“M. General,

"Though I make war, and obey the dictates of honor and duty, yet I desire, as well as yourself, peace, for the happiness of the people, and the interests of humanity.

"As, nevertheless, in the post with which I am entrusted, it does not belong to me to scrutinize or to terminate the quarrels of the belligerent powers; and, as I am not furnished, on the part of his imperial majesty, with any power to treat, you will see that it is natural, M. General, that I should not enter into any negociation with you on that subject, but wait for superior orders, relative to an object of such high importance, and which is not fundamentally a part of my duty. But, whatever may be the future chance of the war, or the hopes of peace, I intreat you to be persuaded, M. General, of my distinguished esteem and consideration.

"CHARLES, Field-marshal."

The division of General Massena, forming an advanced guard, encountered the imperialists in the defiles between Treisach and Neumark, April 2; their rear-guard was pursued by the French so rapidly, that the Archduke was compelled to bring back from his line of battle eight battalions of grenadiers, those who had taken Kehl, and who were now the hope of the Austrian army. The combat, which was between the flower of the imperialists and the veteran troops of the army of Italy, was one of the most furious that had happened during the war. The imperialists had a grand position, erowded with cannon; but it protracted, for a short time, the defeat of their rear-guard; their grenadiers were totally routed, leaving the field of battle covered with their dead, and from five to six hundred prisoners. The Austrians defiled during the night, and the French entered Neumark on the 6th, their head-quarters having advanced the same day to Treisach. Here they found 4000 quintals of flour, and a quantity of brandy and oats; they found also about the same quantity of stores at Neu

mark.

While the French troops were on their march to Treisach, the Archduke, by an aid-de-camp, requested a suspension of arms for four hours; this was inadmissible; as in four hours he would have joined General Spork, to prevent which Bonaparte had hastened his march both night and day. On Bonaparte's approach to Vienna, violent commotions took place. Many withdrew them selves from the horrors of a siege, and left the town; and though a number appeared ready to

the army of Italy to meet with death or surrender prisoners. In vain was Prince Charles at the head of the imperial armies; he had been still more unfortunate than his predecessors, and every thing expected from his talents had deceived their ultimate hopes.

Bonaparte had obtained very recent information, that the hardy Tyrolese peasantry had risen in a mass, and that General Laudohn had recovered Botsen and Brixen, from which the French troops, that were left for the defence of the Tyrole, had been driven with considerable loss. The army under Bonaparte still possessed its native spirit and courage, but was greatly diminished in point of numbers, destitute of such heavy artillery as sieges required, and incapable of retaining the numerous provinces it had already subdued. Bonaparte felt that he was in the midst of an enemy's country; and if he advanced, the peasantry of Carinthia and Carniola might follow the example of the Tyrolese. His communication with France, and even with Italy, must be given up. He had no well-grounded hope of assistance from any quarter whatever, and the army under his command, reduced as it certainly must have been by this time, was inadequate to the mighty task of subjugating the Austrian empire. Even admitting that he should have been so successful as to gain possession of Vienna, defended as it was by the lofty hills of Styria, and the army commanded by the gallant, the beloved Archduke, still he had before him an almost boundless length of territory; and after fighting long, without gaining any permanent advantage, he might finally have found it extremely difficult to retrace his steps to his native country.

The French general changed his head-quarters to Judenburg, and prepared for decisive measures; but Lieutenant-general the Count de Bellegarde, and Major-general Morveldt wrote to him, and stated, that his imperial majesty wished to concur in terminating a war that desolated the two nations. From the overture made by the French general to Prince Charles, the emperor had deputed them to know the general's proposals on a matter of such importance. Persuaded of the desire and intentions of the two powers to end this disastrous war, his royal highness desired a suspension of arms for ten days, to facilitate the attainment of so desirable an object.

