d'Herbois, testifying his joy at the extermination of the rebels; and another from Saliceti, Barras, and Freron, jointly expressing the same sentiments. (See Napoleon's Memoirs, by Gourgaud, vol. i. Appendix.)

In consequence of his services at the taking of Toulon, Bonaparte was recommended by General Dugommier for promotion, and was accordingly raised to the rank of brigadiergeneral of artillery, in February, 1794, with the chief command of that department of the army in the south. In this capacity he inspected the coasts, ordered the weak points to be fortified, and strengthened the fortifications already existing. He then joined the army under General Dumorbion, which was stationed at the foot of the Maritime Alps, and with which he made the campaign of 1794 against the Piedmontese troops. In that campaign, the French, disregarding the neutrality of Genoa, and advancing by Ventimiglia and San Remo, turned the Piedmontese position at Saorgio, obtained possession of the Col de Tende, and penetrated into the valleys on the Piedmontese side of the Alps. A battle was fought at Cairo, in the valley of the Bormida, 21st September, in which the French had the advantage. But the rainy season coming on, terminated the 'campaign, in which Bonaparte had taken an important part, together with Massena.

Previous however to the battle of Cairo, Bonaparte had run considerable risk from the factions that divided France. On the 13th of July, 1794, the Deputies of the Convention who were superintending the operations of the army gave him a commission to proceed to Genoa, with secret instructions to examine the state of the fortifications as well as the nature of the country, and also to observe the conduct of the Genoese government towards the English and other belligerent powers. These instructions were dated Loano, and signed Ricord. Ricord and the younger Robespierre were then commissioners. Bonaparte went to Genoa and fulfilled his commission. In the mean time, the revolution of the 9th and 10th Thermidor (27th and 28th July) took place: Robespierre fell, and his party was proscribed. Albitte, Saliceti, and Laporte, were the new commissioners appointed to the army of Italy. On Bonaparte's return from Genoa to head-quarters, he was placed under arrest, his papers were seized, and an order was issued by the commissioners, stating that he had lost their confidence by his suspicious conduct, and especially by his journey to Genoa; he was suspended from his functions of commander of the artillery, and ordered to proceed to Paris under an escort to appear before the committee of public safety. This order was dated Barcelonnette, 6th August, and signed by the three commissioners, and countersigned by Dumorbion, general-inchief. Bonaparte remained under arrest for a fortnight. He wrote a pithy remonstrance, which he addressed to Albitte and Saliceti, without taking any notice of the third commissioner, Laporte: he complained of being disgraced, and having his character injured without trial: and he appealed to his known patriotism, his services, and his attachment to the principles of the revolution. This remonstrance induced the commissioners to make a more precise investigation of the affair, and the result was a counter order from them, dated Nice, 20th August, stating that citizen Bonaparte had been arrested in consequence of measures of general safety after the death of the traitor Robespierre; but that the commissioners 'having examined his conduct previous to his journey to Genoa, and also the report of that mission, had not found any positive reason to justify the suspicions they might have entertained of his conduct and principles, and that, considering moreover the advantage derived from his military information and knowledge of localities to the service of the republic, they, the commissioners, order him to be restored provisionally to liberty, and to remain at head-quarters, until further instructions from the committee of public safety.' Bonaparte seems to have had no further annoyance on the subject. The real grounds of his accusation have never been known, and he himself, at the close of his life, professed his ignorance of them.

