On returning from Leoben, a conqueror and pacificator, he, without ceremony, took possession of Venice, changed the established government, and, master of all the Venetian territory, found himself, in the negotiations of Campo Formio, able to dispose of it as he pleased, as a compensation for the cessions which had been exacted from Austria.

After the 19th of May he wrote to the Directory that one of the objects of his treaty with Venice was to avoid bringing upon us the odium of violating the preliminaries relative to the Venetian territory, and, at the same time, to afford pretexts and to facilitate their execution.
At Campo Formio the fate of this republic was decided.

It disappeared from the number of States without effort or noise.

The silence of its fall astonished imaginations warmed by historical recollections from the brilliant pages of its maritime glory.

Its power, however, which had been silently undermined, existed no longer except in the prestige of those recollections.