their quarters, and many expired on the road, covered with. blood and dust; the peasants frequently spit in their faces, and insulted them in the agonies of death. Their superstition represented the French as infidels, whom it was their duty to drive from their country.

P

It was on this occasion that Buonaparte was rescued from death or captivity by one of those remarkable instances of presence of mind, which are peculiar to great and powerful genius. Having proceeded to Lonado, where there was a small number of troops, he found the place completely surrounded by a numerous Austrian division, whose commander. had sent a messenger to summon the French to capitulate. Napoleon, perceiving the danger, had recourse to stratagem; for as he had only a few hundred men at Lonado, surrender was inevitable, had the enemy: fulfilled his intentions. He accordingly ordered the messenger to be brought before him, and the bandage taken from his eyes; assuring him at the same time, that if his general indulged the vanity of thinking to take the commander-in-chief of the army of Italy, he had only to advance; that he ought to know the latter was at Lonado, as every one knew the republican army was at that place; and that all the general and superior officers belonging to the division, should be responsible for the personal insult he had been guilty of towards the general-in-chief. He then protested, that if Wurmser's division did not in the space of eight minutes lay down their arms, he would shew no mercy to any of them. The officer appeared confounded at finding Buonaparte present, and returned with his answer., Every preparation was affected to be made for attacking the. enemy, when in an instant, the entire column, consisting of 4000 men, with four pieces of cannon, laid down their arms.

On 5th August Napoleon caused the whole army to make a retrogade movement, with a view to decoy Wurmser into a position, where his left wing could be completely turned. The stratagem succeeded. Wurmser advanced, and was assailed at all points; after a warm action, the French were

victorious. The Austrians quitted the field with the loss of 2000 men and 18 pieces of cannon. The results of this action were proof sufficient of its importance to the conquerors.

The next day, August 6th, the Austrians were compelled to abandon the line of the Mincio, and Verona was recaptured.

An interval of nearly a month elapsed after this battle before the campaign was seriously resumed. At length, the gallant Wurmser, having collected the remnant of the brave army which he had commanded, proceeded, September 4th, towards Bassano; a town situated on the approach to the gorges of the Tyrol; whither they were soon followed by the French. A terrible struggle ensued. The Austrians fought with dauntless heroism, and the fate of the battle was for a considerable time uncertain. At length the genius of Buonaparte triumphed. The Austrians were compelled to retire, disputing every inch of ground in their retreat. The action, however, still continued. The Austrians, strongly posted, and ably commanded, availed themselves to the utmost of the natural advantages presented by one of the most difficult countries in Europe. Turned, however, on their flanks, victory once more declared for Buonaparte. 4000 prisoners, 20 pieces of cannon, 40 waggons, 7 standards, a vast number of cavalry and artillery horses, and the possession of Trent the next day were the fruits of this sanguinary encounter.

It may in this place be proper to make an observation, which applies, without exception, to the first Italian campaigns of Buonaparte. There is no record of the losses of the French army in detail published by their general, althougli they must of necessity have been enormous. The active nature of the warfare, the intense heat of the climate, the desperate opposition, and the murderous hatred of the peasants, must have thinned very considerably the ranks of the republicans; but the Directory, with Carnot at their head, patronized in an especial manner the French army in Italy, and continual reinforcements supplied the chasms made by the swords of the Austrians in the field, or completed in the

French hospitals. We may also remark, that Buonaparte thoroughly debauched the troops under his command; who were permitted constantly to revel in every species of cruelty and licentiousness. Until this juncture, the army was the patrimony of the Republic. The generals were modest in their deportment, moderate in their equipment; and, as far as could be expected of them, disinterested in their views. The soldiers, comprising the flower of the youth of France, were enthusiastically attached to the Republic. They would have recoiled with horror from the suggestion of imposing upon their country the yoke of an absolute sovereign; even had that sovereign been the most fortunate and admired of their leaders: but Italy was the grave of their civil virtue. Corrupted by the enormous contributions levied on the vanquished, and divided amongst them, by their commander, avarice, combined with the love of glory, extinguished the enthusiasm of liberty; and the army became, as it were, the personal property of Buonaparte. The Directory saw and dreaded the certain effects of this degeneracy of character; still their fears were disguised under the mask of adulation. But to return from this digression.

