Besides,
as we must fight, sooner or later, with a people to whom the greatness
of France is intolerable, the sooner the better. I am young. The
English are in the wrong; more so than they will ever be again. I
had rather settle the matter at once. They shall not have Malta."
Still Napoleon assented to the proposal for negotiating with the
English for the cession of some other island in the Mediterranean.
"Let them obtain a port to put into," said he. "To that I have no
objection. But I am determined that they shall not have two Gibraltars
in that sea, one at the entrance, and one in the middle." To this
proposition, however, England refused assent.
Napoleon then proposed that the Island of Malta should be placed in
the hands of the Emperor of Russia; leaving it with him in trust,
till the discussions between France and England were decided. It
had so happened that the emperor had just offered his mediation,
if that could be available, to prevent a war. This the English
government also declined, upon the plea that it did not think that
Russia would be willing to accept the office thus imposed upon her.
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