They flickered for a brief space and set.

His was the rare virtue of dauntless courage and unswerving constancy.

By the side of their wavering groups he stands forth like an Abdiel: "Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal: Nor number nor example with him wrought To swerve from truth or change his constant mind, Though single." While English statesmanship was essaying the task of forming a Coalition Ministry under Fox and Grenville, Napoleon with untiring activity was consolidating his position in Germany, Italy, and France.
In Germany he allied his family by marriage with the now royal Houses of Bavaria and Wuertemberg.

He chased the Bourbons of Naples from their Continental domains.

In France he found means to mitigate a severe financial crisis, and to strengthen his throne by a new order of hereditary nobility.