"These people are so slow," he exclaimed, "they think that a peace like this ought to be meditated upon for three years first." Concurrently with the Franco-Austrian negotiations, overtures for a peace between France and England were being discussed at Lille.

Into these it is impossible to enter farther than to notice that in these efforts Pitt and the other British Ministers (except Grenville) were sincerely desirous of peace, and that negotiations broke down owing to the masterful tone adopted by the Directory.

It was perhaps unfortunate that Lord Malmesbury was selected as the English negotiator, for his behaviour in the previous year had been construed by the French as dilatory and insincere.

But the Directors may on better evidence be charged with postponing a settlement until they had struck down their foes within France.

Bonaparte's letters at this time show that he hoped for the conclusion of a peace with England, doubtless in order that his own pressure on Austria might be redoubled.