e
Po and seized Bologna, whereupon the terrified cardinals signed an
armistice with the republican commander, agreeing to close all their
States to the English, and to admit a French garrison to the port of
Ancona. The Pope also consented to yield up "one hundred pictures,
busts, vases, or statues, as the French Commissioners shall determine,
among which shall especially be included the bronze bust of Junius
Brutus and the marble bust of Marcus Brutus, together with five
hundred manuscripts." He was also constrained to pay 15,500,000
francs, besides animals and goods such as the French agents should
requisition for their army, exclusive of the money and materials drawn
from the districts of Bologna and Ferrara. The grand total, in money,
and in kind, raised from the Papal States in this profitable raid, was
reckoned by Bonaparte himself as 34,700,000 francs,[55] or about;
L1,400,000--a liberal assessment for the life of a single envoy and
the _bruta fulmina_ of the Vatican.

Equally lucrative was a dash into Tuscany. As the Grand Duke of this
fertile land had allowed English cruisers and merchants certain
privileges at Leghorn, this was taken as a departure from the
neutrality which he ostensibly maintained since the signature of a
treaty of peace with France in 1795. A column of the republicans now
swiftly approached Leghorn and seized much valuable property from
British merchants. Yet the invaders failed to secure the richest of
the hoped-for plunder; for about forty English merchantmen sheered off
from shore as the troops neared the seaport, and an English frigate,
swooping down, carried off two French vessels almost under the eyes of
Bonaparte himself. This last outrage gave, it is true, a slight
excuse for the levying of requisitions in Leghorn and its environs;
yet, according to the memoir-writer, Miot de Melito, this unprincipled
action must be attributed not to Bonaparte, but to the urgent needs of
the French treasury and the personal greed of some of the Directors.
Possibly also the French commissioners and agents, who levied
blackmail or selected pictures, may have had some share in the shaping
of the Directorial policy: at least, it is certain that some of them,
notably Salicetti, amassed a large fortune from the plunder of
Leghorn. In order to calm the resentment of the Grand Duke, Bonaparte
paid a brief visit to Florence. He was received in respectful silence
as he rode through the streets where his ancest