ment to place themselves in ambuscade, and charge the assailants in flank. This manoeuvre succeeded, and the Austrians could no longer stand their ground; but on the right wing of Buonaparte's army, they outnumbered the French, and kept them in check. Napoleon then detached twenty-, five men of the corps of guides, with a trumpet to each, with. orders to turn the left flank of the Austrian's right wing, blow their trumpets, and charge.

This stratagem succeeded: the Austrians began to retreat,: but still resisted, when a small column of French troops. assailed them unexpectedly in the rear, and compelled them to abandon their post. At this moment. Massena took possession of Arcola; and the battle, which had lasted three days, was thus decisively concluded. This was one of the most desperate actions fought during the whole war, and had very nearly-accomplished the ruin of the French army. The loss of the Austrians was estimated at about 13,000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners, four standards, eighteen pieces of cannon, and many waggons. The loss of the French probably equalled, if it did not exceed that of their enemies. Whilst this awful struggle lasted between the main bodies of the two armies, the Austrians, on the other part of the line, carried the important post of Rivoli, and thereby uncovered. the blockade of Mantua.

Buonaparte having made his dispositions for pursuing the discomfited host of Alvinzi, reinforced the division which had been charged with the defence of Rivoli, and Mantua remained blockaded. Still, however, Rivoli was not yet, retaken, and the division which had been stationed there, was repulsed.

On 21st November the French General so strongly reinforced that division, and took such measures for calling off the portion of the Austrian army which had advanced to Rivoli, that it was compelled to retreat with heavy loss. On the 23d Wurmser made an unsuccessful sortie from Mantua, and Buonaparte got possession of the citadel of Bergamo. A few days afterwards, while Alvinzi's forces were stationed partly on the Brenta and partly in the Tyrol, and the French oc

cupied the line of the Adige, Mantua was reduced to the last extremity, the garrison subsisting solely upon horse-flesh

A short period of comparative tranquillity followed the san guinary battle of Arcola, which enabled Buonaparte to take a central position at Verona; to overthrow the Pope, and to draw from the different divisions of his army a disposable column of 15,000 men, which was destined to march to any part of the French line that was menaced. Employment was very soon afforded them. On the 12th and 13th January, 1797, Alvinzi commenced a general attack upon the outposts of the Republicans, and so ably and skilfully were his ulterior designs concerted, that for some time they eluded the penetration of Buonaparte. Under the mask of an assault upon the whole of the enemy's line, Alvinzi meditated two enterprizes; the first to enforce the important positions of La Corona and Rivoli, which covered the debouchés of the Alps, and the Lake of Garda; and the second, to penetrate with a numerous force to Mantua. In both these designs he for a time succeeded: the post of La Corona was taken, and, but for the activity and foresight of the French general, the whole of the division under Joubert, which still occupied Rivoli, and which was nearly surrounded, must have been destroyed. Availing himself of his disposable column, Buonaparte marched to the relief of Joubert. On the 14th the battle raged at this point with considerable fury. The right wing of the Republicans was driven back in great disorder, and it was only by the most strenuous efforts that they were enabled to preserve the post of Rivoli, on the maintenance of which the safety of their whole army depended, On the 15th, however, fortune again favored the French standards; the Austrians, who had imprudently extended their line, were vigorously attacked in the flank as well as in the centre; and a column of 6000 men were compelled to lay down their arms. On the side of Mantua, a division of Austrian troops, commanded by Provera, crossed the Adige, defeated the French corps opposed to them, and pressed on rapidly towards that fortress. Buonaparte, recalled from Rivoli by this manœuvre, so disposed his forces, as at once to surround

Provera, and repel a desperate sally made by Wurmser. On this trying occasion his activity and skill frustrated all the plans of his enemies. Provera's column surrendered, and the blockade of Mantua was resumed. In four days Buonaparte had fought and conquered in two pitched battles, and six inferior actions; having captured during that period 25,000 prisoners, 20 standards, 60 pieces of cannon, and a great quantity of baggage, besides killing and wounding 6000 This signal victory may be said to have decided the fate of Italy.

men.

The different troops of the republican army, not engaged in the siege of Mantua, pursued the enemy into the Tyrol. Trent, Bassano, and Roverido, were successively recaptured; and the Austrians diminished daily in number, and although they every where presented a most courageous resistance, they were at length compelled to a precipitate and disorderly retreat. The fate of Mantua, the prize for which the Austrian Government had devoted the armies of Wurmser and Alvinzi to destruction, could no longer be withheld. It was surrendered by the former general, who had made frequent sallies, but was always overcome; his valor and intrepidity had gained him the admiration even of the enemy with whom he fought. The siege is said to have cost the French 24,000 men.

