Dungarth shook his head and stood up. He began pacing up and down, stabbing a finger at Drinkwater from time to time to make a point.

'It is to the navy that we must look, Nathaniel, to wrest the advantage from France. We must blockade her ports again and nullify her fleets. God knows we can do little with the army, except perhaps a few conjoint operations, and they have been conspicuously unsuccessful in the past. But with the Navy we can prop up our wavering allies and persuade them to persist in their refusal to bow to Paris.'

'You think it likely that Austria will ever reach an accommodation with a republic?'

'There are reports, Nathaniel, that Bonaparte would make himself king and found a dynasty. God knows, but a man like that might stoop to divorce La Josephine and marry a Hohenzollern or a Romanov, even a Hapsburg if he can dictate a peace from a position of advantage. You know damned well he reached for India.' Dungarth looked unhappily at Drinkwater who nodded.

'Yes, my Lord, you are right.'

'On land France will exhaust herself and it is our duty to outlast her.'

'But she will need to be defeated on land in the end, my Lord, and if our own forces…'

Dungarth laughed. 'The British Army? God, did you see what a shambles came out of Holland? No, the Horse Guards will achieve nothing. We must look to Russia, Nathaniel, Russia with her endless manpower supported by our subsidies and the character of Tsar Alexander to spur her on.'

'You purport to re-establish liberty, my Lord, with the aid of Russia?' Drinkwater was astonished.