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BOOK II. non, defended the passage of the bridge. Bonaparte formed all his artillery, and the cannonade CHAP. VI. was kept up for many hours with great vivacity. The troops formed in close column with a batta'lion of carabineers at their head, followed by all 'the grenadier battalions, at charge-step, amidst reiterated acclamations of "Vive la Republique!" "They shewed themselves at the bridge; but the Austrians kept up so tremendous a fire, that those who advanced fell by columns; they retreated, but were rallied, and the slaughter was again dreadful; a second time they retreated, but Bonaparte was immoveable in his determination; again they darted forward, over the dead bodies of their comrades, and the Generals Berthier, Massena, Cervoni, Dallemagne, the chief of brigade Lasnes, and the chief of battalion Dupat, placed themselves at the head of the column, and passed the bridge; the Generals Rusca, Augereau, and Bayrand, with their divisions, passed the Adda, a few miles below Lodi, when the French began to force the bridge, and attacked the Austrians suddenly in the rear, when they thought the French only on one side of the river, and this decided the fortune of the day. The line of artillery was instantly carried, Beaulieu's order of battle broken, and the French troops spread terror and death in every direction; the hostile army was dispersed, though the Austrian cavalry strove to protect the retreat of the infantry, and charged the French. The imperialists lost twenty pieces of cannon, and between two and three thousand men, killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The brave, but unfortunate Beaulieu, with the remains of his army, took refuge under the cannon of Mantua during night, and abandoned Pizzighitone, Cremona, and all the Milanese, to the French.

Bonaparte, in his dispatches to the Directory, after stating this memorable battle, observed, that although the French had been engaged in many warm contests, none approached the terrible passage of the Bridge of Lodi; the French pursued the Austrians as far as Pizzighitone, and entered it on the 12th, after a brisk cannonade, and took about 400 prisoners. Cremona surrendered to them, and the vanguard of Bonaparte took the rout to Milan, and entered it on the 15th, having received the submission of Pavia, where they found immense magazines of the imperial army. The conquest of Lombardy might now be regarded as complete; for, although the castle of Milan still held out, the tri-coloured flag floated from the Lake of Come, and the frontiers of the Grisons, as far as the gates of Pavia. Such rapid success, in so short a time, made some days of repose necessary to an army so much engaged. The Austrians had quitted Milan soon after the news of the battle of Lodi; and, when the French were about to enter the city, a deputation of the

inhabitants carried them the key of its gates. The court of the archduke departed, and the archduke and duchess shewed great sorrow at quitting their capital; the streets and squares, through which they passed, were crowded with people, who evinced neither joy nor sorrow, and few of the nobility attended the court in its flight. The people collected in great crowds to witness the entry of the French, and almost all wore the national cockade; the imperial arms were taken away from most of the public buildings, and many of the nobility took the arms off their carriages. On the 14th of May, the tree of liberty was planted in the grand square; and, on the same day, General Massena entered the city with his troops. A deputation, with the archbishop, went out to meet him; upon entering, he clapped the keys, which had been given him, one against the other, in token of rejoicing.

The conqueror's entry was extremely brilliant; the nobility and gentry of the city went out to meet Bonaparte in their most splendid carriages, and returned in the procession, amidst the shouts of an immense populace; the cavalcade went to the archducal palace, where he was to lodge, with several bands of musicians, playing patriotic tunes; and, soon after his arrival, he sat down to a dinner of two hundred covers. The day was concluded by an elegant ball, where the ladies vied with each other in patriotism, by wearing the French national colours in every part of their dress. The next day, Bonaparte received visits from the citizens; and in the evening there was a concert of vocal and instrumental music at the theatre. All the chests, which contained the property of the archduke and the city, were emptied into the French coffers; and a splendid fête was given the day after, with much enthusiasm, which finished in the evening with a general illumination; the whole was terminated by sending de putations into the different towns and villages, to instruct the people in the principles of liberty and equality.

May 21, a proclamation was issued by Bonaparte to the people of Lombardy, stating, "That the French people, looking on the people of Lombardy as their brethren, had a right to expect a just return, and he therefore should impose a contribution of 20,000,000 livres, to be raised in equal proportions by the different districts of Lombardy: the necessities of the army require it, and it is a small sum for a country so fertile."