On the 2d February, 1797, a conference was held between Generals Wurmser and Serrurier, to fix the articles of capitulation; when it appeared that the hospitals were crowded with sick, and that all the horses had been devoured by that part of the garrison which had survived the dreadful conflicts without, and the horrors within the walls. On this occasion Buonaparte displayed the generosity of a soldier to the veteran General Wurmser, who, although 70 years of age, had performed deeds that would have shamed thousands of more youthful heroes. Mantua was taken possession of February 3d. The Austrians marched out with the honors of war, but laid down their arms on the glacis, and became prisoners. General Wurmser was exempted, together with his whole suite, the general officers, the êtat-major, and whoever else the bravé

veteran thought proper to nominate. He was allowed 100 cavalry, 6 pieces of cannon and their waggons, and 500 per-> sons of his own selection; and the 700 men by whom he was accompanied, were not to appear in an hostile manner against the Republic, for the space of three months. The rights, privileges, and property of the inhabitants were to be preserved inviolate, and no inquiry was to be instituted respecting their conduct who had espoused the cause of the Emperor.

On this occasion Buonaparte issued a proclamation to his army, abounding, as usual, in bombast and gasconade. The conquest of Mantua enabled him to amuse himself by attacking the Papal dominions, upon the ground, that during the temporary reverses of the French army, his Holiness had attempted a diversion in favor of the Austrians with his troops. Before the commencement of hostilities, a diplomatic correspondence took place between Buonaparte to the Pope.

No serious opposition was experienced, nor could have been manifested: his Holiness was compelled to subscribe a treaty, by which he was required to pay 30,000,000 livres, to cede the Comtat-Venaissin, and Avignon, Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, as well as to surrender an immense number of manuscripts, and the most valuable of his pictures.

Buonaparte then offered his protection to the Republic of St. Marino, (a political curiosity,) which, with a population of 5000 inhabitants, had preserved its liberties and independence from the fifth century. The reply of the government of this little territory to the cajoling overtures of the French general, reminds us of the heroic ages of Greece and Rome. "Tell him," said they," that the Republic of Marino, content with her mediocrity, is afraid to accept the generous offer he has made of aggrandizing her territory; the consequences of which might compromise her liberty."

About this time Napoleon gained a good deal of eclat from the literary world for his conduct respecting the village of Pietola, the ancient Andes, where Virgil was born. He gave orders, that the ancient patrimony of the Mantuan bard, the

prince of Latin poets, should be particularly distinguished, and that its inhabitants should be indemnified for all the losses they had sustained during the war.

Splendid, however, as were the fortunes of our hero at this period, the other branches of his family had been no less assiduous in the advancement of their interests. His brothers, Joseph and Lucien, availed themselves of the credit that Napoleon's successes attached to their name, and with very little either of talents or property, contrived to obtain seats in the Legislative Body. Louis, his third brother, received an appointment as a lieutenant-colonel in the army of Italy; and Jerome, though a mere school-boy, was handsomely provided for. A part of the General's immense wealth was also devoted to the elevation of his mother and sisters.

The attention of the Austrian and French governments was intently fixed on Italy, and every exertion was made by the former to recover the possessions it had lost; and by the latter, to secure the immense advantages it had gained. Accordingly a new army was created in that quarter, for the Archduke Charles, who had so gloriously distinguished himself in Germany in the course of the preceding campaign in 1796, as to have obtained and merited the title of the saviour of his country. On the other hand, divisions of French troops, commanded by Kellerman and Bernadotte, drawn from the French army on the Rhine, crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and united themselves to Buonaparte's forces..

The period between 5th February and 16th March, 1797, was marked by many severe but partial actions, in which the French were successful, and continued to gain ground on the side of the Tyrol. On the 16th, the hostile armies lined the opposite banks of the Tagliamento, and Buonaparte availing himself of a sharp frost which had choked up the Alpine torrents, and diminished considerably the violence of the stream, resolved to ford the river in sight of the enemy. This enterprize was successfully accomplished. The Austrians, disheartened by continual defeat, did not make the spirited resistance which was expected. The action that followed was