Ferrante was not mistaken in his expectation that Lorenzo would do all in his power to prevent another conflagration; but he was very much mistaken if he believed, as he pretended to believe, that Lorenzo approved of his proceedings. On his return from Sarzana, free at last from that care, Lorenzo spoke out unreservedly his opinion respecting his allies. He must have been angry indeed when he, the true representative of Italian national policy, in his delight at the progress of the French arms against Maximilian in Flanders went so far as to declare that he still hoped to see the king of France lord of all Italy.[313] ‘This shows,’ adds the Ferrarese ambassador, ‘how greatly his Magnificence is put out; may God turn his heart to the best.’ ‘The arrest of the barons,’ reports the same writer, July 11, ‘has greatly displeased not only the illustrious Lorenzo but also the whole city, and it is spoken of to the king’s dishonour.’ The annexation of Genoa to Milan, and the losses of Venice in the war with Archduke Sigismund (so thought the ambassador), would probably incline the Signoria to extreme caution, but Lorenzo’s expressions against Lodovico, whom he regarded as the real disturber of peace, were most violent. If the Duke of Bari continued his crooked policy, Lorenzo believed the end would be that the King of Naples would lay down the law for both Florence and the Pope. If they both acted reasonably they would keep together like their fathers before them and not plunge Italy into danger. Lorenzo said he wished he could go and bury himself for six months in some place where no rumour of Italian affairs could reach his ears. Lorenzo’s ill-humour and anxiety is displayed in the many letters written by him at this time to Lanfredini. It was necessary, he wrote on July 17,[314] that the Pope should make sure of the attitude of Venice, but at the same time take up a firm position, that he might not be suspected of believing the king’s assurances that his proceedings against the barons had been occasioned by their conduct since the peace; for that suspicion would deprive him of all firm security. Ten days after, he expressed his irritation at the double-dealing of Sforza, who, pressed by the Neapolitan envoy, wrote at the same time letters to his brother the cardinal in favour of the king, and others to his agent in Rome in agreement with the Papal views. The object of Sforza’s apparent partisanship with Ferrante was probably to hinder the latter from forming an alliance with Venice if he saw Florence and Milan arrayed against him. But the first thing to be done was for all the Italian States to stand fast by the Pope and show no wavering. ‘Certainly all desire peace, but I think no one will suffer the Pope to be insulted and oppressed.’