Bonaparte, in his reply to this application, stated, "that, viewing the position of the two armies, a suspension of arms was disadvantageous to the French; but if it opened a road to peace, so beneficial to the two nations, he would consent without hesitation to their request. The French

BOOK II. republic had often evinced to his majesty her wish to put an end to this contest; she was still CHAP. IX. the same, and he did not doubt, from the conference he had with them, that peace would be at 1797. length re-established between the republic and his majesty."

Such, however, was Bonaparte's critical situation, that the application, no doubt, was joyfully received. It behoved him, indeed, to conceal his joy; as he had vauntingly informed the directory, that he hoped, at the head of 20,000 grenadiers, to plant, in a few days, the standard of the French republic in the capital of his imperial majesty."

The condition of the armistice entered into by the French general and the Archduke on the 7th of April, provided, that there should be a suspension of arms between the French and imperial armies, calculating from the evening of the 7th to that of the 13th. By the second article, the By the second article, the French were to retain the following line:-The advanced posts of the right wing to keep possession of the position they then occupied between Fiume and Trieste, and this line to be extended

as far as Rastadt and Lientz. It was also stipu lated, that the suspension of arms should extend to the Tyrole; and that the generals commanding the troops in that quarter should regulate together the posts they were severally to occupy. Hosti lities were not to take place in the Tyrole until twenty-four hours after the general-in-chief should have resolved on it, and in any case not within twenty-four hours after the generals commanding the French and imperial troops in the Tyrole should be informed of the circumstance.

A suspension of arms for nine days accordingly took place; and, within forty-eight hours after the expiration of that term, a pacification was agreed to and signed at the castle of Eckenwald, in Styria, April 18. In this contract, since known by the name of the treaty of Leoben, it was stipulated, that his imperial majesty should renounce, for himself and his successors, all right and title to the Austrian Netherlands, and acknowledge the Cisalpine republic; the Rhine was to be the common boundary between the two nations, and the navigation of that river was fully conceded to the French.

Ir having been determined by the directory to make a new irruption into Germany, the French, two days before the signature of the preliminary articles of the peace of Leoben, resolved to cross the Rhine, and assail the hereditary dominions of the emperor on the side of Bavaria; while Bonaparte, in case of a new rupture, might advance to the walls of Vienna.

General Hoche was appointed to command the army of the Sambre and Meuse, in the place of Jourdan, who, in consequence of his ill success, was no longer a favorite with the directory. He He accordingly repaired to head-quarters, and having cantoned his troops in such a manner as to be able to make a sudden movement, on receiving a courier from Paris, he dispatched a flag to the head-quarters of the enemy, informing General Werneck, that the armistice between the advanced posts was to cease on the 16th of April; a similar notice was given by General Moreau to the Austrian commander on the Upper Rhine. General Kray, who commanded the left wing of the Austrian army, on the idea that a convention was agreed on in Carinthia, requested permission to

send an officer with powers to conclude an ar mistice. Hoche demanded the evacuation of the Lahn, and the cession of Ehrenbreitstein; but the imperial general thinking that the situation of the two armies did not authorise this, refused his

assent.

The Austrian left occupied a position in front of the bridge of Neuwied, having its right sup ported by the village of Hotterdorf, and its left resting on Bendorf. The strength of the entrenchments presented a very formidable aspect, and did honor to the veteran abilities of General Kray. The imperialists began the action with a lively cannonade, but the French infantry carried the village and the line of redoubts with fixed bayonets. The cavalry decided the battle, and the imperialists, thrown into disorder, were forced to retreat, leaving all the cannon of their batteries, several field-pieces, and ammunition-waggons, besides the principal part of their baggage, three or four standards, and 4000 prisoners.

