FRA 
exigence, felt fanguine hopes of effe&ing tliefe ends when 
Holland and Spain, who "had commenced the war as al¬ 
lies, had been rendered the enemies of England. Though 
the French navy remained fafe in port, their allies the 
Spaniards and Dutch fuffered feverely. On the 14th of 
February 1797, a Britifit fleet of fifteen fail of the line 
under Sir John Jervis, engaged the Spanifli fleet amount¬ 
ing to twenty-feven fail of the line, ofF Cape St. Vincent. 
In this aiStion the Spanifli force was double that of the 
Britiflt ; 'yet four fliips of the line were taken by the 
Englifli, and the Spanifli admiral efcaped with difficulty. 
In this ft.ite of hoftilities, a negociation was opened 
between the French and Englifli for peace ; the city of 
Lifle was fixed as tlie place of meeting ; lord Malmef- 
bury V’as again nominated plenipotentiary on behalf ot 
Great Britain ; and Letonrneur the ex-diretSlor, Picville 
Lepelley, and Maret, attended on the part of the direc¬ 
tory. The negociations were opened on the 20th of J uly, 
and continued till the 6th of October, when they proved 
abortive, and lord Malmefbury was ordered to return to 
England in twenty-four hours. 
The directory now prepared for the invafion of Ire¬ 
land. With this view a fleet of eleven fail of the line, 
four ftiips of fifty-fix guns, and eleven frigates, was 
equipped in the Dutch ports ; a large body of troops 
were placed on-board ; and it was deftined for Breft, to 
join the French fquadron. The Englifli admiral Duncan, 
who blocked up this armament in the Texel, having 
been driven into Yarmouth Rpads, De Winter the Dutch 
admiral put to fea ; but Duncan, apprifed of the circnm- 
ftance, immediately failed for the coaft of flolland with 
fourteen fhips of the line, two fifties, and eight frigates, 
with which he encountered the Dutch admiral between 
Camperdown and Port Egmont, on the nth of October; 
and utterly defeated him, taking eight fail of the line, 
two fliips of fifty-fix guns, and two frigates. This action 
was fought fo near the Dutch fhore, that theufands of 
fpedtators witnefted its progrefs : De Winter and two 
vice-admirals were taken prifoners. The directory faw 
in this victory the overthrow of their projects for the in- 
vafion of Ireland, although they ftill ferioufly meditated 
fuch an attempt. 
During the flruggles which now agitated Paris, the 
difficulty of concluding the peace with the emperor 
feemed hourly to increafe, becaufe the directory were 
averfe to the reftoration of Mantua. At length, how¬ 
ever, the matter was amicably fettled : the directory con¬ 
tented to yield, and the emperor to receive, Venice inftead 
of Mantua. This agreement formed the balls of the de¬ 
finitive treaty, which was executed at Campo Formic on 
the 17th of Odtober 1797. By it the emperor ceded the 
Netherlands to France, the Milanefe to the Cifalpine re¬ 
public, and his territories in the Brifgaw to the duke of 
Modena, as an indemnification for the lofs of his duchy 
in Italy : he alfo confented that the French fhould poflefs 
the Venetian illands in the Levant of Corfu, Zante, Ce- 
phalonia, Santa Maura, Cerigo, and others. On the 
other hand, the French republic confented that the em¬ 
peror fliould poflefs in full fovereignty the city of Venice 
and its territory from the extremity of Dalmatia round 
the Adriatic as far as the Adige and the lake Garda. Tiie 
Cifalpine republic vas to poflefs the remaining territory 
of Venice in this quarter, along with the city and duchy 
of Mantua, and the ecclefiaftical ftates of Ferrara and 
Bologna. 
