is about to flow more than ever. The fixth campaign is announced under the moft portentous aufpices. Whatever may be the refult, many thousands of gallant foldiers must still fall a facrifice in the profecution of hoftilities. At fome period, we must come to an understanding, fince time will bring all things to a conclufion, and extinguish the most inveterate resent ments. The executive directory of the French republic communicated to his imperial majesty their inclination to terminate a conflict which defolates the two countries. Their pacific overtures were defeated by the intervention of the British cabinet. Is there no hope, then, of accommodation? Is it effential to the interefts or gratifying to the paffions of a nation far removed from the theatre of war, that we fhould continue to murder each other? Are not you, who are fo nearly allied to the throne, and who are above all the defpicable paffions which generally influence minifters and governments, ambitious to merit the appellations of "the benefactor of the human race," and "the faviour of the German empire!" Do not imagine, my dear general, that I with to infinuate that you cannot poffibly fave your country by force of arms; but on the fuppofition that the chances of war were even to become, favourable, Germany will not fuffer lefs on that account. With respect to myfelf, gallant general, if the overture which I have now the honour to make to you, could be the means of fparing the life of a fingie man, I should think myself prouder of the civic crown to which my interference would entitle me, than of the melancholy glory which would refult from the moft brilliant military exploits. I beg of you to believe me to be, general in chief, with fentiments of the most profound respect and ef teem, &c. &c. BUONAPARTE. The prince returned a polite anfwer, the ubstance of which was, that he neither conceived it his part to enter into any difcuffion on the principles upon which the war was carried on, nor was he furnished by the emperor with any powers to conclude a treaty of peace. The last effort of the Auftrians was an endeavour to excite the peafantry of the Tyrol to rife in a mafs to expel the invaders; and it was fo far fuccessful, that the divifions of general Laudon and baron Kerpen were ftrengthened by fome fresh and undifciplined, but feafonable, levies. The French columns, under the command of Joubert, were weak, and had fuffered confiderably by difeafe and the frequent combats in which they had been engaged. In the beginning of April, therefore, the fortune of war in that quarter began to change. On the 4th, the French were driven from Botzen by general Laudon, with fome lofs, and on the following day from Brixen, where the two Auftrian columns under Laudon and Kerpen effected a junction. Undifmayed by thefe loffes, Buonaparte continued to advance. General Maffena, with the advanced guard, attacked the Auftrians on the 2d of April, in the defiles between Freifach and Neumark; after a moft bloody engagement, the latter were completely routed, leaving the field of battle covered with dead, and about 600 prifoners →→→ and the following morning the R. 4 French French entered Neumark. On the 4th, the head-quarters of the French general were at Scheifling, and the advanced guard reached to Hunf mark, where the Auftrians were again defeated, with the lofs of 900 men in kilied, wounded, and prifoners. While fuch was the ftate of affairs in Italy, new fcenes of horror and carnage were preparing on the Rhine. The command of the army of the Sambre and Meufe had been entruited to general Hoche, a young and fpirited officer, who, our readers will remember, had diftingu hed himself not only in Flanders, but by his fuccefstul and happy termination of the civil war in La Vendée; general Morean was continued as commander of the army of the Rhine and the Mofelle. In the beginning of April, general Hoche gave notice of the conclufion of the armiftice, and foon after paffed the Rhine by the bridge of Neuwied. After an ineffectual attempt on the part of the Auftrian general Kray to procure a renewal of the armistice, a fmart action commenced on the 18th of April, in which the French were victorious, and the Austrians loft, according to the report of general Hoche, 4,000 prifoners. The French puriued the enemy, and dislodged them from Ukareth and Altenkirchen, while a divifion, under general Ney, proceeded with the greatest rapidity to Dierdorf. He found the Auftrians there 6,000 ftrong, but he drove them from their pofition, with the lofs of 1,000 men in killed, wounded, and prifoners. General Moreau at the fame time croffed the Rhine, and fome flight engagements took place between the outpofts; but the further pro fecution of hoftilities was happily prevented by an event the parti culars of which we have now to relate. Though the anfwer of prince Charles did not augur the moût favourably for peace, yet the overture of Buonaparte was not without effect. A very fhort time after the prince had difpatched his letter, he fent an aid-de-camp to the French general to request a fufpenfion of arms for four hours-but this propofal Buonaparte declined, under the apprehenfion that the only object of the archduke was to gain a day, and effect a junction with general