After the close of the campaign of 1794, Bonaparte repaired

to Marseille. Early in the following year he was at Paris soliciting employment. Aubry, an old officer of artillery, was then president of the military committee. Bonaparte was coldly received by this officer, who made some remarks on his youth, which Bonaparte resented. Aubry, however, appointed him general of a brigade of infantry, in the army of La Vendée, an appointment which Napoleon refused. He remained therefore without active employment, retaining his rank of general of brigade. He now took lodgings in the Rue du Mail, near the Place des Victoires, and led a private life. Bourienne states that he had then some idea of going into the Turkish service, and he gives a copy of a project which Bonaparte laid before the war-office, showing the advantages that would result to France by forming a closer connexion with the Porte. But a crisis arrived in the affairs of France: The Convention had framed a new constitution, establishing a council of elders, a council of juniors, and an executive directory of five members. This is known by the name of the constitution of the year III., and was in fact the third constitution proclaimed since the beginning of the revolution. But the Convention, previously to its own dissolution, passed a resolution to the effect, that at least two-thirds of the members of the two legislative councils should be taken from the members of the actual Convention. This resolution was laid before the primary assemblies of the departments, and every kind of influence, legal and illegal, was used to ensure its approbation. The department of Paris however refused, and the sections or districts of that city being assembled, demanded a strict scrutiny of the returns of the votes from the assemblies of the departments, and protested against the attempt of the Convention to perpetuate its own power. It was said that the sections were urged or encouraged in their resistance by the royalists, who hoped to derive benefit from it: but it is also well known that the Convention, many of whose members were implicated in the bloodshed and atrocities of the reign of terror, was odious to the Parisians. On the other side the members of the Convention for this very reason were afraid of returning to the rank of private citizens. They determined therefore to risk everything in order to carry their object by force. They had at their disposal about 5000 regular troops in or near Paris, with a considerable quantity of artillery, and a body of volunteers from the suburbs. The command of these forces was given to Barras, a leading member of the Convention, who had mainly contributed to the fall of Robespierre. Barras, who had become acquainted with Bonaparte at the siege of Toulon, proposed to intrust him with the actual direction of the troops for the defence of the Convention. Bonaparte was also known to Carnot and Tallien, and other members of the Convention, as an able artillery officer. The choice being unanimously approved, Bonaparte quickly drew his line of defence round the Tuileries where the Convention was sitting, and along the adjoining quay on the north bank of the Seine. He depended mainly upon his cannon loaded with grape-shot, which he had placed at the head of the various avenues through which the national guards, the force of the citizens, must advance. The national guards had no cannon. They advanced on the morning of the 13th Vendemiaire (4th October, 1795), nearly 30,000 in number, in several columns, along the quays and the street of St. Honoré. As soon as they were within musket-shot, they were ordered to disperse in the name of the Convention; they answered by discharging their firelocks, and their fire was returned by discharges of grape-shot and canister, which did great execution. They returned several times to the charge, and attempted to carry the guns; but the fire of the cannon swept away the foremost, and threw the rest into disorder. Foiled at all points, after two hours' fighting, the national guards withdrew in the evening to their respective districts, where they made a stand in some churches and other buildings; but being followed by the troops of the Convention, they were obliged to surrender, and were disarmed in the night. The Convention did not use their victory with cruelty except those who were killed in the fight, few of the citizens

were put to death, and only two of the leaders were publicly executed; others were sentenced to transportation. General Berruyer, Verdier, and others, served with Bonaparte on the occasion, but to Bonaparte chiefly the merit of the victory was justly attributed. He was appointed, by a decree of the Convention, second in command of the army of the interior, Barras retaining the nominal chief command himself; and soon after, the new constitution coming into operation, Barras, being appointed one of the directors, resigned his military command, and Bonaparte became general of the interior.

About this time Bonaparte became acquainted with Josephine Beauharnois, a native of Martinique, and the widow of the Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnois. The Director Barras, an old acquaintance of her husband, frequented her society, and she was also intimate with Madame Tallien, and other persons of note at that time. She was amiable, elegant, and accomplished. Bonaparte saw her often, and became attached to her. She was several years older than he was. He was now rapidly rising in his fortunes, and his marriage with a lady of rank and fashion (for rank, although nominally proscribed, began again to exercise a sort of influence in society), who was upon terms of intimacy with the political leaders of that period, would be advantageous to him. Such was the advice given to him by his friends, and particularly by Talleyrand. Barras also approved of the projected marriage. Meantime, Bonaparte had been applying to Carnot, the then minister at war, for active employment. The directors had at that time turned their attention towards Italy, where the French army, under General Scherer, was making no great progress. After gaining a victory over the Austrians, at Loano, in November, 1795, the French were still cooped up in the western Riviera of Genoa, between the mountains and the sea, without being able to penetrate into Piedmont; and this was the fourth year of that war carried on at the foot or in the defiles of the Alps and the Ligurian Apennines. Barras and Carnot proposed to give Bonaparte the command of the army of Italy, and the other directors assented. This appointment was signed the 23d of February, 1796; on the 9th of March following he married Josephine, and a few days after parted from his bride to assume the command of the army of Italy. Various reasons have been assigned for this appointment, for which there appears to be no evidence. He was appointed to the army of Italy because he was thought capable of succeeding. Perhaps also the directors were not sorry to have a general at the head of one of their armies who was a man of their choice, and apparently dependent upon their favour-one whose growing reputation might serve as a counterpoise to the widely-extended popularity of Moreau, Pichegru, Hoche, and the other generals of the first years of the Republic.

