to the social diplomacy of this most ingenious family,
everything went well for a time, even with Lucien; and Louis, now
sixteen, was made a lieutenant of artillery. At the last moment came
what seemed the climax of Napoleon's good fortune, the assurance that
the destination of the fleet would be Corsica. Peace was made with
Tuscany. Rome could not be reached without a decisive engagement with
the English; therefore the first object of the expedition would be to
engage the British squadron which was cruising about Corsica. Victory
would of course mean entrance into Corsican harbors.

On March eleventh the new fleet set sail. In its very first encounter
with the English on March thirteenth the fleet successfully
manoeuvered and just saved a fine eighty-gun ship, the _Ca Ira_, from
capture by Nelson. Next day there was a partial fleet action which
ended in a disaster, and two fine ships were captured, the _Ca Ira_
and the _Censeur_; the others fled to Hyeres, where the troops were
disembarked from their transports, and sent back to their posts.[45]
Naval operations were not resumed for three months. Once more
Buonaparte was the victim of uncontrollable circumstance. Destitute of
employment, stripped even of the little credit gained in the last
half-year,[46] he stood for the seventh time on the threshold of the
world, a suppliant at the door. In some respects he was worse equipped
for success than at the beginning, for he now had a record to
expunge. To an outsider the spring of 1795 must have appeared the most
critical period of his life.[47] He himself knew better; in fact, this
ill-fated expedition was probably soon forgotten altogether. In his
St. Helena reminiscences, at least, he never recalled it: at that time
he was not fond of mentioning his failures, little or great, being
chiefly concerned to hand himself down to history as a man of lofty
purposes and unsullied motives. Besides, he was never in the slightest
degree responsible for the terrible waste of millions in this
ill-starred maritime enterprise; all his own plans had been for the
conduct of the war by land.

[Footnote 45: Marmont: Memoires, I, 77-78.]

[Footnote 46: Inspection report in Jung, II, 477. "Too
much ambition and intrigue for his advancement."]

[Footnote 47: He was far down the list, one hundred and
thirty-ninth in the line of promotion.]

The Corsican administration h