the Marchese de Brignole, published a pamphlet in which he pointed out that far from creating a barrier against France, Austria had set Sardinia on a course of expansion, which she would pursue by playing France and Austria off against each other. ‘Encouraged by an increase of such importance [the acquisition of Genoa], this power will pursue a policy of trading its alliance, as it always has in the past, in order to gradually, with the help of France, take over the whole of Italy,’ he wrote.
