lands were named, as if in
derision; and though George III. and the Czar ceased not to press the
claims of the House of Savoy, yet no more tempting offer came from
Paris, except a hint that some part of European Turkey might be found
for him; and the young ruler nobly refused to barter for the petty
Siennese, or for some Turkish pachalic, his birthright to the lands
which, under a happier Victor Emmanuel, were to form the nucleus of a
United Italy.[219] A month after the absorption of Piedmont came the
annexation of Parma. The heir to that duchy, who was son-in-law to the
King of Spain, had been raised to the dignity of King of Etruria; and
in return for this aggrandizement in Europe, Charles IV. bartered away
to France the whole of Louisiana. Nevertheless, the First Consul kept
his troops in Parma, and on the death of the old duke in October,
1802, Parma and its dependencies were incorporated in the French
Republic.

The naval supremacy of France in the Mediterranean was also secured by
the annexation of the Isle of Elba with its excellent harbour of Porto
Ferrajo. Three deputies from Elba came to Paris to pay their respects
to their new ruler. The Minister of War was thereupon charged to treat
them with every courtesy, to entertain them at dinner, to give them
3,000 francs apiece, and to hint that on their presentation to
Bonaparte they might make a short speech expressing the pleasure of
their people at being united with France. By such deft rehearsals did
this master in the art of scenic displays weld Elba on to France and
France to himself.

Even more important was Bonaparte's intervention in Switzerland. The
condition of that land calls for some explanation. For wellnigh three
centuries the Switzers had been grouped in thirteen cantons, which
differed widely in character and constitution. The Central or Forest
Cantons still retained the old Teutonic custom of regulating their
affairs in their several folk-moots, at which every householder
appeared fully armed. Elsewhere the confederation had developed less
admirable customs, and the richer lowlands especially were under the
hereditary control of rich burgher families. There was no constitution
binding these States in any effective union. Each of the cantons
claimed a governmental sovereignty that was scarcely impaired by the
deliberations of the Federal Diet. Besides these sovereign States were
others that held an ill-defined position as allies; among these wer