employed. Some attacks on the Breton
coast did little damage to the enemy, and brought no material advantage
to England. The government employed the troops which should have been
sent in the spring to the support of the Austrians in desultory
expeditions. In August a considerable force under Sir James Pulteney was
sent against Ferrol. After landing his men Pulteney found that the place
was too strong to be taken by a _coup-de-main_, and abandoned the
enterprise. An equally abortive attempt was made on Cadiz in October by
a force of 22,000 men under Abercromby, then commanding at Minorca, and
by the Mediterranean fleet under Keith. The plague was raging in the
town, and Keith could not guarantee that, if the troops were landed, the
weather might not cut them off from communication with the fleet, and
possibly hinder re-embarkation. Abercromby therefore refused to land his
troops, and decided to sail off to Gibraltar. He received orders to
attack the French in Egypt in co-operation with the grand-vizier. The
troops landed in Abukir bay on February 8 and 9, 1801, with results
which must be deferred to our next volume.

The armistice in Germany ended on November 28. A strong Austrian army
under the archduke John, a general of no experience, held the line of
the Inn. The archduke adopted the offensive, crossed the river, attacked
the French under Moreau at Hohenlinden on December 3, and was totally
defeated, losing ninety-seven guns and 15,000 men, or more, killed,
wounded, or prisoners. The Austrians were utterly crushed; the French
crossed the Inn and the Salzach without meeting serious opposition. The
archduke Charles again took command of the defeated army, and on the
25th signed an armistice at Steyer. Meanwhile Cobenzl, the imperial
ambassador, was haggling over terms of peace with Joseph Bonaparte at
Luneville; he refused to negotiate officially without the participation
of England, and at last proposed that if a treaty was made, it should
not be announced until after March 10 when the Anglo-Austrian alliance
would lapse. The battle of Hohenlinden brought the alliance to a
premature end. The emperor informed the British court that he was no
longer able to maintain the alliance, and gave Cobenzl authority to sign
preliminaries independently of Great Britain. The splendid achievement
of Macdonald, who led the "second army of reserve" from the Grisons
across the Splugen, and the subsequent success of the French under
Bru