r Napoleon did not intend Genoa to
be the gate leading to a new avenue of glory, now that the success of
his naval dispositions was doubtful. Marbot gives the general opinion
of military circles when he says that the Emperor wanted to provoke a
continental war in order to escape the ridicule which the failure of
his Boulogne plans would otherwise have aroused. "The new coalition
came just at the right moment to get him out of an annoying
situation." The compiler of the Fouche "Memoirs," which, though not
genuine, may be accepted as generally correct, took the same view. He
attributes to Napoleon the noteworthy words: "I may fail by sea, but
not by land; besides, I shall be able to strike the blow before the
old coalition machines are ready: the kings have neither activity nor
decision of character: I do not fear old Europe." The Emperor also
remarked to the Council of State that the expense of all the
preparations at Boulogne was fully justified by the fact that they
gave him "fully twenty days' start over all enemies.... A pretext had
to be found for raising the troops and bringing them together without
alarming the Continental Powers: and that pretext was afforded me by
the projected descent upon England."[338]

It is also quite possible that his aim was Ireland as much as England.
It certainly was in the plan of September, 1804: and doubtless it
still held a prominent place in his mind, except during the few days
when he pictured Calder vanquished and Nelson scouring the West
Indies. Then he doubtless fixed his gaze solely upon London. But there
is much indirect evidence which points to Ireland as forming at least
a very important part of his scheme. Both Nelson and Collingwood
believed him to be aiming at Ireland.[339]

But indeed Napoleon is often unfathomable. Herein lies much of the
charm of Napoleonic studies. He is at once the Achilles, the Mercury,
and the Proteus of the modern world. The ease with which his mind
grasped all problems and suddenly concentrated its force on some new
plan may well perplex posterity as it dazed his contemporaries. If we
were dealing with any other man than Napoleon, we might safely say
that an invasion of England, before the command of the sea had been
secured, was infinitely less likely than a descent on Ireland. The
landing of a _corps d'armee_ there would have provoked a revolution;
and British ascendancy would have vanished in a week. Even had Nelson
returned and swept the s