Walter Alison Phillips

“ He at once, without consulting his minister of foreign affairs, dispatched Prince Cariati on a confidential mission to Vienna; if Austria would secure the renunciation of his rights by King Ferdinand and guarantee the possession of the kingdom of Naples to himself, he would place his army at her disposal and give up his claims to Sicily. Austria herself, however, had not as yet broken definitively with Napoleon, and before she openly joined the Grand Alliance, after the illusory congress of Prague, many things had happened to make Murat change his mind. ”

“ Thus the very motives which had led him to betray Napoleon now led him to break with Austria. He would secure his throne by proclaiming the cause of united Italy, chasing the Austrians from the peninsula, and establishing himself as a national king.
To contemporary observers in the best position to judge the enterprise seemed by no means hopeless. Lord William Bentinck, the commander of the English forces in Italy, wrote to Castlereagh [8] that, “having seen more of Italy,” he doubted whether the whole force of Austria would be able to expel Murat ”

“ On the evening of the 16th of October, the first day of the battle, Metternich found means to open a separate negotiation with him: Great Britain and Austria would, in the event of Murat's withdrawal from Napoleon's army and refusal to send reinforcements to the Viceroy of Italy, secure the cession -to him of Naples by King Ferdinand, guarantee him in its possession, and obtain for him further advantages in Italy. To accept the Austrian advances seemed now his only chance of continuing to be a king. At Erfurt he asked and obtained the emperor's leave to return to Naples ”

“ It was clear that Great Britain had no intention of ultimately recognizing Murat's right to reign. As for Austria, she would be certain that Murat's own folly would, sooner or later, give her an opportunity for repudiating her engagements. For the present the Neapolitan alliance would be invaluable to the Allies for the purpose of putting an end to the French dominion in Italy. The plot was all but spoilt by the prince royal of Sicily, who in an order of the day announced to his soldiers that their legitimate sovereign had not renounced his rights to the throne of Naples (Feb. 20) ”

“ He dreamed of a partition of Italy between him and us .... When we refused to annex all Italy north of the Po, he saw that his calculations were wrong, but refused to abandon his ambitions. His attitude is most suspicious.” “Press the restoration of the grand-duke in Tuscany,” wrote Castlereagh to Bentinck; “ this is the true touchstone of Murat's intentions. We must not suffer him to carry out his plan of extended dominion; but neither must we break with him and 'so abandon Austria to his augmented intrigues.” ”

“ The powers, indeed, were very ready to accept at least the principle of this policy. “Great Britain,” wrote Castlereagh to Lord Liverpool on the 3rd of September from Geneva, “has no objection, but the reverse, to the restoration of the Bourbons in Naples.” [2] Prussia saw in Murat the protector of the malcontents in Italy. [3] Alexander I. of Russia had no sympathy for any champion of Liberalism in Italy save himself. Austria confessed “sub sigillo” that she shared “His Most Christian Majesty’s Views as to the restoration of ancient dynasties.” ”

“ From Dijon Castlereagh promptly wrote to Bentinck (April 3) to say that the proclamation of the prince of Sicily must be disavowed, and that if King Ferdinand did not behave properly Great Britain would recognize" Murat's title. A letter from Metternich to Marshal Bellegarde, of the same place and date, insisted that Bentinck's operations must be altered; the last thing that Austria desired was an Italian national rising. It was, indeed, by this time clear to the allied powers that Murat's ambition had o'erleaped the bounds set for them. ”

“ With an eye to the overthrow of his legitimate rival in Sicily, he organized a large army and even a fleet; but he also swept away the last relics of the efiete feudal system and took efficient measures for suppressing brigandage. ”

“ He returned to France with Bonaparte, and on the 18th Brumaire led into the orangery of Saint Cloud the sixty grenadiers whose appearance broke up the Council of Five Hundred. After the success of the coup d'état he was made commandant of the consular guard, and on the 20th of January 1800 he married Caroline Bonaparte, youngest sister of the first consul. He commanded the French cavalry at the battle of Marengo, and was afterwards made governor in the Cisalpine Republic. ”

“ In Paris he gained a reputation for his good looks, his swaggering attitude, and the violence of his revolutionary sentiments. On the 30th of May 1792, the guard having been disbanded, he was appointed sub-lieutenant in the 21st Chasseurs a cheval, with which regiment he served in the Argonne and the Pyrénées, obtaining in the latter campaign the command of a squadron. ”

“ Vienna Congr. xi. ↑ That they were fully justified is clear from the following extract from a letter of Metternich to Bombelles at Paris (dated Vienna, Jan. 13, 1815) . “Whether Joachim or a Bourbon reigns at Na les is for us a very subordinate question. . . . When Europe is established on solid foundations the fate of Joachim will no longer be problematical, but do not let us risk destroying Austria and France and Europe, in order to solve this question at the worst moment it would be put on the tapis. ”