The army at Bonaparte's disposal consisted of about 50,000 men, of whom only two-thirds were fit for the field. It was in a wretched state as to clothing, and ill supplied with provisions; the pay of the soldiers was in arrears, and the army was almost without horses. The discipline also was very relaxed. The Piedmontese and Austrian combined army was commanded by Beaulieu, a gallant veteran: it was posted along the ridge of the Apennines, at the foot of which the French were advancing. Bonaparte, in his despatches to the Directory, stated the allied armies at 75,000 men, and his own effective troops at 35,000. On the 27th of March he arrived at Nice, and immediately moving his head-quarters to Albenga, pushed his advanced guard as far as Voltri, near Genoa. Beaulieu, with the Austrians' left, attacked Voltri and drove the French back; he at the same time ordered D'Argenteau, who commanded his centre, to descend by Montenotte upon Savona, and thus take the French in flank. On this road the French Colonel Rampon was posted with 1500 men on the heights of Montelegino. He was repeatedly attacked on the 10th of April by D'Argenteau, but he stood firm, and all the assaults of the Austrians could not dislodge him. This gave time to Bonaparte to collect his forces, and to march round in

the night by Altare to the rear of D'Argenteau, whom he attacked on the following day, and obliged to make a disorderly retreat beyond Montenotte, before Beaulieu, on the left, or Colli, who commanded the Piedmontese at Ceva on the right, could come to his support. Bonaparte had now pushed into the valley of the Bormida, between the two wings of the allied army. Beaulieu and Colli hastened to repair this disaster, and re-establish their communications by Millesimo and Dego. On the 13th of April, Bonaparte sent Augereau to attack Millesimo, which he carried; but the Austrian General Provera, with 2000 men, threw himself into the old castle of Cossaria on the summit of a hill, where he withstood all the assaults of the French for that day. On the 14th the whole of the two armies were engaged. Colli, after an unsuccessful endeavour to relieve Provera, was driven back towards Ceva, while Massena attacked Beaulieu at Dego, and forced him to retire towards Acqui. Provera, without provisions or water, was obliged to surrender. The Piedmontese were now completely separated from the Austrians, which was The French the great object of Bonaparte's movements. remained for the night at Magliani, near Dego. All at once, early in the morning of the 15th, an Austrian division, 5000 strong, under General Wukassowich, coming from Voltri by Sassello, and expecting to find their countrymen at Dego, were astonished to find the French there, who were equally surprised at seeing the Austrians, whom they had driven away in their front, re-appear in their rear. Wukassowich did not hesitate; he charged into the village of Magliani and took it. Massena hurried to the spot to drive away the Austrians; Laharpe came also with reinforcements, but they could not succeed, until Bonaparte himself came, and at last obliged Wukassowich to retire. This was called the battle of Dego, but more properly of Magliani, the last of a series of combats which opened to Bonaparte the road into the plains of North Italy.

rasco.

Beaulieu retired to the Po with the intention of defending the Milanese territory, leaving Colli and the Piedmontese to their fate. Bonaparte turned against Colli, drove him from Ceva, and afterwards from Mondovi, and beyond CheColli withdrew to Carignano, near Turin. The provinces of Piedmont, south of the Po, being now open to the French, the king, Victor Amadeus III., became alarmed, and asked for a truce, which Bonaparte granted on condition that the fortresses of Cuneo and Tortona should be placed in his hands. A peace was afterwards made between the king and the Directory, by which the other Piedmontese fortresses and all the passes of the Alps were given up to the French. This defection of the king of Sardinia ensured the success of the French army. From his head-quarters at Cherasco Bonaparte issued an order to his soldiers, in which, after justly praising their valour, and recapitulating their successes, he promised to lead them on to further victory, but enjoined them at the same time to desist from the frightful course of plunder and violence which had already marked their progress in Italy.

