‘Then let us accord it the setting it deserves. Now, I have plenty of other business to attend to today and I’d be obliged if you got to the point.’

‘Yes, sire.’ Lucien drew himself up. ‘We have been sent from Paris to represent the views of the senators, as well as the members of the other houses of the legislature. In the first instance we are required to congratulate your majesty on the defeats you have inflicted on the enemy, and to wish your majesty well in your ongoing campaign against Frederick William and his Russian allies. It is hoped that you will crush the enemy swiftly and bring the war to a conclusion.’

Lucien paused and Napoleon bowed his head in acknowledgement. ‘I thank the senate for its kind wishes. But I don’t think that you have come all this way just to congratulate me.’

‘There is more,’ Lucien admitted.‘It is the view of the senate that the time has come for France to make peace and enjoy all that your majesty, and our courageous soldiers, have laboured so long to win. Austria has been humbled. Prussia is occupied and the Tsar’s armies dare not venture far from their homeland. Your triumph is complete, sire, and now you can enjoy the fruits of peace.’

‘My triumph will be complete when Russia joins my alliance against Britain and I finally dictate the terms of peace in London. Then, and only then, can there truly be peace.’

‘But since the defeat of our fleet at Trafalgar there is no prospect of defeating Britain, sire.’

‘Which is why I issued the Berlin decrees,’ Napoleon explained with forced patience. ‘If we cannot beat them at sea, and they do not dare to face us on land, then we must strike at their Achilles heel. Trade. Trade is the lifeblood of Britain. That is why I have forbidden trade with Britain from any port in Europe over which we hold influence. As their trade with the continent withers so the British merchants will lose markets for their goods. Their factories and mills will begin to close. There will be popular unrest, and when the people of Britain are hungry and desperate enough they will rise up and Britain will have a revolution, just as we did, gentlemen. And when that happens King George and his aristocrat followers will share the fate of King Louis and his aristos. And then there will be peace.’

He paused to let his words sink in and Lucien licked his lips nervously. ‘That is a fine strategy, sire. In principle.’

‘And it will work in practice,’ Napoleon insisted. ‘Given enough time.’

‘That is to be hoped. But at present the decrees are being flouted openly. Our brother, King Louis of Holland, turns a blind eye to trade with Britain, and word has reached Paris that Marshal Masséna is selling licences to Italian merchants to trade with Britain.’