An  overture  was  made  by  the  British  government  to  ne-
gotiate a  peace  with  France ;  but  it  was  so  captiously,  not
to  say  insolently  received,  that  it  was  impossible  to  take
any  farther  steps  for  the  attainment  of  this  object.  The
truth  seems  to  be,  that  the  two  governments  were  less  in-
clined to  a  pacification  than  the  people,  who  were  anxious
to  be  relieved  from  a  war,  the  evils  of  which  were  severely
felt,  and  the  eventual  advantages  of  which  they  did  not
comprehend,  or  did  not  think  sufficient  to  compensate  the
.  pressures  under  which  they  laboured.
GEORGE  III.  441

During  the  last  campaign,  the  French  had  been  less
successful  than  in  the  former  year ;  but  the  directory  made
vigorous  preparations  for  placing  the  numerous  armies  of
the  republic  in  a  most  formidable  posture  ;  and  the  success
of  the  French  arms  was  not  surpassed  in  any  former  pe-
riod. In  Italy,  the  republican  troops  were  com-
*'~qA  manded  by  general  Bonaparte,*  whose  advance
into  that  country  was  an  almost  uninterrupted  ca-
reer of  victory.  He  defeated  the  imperialists  at  Lodi,  and
compelled  nearly  the  whole  of  Italy  to  sue  for  peace.  In
Germany,  too,  the  campaign  began  successfully  on  the
side  of  the  French ;  and  generals  Moreau  and  Jourdan
penetrated  to  the  very  heart  of  the  empire  ;  but  they  were
afterwards  repelled  by  the  archduke  Charles,  who  drove
back  the  invaders.