Being now safe with regard to Piedmont, Bonaparte advanced against Beaulieu, who had posted himself on the left bank of the Po, opposite to Valenza, his troops extending eastwards as far as Pavia. Bonaparte made a feint of crossing the river at Valenza, while he despatched a body of cavalry along the right bank into the state of Parma, where they met with no enemy, seized some boats near Piacenza, and crossed over to the Milanese side. Bonaparte quickly following with a chosen body of infantry, crossed the river nearly thirty miles below Pavia. Beaulieu was now obliged to fall back upon the Adda after a sharp engagement at Fombio, on the road from Piacenza to Milan. Milan was evacuated by the Austrians with the exception of the castle. Bonaparte resolved to dislodge Beaulieu from his new position, and accordingly he attacked the bridge of Lodi, on the Adda, which the Austrians defended with a numerous artillery. He carried it by the daring bravery of his grenadiers and the bad dispositions of the Austrian commander, who had not placed his infantry

near enough to support his guns. The Austrian army was panic-struck. Beaulieu attempted to defend the line of the Mincio, but he had only time to throw a garrison into Mantua, and he then withdrew behind the Adige into the Tyrol. Bonaparte took possession of Milan and of all Lombardy with the exception of Mantua, which he blockaded. Thus ended the first Italian campaign of 1796.

At the first entrance of the French, the people of Lombardy showed no enthusiasm either for or against the invaders; they had enjoyed half a century of peace under the adminis tration of Austria, which under Maria Theresa and Joseph had effected many useful reforms, and acted in an enlightened, liberal spirit. The country was rich and thriving, as it always must be from its natural fertility so long as it enjoys peace and security to property. The Milanese looked upon the French invaders rather with wonder than either satisfaction or hostility. Ideas of a republic existed only in a few speculative heads; but there were many who sided with the French, in order to share their superiority and advantage as conquerors. The people of the towns behaved hospitably to the French troops, who on their side maintained a stricter discipline than they had done in passing through Piedmont. But the army was to be supported, equipped, and paid by the conquered countries; such was the system of the Directory and of Bonaparte. The Directory also wished to receive a share of the golden harvest to recruit its own finances, and its orders were to draw money from all the Italian states. Bonaparte accordingly put upon Lombardy a contribution of twenty millions of francs, which fell chiefly on the rich proprietors and the ecclesiastical bodies. He also authorized the commissaries to seize provisions, stores, and horses, giving cheques to be paid out of the contributions. This was done in the towns with a certain regularity, but in the country places the commissaries and soldiers often seized whatever they liked without giving any acknowledgment. The owners who remonstrated were insulted or ill used; and many of the Italians calling themselves republicans assisted the French in the work of plunder, of which they took their share. The horses and carriages of the nobility were seized, because it was said they belonged to the aristocrats. All property belonging, or supposed to belong, to the archduke and the late government, was sequestrated. But an act which exasperated the Milanese was the violation of the Monte di Pietà of Milan, a place of deposit for plate, jewels, &c., which were either left for security, or as pledges for money lent upon them. The Monte was broken into by orders from Bonaparte and Saliceti, who accompanied the army as commissioner of the Directory. They seized upon this deposit of private property, took away the most valuable objects, and sent them to Genoa to be at the disposal of the Directory. Many of the smaller articles belonged to poor people; many were placed there by the parents of young girls as a dowry when they came to be married. Although these smaller objects were not intended by Bonaparte to be detained, yet in the disorder of the seizure many of them disappeared, and a report spread through Milan that all had been seized. The same thing had been practised at Piacenza when Bonaparte and Saliceti passed through it; and afterwards the seizure, either partial or entire, of the Monti di Pietà, became a common practice of the French army in all the towns that they entered.

These excesses led to insurrections in different parts of the country. The inhabitants of Binasco, a large village between Milan and Pavia, rose and killed a number of the French and their Italian partisans. The country people ran towards Pavia, and were joined by the lower classes of that town. On the 23rd of May, Pavia was in open insurrection. The French soldiers took refuge in the castle; those scattered about the town were seized and ill treated; some were killed, but most had their lives saved by the interference of the magistrates. General Haquin, who happened to pass through on his way to Milan, was attacked by the frantic populace and wounded, but the magistrates, at their own risk, saved his life. In all this

