"I need the help of France," said the emperor. "I must buy the alliance of Napoleon at a price I would not pay before the commencement of the war."
"Must his cold demon-like hand again grasp the fate of Italy?" cried the count, hotly; "must Rome and the Holy See be given up for ever to the arbitrary pleasure of the earlier Carbonari?"
"Not for ever," said the emperor; "if my power is re-established in Germany, if I succeed in overcoming the danger now threatening me, the Holy See will have a more powerful protector than I now could be,--and who knows?" he continued, with animation, "Germany won Lombardy in centuries gone by."
"Then all is lost!" cried the count involuntarily, in a sorrowful voice. He quickly overcame his feelings, and said, in his usual calm voice, "Is your majesty's decision irrevocable, or may I be permitted to urge some reasons against it?"
The emperor was silent for a moment.
"Speak!" he then said.
"Your majesty hopes," said the count, "to recover your defeat by the recall of the southern army; and by ceding Venetia--that is to say, Italy--to buy the alliance of France. According to my convictions both these hopes are deceitful."
The emperor looked at him with amazement and with great attention.
"The army of the south," continued the count, "will come much too late to be of any assistance; for your majesty has to oppose a foe who will never stand still and wait; the lamentable events from which we now suffer fully prove this. The French alliance, even if your majesty purchased it, will not be worth the price you give for it, for, as I before had the honour of assuring your majesty, France is unfit to undertake any military action."
The emperor was silent.