While he was absent in the East, Pitt had found means to start a new coalition against France, in which both Russia and Austria were engaged. The imbecile Directory was quite unable to keep these foes at bay. An Austro-Russian army drove the French completely out of Italy, and at the same time another Austrian army defeated them in Germany and thrust them back to the Rhine, while an English force, under the Duke of York, landed in Holland, to threaten the northern frontiers of the Republic.

Bonaparte had expected something of the kind, knowing the imbecility of the Directory, and he was now ready to pose as the saviour of France, and to make a bid for supreme power, for his ambition ran far beyond that of being merely the chief of French generals. Leaving his army in Egypt, he ran the gauntlet of the English fleet, and safely reached France.

The accusations of mismanagement which he brought against the Directory were supported by French public opinion, especially by that of the army. With small difficulty Bonaparte dethroned the Directory, and dispersed by force of arms the "Council of Five Hundred" which represented parliamentary government. He then instituted a new form of constitution, which was in reality, though not in shape, a military despotism. Under the title of "First Consul" he became the supreme ruler of France (November, 1799).

The nation acquiesced in this change because Bonaparte had pledged himself to save France from the coalition, if he was entrusted with a dictatorship. He kept his word. Crossing the Alps by the pass of the Great St. Bernard, where no large army had crossed before, he got into the rear of the Austrians in Italy, and then beat them at the battle of Marengo (June, 1800). Cut off from their retreat, the Austrians had to surrender, and all Italy fell back into the hands of Bonaparte. Later in the same year the French won an equally crushing victory in South Germany, at Hohenlinden, where General Moreau annihilated the Austrian army of the north. Russia had already withdrawn from the coalition, for the eccentric Czar Paul had conceived a great admiration for Bonaparte, and did not object to a despot though he hated a republic. The Duke of York had been driven out of Holland long before, and France was triumphant all along the line. Austria, threatened with invasion at once on the west and the south, was forced to ask for peace, and by the peace of Luneville recognized Napoleon as ruler of France (1801).

Thus England was once more left alone, to fight out her old duel with France, or rather with the vigorous and able despot who had made France his own. But the struggle was no longer so dangerous as in 1797-98. In every quarter of the globe the English held their own in the years 1799-1801. In India the intrigues of Bonaparte had caused Sultan Tippoo of Mysore to attack the Madras Presidency. But he was opposed by a man of great ability, Lord Wellesley, the new Governor-General of India, the first statesman who boldly proposed to make the whole peninsula of Hindustan subject or vassal to England. Wellesley dealt promptly and sternly with the Sultan of Mysore. He was beaten in battle, chased back to his capital of Seringapatam, and slain at the gate of his palace as he strove to resist the English stormers. It was in this siege that Wellesley's brother, Arthur Wellesley, the great Duke of Wellington of a later day, first distinguished himself. On Tippoo's death, half Mysore was annexed, the other half given back to the old Hindu rajahs whom Tippoo's father had deposed (May, 1799). The complete subjection of Southern India was shortly afterwards carried out by the annexation of the Carnatic, where the descendants of our old ally Mohammed Ali had fallen into utter effeteness; they had, moreover, been detected in intrigues with Tippoo during the late war.

The conquest of Mysore was not the only English success that resulted from Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt. In 1800 we took Malta from the garrison which he had left there. In 1801 the more important task of reconquering Egypt itself was undertaken. Sir Ralph Abercrombie landed at Aboukir with 20,000 men. He twice defeated the French in front of Alexandria, but fell just as he had won the second battle. He had, however, done his work so thoroughly that the hostile army was compelled to capitulate, and to evacuate Egypt, which England then restored to the Turks (March-August, 1801).