Twenty-one standards of the Austrians and Piedmontese armies had been already sent to Paris, and presented to the executive directory. These were received in a public sitting, amidst the acclamations of "Vive la Republique!" and, the day on which Bonaparte entered Milan, the ambassadors of the King of Sardinia signed, at Paris, the definitive treaty of peace between that

sovereign and France. The government, anxious to encourage the ardor of the troops, by publicly acknowledging their services, decreed the celebration of a Fête des Victoires, on the 29th of May, and it was observed at Paris. Great preparations were made in the Champ de Mars for this grand ceremony. Several ornamental statues were erected, and military ensigns festooned together in various parts of the field, added to the dignity of the place. The constituted authorities were on a mount, raised in the middle, and large bodies of cavalry and infantry were ranged round them. An immense crowd assembled; the directory advanced to the sound of music; and, after a profound silence was observed, the decree was read, and the president of the directory addressed the crowd in an appropriate speech; discharges of artillery and music continued after the ceremony to exhilarate the people, and, forming themselves into dancing parties, the day was spent in mirth and festivity.

While these feats were acted on the banks of the Seine, Bonaparte, faithful to his plan of activity, made dispositions to attack the castle of Milan; and, preparing to pursue the remains of the Austrian army, meditated an attack on the dominions of Rome and Naples.

He was so completely overpowered with vanity at the extent and rapidity of his own conquests, that in his proclamation from the city of Milan, May 22, he addressed his army in the following language of triumph:

"Soldiers! you have precipitated yourselves like a torrent from the height of the Appenines; you have overthrown and dispersed all that dared to oppose your march: Milan is yours; and the republican standard is displayed throughout all Lombardy. Yes, soldiers, you have done much; but still more remains for you to do. Shall posterity reproach us with having found a Capua in Lombardy?-To re-establish the capital; to replace there the statues of those heroes who have rendered it immortal; to arouse the Roman people, entranced in so many ages of slavery; this shall be the fruit of your victories. It will be an epoch for the admiration of posterity!"

General Despinoy, the French commandant of Milan, observing, on the 24th, that the people were collecting in the suburbs of the city, on the side of Pavia, ordered some troops to march there, whom the rebels attempted to disarm; but the French detachment, having wounded and taken some of them, put the rest to flight. This movement took place at the same moment at Vareza, Pavia, and Lodi. The tocsin was sounded in the country; the peasants assassinated the persons employed in the administration; and the garrison left at Pavia, having been surprised in their quarters, were disarmed.

Bonaparte set out from Milan on the 24th, to

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repair to Lodi, leaving only at Milan sufficient BOOK II. troops to blockade the castle. Scarcely had he reached Lodi, when General Despinoy informed CHAP. VI. him, that, three hours after his departure, the tocsin was sounded in Lombardy; and that it was industriously circulated, that Nice was taken by the English; the army of Condé arrived by Switzerland, on the borders of the Milanese; and Beaulieu, reinforced with 60,000 men, was on his march to Milan. Every where the people were called on to arm against the French; the nobles had discharged their domestics, telling them, that equality did not allow the continuance of their services; and all the partizans of the house of Austria, the sbirri, and agents of the customs, appeared in the front. The inhabitants of Pavia, reinforced with five or six thousand peasants, invested the citadel, in which there were only 300 French. At Milan, the people tore down the tree of liberty, and trampled the national cockade under foot. General Despinoy, the commander, mounted his horse, whilst patroles put the populace to flight. When Bonaparte arrived at Milan, he ordered a number of hostages to be arrested, and those to be shot who were taken in arms; at the same time acquainting the archbishop, chapter, monks, and nobles, that they were responsible for the public tranquillity.

The chief of brigade, Lasnes, attacked Binasco, which seven or eight hundred armed peasants seemed determined to defend; he charged them, and, having killed about 100, dispersed the rest. Bonaparte ordered the village to be burned, which exhibited a horrible spectacle. He then sent the Archbishop of Milan to Pavia, with the following proclamation:

"Milan, 6 Prairial, 4th year,
(25 May, 1796.)

"A mis-led multitude, destitute of the means of resistance, have been guilty of the greatest excesses in several communes, contemning the republic and the brave army triumphant over so many kings. This inconceivable frenzy merits pity; the unhappy people are led astray, only to conduct them to ruin. The general-in-chief, faithful to the principles the French nation have adopted, who do not make war on the people, earnestly wishes to leave a gate open to repentance; but those who, in twenty-four hours, shall not lay down their arms, and take anew the oath of obedience to the French republic, shall be treated as rebels, and their villages burned. May the terrible example of Binasco make them open their eyes! its fate shall be that of all the towns and villages which persist in revolt.

(Signed) "BONAPARTE."

