Italy
in the cathedral of Milan, thereby welding that populous realm
indissolubly to his Empire. On 4th June he annexed outright the Genoese
or Ligurian Republic. Both acts were flagrant infractions of his Treaty
of Luneville with Austria of four years before; and they contemptuously
overturned the Balance of Power which Alexander was striving to
re-establish. The results were soon apparent. "This man is insatiable,"
exclaimed Alexander; "his ambition knows no bounds; he is a scourge of
the world: he wants war; well, he shall have it, and the sooner the
better."

Novossiltzoff left Berlin for St. Petersburg; and his despatches of 10th
July to Vorontzoff and to Hardenberg, Foreign Minister at Berlin, prove
conclusively that it was Napoleon's annexation of Genoa which ended all
hope of peace on the Continent.[724] The French Emperor himself admitted
as much a few years later when he visited Genoa. Looking down on that
beautiful city, he exclaimed: "Ah! It was worth a war." In order to work
French patriotism up to the necessary pitch he on 30th May 1805 ordered
Fouche to have caricatures made at Paris depicting John Bull, purse in
hand, entreating the Powers to take his money and fight France. Insults
to Russia and England make up the rest of that angry and almost
illegible scrawl.[725] In his heart he knew that the war sprang from his
resolve to make the Mediterranean a French lake and Italy an annexe of
his imperial fabric.

The sequel may be told very briefly. On 28th July the Court of St.
Petersburg agreed to Pitt's version of the Anglo-Russian compact; and on
9th August the British ambassador at St. Petersburg pledged his country
to join the two Empires if Napoleon rejected the conditions of peace
still left open to him. In that case Gower promised to assure the
advance of five months' subsidy at the rate mentioned above.[726] It is
needless to say that Napoleon rejected all thought of compromise; and
Austria began to hurry her troops up the banks of the Danube for the
Bavarian campaign.[727] Thus Pitt won the diplomatic game. Or rather,
his opponent gave it to him by the last reckless move at Genoa. The
wrath of Alexander at this affront obliterated his annoyance at the
retention of Malta by Great Britain; and both he and the Emperor
Francis now prepared to enter the lists against Napoleon.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Pitt sought to strengthen his Ministry in view of the
dese