him than these Philippics, which seemed to challenge France to build
up a strong Government in order that the Court of St. James might find
some firm foundation for future negotiations.

Far more dextrous was the conduct of the Austrian diplomatists.
Affecting to believe in the sincerity of the First Consul's proposal
for peace, they so worded their note as to draw from him a reply that
he was prepared to discuss terms of peace on the basis of the Treaty
of Campo Formio.[138] As Austria had since then conquered the greater
part of Italy, Bonaparte's reply immediately revealed his
determination to reassert French supremacy in Italy and the Rhineland.
The action of the Courts of Vienna and London was not unlike that of
the sun and the wind in the proverbial saw. Viennese suavity induced
Bonaparte to take off his coat and show himself as he really was:
while the conscientious bluster of Grenville and Pitt made the First
Consul button up his coat, and pose as the buffeted peacemaker.

The allies had good grounds for confidence. Though Russia had
withdrawn from the Second Coalition yet the Austrians continued their
victorious advance in Italy. In April, 1800, they severed the French
forces near Savona, driving back Suchet's corps towards Nice, while
the other was gradually hemmed in behind the redoubts of Genoa. There
the Imperialist advance was stoutly stayed. Masséna, ably seconded by
Oudinot and Soult, who now gained their first laurels as generals,
maintained a most obstinate resistance, defying alike the assaults of
the white-coats, the bombs hurled by the English squadron, and the
deadlier inroads of famine and sickness. The garrison dwindled by
degrees to less than 10,000 effectives, but they kept double the
number of Austrians there, while Bonaparte was about to strike a
terrible blow against their rear and that of Melas further west. It