The Rape of Venice (3 page)

The Prime Minister sighed. ‘Your having brought to my attention this new source of wealth which will keep the French fighting, I dare not ignore that possibility. It is clear, too, that in the Austrian armies lies our only hope of checking Buonaparte's
advance, and with it this flow of gold; so it has become more necessary than ever to keep them in the field. Let us go down to my room and from a map endeavour to judge the way in which the campaign is likely to develop.'

Picking up the decanter and his glass, he led the way down a flight of stone steps, through a low nail-studded oak door, and so back to the room in which he had received Roger that morning. It had no great map of Europe—such as one might have expected to find pinned up on the wall of the study of the leader of a nation at war—but Mr. Pitt took from a shelf a well-thumbed atlas and flicked over its leaves until he came to the map of Italy.

It was a patchwork of different colours. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, embracing all southern Italy and the great island of Sicily, was the largest. Next in size came the Kingdom of Sardinia, consisting of that island, together with Savoy and Piedmont in the north-west, which, in the previous month, had been conquered by General Buonaparte. The whole middle of the peninsula was occupied by the States of the Church and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Above them lay a mosaic of smaller states: the Republics of Genoa and Lucia, the Dukedoms of Parma, Modena, Mantua and Milan, and, spreading over all of the north-east, from near Milan to the Adriatic, a territory as large as Switzerland that was still ruled by the Serene Republic of Venice.

Roger laid a finger-tip on Nice, drew it eastward some way along the Ligurian coast, then twenty miles inland, and remarked:

‘That is the route Buonaparte took, and it was up there in the mountains that he carried out the first part of his plan by driving a wedge between the Piedmontese and General Beaulieu's Austrians. Alone the Piedmontese had no chance against him, and one most unfortunate result of their surrender is that it has enabled Buonaparte to open direct communications through Turin with France.'

The Prime Minister nodded. ‘Yes, Lord Cornwallis pointed that out to me at a recent meeting of the Cabinet. 'Tis a sad blow, as previously all his supplies had to be brought from Nice along the coast to bases on the Italian Riviera, and were then exposed to constant harassing from Commodore Nelson's squadron working out of Leghorn. Now we are no longer able to aid the Austrians even to that extent.'

‘In such mountainous country,' Roger went on, ‘and with so
many river barriers, one would have thought that the Austrians would have been able to hold him; but I gather that their generals are old in years and old-fashioned in their methods. At all events, the Corsican foxed them by by-passing the Po and forcing the Adda at Lodi. He does not lack for courage and, by all accounts, his capture of the bridge there against great odds was a personal triumph, as well as the second important milestone in his campaign. It scared the Dukes of Parma and Modena into asking him for terms, and the Duchy of Milan, too, fell like a ripe plum into his lap.'

‘I am told that owing to the agitators he had sent ahead to spread revolutionary doctrines, the Milanese welcomed the French troops with open arms.'

‘The poor fools will soon have cause to rue it,' Roger commented with a cynical laugh, ‘as did the Belgians earlier in the war when they opened the gates of their towns to General Dumouriez's cut-throat soldiery. Within three months, the bringers of Liberty had stripped them of all but their shirts.'

‘What, in your opinion, will Buonaparte's next move be?' Mr. Pitt enquired. ‘Both the Papal States and Tuscany lie open to him and neither could put up a serious resistance. Such easy prey must be very tempting to him.'

‘No, he will not turn south. At least, not if he adheres to his grand design, as he expounded it to me. It was to drive north through the Venetian lands, and so into the Tyrol. There, he hopes to join up with the Army of the Rhine and thence, with the united armies giving him overwhelming strength, march direct on Vienna.'

‘One cannot but admire the breadth of such a conception. He must be a remarkable man and is, I gather, not much older than yourself.'

‘He is, in fact, my junior, Sir, by some eight months.'

For a few minutes the Prime Minister remained silent, then he said:

‘Your mention of Venice reminds me of the main reason for my sending for you; but I'll not enter on that for the moment. Your grasp of military matters has always impressed me, and I would like to hear what you consider General Buonaparte's chances to be of carrying through his great plan?'