From the 6th to 9th September the Republicans advanced with the greatest rapidity, marching twenty leagues in two days, passing through the most difficult defiles, and discomfiting the Austrians in every encounter. In their progress to Bassano, the head-quarters of Wurmser, and in the course of the six days, terminating on the 8th September, they had defeated the enemy in two battles and four skirmishes; and had wrested from them 21 standards, several thousand prisoners, and 70 pieces of cannon, having marched in that period 45 leagues.

At this juncture, Wurmser conceived a daring enterprise, which he executed with equal skill and intrepidity. Having collected the remains of his miserably diminished army, he resolved to throw himself into Mantua. Eluding the vigilance of the French generals by a most rapid counter-march, and surprising and defeating their posts before that city, he ac

complished his design in the presence of the conqueror. This was, in all its circumstances, the most brilliant exploit achieved by the Austrians in Italy, and reflects the greatest honour on the military science and bravery of Wurmser.

On the 15th, the garrison of Mantua, so strongly reinforced, sallied forth to preserve the important position of La Favorite and St. George; but after a desperate action, which cost them upwards of a thousand prisoners, they were obliged to relinquish it. From this time the French, who were in possession of two of the city gates, closely blockaded Mantua, and famine began its inroads upon the garrison. The interval which elapsed between the entrance of Wurmser into Mantua, and the formation of a new Austrian army under General Alvinzi, was employed by Buonaparte in consolidating his conquests. Modena, Pozzio, and Ferrara were moulded into a small State. Tumults were vigorously repressed, and magnificent fêtes solemnized at Milan. All those engines of com-mand which hope, fear, or splendor could supply, (and it must be admitted some important ameliorations in the condition of the people,) were successfully employed by Napoleon. Anthony, after the battle of Philippi, did not possess more real power in the western regions of Asia, than the French Pro-Consul in Italy.

If the Directory assiduously seconded the efforts of Buonaparte, the Austrian government, on its side, was by no means. supine. The army under Alvinzi, composed in a great measure of volunteers, many of them of noble families, collected themselves in the debouchés of the Tyrol. The force immediately opposed to them was too weak to encounter so formidable a host; it was therefore withdrawn to the Adige and Roverido, Trent, Bassano, and Vicenza were abandoned. Buonaparte hastened with reinforcements to support his line; and it must not here be forgotten that at least half the French army was detained before Mantua. On the 2d, 3d, 7th, and 12th November various engagements took place, with alternate Indeed they appear to have been chiefly feints to discover the real designs of Alvinzi: but it is evident that the

success.

advantages, on the whole, during these skirmishes, were ob tained by the Austrians. On the 15th, a general and decisive battle was expected and desired by both armies. Accordingly Buonaparte, having collected the divisions of Augerau and Massena, proceeded by a night march to execute a design he had formed of penetrating upon the flank and rear of the Austrians, and capturing their park of artillery and magazines. In this enterprise he was foiled. On approaching the village of Arcola, a portion of the French army was compelled to march on a dike constructed between impracticable morasses, and to proceed to a little bridge leading to the village, which was occupied by the enemy in great force, who raked it with a tremendous fire of musketry and grape-shot. The efforts of the French to pass this bridge were unavailing, and the slaughter with which their repeated attempts were attended was dreadful. Vainly did Buonaparte put himself at the head of the column: his horse was overthrown, and his troops retreated in confusion. A moment at length arrived when it appeared practicable, by an immediate charge upon the French column, to have secured over the Republicans a decided victory: it was suffered to pass away unimproved..

Finding the village impregnable in front, Napoleon sent round by a détour a considerable detachment, which in the evening forced it; but he found it expedient to evacuate it at night. Thus ended the first day's encounter, in which it was evident that Buonaparte had been repulsed. At day-break, on the 16th November, the Austrians attacked the French in every direction. The left wing of the Republican army discomfited the right of the Austrians, with the loss of 1500 prisoners, six pieces of cannon, and four standards. The column under Augerau repulsed the assailants, but could not retake Arcola; nor could Buonaparte pass a canal which descended into the Adige. Thus, on the close of the second day's battle, the victory was still undecided. On the 17th the French army attacked the Austrians in their turn, and the battle once more raged with the utmost fury. The centre of the French line fell back; when Napoleon ordered a detach