tumult the country people were the chief actors. Bonaparte, alarmed by this movement in his rear, and at the possibility of its spreading, determined to make an example, and to 'strike terror into the people,' a resolution which was frequently carried into effect in the progress of his arms. A strong body of French troops marched on Binasco, killed or dispersed the inhabitants, burned the place, and then marched against Pavia, which, being a walled town, was capable of making some defence. Bonaparte sent the archbishop of Milan, who, from the balcony of the town-house, addressed the multitude, and exhorted them to lay down their arms and to disperse. The ignorant and deluded people would not listen to his advice; the French forced one of the gates, and the cavalry entering the town, cut down all whom they met in the streets. The country people ran away by the other gates, and left the unfortunate city to the conqueror. Bonaparte then deliberately ordered Pavia to be given up to plunder for twenty-four hours, as if Pavia had been a fortified town taken by storm, though it was well known that the great majority of the inhabitants had taken no part in the insurrection. This order was publicly signified to the inhabitants and the troops, and during the rest of that day, the 25th of May, and the whole of that night, the soldiers rioted in plunder, debauchery, and every sort of violence within the houses of the unfortunate Pavese. Murder however was not added to pillage and rape, and it is recorded that several of the French officers and soldiers spared the honour and property of those who were at their mercy, and screened them at the risk of their lives from their more brutal companions. Next morning (the 26th) at twelve o'clock the pillage ceased, but Pavia for a long time felt the effects of this cruel treatment. It is not true, as has been stated, that the municipal magistrates were shot; they were only sent for a time as hostages to France. Four of the leaders of the insurrection were publicly executed, and about 100 had been killed on the first irruption of the French into the city. The university and the houses of some of the professors, Spallanzani's in particular, were exempted from pillage.

Bonaparte granted the Duke of Parma, who had not yet acknowledged the French Republic, terms of peace, on condition of his paying to France a million and a half of francs, besides giving provisions and clothes for the army, and twenty of his best paintings to be sent to Paris. The Duke of Modena, alarmed for his own safety, fled to Venice with the greater part of his treasures, leaving a regency at Modena, who sent to Bonaparte to sue for peace. Modena had committed no hostilities against France, but the duke was allied to the house of Austria by the marriage of his daughter with one of the archdukes: he was also considered as a feudatory of the Emperor of Germany. He was required to pay six millions of francs in cash, besides two millions more in provisions, cattle, horses, and other things, and fifteen of his choice paintings; but as he was not quick enough in paying the whole of the money, his duchy was taken from him a few months after. The Directory wanted cash, and Bonaparte says that during his first Italian campaigns he sent fifty millions of francs from Italy to Paris.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany, although brother to the Emperor of Austria, was an independent sovereign: he had long acknowledged the French Republic, and kept an ambassador at Paris; but the Directory ordered Bonaparte to seize Leghorn, and confiscate the property of the English, Austrians, Portuguese, and other enemies of the republic. Bonaparte took Leghorn without any opposition, put a garrison in it, seized the English, Portuguese, and other goods in the warehouses, which were sold by auction, and insisted upon the native merchants delivering up all the property in their hands belonging to the enemies of the French Republic. The Leghornese merchants, to avoid this odious act, agreed to pay five millions of francs, as a ransom for the whole. The pope's turn came next. That sovereign had not acknowledged the French Republic, in consequence of the abolition of the Catholic church in France. On the 18th of June the French entered Bologna, whence Bonaparte ordered away the papal authorities, and established

owners.

a municipal government. He did the same at Ferrara; and at the same time laid heavy contributions on both those provinces. The Monte di Pietà of Bologna shared the same fate as that of Milan, only the deposits or pledges (not exceeding 200 livres each, 81. sterling) were ordered to be returned to the The people of Lugo, a town between Imola and Ravenna, rose against the invaders. Augereau was sent against Lugo: after three hours' fight, in which 1000 of the natives and 200 French soldiers fell, Lugo was taken, given up to plunder, and partly burnt: the women and children were spared. Proclamations were then issued that every town or village which took up arms against the French should be burnt, and that every individual not a regular soldier taken with arms in his hands should be put to death.

The court of Rome was now in great alarm, and Pius VI. sent envoys to Bonaparte to sue for terms. An armistice was signed on the 23rd of June, preparatory to a definitive treaty of peace between the pope and the Directory. The conditions of the armistice were, that the pope should give up the provinces of Ferrara and Bologna, and the citadel of Ancona, should close his ports against the enemies of France, should pay fifteen millions of livres in gold or silver, and six millions in goods, provisions, horses and cattle, besides surrendering a certain number of paintings, statues, vases, and 500 manuscripts, to be selected by the commissaries sent by the Directory. This new species of spoliation was formed into a regular system, and carried on in all countries conquered by the French armies until the fall of Napoleon. Some of the scientific and 'learned men of France, among whom were Monge and Berthollet, went in succession to Parma, Milan, Bologna, Rome, and afterwards to Venice and Naples, to take an inventory of the works of art, from among which they chose the best, to be sent to Paris.

