The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 736 pages of information about The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2).

The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 736 pages of information about The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2).
war the battle of Marengo; when, amidst all the pomp and pageantry that art could devise, he crowned himself in the cathedral of Milan with the iron circlet of the old Lombard Kings, using the traditional formula:  “God gave it me, woe to him who touches it”; when, finally, he incorporated the Ligurian Republic in the French Empire, Francis of Austria reluctantly accepted the challenges thus threateningly cast down, and began to arm.[18] The records of our Foreign Office show conclusively that the Hapsburg ruler felt himself girt with difficulties:  the Austrian army was as yet ill organized:  the reforms after which the Archduke Charles had been striving were ill received by the military clique; and the sole result had been to unsettle rather than strengthen the army, and to break down the health of the Archduke.[19] Yet the intention of Napoleon to treat Italy as a French province was so insultingly paraded that Francis felt war to be inevitable, and resolved to strike a blow while the French were still entangled in their naval schemes.  He knew well the dangers of war; he would have eagerly welcomed any sign of really peaceful intentions at Paris; but no signs were given; in fact, French agents were sent into Switzerland to intrigue for a union of that land with France.  Here again the pride of the Hapsburgs was cut to the quick, and they disdained to submit to humiliations such as were eating the heart out of the Prussian monarchy.

The Czar, too, was far from eager for war.  He had sent Novossiltzoff to Berlin en route for Paris, in the hope of coming to terms with Napoleon, when the news of the annexation of Genoa ended the last hopes of a compromise.  “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,” The Czar at once ordered all negotiations to be broken off.  Novossiltzoff, on July 10th, declared to Baron Hardenberg, the successor of Haugwitz at the Prussian Foreign Office, that Napoleon had now passed the utmost limits of the Czar’s patience; and he at once returned his French passports.  In forwarding them to the French ambassador at Berlin, Hardenberg expressed the deep regret of the Prussian monarch at the breakdown of this most salutary negotiation—­a phrase which showed that the patience of Berlin was nearly exhausted.[20]

Clearly, then, the Third Coalition was not cemented by English gold, but by Napoleon’s provocations.  While England and Russia found great difficulty in coming to an accord, and Austria was arming only from fear, the least act of complaisance on his part would have unravelled this ill-knit confederacy.  But no such action was forthcoming.  All his letters written in North Italy after his coronation are puffed up with incredible insolence.  Along with hints to Eugene to base politics on dissimulation and to seek only to be feared, we find letters to Ministers at Paris scorning the idea that England and Russia can come to terms, and asserting that the annexation of Genoa concerns England alone; but if Austria wants to find a pretext for war, she may now find it.

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The Life of Napoleon I (Volume 2 of 2) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.