Upon whatever principles the war might have been 
eondudted, the terms of this treaty fufficiently derr.on- 
ftrated to all Europe, that its fmall fiates had no better 
reafon to expedt fecurity from the houfe of Auftria, than 
from that of the new republic. This truth would have 
been ftill more evident, had the articles of the conven¬ 
tion, figned by thefe parties at tire fame period at Campo 
Formio, been publilhed to the wmrld. Fearing, however, 
to alarm too much the Germanic body, tliefe articles 
were kept fecret, and the parties agreed to prevail with 
Vol.VII. No. 472, 
N C E 0 829 
ti e German princes, at a congrefs to be opened at Ra- 
ftadt, to content, in confequence of an apparently fair ne¬ 
gociation, to what France and Auftria had determined 
lliould take place. By this fecret convention, ii was fti- 
pulated, that the Rhine, including the fortrefsof Mentz, 
Ihould be the boundary o, ( the French republic ; that the 
princes whole territories were alienated by this agreement, 
fhould be indemnified by the fecularization of church 
lands in Germany ; that the ftadtholderof Holland fnould 
be indemnified for the lofs of his eftates in that country 
by receiving German territory ; that the emperor ftiou’d 
receive the archbifhopric of Saltzburg, and the part of 
the circle of Bavaria fituated between that archbiftiopr c, 
tlie rivers Inn and Saltz, and the Tyrol ; that the impe¬ 
rial troops fhould immediately withdraw to the confines 
ot tiie hereditary ftates beyond U!m ; and if the Ger¬ 
manic body fhould refufe peace on tiie above conditions, 
it was flipulared that the emperor fliould fupply to it no 
more troops than his contingent as a co-ellate amounted 
to, and that even thefe fliould not be employed in any 
fortified place. 
Tliefe treaties were immediately begun to be put in 
execution. The Auftrians left tiie Rhine, which enabled 
the French to furround the fortreftes of Mentz and 
Ehrenbreitftein. Of the former they fpeedily obtained 
poffeflion ; but the latter coft them a very tedious block¬ 
ade, before the garrifon, confiding of troops of the pala¬ 
tinate, would agree to fur-render. The imperial troops 
at tiie fame time entered Venice ; the French having eva¬ 
cuated that city after carrying off or deftroying its whole 
navy. The Cifalpine republic was eftablilhed, and Bo¬ 
naparte left Italy ; leaving, however, an army of twenty- 
five thoufand men to garrifon Mantua, Brefcia, Milan, 
and other places, and to retain this new republic in de¬ 
pendence upon France. Genoa was, at the fame time, 
brought under a fimilar dependance, and a revolution in 
its government took place at this period. See Genoa, 
and Cisalpine Republic, vol. iv. p. 616. 
About this time tiie two councils, at the defire of the 
directory, enafted a law declaring the fhips of all neutral 
ftates bound for Britain, or returning from thence, liable 
to capture. This law placed tiie whole carrying trade of 
the weftern world in the hands of the Britifh, and thus 
enriched the very people whom it was intended to injure. 
After the treaty with the emperor had been concluded 
at Campo Formio, Jofeph Bonaparte, brother of the ge¬ 
neral, was fent to Rome as ambaffador from the French 
republic. The pope, deprived of all foreign aid, and 
accuftomed to humiliations, fubmitted to every demand 
for reducing the number of his troops, and fetting at li¬ 
berty perfons imprifoned on account of political opinions. 
But an event foon occurred which accompliftied the ruin 
of this decayed government. On the 26th of December 
1797, three perfons waited upon the French ambaffador, 
and folicited the prote&ion of his government to a revo¬ 
lution which a party at Rome meant to accomplifta. He 
rejetted their propofals, but did not communicate the fe- 
dition to the papal government. On the following day 
a tumult took place, in which the French cockade was 
worn by about one hundred infurgents. They were fpee¬ 
dily difperfed ; but in the affray two of the pope’s dra¬ 
goons were killed. The ambaffador wifely refolved that 
his own perfonal conduct fhould be blamelefs on the oc- 
cafion. He therefore went on the 28th of December to 
the fecretary of ftate, and prefented a lift of the few per¬ 
fons under his protection who were entitled to wear the 
French cockade, confenting that all others who had 
adopted it fhould be punifned. He alfo furrendered fix 
of the infurgents, who had taken refuge in his palace. 
Towards the evening of this day, however, the popular 
tumult became more ferious, particularly in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the French minifter’s palace. Thepopeap- 
pears to have been perfonally unacquainted with this ftate 
of affairs; but the governor of the city fent parties of 
cavalry to difperfe the infurgents. About twenty per- 
10 £S fons. 
