e for Lombardy in the coming trade
with Austria. But the directors either could not or would not at that
time enter into his plans, and refused to comprehend the situation.

With doubtful good sense they had therefore determined in November,
1796, to send Clarke, their own chosen agent, to Vienna. It was for
this that they selected a man of polished manners and honest purpose,
but, contrary to their estimate, of very moderate ability. He must of
course have a previous understanding with Bonaparte, and to that end
he had journeyed by way of Italy. Being kindly welcomed, he was
entirely befooled by his subtle host, who detained him with idle
suggestions until after the fall of Mantua, when to his amazement he
received the instructions from Paris already stated: to make no
proposition of any kind without Bonaparte's consent. Then followed
the death of the Czarina Catherine, which left Austria with no ally,
and all the subsequent events to the eve of Leoben. Thugut, of course,
wanted no Jacobin agitator at Vienna, such as he supposed Clarke to
be, and informed him that he must not come thither, but might reach a
diplomatic understanding with the Austrian minister at Turin, if he
could. He was thus comfortably banished from the seat of war during
the closing scenes of the campaign, and to Bonaparte's satisfaction
could not of course reach Leoben in time to conclude the preliminaries
as the accredited agent of the republic. But, to save the self-respect
of the Directory, he was henceforth to be associated with Bonaparte in
arranging the final terms of peace; and to that end he came of course
to Milan. Representing as he did the conviction of the government that
the Rhine frontier must be a condition of peace, and necessarily
emphasizing its scheme of territorial compensations, he had to be
either managed or disregarded. It was the versatility of the envoy at
Montebello which assured him his subsequent career under the consulate
and empire.

The court at Montebello was not a mere levee of men. There was as well
an assemblage of brilliant women, of whom the presiding genius was
Mme. Bonaparte. Love, doubt, decision, marriage, separation, had been
the rapidly succeeding incidents of her connection with Bonaparte in
Paris. Though she had made ardent professions of devotion to her
husband, the marriage vow sat but lightly on her in the early days of
their separation. Her husband appears to have been for a short time
more constan