Bonaparte proceeded to Pavia, which he reached at day-break, when the rebels were driven

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BOOK II. back. The place was filled with a multitude of people, and in a state of defence; the castle was CHAP. VI. taken, and the French troops were prisoners. The general made the artillery advance, and, after some discharges, summoned the insurgents to submit, and have recourse to French generosity; but they answered, "that while Pavia had walls, they would not surrender." General Dammartin formed the 6th battalion of grenadiers in close column, with two eight-pounders in their van; and, each man having a hatchet, the gates were burst open, on which the multitude dispersed, and sought safety in caves and on housetops, attempting, by throwing down tiles, to dispute the entry of the troops into the streets. "Thrice," said Bonaparte, "had the order to set fire to the city expired on my lips, when the garrison of the castle arrived, and hastened with cries of joy to embrace their deliverers. Their names were called over, and none were found nissing; if the blood of a single Frenchman had been shed, I had resolved to raise on the ruins of Pavia a column, on which these impressive words were to be inscribed, "Here stood the city of Pavia!" The result, however, declared, that Bonaparte had no great reason to boast of his compassion, for he ordered the whole municipality to be shot, and 200 hostages to be arrested, and sent immediately into France. The punishments of Bonaparte for insurrection were tremendous; the village of Binasco burnt, Milan given up to pillage for twenty-four hours, and many of its principal inhabitants put to death; the municipality of Pavia shot, after the city had been taken, were terrible proofs of his inhumanity.

The French general-in-chief now issued a proclamation, stating, that the nobles, the priests, and the agents of Austria, had led astray the people of these delightful countries; that the French army, as generous as brave, would treat as brethren the peaceable natives, but that it would be terrible as the fire of heaven to rebels, and to the villages that gave them protection. He therefore declared all those villages in a state of rebellion which had not complied with his order on the 25th; and ordered the generals to march against them the troops necessary to suppress the insurgents, to set fire to them, and to shoot, on the spot, all who had arms in their hands. All priests and nobles, in the rebellious communes, were to be arrested as hostages, and sent into France; every village where the tocsin was sounded was to be instantly burnt; and the generals were responsible for the execution of the order. The villages where a single Frenchman was assassinated, were to pay three times the sum they annually paid to the archduke, until they gave up the assassin. Every man found with a musket and ammunition, was to be imme

diately shot, by order of the general commanding the jurisdiction. Wherever concealed arms were found, the place was to pay thrice its usual revenue by way of fine; and every house, where a musket was found, was to be burnt, unless the proprietor declared to whom it belonged. All the nobles and rich persons who excited the people to revolt, were to be taken as hostages, and sent to France, and a part of their revenues confiscated.

Bonaparte, having removed his head-quarters to Brescia, made dispositions to induce Beaulieu to believe, that he meant to turn him by the head of the lake, in order to cut him off from the road to Tyrole, by way of Riva. At two in the morn-ing, May 30, all the divisions were in motion, and marched towards Borghetta, where Bonaparte intended to cross the Mincio: they crossed that river, and engaged, when the Austrians fought with the utmost bravery, and retreated. only after performing acts of the greatest intrepidity: the Austrians lost 1500 men and 500 horse, in killed and prisoners; among the latter was Prince Cuto, lieutenant-general in the army of the King of Naples, and commander-in-chief of the Neapolitan cavalry. The French also took five pieces of cannon, two 12-pounders and three 6-pounders, with seven or eight waggons loaded with warlike stores. At Castlenuovo many magazines were taken, part of which, however, had been burnt. Thus the Austrians were driven out of Italy, and the French advanced posts reached the mountains of Germany.

The division of General Massena took Verona, which had been the refuge of Louis-Stanislaus, brother of Louis XVI. and of his little court of

emigrants, to whom the Venetians had given a ready reception: but who, as, before mentioned, had been ordered to quit the territories.

Vigorous measures were now adopted for the investment of Mantua. Accordingly, while Massena was posted at Verona, so as to intercept all -succours at that side, and the garrison of Peschiera prevented the arrival of any supplies from the Tyrole, the French took possession of the suburbs of St. Georgio, and established their head-quarters at Favorita; the cannon taken from the emperor and the King of Sardinia furnishing them with artillery sufficient for all the purposes of a blockade. Bonaparte, at the same time, addressed a proclamation to the Tyrolese, which preceded the march of his troops into the defiles of the mountains; he also took possession of the defiles of the Appenines, and seized on the fortress of Fuentes, situated on the lake of Coma.