The Austrians had drawn a reinforcement of twenty or thirty thousand men from the Rhine, and sent them to Italy. This weakened the Swa

bian line, and assisted General Moreau, who effected the passage of the river by a coup de main. In the night of the nineteenth, a body of troops crossed to the right bank in boats, succeeded in re-establishing the bridges, by, which the rest of the army passed the river, and commenced offensive operations. Several engagements took place during the day, but the imperialists were defeated, and pursued to Offenburg; and in the evening the republican flag waved on the bastions of that Kehl, which a French garrison, the year before, defended against the Austrian army. The Austrians sustained a great loss; five French generals were wounded; and, from the resistance made by the imperialists, the loss of the republican army was also very considerable. The villages of Lients and Hobine were seized by another column of the French, while a third marched towards the banks of the Kentzic, and before night the Austrians, attacked on all sides with the bayonets, had dispersed in different directions.

After pursuing the discomfited imperialists during eight days, the French army of the Rhine and Moselle at length found themselves among the mountains of the Brisgau; and while the left wing, commanded by General St. Cyr, took possession of Helmhingen and Lichtenau, the centre, under General Vandamme, penetrated into the adjoining valley, and the right approached Fribourg. Field-marshal Latours, unable to stop the progress of the republicans, retired to the borders of the Danube; and at this time Moreau received a courier from Bonaparte, announcing the treaty of Leoben. Similar intelligence arrived at the head-quarters of the army of the Sambre and Meuse, at the critical time when General Wernech, unable to contend with superior numbers, had abandoned Frankfort to the French.

The respective commanders immediately agreed to a suspension of arms; the Mayne and the Nedda were to be considered as the line of separation between the Austrians and the French; the navigation of the Rhine and the Moselle was declared to be free; and it was stipulated, that the generals, Hoche and Moreau, should preserve all their conquests until a final adjustment should take place.

Peace, however, was not Bonaparte's wish; for he was still anxious to keep the revolutionary spirit alive. He began to complain of the Venetian government favoring the Austrians, and acting treacherously towards his troops. "What!" said he, in a letter to the Doge, "do you think I will tamely suffer the massacres excited by the Venetian government? The blood of our brethren in arms shall be avenged; and there is not a French battalion, charged with this mission, which does not feel three times the courage and strength necessary to punish you;-the republic of Venice has returned the blackest perfidy for the gene

CHAP. X.

rous treatment she has received from France." BOOK II. He informed his serenity, that if he did not instantly adopt measures to arrest and deliver up, within twenty-four hours, the persons who, it was said, had assassinated some French soldiers, war was declared. Though the French general endeavoured to write like a Christian, the sequel will show that he did not act like one.

The senate published a proclamation relative to these complaints; their conduct, they said, had always been, and still was so perfectly friendly towards the belligerent powers, that they did not think it necessary to pay any attention to the evil-disposed persons who questioned their sincerity: but as these enemies of the republic had spread the vilest slanders against the sincerity of the Venetian government, the senate declared, that their friendship with France was not in the least altered; the senate, therefore, had no doubt but the French nation would repose that confidence in the republic of Venice which it had merited by its irreproachable conduct.

Bonaparte prepared to put his menaces into execution; and he accordingly published the following manifesto against Venice.

66

"Head-quarters, Palma Nova, "14 Florial, May 3. "Whilst the French were engaged in the defiles of Styria, and left far behind them Italy and the principal establishments of the army, where only a small number of battalions remained, this was the conduct of the government of Venice:

1. "They profited of passion-week, to arm 40,000 peasantry; and uniting these with ten regiments of Sclavonians, organised them into different corps, and sent them to different points, to intercept all kinds of communication between the French army and the places in its rear.

2. "Extraordinary commissaries, ammunition of all kinds, and a great quantity of cannon, were sent from Venice, to complete the organization of different corps.

3. "All persons in the Terra Firma, who had received us favorably, were arrested; benefits and the confidence of the government were conferred upon all those who possessed a furious hatred to the French name, and especially the fifteen conspirators of Verona, whom the proveditori Paoli had arrested three months ago, as having premeditated the massacre of the French.