While these things were going on south of the Po, the court of Vienna was preparing a fresh army for the recovery of Lombardy. Marshal Wurmser, a veteran officer of considerable reputation, was detached with 30,000 men from the Austrian army of the Rhine. He marched into the Tyrol, where he col lected the remains of Beaulieu's troops and the Tyrolese levies, forming altogether an army of between 50,000 and 60,000 men. Bonaparte's army was not quite 50,000, of which part was stationed round Mantua to blockade that fortress, which was garrisoned by 8000 Austrians. Towards the end of July, Wurmser, with the main body of his troops, advanced from Trento by the eastern shore of the Lake of Guarda, towards Verona; while another corps under Quosnadowich marched by the western shore to Salò and Brescia, from which places they drove the French away. Bonaparte hastily raised the siege of Mantua, leaving his battering train, and collected the best part of his forces to meet Quosnadowich as the weaker of he two generals. He attacked him at Lonato, drove him back into the mountains, and then turned quickly to the right to face Wurmser, who, having passed Verona, had entered Mantua, destroyed the French intrenchments, and was now advancing by Castiglione, from whence he had driven away the French under General Valette. This was a critical moment in Bonaparte's career, and it is said he thought of falling back on the Po, but was dissuaded by Augereau. On the 3rd of August the French retook Castiglione after an obstinate combat. Wurmser however took up a position near the town, where he was again attacked on the 5th, and completely defeated, with the loss of his cannon and several thousand men. Wurmser withdrew beyond the Mincio, and afterwards up the Adige into the Tyrol, followed by the French, who attacked and defeated an Austrian division at Roveredo on the 4th September, and entered the city of Trento. Wurmser then suddenly crossed the mountains which divide the valley of the Adige from that of the Brenta, and entered Bassano, where he was joined by some reinforcements from Carinthia, intending to march down again towards Verona and Mantua. But Bonaparte followed him quickly by the same road, and defeated him at Bassano. Wurmser had now hardly 16,000 men left, and his artillery being lost, and his retreat cut off, he took the

bold resolution to cut his way to Mantua, and shut himself up in that fortress. With a rapidity of movements then unusual in an Austrian army, he avoided the French divisions which were advancing against him from various quarters: he surprised the bridge of Legnago, passed the Adige, marching day and night followed by Bonaparte, and at last reached Mantua on the 14th of September. Thus, in the course of six weeks, a second Austrian army was destroyed in detail. The rapidity of the movements of the French divisions, and the intricacy of their manœuvres, can only be appreciated by an attentive examination of the map of the country.

A third general and a third army were sent by Austria into Italy in the autumn of the same year. Marshal Alvinzi advanced from Carinthia by the way of Belluno with 30,000 men, while General Davidowich, with 20,000, descended from the Tyrol by the valley of the Adige. They were to meet between Peschiera and Verona, and to relieve Wurmser at Mantua. Bonaparte, who was determined to attack Alvinzi before he could form his junction, gave him battle at Le Nove, near Bassano, on the 6th of November; but in spite of all the efforts of Massena and Augereau, he could not break the Austrian line, and the next day he retreated by Vicenza to Verona. On the same day Vaubois, whom Bonaparte had opposed to Davidowich, was driven away from Trento and Roveredo with great loss, and obliged to fall back to Rivoli and La Carona. Had Davidowich followed up his success, he might have pushed on to the plains on the right bank of the Adige near Verona, and have placed Bonaparte in a very critical position, with Alvinzi in front, Davidowich on his left flank, and Mantua in his rear. Instead of this, Davidowich stayed ten days at Roveredo. In the mean time, Alvinzi had advanced by Vicenza and Villanova to the heights of Caldiero, facing Verona, where he waited for Davidowich's appearance. On the 12th of November, Bonaparte attempted to dislodge Alvinzi from Caldiero, but after considerable loss he was obliged to withdraw his troops again into Verona. The next day he wrote a desponding letter to Paris, in which he recapitulates his losses, his best officers killed or wounded, his soldiers exhausted by fatigue, and himself in danger of being surrounded. He however determined to make a last effort to dislodge Alvinzi by turning his position. With two divisions under Massena and Augereau he marched quietly out of Verona in the night of the 14th, followed the right bank of the Adige, crossed that river at Ronco early next morning, and moved quickly by a cross road leading through a marshy country towards Villanova in the rear of Alvinzi, where the Austrian baggage and stores were stationed. The Alpone, a mountain stream, ran between the French and Villanova. The French attempted to pass it by the bridge of Arcole, but found it defended, and this led to the celebrated battle of that name, which lasted three days, and was unquestionably the hardest fought in all those Italian campaigns. On the 17th Bonaparte succeeded in turning the position of Arcole, when Alvinzi thought it prudent to retire upon Vicenza and Bassano, where the Austrians took up their winter quarters. Bonaparte wrote to Carnot after the action of the third day: 'Never was a field of battle so obstinately contested: our enemies were numerous and determined. I have hardly any general officers left." They were almost all killed, wounded, or prisoners.

