nds to France and of Gibraltar to Spain, and that,
too, at the end of a maritime war fruitful in victories for the Union
Jack.[88]

Towards the King of Sardinia the new Directory was equally imperious.
The throne of Turin was now occupied by Charles Emmanuel IV. He
succeeded to a troublous heritage. Threatened by democratic republics
at Milan and Genoa, and still more by the effervescence of his own
subjects, he strove to gain an offensive and defensive alliance with
France, as the sole safeguard against revolution. To this end he
offered 10,000 Piedmontese for service with Bonaparte, and even
secretly covenanted to cede the island of Sardinia to France. But
these offers could not divert Barras and his colleagues from their
revolutionary policy. They spurned the alliance with the House of
Savoy, and, despite the remonstrances of Bonaparte, they fomented
civil discords in Piedmont such as endangered his communications with
France. Indeed, the Directory after Fructidor was deeply imbued with
fear of their commander in Italy. To increase his difficulties was
now their paramount desire; and under the pretext of extending liberty
in Italy, they instructed Talleyrand to insist on the inclusion of
Venice and Friuli in the Cisalpine Republic. Austria must be content
with Trieste, Istria, and Dalmatia, must renounce all interest in the
fate of the Ionian Isles, and find in Germany all compensation for her
losses in Italy. Such was the ultimatum of the Directory (September
16th). But a loophole of escape was left to Bonaparte; the conduct of
these negotiations was confided solely to him, and he had already
decided their general tenor by giving his provisional assent to the
acquisition by Austria of the east bank of the Adige and the city of
Venice. From these terms he was disinclined to diverge. He was weary
of "this old Europe": his gaze was directed towards Corfu, Malta, and
Egypt; and when he received the official ultimatum, he saw that the
Directory desired a renewal of the war under conditions highly
embarrassing for him. "Yes: I see clearly that they are preparing
defeats for me," he exclaimed to his aide-de-camp Lavalette. They
angered him still more when, on the death of Hoche, they intrusted
their Rhenish forces, numbering 120,000 men, to the command of
Augereau, and sent to the Army of Italy an officer bearing a manifesto
written by Augereau concerning Fructidor, which set forth the anxiety
felt by the Directors concer