‘You flatter me, Sir,' Roger smiled. ‘But my work has oft necessitated my living for long spells at the Headquarters of Generals commanding armies in the field, and maybe there is some little truth in the old adage that “the looker-on sees most
of the game”. Even so, I hesitate to make a prediction in this case, because it is subject to so many unknown factors. In the first place, will the Emperor be able to continue the war without the new subsidy for which he has asked you?'

‘He shall have it, Mr. Brook.'

‘In time for it to serve its purpose?'

‘Yes; it shall be furnished to him within a month.'

‘Do you intend, then, to recall Parliament?'

‘No. I shall send it on my own responsibility.'

Roger raised his eyebrows. ‘Should you do that, Sir, surely you would risk impeachment?'

The Prime Minister gave his pale smile. ‘It will be ground enough and will raise no small outcry. Did you see Gillray's cartoon based on the stoning of his Majesty's coach? I was depicted as his coachman, driving like Jehu through a hail of bad eggs, carrots and dead cats, while Lansdowne, Bedford and Whitbread strove to stop the vehicle's wheels. Fox and Sheridan, armed with bludgeons, were endeavouring to wrench open its door, and Norfolk was aiming a blunderbuss at the King. All these Whig nabobs will seize on such an unconstitutional act as a fine chance to demand my head; but I doubt not I'll keep it on my shoulders.'

‘It is those traitors who should be sent to the block on Tower Hill,' Roger declared, his face reddening with indignation. ‘Ever since '89 Fox and the Holland House crew have at every turn encouraged the French revolutionaries by applauding their acts, and striven to thwart your measures for the defence of Britain.'

‘The right of the Opposition to attack Government in Parliament is the very cornerstone of our liberties,' replied the Prime Minister mildly. ‘So I would be the last to wish things otherwise. And in himself, Charles Fox is a most generous and kindly man. But tell me; what prospects do you consider the Austrians have, given that we can keep them in the field?'

‘They should be able to prevent the enemy from invading their own territory, for this year at least; and they have one great asset which should aid them in doing so. That is the fortress of Mantua. It is one of the strongest in Italy. I greatly doubt if Buonaparte would dare to leave it untaken in his rear, and, if well provisioned, it should be able to hold out for several months.'

‘Should treachery or incompetence cause Mantua to fall within the next few weeks, what then?'

'Then all would depend upon the Army of the Rhine, Buonaparte's line of communications would be so long and, having to pass twice through the Alps, too hazardous for him to advance on Vienna unsupported. Unless Moreau and Jourdan can, in accordance with his plan, rendezvous with him at Innsbruck by the early autumn, he would have to winter in the Tyrol.'

‘Can you, Mr. Brook, suggest any means by which we might assist our Austrian allies to prevent the junction of the two enemy armies?'

Roger shook his head. ‘I can think of none; other than an attempt to rebuild the Coalition, and thus provide the French with additional enemies.'

‘If the war drags on there may come a time when that would be possible; but for the present it is out of the question. However, because I have had great hopes of negotiating a peace with the French this summer, that does not mean that I have altogether ignored the possibility that we might have to continue at war. And there is one powerful state that by skilful handling I believe could be drawn in to our assistance. I refer to the Serene Republic.'

‘Venice!' The widening of Roger's blue eyes showed his astonishment. ‘Admittedly I have never visited that city but, from all I have heard, centuries of luxury and debauchery have rendered its inhabitants the last word in decadence. Already both the French and Austrians have violated the Serene Republic's neutrality by sending troops across her borders, yet that has not led to her even making a serious protest.'

‘It is true that the Senate have not yet defined the position that they intend to take up. But having witnessed the Kingdom of Sardinia, three out of the four Duchies and their sister republic, Genoa, all so swiftly brought under the heel of revolutionary France, you may be sure that they are greatly concerned about the future. I know that to be so for they now have a secret envoy in London. His instructions are to assess our capability and will to carry on the war, so that they can decide whether to ask us for an alliance and declare against the French, or if it would pay them better to offer General Buonaparte free access to all their strong places in exchange for a guarantee of the return thereof after the war, and of the Republic's continuance as a Sovereign State.'

