuable
conquests in the East and West Indies, but the key of the Mediterranean
she must not and would not surrender. Neither would she relax her
maritime code as the Emperor of Russia now insisted; for experience had
shown it to be necessary for the equipment of the British fleets and the
crippling of the enemy's naval construction. In the maintenance of these
fleets lay the only hope of assuring the salvation of Europe. A more
convincing exposition of the importance of Sea Power has never gone
forth from a Government office.[722]

The deadlock was therefore complete. But now, as happened more than once
in the development of the Coalitions, Napoleon himself came to the
rescue. Whether he was aware of the breakdown of the Anglo-Russian
negotiation is uncertain; but his remark to Fouche--"I shall be able to
strike the blow before the old Coalition machines are ready"--and his
conduct in Italy in the months of May and June 1805 bear the imprint of
a boundless confidence, which, on any other supposition, savours of
madness. He well knew that no continental ruler but Gustavus of Sweden
desired war with him. Austria maintained her timid reserve. Alexander
was ready to negotiate with him through the medium of Novossiltzoff, who
was now at Berlin awaiting permission to proceed to Paris. The
predilections of Frederick William of Prussia for France were notorious;
for Hanover was his goal; and he and his counsellors saw far more hope
of securing it from Napoleon than from King George.[723]

Prudence and patience were therefore peculiarly necessary for Napoleon
at this juncture. He had the game in his hands if he would but
concentrate all his energies against England and leave severely alone
the land which then most interested Russia and Austria, namely, Italy.
But, either from the ingrained restlessness of his nature, which chafed
at the stalemate at Boulogne, or from contempt of "the old Coalition
machines," or from an innate conviction that Italy was his own political
preserve, he now took two steps which aroused the anger of the Russian
and Austrian Emperors. On 26th May 1805 he crowned himself King of