d. The heroes and poets of Rome had moved upon that
same stage. To his consort the new Caesar unveiled the visions of his
heated imagination, explained the sensations aroused in him by their
shadowy presence, and unfolded his schemes of emulation. Of such
purposes the court held during the summer at Montebello was but the
natural outcome. Its historic influence was incalculable: on one hand,
by the prestige it gave in negotiation to the central figure, and by
the chance it afforded to fix and crystallize the indefinite visions
of the hour; on the other, by rendering memorable the celebration of
the national fete on July fourteenth, 1797, an event arranged for
political purposes, and so dazzling as to fix in the army the intense
and complete devotion to their leader which made possible the next
epoch in his career.

The summer was a season of enforced idleness, outwardly and as far as
international relations were concerned, but in reality Bonaparte was
never more active nor more successful. In February the Bank of England
had suspended specie payments, and in March the price of English
consols was fifty-one, the lowest it ever reached. The battle of Cape
St. Vincent, fought on February fourteenth, destroyed the Spanish
naval power, and freed Great Britain from the fear of a combination
between the French and Spanish fleets for an invasion. But, on the
other hand, sedition was wide-spread in the navy; the British sailors
were mutinous to the danger-point, hoisting the red flag and
threatening piracy. The risings, though numerous, were eventually
quelled, but the effect on the English people was magical. Left
without an ally by the death of Catherine, the temporizing of Paul,
and his leaning to the Prussian policy of neutrality, facts mirrored
in the preliminaries of Leoben, their government made overtures for
peace. There was a crisis in the affairs of the Directory and, as a
sort of shelter from the stormy menace of popular disapproval,
Delacroix consented to receive Malmesbury again and renew negotiations
at Lille. As expected, the arrangement was a second theatrical
fencing-bout from the beginning. Canning feared his country would meet
with an accident in the sword-play, for the terms proposed were a weak
yielding to French pride by laying the Netherlands at her feet.
Probably the offer was not serious in any case, the farce was quickly
ended, and when their feint was met the British nation had recuperated
and was not