On the same day that Bonaparte obliged Alvinzi to retire from the Adige, Davidowich, rousing himself from his inaction, pushed down by Ala on the Adige, drove Vaubois before him, and entered the plains between Peschiera and Verona. But it was too late: Bonaparte turned against him, and obliged him quickly to retrace his steps to Ala and Roveredo. Thus ended the third campaign of the year 1796.

Bonaparte had now some leisure to turn his attention to the internal affairs of the conquered countries. The Milanese in general remained passive, but the people of Modena and Bologna seemed anxious to constitute themselves into an independent state. Bonaparte himself had not directly encouraged such manifestations, but his subalterns had; and indeed

the revolt of Reggio, which was the first Italian city that proclaimed its independence, was begun by a body of Corsican pontoneers, who were passing through on their way to the army. Bonaparte allowed Modena, Reggio, Bologna, and Ferrara to form themselves into a republic, which was called Cispadana. As for the Milanese, the Directory wrote that it was not yet certain whether they should not be obliged to restore that country to the emperor at the peace. Bonaparte has clearly stated his policy at that time towards the North Italians in a letter to the Directory, 28th December, 1796. There are in Lombardy (Milanese) three parties: 1st, that which is subservient to France and follows our directions; 2nd, that which aims at liberty and a national government, and that with some degree of impatience; 3rd, the party friendly to Austria and hostile to us. I support the first, restrain the second, and put down the third. As for the states south of the Po (Modena, Bologna, &c.), there are also three parties: 1st, the friends of the old governments; 2nd, the partisans of a free constitution, though somewhat aristocratical; 3rd, the partisans of pure democracy. I endeavour to put down the first; I support the second because it is the party of the great proprietors and of the clergy, who exercise the greatest influence over the masses of the people, whom it is our interest to win over to us; I restrain the third, which is composed chiefly of young men, of writers, and of people who, as in France and everywhere else, love liberty merely for the sake of revolution.'

The pope found that he could not agree to a peace with the Directory, whose conditions were too hard, and consequently, after paying five millions of livres, he stopped all further remittance. Bonaparte, after disapproving in his despatches of the abruptness of the Directory, and saying that it was impolitic to make too many enemies at once while Austria was still in the field, repaired to Bologna in January, 1797, to threaten the Roman States, when he heard that Alvinzi was preparing to move down again upon the Adige. The Austrian marshal had received reinforcements which raised his army again to 50,000 men. He marched them in several columns, threatening several points at once of the French line on the Adige, and Bonaparte for awhile was perplexed as to where the principal attack would be made. He learnt however through a spy that the main body of Alvinzi was moving down from the Tyrol along the right bank of the Adige upon Rivoli, where Joubert was posted. On the 13th Bonaparte hurried from Verona with Massena's division to Rivoli, and on the 14th the battle of Rivoli took place. Alvinzi, calculating upon having before him Joubert's corps only, had extended his line with the view of surrounding him. Twice was Rivoli carried by the Austrians, and twice retaken by the French. Massena, and afterwards Rey, with his division, coming to Joubert's assistance, carried the day. Alvinzi's scattered divisions were routed in detail with immense loss. Another Austrian division under General Provera had forced the passage of the Adige near Legnago, and arrived outside of Mantua, when Provera attacked the intrenchments of the besiegers, while Wurmser made a sortie with part of the garrison. Bonaparte hurried with Massena's division from Rivoli, and arrived just in time to prevent the junction of Provera and Wurmser. Provera, attacked on all sides, was obliged to surrender with his division of 5000 men, and Wurmser was driven back into the fortress. Alvinzi, with the remainder of his army, was at the same time driven back to Belluno at the foot of the Noric Alps. Wurmser being now reduced to extremities for want of provisions, offered to capitulate. Bonaparte granted him honourable conditions, and behaved to the old marshal with the considerate regard due to his age and his bravery.