4. In the squares, coffee-houses, and other public places of Venice, all Frenchmen were insulted, mal-treated, and called by the names of jacobins, regicides, atheists. The French were ordered to leave Venice; and, a short time afterwards, they were prohibited from entering it.

5. "The people of Padua, Vicenza, and Verona, were ordered to take up arms to second the different corps of the army, and to begin the

1797.

6. The priests in the pulpit preached up the crusade; and the priests in the state of Venice never speak any thing but the will of the government. Pamphlets, perfidious proclamations, anonymous letters, were printed in the different towns, and began to agitate the minds of all in a state where the liberty of the press is not permitted, in a government as much feared as it is secretly detested, printers publish, and authors write, nothing but what the senate pleases.

:

7. All smiled at first at the perfidious project of the government. The French blood flowed on every side. On all the roads, our convoys, our couriers, and every thing for the army, were intercepted.

8. "At Padua a chief of battalion, and two other Frenchmen were arrested. At Castiglione de Mori our soldiers were disarmed and assassinated. On all the great roads from Mantua to Legnano, and from Cassano to Verona, we had more than two hundred men assassinated.

9. "Two French battalions, wishing to join the army, met at Chiazi with a division of the Venetian troops, which attempted to oppose their passage; an obstinate conflict took place, our brave soldiers cut a way for themselves, by putting these perfidious enemies to the rout.

10. "At Valeggio there was another battle; at Dessengaro a third. The French every where were the weakest in numbers; but they know well that the number of the enemy's battalions is never counted, when they are composed only of assas

sins.

11. "At the second feast in Easter, on the ringing of the bell, all the French were assassinated at Verona. Neither the sick in the hospitals were respected, nor those who, in a state of convalescence, were walking in the streets; they were thrown into the Adige, where they died, pierced with a thousand wounds from stilettoes. More than 400 were assassinated.

12. For a week the Venetian army besieged the three castles of Verona. The cannon which were placed in the battle were carried at the point of the bayonet. This town was set on fire, and the moveable column that arrived in the interim, put these cowards to complete rout, by taking 3000 of the enemy prisoners, among whom were several Venetian generals.

13. "The house of the French consul to Zante was burnt in Dalmatia.

14. "A Venetian ship of war took an Austrian convoy under its protection, and fired several shot at the corvette La Brune.

15. "The Liberatcur d'Italie, a vessel of the republic, with only three or four small pieces of

cannon, and a crew of forty men, was sunk in the very port of Venice, and by order of the senate. The young and intrepid Haugiers, lieutenant and commander of the said ship, as soon as he saw himself attacked by the fire of the fort and the admiral's galley, being from both not more than pistolshot, ordered his crew to go below. He alone got upon the deck, in the midst of a storm of grapeshot; and endeavoured by his speeches to disarm the fury of his assassins; but he fell dead. His crew threw themselves into the sea, and were pursued by six challops, with troops on board, in the pay of Venice, who cut to pieces several that sought for safety in the water. One of the masters, with several wounds, and bleeding in every part, had the good fortune to reach the shore, near the castle of the port; but the commandant himself cut off his hand with an axe.

"On account of the above-mentioned grievances, authorised by the twenty-second title, article 328, of the constitution of the republic; and in consequence of the urgency of affairs, the general-inchief requires the French minister to the republic of Venice in Lombardy, and the Venetian Terra Firma, to quit it in twenty-four hours; directs the generals of division to treat as enemies the troops of the republic of Venice; and to pull down, in the towns of Terra Fira, the lion of St. Mark. Every one will receive, in the orders of the day to-morrow, a particular instruction respecting ulterior operations.

"BONAPARTE."

Such was the contumelious language of Bonaparte, in a manifesto which requires a short digression for the sake of a few observations. Instead of being the weakest in numbers, the French frequently obtained their victories by the superiority of their forces: the assassination complained of was insignificant when compared to that which had been practised by the French, and which he so often allowed and ordered: and the liberty of the press, which he required, was to confine it entirely to the adulation of himself and of the republican government.