In the mean time, new commotions took place in the imperial fiefs, which border on the states of Genoa, Tuscany, and Piedmont; the communications of the army with the river of Genoa were menaced, the convoys attacked, and the couriers

assassinated. General Lasnes, having been dispatched to chastise the peasantry, entered the imperial fiefs with 1200 horse, arrested and shot the chiefs of the revolt, and burned their habitations. The same severity was displayed in the environs of Tortona; a proclamation was issued and strictly executed. All the seigneurs, holding imperial fiefs, were to repair in person to Tortona, there to take the oath of obedience to the republic; and if, within five days after the publication of the order, they had not done so, their goods were to be confiscated. The inhabitants were to carry, to the military agent at Tortona, within twenty-four hours after notice, the sum of the military contribution, which was to be enhanced one-tenth for each day's delay of payment. All persons, after the space of forty-eight hours, found with arms or ammunition, were to be shot. All the bells which sounded the tocsin were to be taken down from their steeples, and broken to pieces, within twenty-four hours after the proclamation; and those who neglected to do so, to be considered as rebels, and their villages burnt.

General Augereau having crossed the Po at Borgoforte, arrived at Bologna on the 19th of June, where he found 400 of the pope's soldiers, who were made prisoners. Bonaparte left Tortona on the 17th, and arrived, on the 19th, at Modena, whence he sent orders, by Adjutantgeneral Vignole, to the garrison of Urbino, to surrender prisoners of war; after this he continued his march to Bologna, where he arrived at midnight. The French took, in Fort Urbino, fifty pieces of cannon, in excellent condition, 500 muskets, and provisions for 600 men for two months. Fort Urbino was encircled by a wall, with covered bastions, and surrounded by ditches full of water, having a covered way newly repaired. It was commanded by a knight of Malta, with 300 men, who were taken prisoners. At Bologna the cardinal legate was taken, with all the officers of the état-major, and four standards. The cardinal legate of Ferrara was also taken prisoner, with the commandant of that fort, who was likewise a knight of Malta. In the castle of Ferrara there were 114 pieces of cannon.

After taking Bologna, a French division proceeded to Ferrara and Faenza, whose submission promised that of Romagna; a column of the French army also marched from Reggio, across the Appenines, to Pistoia, and threatened to advance to Rome by the way of Florence. This intelligence threw the court of the grand duke into the greatest alarm. Manfredini, his prime minister, was sent to Bologna in great haste, to state to the French general, that, as a passage through Tuscany had been denied the troops of Naples, it would be unjust to violate a territory the allies had respected, and with which France

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was at peace. The grand duke, however, could BOOK II. not hinder the French entering his territories, and could only get a promise from Bonaparte, that he CHAP. VI. would not enter Florence. The French army marched rapidly towards Leghorn. Bonaparte, on reaching Pistoia, acquainted the grand duke of the circumstance by a letter, wherein he observed that the flag of the French republic was hourly insulted in the port of Leghorn, the property of the French merchants violated, and every hour marked by some attempt against the French, as contrary to the interests of the republic as to the law of nations. The executive directory had often complained to the minister of his royal highness, at Paris, who had been forced to avow the impossibility his master found in checking the English, and keeping neutrality in the port of Leghorn. The directory, therefore, felt it their duty to repel force by force, and make their commerce be respected; and had ordered him to send a division of the army under his command to take possession of Leghorn; he had therefore the honor to inform his royal highness, that a division of the army would enter that city on June 28, but would conduct itself agreeable to the principles of the neutrality it was to maintain; and the flag, the garrison, and the property of his royal highness and his people, would be scrupulously respected. The general was also to assure the grand duke of the wish entertained by the French government for a continuation of the friendship which united the two states, and of its conviction, that his royal highness, witnessing the excesses committed by the English ships, and, unable to prevent them, would applaud the measures adopted by the directory.

The French general left Pistoia to join the column already at the gates of Leghorn. An English frigate, on going out of the harbour, was fired at, but without effect. A few hours before the French troops arrived, more than forty English ships, fully laden, left Leghorn. The general ordered the Chevalier Spannochi, governor of the city for the grand duke, to be arrested; he was conducted to Florence, and sent to prison by order of the grand duke.

The consul of the French republic was ordered, by Bonaparte, to put seals on all the English magazines; and he was also ordered to take similar measures as to those appertaining to the emperor, the Empress of Russia, and, in general, all the princes or subjects of states with whom the French were at war; and to employ every means necessary to discover the merchandise deposited in the houses of the different merchants at Leghorn, and take possession of them. A strong garrison, under General Vaubois, was left in Leghorn. Bonaparte, with Berthier, and a part of the état-major, passed through Florence,

BOOK II. and was entertained by the grand duke very superbly.

CHAP. VI.

