urge on his
expeditions into wealthy districts, provided that the spoils went to
Paris; while the conqueror, on his part, was able tacitly to assume
that tone of authority with which the briber treats the bribed.[49]

The exaction of this large sum, and of various requisites for the
army, as well as the "extraction" of works of art for the benefit of
French museums, at once aroused the bitterest feelings. The loss of
priceless treasures, such as the manuscript of Virgil which had
belonged to Petrarch, and the masterpieces of Raphael and Leonardo da
Vinci, might perhaps have been borne: it concerned only the cultured
few, and their effervescence was soon quelled by patrols of French
cavalry. Far different was it with the peasants between Milan and
Pavia. Drained by the white-coats, they now refused to be bled for the
benefit of the blue-coats of France. They rushed to arms. The city of
Pavia defied the attack of a French column until cannon battered in
its gates. Then the republicans rushed in, massacred all the armed men
for some hours, and glutted their lust and rapacity. By order of
Bonaparte, the members of the municipal council were condemned to
execution; but a delay occurred before this ferocious order was
carried out, and it was subsequently mitigated. Two hundred hostages
were, however, sent away into France as a guarantee for the good
behaviour of the unfortunate city: whereupon the chief announced to
the Directory that this would serve as a useful lesson to the peoples
of Italy.

In one sense this was correct. It gave the Italians a true insight
into French methods; and painful emotions thrilled the peoples of the
peninsula when they realized at what a price their liberation was to
be effected. Yet it is unfair to lay the chief blame on Bonaparte for
the pillage of Lombardy. His actions were only a development of
existing revolutionary customs; but never had these demoralizing
measures been so thoroughly enforced as in the present system of
liberation and blackmail. Lombardy was ransacked with an almost Vandal
rapacity. Bonaparte desired little for himself. His aim ever was power
rather than wealth. Riches he valued only as a means to political
supremacy. But he took care to place the Directors and all his
influential officers deeply in his debt. To the five _soi-disant_
rulers of France he sent one hundred horses, the finest that could be
found in Lombardy, to replace "the poor creatures which now draw your