During these hard-fought campaigns the condition of the unfortunate inhabitants of North Italy, and especially of the Venetian provinces, where the seat of war lay, was miserable in the extreme. The Austrian soldiers, especially in their hurried retreats, when discipline became relaxed, plundered and killed those who resisted: the French plundered, violated the women, and committed murder. The towns were subjected

...

to a regular system of plunder by the French commissaries, by requisitions of provisions, clothes, horses and carts, and forced contributions of money. But the greater part of these enormous exactions contributed little to the comforts of the soldiers they went to enrich commissaries, purveyors, contractors, and all the predatory crew that follows an invading army. Bonaparte, although he resorted to the system of forced contributions, was indignant at the prodigal waste of the resources thus extorted from the people. Four millions of English goods,' he wrote to the Directory in October and November, 1796, from Milan, have been seized at Leghorn, the Duke of Modena has paid two millions more, Ferrara and Bologna have made large payments, and yet the soldiers are without shoes, in want of clothes, the chests without money, the sick in the hospitals sleeping on the ground. The town of Cremona has given 50,000 ells of linen cloth for the hospitals, and the commissaries, agents, &c., have sold it: they sell every thing: one has sold even a chest of bark sent us from Spain; others have sold the mattresses furnished for the hospitals. I am continually arresting some of them, and sending them before the military courts, but they bribe the judges; it is a complete fair; every thing is sold. An employé, charged with having levied for his own profit a contribution of 18,000 francs on the town of Salò in the Venetian states, has been condemned only to two months' imprisonment. It is impossible to produce evidence; they all hold together....' And he goes on naming the different commissaries, contractors, &c., concluding, with very few exceptions, that they are all thieves.' He recommends the Directory to dismiss them and replace them by more honest men, or at least more discreet ones. If I had fifteen honest commissaries, you might make a present of 100,000 crowns to each of them and yet save fifteen millions. Had I a month's time to attend to these matters, there is hardly one of these fellows but I could have shot; but I am obliged to set off tomorrow for the army, which is a great matter of rejoicing for the thieves, whom I have just had time to notice by casting my eyes on the accounts.'

...

Bonaparte being now secure from the Austrians in the north, turned against the pope, who had refused the heavy terms imposed upon him by the Directory. The papal troops, to the number of about 8000, were posted along the river Senio between Imola and Faenza, but after a short resistance they gave way before the French, who immediately occupied Ancona and the Marches. Bonaparte advanced to Tolentino, where he received deputies from Pius VI., who sued for peace. The conditions dictated were fifteen millions of livres, part in cash, part in diamonds, within one month, and as many again within two months, besides horses and cattle, the possession of the town of Ancona till the general peace, and an additional number of paintings, statues, and MSS. On these terms the pope was allowed to remain at Rome a little longer. The Directors at first wished to remove him altogether, but Bonaparte dissuaded them from pushing matters to extremes, considering the spiritual influence which the pope still exercised over the Catholics in France and other countries. Bonaparte manifested in this affair a cool and considerate judgment very different from the revolutionary fanaticism of the times; he felt the importance of religious influence over nations, and he treated the pope's legate, Cardinal Mattei, with a courtesy that astonished the free-thinking soldiers of the republic.

Austria had now assembled a new army on the frontiers of Italy, and the command was given to the Archduke Charles. But this fourth Austrian army no longer consisted of veteran regiments like those who had fought under Beaulieu, Wurmser, and Alvinzi; it was made up chiefly of recruits joined with the remnants of those troops that had survived the former campaigns. Bonaparte, on the contrary, had an army now superior in number to that of the Austrians, flushed with success, and reinforced by 20,000 men from the Rhine under the command of General Bernadotte.

Bonaparte attacked the archduke on the river Tagliamento, the pass of which he forced; he then pushed on Massena, who