ABSTRACT
A little moderation, a little regard for the fears and susceptibilities of Austria and Russia, such as true statesmanship would surely have dictated, might have prevented the growth of that Third Coalition, which is rather to be ascribed to Napoleon's aggressions, than to the insidious influence of "Pitt's gold." Napoleon was himself Great Britain's best recruiting sergeant and the most influential advocate of the Third Coalition. In Wurtemberg one sees the reverse side of the shield, a caricature of the Napoleonic system, an oppressive rule, sacrificing the interests of the governed to the whim of a selfish ruler, heedless of his subjects. Meanwhile Napoleon was making peace as impossible for the Continental Powers as he had already made it for Great Britain. The announcement in the Moniteur of March 17th, 1805, that the Italian Republic had offered the Iron Crown of Lombardy to Napoleon, was naturally interpreted as a deliberate challenge to the Coalition.