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The Pope and the King of Naples having made application for an armistice, it was granted to the King of Sicily, on the easy terms of withdrawing assistance from the combined army. In addition to the towns then possessed by the republicans, the Pope was obliged to surrender the city and fortress of Ancona, on the Adriatic; to pay the sum of twenty-one millions of francs, by instalments; and to give up 100 busts, statues, vases, or pictures, according to the choice of commissioners who were to be sent to Rome.

As the court of Vienna was confounded at the alarming progress of the republican army in Italy, the chief command was given to Marshal Wurtnser, an officer both brave and experienced, having seen more than sixty campaigns; and, although in his 80th year, was exempt from the infirmities of age. Wurmser had collected in the Tyrole the wrecks of the Austrian army, and received powerful reinforcements, while Bonaparte was employed in his expedition to Leghorn and against the states of the Pope. After the engagement of Borghetta, the imperialists retreated to the mountains, with an intent to dispute the passes of the Tyrole: they fortified their lines from the lake of Garda to the Adige with infinite labour. Massena ordered General Joubert to attack the imperialists by the Bochetta di Champion; the the French climbed up the rocks, killed 100 men, and took 200 prisoners, with 400 tents and all the baggage. During this, the chief of battalion, Recco, having carried the important post of Belona, killed 300 men, and took 70 prisoners, the Austrians abandoned their entrenchments. Such was the event of the first battle between the two armies since the new general assumed the command.

Insurrections soon after appeared in the Romagna. General Augereau ordered a body of troops to set out, with cannon and waggons amply supplied. A numerous phalanx presented themselves, and were attacked by the republican troops at two points, the one on the side of Imola, and the other on the side of Argenta. The defence was terrible; but, after an engagement of three hours, disorder took place amongst the insurgents, and part were cut to pieces, and part saved themselves by flight; the town of Lugo was surrounded, and delivered up, for three hours, to be pillaged by the troops. Every individual found in arms was put to death. The army returned with an immense booty; and Bologna exhibited one of the richest fairs that had been witnessed for many years, the plunder being exposed there for sale.

On the 16th of July the siege of Mantua was hotly pressed forward, when the garrison made a most gallant resistance. About 4000 men sallied from two of the gates, and drove in all the French advanced posts, and retreated into the city. On

the 18th, General Murat and Adjutant-general Vignole, with 2000 men, were to attack the right of the Austrian entrenched camp; while General D'Allemagne, with a strong column, attacked the left. Andreossi, chief of battalion of artillery, with five gun-boats, gave a false alarm to the enemy, and, by drawing their fire, enabled the Generals d'Allemagne and Murat to carry disorder into the enemy's ranks. During this, Chasseloup, chief of brigade of engineers, under a fire of grape-shot from the ramparts, directed the opening of the trenches. The batteries of St. George, Pradella, and La Favorite, began to play against the fortress. Soon after the batteries opened, several parts of the town were on fire; and the custom-house, the palace of Colloredo, and several convents, were reduced to ashes. At day-break the Austrians made a sally, under a dreadful fire from the ramparts; but the republicans, posted behind banks, and occupying every place which could protect them from the enemy's fire, waited for them in silence, and annoyed them from concealed situations; the imperialists returned within the walls, and the French, in the following night, succeeded in completing their trenches.

General Berthier had summoned the governor to surrender, observing, that as he was attacked on all sides, he could not long defend the town, and that an ill-judged obstinacy would entirely ruin the unfortunate city; the laws of war, therefore, prescribed to him to surrender it; but, if he should persevere in his resistance, he would be responsible for the blood thus uselessly shed, and for the destruction of the place; a conduct which should compel the French general to treat him with all the rigors of war. The Count Canto D'Irles, general commandant, answered, that the laws of honor and of duty compelled him to defend the city entrusted to his command.

On the 29th of July, Field-marshal Wurmser attacked the posts of Sale and Corona, by which the city of Mantua was covered. Hereupon the French were obliged, not only to evacuate their posts on the Adige, but even to raise the blockade of Mantua, with considerable loss. This success, on the part of the Austrians, inspired them with fresh animation; and in the course of the succeeding day they seized the prodigious magazines of the French in the vicinity of Brescia, nearly cutting off their communications with the Milanese, owing to the skilful exertions of their new commander.

No sooner had these happy tidings reached the ears of Pope Pius VI. who had neither political discernment nor discretion, than his vice-legate was ordered to take possession of Ferrara, now evacuated by the French; although Chevalier Azara, the Spanish ambassador, advised him, in the most friendly manner, not to take such a step, as it was a gross violation of the armistice between