terms; and in the Mediterranean,
despite a first success gained by the French Admiral Linois at
Algesiras, a second battle brought back victory to the Union Jack. An
attack made by Nelson on the flotilla at Boulogne was a failure
(August 15th). But at the close of August the French commander in
Egypt, General Menou, was constrained to agree to the evacuation of
Egypt by his troops, which were to be sent back to France on English
vessels. This event had been expected by Bonaparte, and the secret
instruction which he forwarded to Otto at London shows the nicety of
his calculation as to the advantages to be reaped by France owing to
her receiving the news while it was still unknown in England. He
ordered Otto to fix October the 2nd for the close of the negotiations:

"You will understand the importance of this when you reflect that
Menou may possibly not be able to hold out in Alexandria beyond the
first of Vendemiaire (September 22nd); that, at this season, the
winds are fair to come from Egypt, and ships reach Italy and
Trieste in very few days. Thus it is necessary to push them [the
negotiations] to a conclusion before Vendemiaire 10."

The advantages of an irresponsible autocrat in negotiating with a
Ministry dependent on Parliament have rarely been more signally shown.
Anxious to gain popularity, and unable to stem the popular movement
for peace, Addington and Hawkesbury yielded to this request for a
fixed limit of time; and the preliminaries of peace were signed at
London on October 1st, 1801, the very day before the news arrived
there that one of our demands was rendered useless by the actual
surrender of the French in Egypt.[174]

The chief conditions of the preliminaries were as follows: Great
Britain restored to France, Spain, and the Batavian Republic all their
possessions and colonies recently conquered by her except Trinidad and
Ceylon. The Cape of Good Hope was given back to the Dutch, but
remained open to British and French commerce. Malta was to be restored
to the Order of St. John, and placed under the guarantee and
protection of a third Power to be agreed on in the definitive treaty.
Egypt returned to the control of the Sublime Porte. The existing
possessions of Portugal (that is, exclusive of Olivenza) were
preserved intact. The French agreed to loose their hold on the Kingdom
of Naples and the Roman territory; while the British were also to
evacuate Porto Ferrajo (El