Pitt and Lord Harrowby having agreed to these proposals, details were discussed at the close of 1804.

None of the allies were, in any case, to make a separate peace; and England (said M.Novossiltzoff) must not only use her own troops, but grant subsidies to enable the Powers to set on foot effective forces.
This last sentence claims special notice, as it disposes of the well-worn phrase, that the Third Coalition was _built up_ by Pitt's gold.

On the contrary, Russia was the first to set forth the need of English subsidies, which Pitt was by no means eager to supply.

The phrase used by French historians is doubtless correct in so far as English gold enabled our allies to arm efficiently; but it is wholly false if it implies that the Third Coalition was merely trumped up by our money, and that the Russian, Austrian, and Swedish Governments were so many automatic machines which, if jogged with coins, would instantly supply armies to the ready money purchaser.

This is practically the notion still prevalent on the Continent; and it is clearly traceable to the endless diatribes against Pitt's gold with which Napoleon seasoned his bulletins, and to the caricatures which he _ordered to be drawn_.