successes of Moreau secured Switzerland and enabled Bonaparte
to summon other French divisions, partly composed of detachments from
Moreau's army, to enter Italy by the passes of the Simplon and the St.
Gothard. Their appearance upset the plans which Melas was making for
defence. He met Bonaparte at Marengo on the 14th, and after a
hard-fought battle was totally defeated. On the 16th he signed a
convention at Alessandria, which left the French masters of the country
as far as the Oglio. Hostilities in Germany were suspended on July 9.
Bonaparte returned to Paris in triumph after an absence of less than two
months. On June 20, before the news of Marengo reached Vienna, Minto
signed a convention with Austria which guaranteed the loan to the
emperor, and stipulated that neither power should make peace without the
consent of the other. Pitt's hopes were defeated; for the time Austria
was completely paralysed. The opposition reproached the government with
the failure of its plans. The country, it was urged, desired peace;
another defeat would reduce Austria to impotence, and France, disengaged
from all continental war, would direct her whole strength against
England. Parliament remained steadfast in its support of the government.

Bonaparte, anxious to detach Austria from her alliance with England,
offered peace to the emperor, who sent an envoy to Paris to find out
what terms he proposed. It was a dangerous move, for the English
ministers might have interpreted the mission as a negotiation for a
separate peace, contrary to the convention of June 20; and Thugut feared
that England might take offence and leave Austria to Bonaparte's mercy.
The emperor's envoy was in fact persuaded by Talleyrand to sign articles
of peace, generally on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio. The
emperor disavowed his unauthorised action. Austria's interests would be
best served by a general peace, arranged at a European congress, at
which Great Britain should be represented. This was in accordance with
the views of the British government, and on August 9 Minto informed the
emperor that his court desired to take part in negotiations for a
general peace. The emperor proposed a congress at Luneville in which
England should be invited to take part. Bonaparte's design of disuniting
Austria from England and treating separately with the emperor was
foiled; he could not reject the emperor's proposal, for France was eager
for peace. Pitt and Grenville