Bonaparte had still one card to play. He used the personal influence which he had acquired over the eccentric autocrat of Russia, to endeavour to stir up trouble for England in the north. At his prompting, Czar Paul induced his smaller neighbours Denmark and Sweden to form the "Armed Neutrality," with the object of excluding English trade from the Baltic. England at once sent a great fleet to the north. It moored before Copenhagen, the Danish capital, which commands the main entrance to the Baltic, and summoned the Danes to abandon the Armed Neutrality, and permit the English to pass. The Prince Regent of Denmark refused, and the battle of Copenhagen followed. The slow and pedantic admiral, Sir Hyde Parker, was proceeding to dilatory tactics, but his hand was forced by his second in command, Nelson, the victor of the Nile. Disregarding his superior's orders to hold back, Nelson forced his way up the Strait to Copenhagen, sunk or took nearly the whole Danish fleet, and silenced the shore-batteries. When he threatened to bombard the city, the Prince Regent asked for an armistice, and abandoned the Armed Neutrality (April, 1801).

Nelson now entered the Baltic, and would have attacked Russia, but the death of Czar Paul saved him the trouble. The tyrant had so maddened his nobles by his caprices and cruelty, that he was slain by conspirators in his own bed-chamber. His son, Alexander I., promptly came to terms with England, and abandoned his French alliance.

Just before the battle of Copenhagen had been fought, England lost the minister who had guided her in peace and war for the last seventeen years—"the pilot who weathered the storm," as a popular song of the day called him. Pitt resigned his place on a point of honour. In the spring of 1801 there met the first United Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland, and before this new assembly the premier intended to lay his promised bill for the relief of Roman Catholics from their political disabilities. This measure was destined to cause the great statesman's fall. The bigoted and stubborn old king whom he had served so faithfully, had a stronger prejudice against justice for Catholics than against any other reform that could be mooted. He imagined that any measure giving them Emancipation would be against the terms of his coronation oath, and openly said that he would never make himself a perjurer by giving his royal assent to Pitt's bill. The prime minister had an exaggerated view of the duty of loyalty, and a great personal regard for his old master. On the other hand, he had solemnly pledged himself to the Irish Romanists to back their cause as long as he was in power. Under the circumstances he thought himself bound to resign his office, and retired in March, 1801.

George replaced his old servant by a man infinitely beneath him, Henry Addington, a commonplace Tory, one of Pitt's least able lieutenants. This vapid nonentity had the single merit of want of originality—he went on with Pitt's policy because he could devise no other. But his weakness and subservience to the crown might have induced George III. to revert to some of his former unconstitutional habits, if the old king had not gone mad soon after. He recovered his senses after some months, but was never the same man again, and was liable to recurring fits of insanity, which at last became permanent.

It was the feeble Addington who was fated to bring to an end the first epoch of the great war with France, though he had not been concerned in the labour of bearing its brunt. Bonaparte had failed in all his schemes against England, alike in Egypt, India, and the Baltic. The French navy was crushed; most of the French colonies were in English hands. He was accordingly glad to make peace, partly in order to take breath and build up a new naval power before assaulting England again, partly in order to find leisure to carry out his plans for making himself the permanent ruler of France; for he was set on becoming something more than First Consul, and needed time to perfect his plan.

England was not less desirous of peace. The long stress of the war had wearied the nation, and the load of debt which had been piled up since 1793 appalled the ministers. When Bonaparte offered to treat, his proposals were eagerly accepted. Negotiations were begun in October, 1801, and peace was signed at Amiens on March 25, 1802, with France, Spain, and Holland. It was not unprofitable. Bonaparte undertook to withdraw the French armies from Naples, Rome, and Portugal, and to give up any claims to Egypt. He made his allies, the Dutch and Spaniards, surrender to us the rich islands of Ceylon and Trinidad. Malta, now in English hands, was to be restored to the Knights of St. John. On the other hand, England recognized Bonaparte as First Consul, and restored to him all the French colonies which we had conquered, from Martinique in the west to Pondicherry in the east. Considering the imminent danger which we had passed through in the last nine years, the nation was glad to obtain peace on these respectable if not brilliant terms. It was hoped that our struggle with France was at last ended.