Twenty-five thousand Frenchmen, already encamped within sight of Venice, were prepared to carry the threats of their general into execution. Augereau entered the city, May 12, and seized on the arsenal and forts; demanding at the same time the three inquisitors, and ten principal members of the senate, accused of having instigated their countrymen to the assassination of the French. The Veronese were punished with the greatest severity; several thousands of armed peasantry, who contested the progress of the French divisions, were, for their patriotism, cut to pieces or dispersed. A body of Sclavonians, who had joined them, retired to a large building or post where were deposited all their powder-waggons

and ammunition. This was soon blown into the air, and 500 Solavonians literally annihilated! The French detachment reached Verona, which immediately surrendered.

The Venetian government was now humble and abject: it was resolved that the government should suspend all its functions, and that the republic should accept a provisional government from France. It was also decreed, that the magistrates of whom the French complained should be delivered up to be punished. A body of French troops took possession of the city, when a municipality was modelled, and every thing formed on the democratic regime. The liberty of the press (as it was styled) was established, by putting the press under severe restrictions; the catholic religion was unaltered, and persons and property unmolested; but the ships of war, and the stores in the arsenal, were taken possession of in the name of the French republic.

For similar reasons, Genoa was attacked. It was indeed impossible that that country, considering its vicinity to France, and the presence of the republican army, could escape a spirit of innovation which had alarmed all Europe. The French government pretended, that it did not panish the Genoese nobility for the aid they af forded the imperial army when in their neighbourbood, and their attention to the partisans of Austria. The people of Genoa had imbibed the principles of democratical liberty, and tumults had arisen between them and the adherents of the old government. This imbecile government, unable to stem the torrent, sent deputies to Bonaparte at Montebello, where a convention was concluded on the 6th of June.

1797.

The government of the Genoese republic ac- BOOK II. knowledged the sovereignty to reside in the body of the citizens of its territory. The legislative CHAP. X. power was entrusted to two representative councils, and the executive delegated to a senate of ten members, to be nominated by the councils. Municipalities were established in the communes and districts, on the model of France, and a committee was charged with framing a constitution, and all the laws of the republic, with the reserve of doing nothing contrary to the catholic religion. The provisional government was to extinguish faction, grant a general amnesty, and unite the people in rallying round the public liberty. France agreed to give protection, and even the assistance of her armics, to the Genoese republic, to facilitate, if necessary, the execution of these articles, and maintain the integrity of the territory of the republic. This new-modelled constitution was called the Ligurian republic.

The negociations did not proceed with the activity characterising Bonaparte's measures; but he was busily employed in consolidating the new republics which his victories had founded in Italy. The Bolognese, Ferrarese, Modenese, and Romagna, were incorporated with Lombardy, and the Cisalpine and Ligurian republics completely organized.

When Bonaparte nad effected his grand designs, he left Italy, and returned to Paris, November 20. Many, however, of the Italians, and not a few of the French, were disgusted at the fate of Venice; as the people, instead of being liberated from their chains, were doomed to wear more heavy ones, and, by an exchange of masters, to endure a more grievous servitude.

DURING this year, the fleets of Great Britain rode paramount, as usual, in every sea. Sir John Jervis, (afterwards Lord St. Vincent,) and Admiral Duncan, (afterwards Viscount Duncan,) obtained two brilliant victories; while Admiral Lord Bridport not only guarded the mouth of the channel, but completely shut up the port of Brest.

Sir John Jervis, who had for some time blockaded Cadiz, received intelligence from Captain

Foote, of the Niger, stationed off Carthagena, that the fleet under Admiral Don Joseph De Cordova was at sea. He immediately sailed in quest of it, and at the dawn of the succeeding day, (February 13,) the Spanish fleet was descried; but as the weather happened to be extremely hazy, it was not until 10 o'clock that the frigate made the signal for twenty-five sail of the line.

The British squadron consisted of no more than the following fifteen ships :