Did you grant this envoy an interview yourself. Sir.' Roger
enquired, ‘or did my Lord Grenville see him at the Foreign Office?'

‘Neither of us has seen him; and we are not likely to. That's just the rub. I have been privately informed about him. He is not here to make an official approach to His Majesty's Government, but has been sent only to spy out the land; and from our point of view he could not have made a worse beginning. Like so many of these wealthy foreigners he was already acquainted with several of our die-hard Whig nobility; so he was promptly made much of at Holland House, and Sheridan has appointed himself his bear-leader during his stay in London.'

‘In that case 'tis a certainty that those pro-French traitors will send him back to Venice convinced that Britain is near down and out.' With a shrug, Roger added lightly, ‘But I'd not let that worry you unduly, Sir. I doubt if the Venetians have a kick left in them; so whichever way their Senate may decide will make little odds to us.'

‘On the contrary, Mr. Brook. While the war continues, no chance whatever of securing help in it should be neglected. Despite my sanguine hopes that, within the next few months, peace might be restored, I have never lost sight of that. It is the reason that I sent for you. I desire you to make the acquaintance of this Signor Rinaldo Malderini, and give him clearly to understand that Britain still has great resources and will never agree a peace that does not embody a full recognition of her allies' interests. Before our talk this morning, I had accounted this small commission as merely a precautionary measure, and one unlikely to require following up; but now I regard it as both urgent and of the first importance.'

Roger looked puzzled and far from happy as he said:

‘Permit me, Sir, to question your choice of me for this particular mission. I'd need to see the Venetian a number of times to make any worth-while impression on him. Sheridan well knows my political allegiance to yourself, so 'tis certain he would prejudice him against me, and thus doubtful if I would be accorded more than one brief unsatisfactory interview.'

‘My choice fell on you largely because I believe you to be in a position to get over that hurdle with ease. You are still staying with the Countess of St. Ermins at her place down in Surrey, are you not?'

‘Yes. The loss of my wife in Martinique has made me reluctant to live again as yet in the home we shared at Richmond;
so I shall probably continue for some while at Stillwaters, as Lady St. Ermins's guest.'

‘Did I not know of your long attachment to her. I should count such an association strange, seeing that she frequently entertains there my worst enemies, but in …'

‘Your pardon, Sir,' Roger cut in, his eyes suddenly bright with anger. ‘Georgina St. Ermins is a woman of exceptional intelligence as well as beauty; so it is natural that she should cultivate the friendship of gifted men who play a part in the affairs of this and other nations. She is in no way governed by politics, and were you not so averse to going into society she would, I know, be happy to welcome you to her house. As for her patriotism, it is beyond question.'

Mr. Pitt made a little bow. ‘I pray you overlook my inept remark. I knew only that Fox, Sheridan and others of their complexion enjoy her hospitality, and at times make use of her house to show their foreign friends something of the English countryside. It was that which gave me the idea that she is unlikely to refuse a request from you to ask Sheridan to bring Signor Malderini down for a weekend. Such an arrangement would afford you a perfect opportunity for conversations with him.'

‘Lady St. Ermins would, I am sure, oblige me,' Roger replied with a shrug. ‘But, in my opinion, even if we succeeded in drawing the Venetians in, as allies, you would find them worthless.'

‘You speak without having given the matter due thought. The Serene Republic has lasted near a thousand years, so you may be sure that it will not lightly surrender its independence. Its territories have a population of over three million, so they could put a considerable army into the field; and the Croatian levies that they draw from across the Adriatic are said to be exceptionally brave fighters. Look, too, again at the map. The Venetian lands lie right athwart Buonaparte's only line of advance to the Tyrol. All this makes Venice a potential ally that we should now spare no pains to secure. Like our other allies she will, of course, demand a subsidy to pay her troops, and you have my authority to tell Signor Malderini that it will be forthcoming.'