With France at his back and his great army perfectly equipped, the
Emperor was now ready for the continental war which was to give
permanency to his system. In the eyes of all Europe the rupture with
England had been due to British bad faith in refusing to evacuate
Malta according to the treaty of Amiens. Napoleon, in a second
personal letter to George III, written with his own hand on January
second, 1805, deprecated the consequences of this fact; he felt his
conscience awakened by such useless bloodshed, and conjured his
Majesty "not to refuse himself the happiness of giving peace to the
world, nor to put it off to become a sweet satisfaction to his
Majesty's children. It was time to silence passion and hear the voice
of humanity and reason." The answer was evasive. England must first
consult the continental powers with which she had confidential
relations. As Parliament had in February voted five and a half million
pounds sterling for secret purposes,--that is, as a subsidy to
Austria,--there could be no doubt of what this answer meant.
The war with England was felt therefore to be just. Russia was in a
state of hostility, but quiescent because she had meddled with what
was not her affair. If she began a war, that likewise would be a
conflict on Napoleon's part for French independence. How could Austria
be put in the same position? The answer was not difficult for a man of
such universal grasp. It was clear that those states dependent on
France which, following her example, had adopted in turn the forms and
constitution of a directorial, and subsequently of a consular,
republic, must still follow their leader and accept the rule of a
single man. They could not be imperial commonwealths except as part of
France, for there could be but one emperor: they could accomplish the
end only by giving a new meaning to kingship. The Italian republic was
not averse to securing constitutional monarchy if only it might be rid
of French officials and the payment of subsidies. Taking advantage of
this, Napoleon determined to make the change, and bestow the crown
either on Joseph or on the child which was accepted by the world as
Louis's eldest son. On this infant he had always lavished the
attentions of a father. Both brothers flatly refused the proposal on
the ground that it would prejudice their rights in the imperial
succession. Their sovereign appeared to be very angry, but soon
suggested to the Italian delegation which he had summoned to Paris
that he might himself accept the dignity, a hint which was a command.
Late in March, with a suite comprising the chief courtiers, Napoleon
began his progress toward Milan. The Emperor of Austria--for to this
title Francis was reduced by the dismemberment of Germany--was told in
a gracious personal letter that with Russian troops at Corfu and
English soldiers at Malta the two crowns of France and Italy could not
be kept apart, except nominally, but that "this situation would cease