Dennis Wheatley - The wanton princess

'That is above three weeks ago. Sire,' Roger remarked soothingly. 'So he should have had them by now.'

'Yes, and I suppose he will now sit in Cadiz until I order him out. Had he had the stomach of a man he would by this time have driven the English off their beat outside Brest; then we would have had Ganthcaume's fleet joined to his at sea and the Channel would be ours. But I have hopes yet that we will be able to launch the invasion this month. I would proceed to the coast now for a final inspection had I not so many things requiring my presence at the moment in Paris. Did you know that I was recently absent in Italy for three months?'

'I heard so on my way north, Sire; and am happy to congratulate Your Majesty upon now being King as well as Emperor, for I am told that you crowned yourself King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.'

'Yes. You should have been there, Breuc. It was a splendid spectacle. But while I was away a hundred matters got out of hand here; so I left young Beauharnais as my Viceroy and hurried back. We did the journey from Milan to Fontainebleau in eighty-five hours. Things here now are in better trim but I'll need another week or so before I can leave for the coast. You will, of course, come with me. In the meantime see Decres at the Ministry of Marine. Give him an account of the battle off Finisterre, but of nothing else. I do not wish him to know that your voyage to the Indies had any other reason than to restore your health.'

The following morning Roger made his report to the Min­ister of Marine. When he had done Decres said, 'I am inclined to agree with the Emperor that Villeneuvc was wrong in not continuing up the Channel even if he had to engage Admiral Caldcr again. Although his superiority in ships was negligible, by detaching a fast frigate and sending it across the Bay of Biscay he could have brought the Rochefort squadron out to his assistance, which would have given him sufficient odds to win the battle. But His Majesty is far from being right in most of his naval appreciations. For example, it is his own fault that Gantheaumc's fleet is not now at sea.'

'How so. Your Excellency?' Roger enquired.

The Minister made an unhappy grimace, 'His orders to Gantheaume were that he was not to break out of Brest should it entail a battle. When Admiral Nelson was known to be on his way to the West Indies, the blockading fleet at Brest became so reduced in numbers that Ganthcaumc could easily have defeated it. He asked permission to do so, but the

Emperor would not agree. Since then the English have been reinforced, so the opportunity was lost.'

'Before Nelson can return from the Indies there may come another,' Roger hazarded.

Decres shrugged 'There may. If the Emperor orders Villeneuve up from Cadiz he could raise the blockade long enough for Gantheaume to break out; then, at last, we'd be masters of the Channel. But for how long? Unfortunately His Majesty refuses to face the fact that ship for ship we are not equal to the English, so basing operations simply on counting hulks leads to false assumptions. I have warned him of this many times but he refuses to listen. And my fear is that, even if we can concentrate a large enough fleet to cover the launching of the invasion, within a week or so Nelson will arrive on the scene and, even with one-third fewer ships than we have at our disposal, inflict a crushing defeat on us. Then our Army in England would be cut off.'

That, loo, was Roger's belief, and he left the unhappy Decres with the thought that of all posts the one he would least like to occupy was that of Napoleon's Minister of Marine.

Two days later he breakfasted with his old friend Tal­leyrand and found the Foreign Minister also in a far from optimistic frame of mind. After describing the Italian journey, on which he had accompanied the Emperor, he said:

'But I fear he may have to pay a price for his antics as cock-of-the-walk while in Italy. The Lombards were by no means averse to having their Republic converted into a Monarchy, but they would naturally have preferred to have as their ruler one of their own people rather than Josephine's boy Eugene, and they resent intensely the hordes of French officials that remain there battening upon them. The same applies to the territories of Piombino and Lucca which he has given to his sisters. Not content with that he has made the entire Ligurian Republic a part of France.

'Mr. Pitt, meanwhile, remains our deadly enemy. Soon after you sailed for the Indies, the Emperor sent another letter to King George III proposing a cessation of hostilities; but the British Cabinet refused even to discuss the matter, and 'tis clear that they have strong hopes that Napoleon's ambitions may yet bring about his downfall.

'For many months past Mr. Pitt has been working tirelessly to bring about a third Coalition against us, and the Emperor has played into his hands. Our unpopularity in Italy has reached a point where the Italians would welcome the Austrians back if only they could get rid of us, and that has encouraged Vienna to contemplate another attempt to regain her old possessions in the peninsula. The Czar, too, displayed intense resentment at our incorporating the Ligurian Republic into France; so both Austria and Russia are, I am convinced, already secretly concerting measures with England. So I'd willingly wager that we'll have another Continental war on our hands before the autumn is out.'

'What view does the Emperor take of this new threat?" Roger enquired.

Talleyrand shrugged, 'Cher ami, he has become so confident of himself that he docs not give a button. And should his invasion of England succeed he'll have no need to. Without the great subsidies that England always pays to keep her allies' armies in the field, they would not even start a war or, if they had, would promptly eat humble pie and sue for peace.’

'And what think you of his prospects of launching the invasion?'

'If he attempts it at all it should be this summer, otherwise that great Army of the Coast which has been training for so long will become stale. Therefore I think he will risk it provided he can achieve even temporary superiority in the Channel. To do that the fleets of Villeneuve and Gantheaumc must unite. Were they defeated separately, or even one of them sufficiently crippled as to be useless for a year or more, I think it certain that the invasion project would have to be shelved for good.'

'After all these years of preparation and trumpet-blowing that would mean a great loss of face for Napoleon.'

'Not necessarily,' Talleyrand smiled, 'He is as slippery as an eel when it comes to wriggling out of awkward situations. Measures would be taken to ensure it being known in every corner of France that he and the Army had been ready and eager to go; but that his first care was the lives of his men, and that his miserable Navy having refused to promise them a safe passage to the English beaches was his reason for cancelling the operation.'

Roger smiled back, 'And when does Your Excellency think we are likely to hear if it is to be or not to be?'

'Within a day or two of his carrying out his final inspec­tion of the Army of the Coast. I and several other Ministers are to accompany him, and a Grand Council is to be held at which he will make known his decision.'

A week later the huge cavalcade set out for Boulogne. There on August 22nd the greatest military spectacle of that, and perhaps, any age, took place. The Emperor, followed by a glittering array of Marshals, Generals and Staff officers reviewed the Grande Armee. With intervals of only a few yards between formations it stretched across the downs for nine miles.

By then it was known among Napoleon's intimate circle that Austria had accepted from England a subsidy of five and a half millions and that Russia and Sweden were actively preparing to renew the war against France; but the Emperor remained quite unperturbed. The only measure he took was to send Duroc to the ever-irresolute Frederick William, to offer Hanover to Prussia as the price of an alliance. Austria was not ready for war and many weeks must elapse before she could put an army in the field. The Army of the Rhine, with the aid of France's ally Bavaria, was capable of staving off any premature attacks. The Russian armies were so far away that they could not become a serious menace for several months. Meanwhile great events might alter the whole European scene.