Spork, who was advancing with a fresh reinforcement. A correfpondence, however, was immediately commenced between the two generals, which ended at firft in an armiftice, and finally in adjufting preliminaries of peace between the court of Vienna and the French republic, which were figned on the 18th of April, by Buonaparte in the name of the French republic, and by the Neapolitan minifter on the part of the emperor. Among other articles, the prelimi naries contained a direct ceffion of the Netherlands to France, with the dutchy of Luxemburg, &c. the independence of the new Italian republics, and the navigation of the Rhine. By a fecret article, it is believed, the French undertook to indemnify the emperor by a part of the Venetian territory, and by the fecularifation of fome of the ecclefiaftical states in Germany. A general view of the fucceffes of the war was printed about this period, and diftributed among the members of the two councils at Paris. From this flatement it appeared, that from the Sth of September 1793, to the 19th of February 1797, the republic had gained 261 victories, including 31 pitched battles; killed 152,600 men of the enemy; taken 197,784 prifoners; 238 ftrong places; 319 forts, camps, or redoubts; 7,963 pieces of cannon; 186,762 guns; 4,388,150 pounds of powder; 207 standards; 5,486 horfes, &c. &c. &c. The tranfactions which follow have never as yet been satisfactorily explained. In whatever point of view they are confidered, they, however, redound but little to the credit of the French government. They were the commencement of a fyftem of aggreffion against neutral but unprotected ftates, which has fince been carried to an abominable excefs, and by which the government has been difgraced, and the well-earned laurels of Buonaparte nearly blafted. That the pretended republican government of Venice was no other than an execrable tyranny,' vested in the hands of certain powerful families, and fupported by a complex and myfterious organifation of the executive power, is a fact very generally acknowledged. That the government of Venice might view with a jealous and a timid eye the rapid advances of the French, may be easily fuppofed. That they would have rejoiced in the expulfion of the French from Italy, is equally probable. Yet these are not motives fufficient to justify the violent measures of the French; the feifure of territories, the diffolution of the political exiftence of a neutral independent ftate. The charge which was brought by the French general against the Venetian government was, that while the French army was engaged in the defiles of Stiria, the government of Venice embraced the opportunity to arm 40,000 pea fants, uniting them with 10 regiments of Sclavonians, to cut off the main body from the places which were occupied by the rear. That, throughout the whole of the Terra Firma, a perfecution was inftituted against all thofe perfons, by whom the French had been favourably received. That in the fquares, coffee-houses, and other public places in Venice, the French had been infulted. In fine, that affaffina tions of Frenchmen had been committed with impunity in different parts; that, at Caftiglione de Mori, the French foldiers were first disarmed, and then murdered; on the great roads from Caffino to Verona, more than 200 were put to death; and on the fecond feftival at Eafter, the ringing of the bell was the fignal for aflaffinating all the French in Verona, without excepting even the fick and wounded in the hofpitals. To this ferious and revolting charge, the advocates for Venice reply, by inftancing the wanton feifure of a part of their territory, the quartering of troops on fome of the principal towns, under pretence that thefe places were neceffary to the operations of the French army against the imperialifts. They admit that fresh levies were made in the Venetian territories, but these they allege were neceflary to their own fecurity, placed among contending armies, and furrounded with confpirators. That fome intemperate acts were committed, they pretend not to deny; but fo far from countenancing thefe, the government wifhed on the contrary to inftitute a fevere inquiry, and punish the aggreffors. On the 9th of April, Buonaparte addreffed a manifefto to the doge of Venice, complaining of the hoftile difpofition which that government had always manifefted to wards wards the French, and demanding inftant fatisfaction for the recent injuries. The fenate replied immediately to the French commander, that they had ever wifhed to maintain a good understanding with the French republic; and affured him further, that they would take the most efficacious measures to difcover and arreft the authors of the affaffinations committed on individuals of the French army. On the ift of May, Buonaparte iffued a fecond proclamation, in which he entered more particularly into the detail of the enormities which had been committed, and feemed to intimate that the punishment of the affaffins would not be fufficient to fatisfy the vengeance of the French. Under thefe circumftances, a negotiation was commenced; commiffaries were difpatched to wait on the conqueror of Italy at Milan; and, about the 15th of May, a treaty was concluded the terms of which were the ceffion of the whole of the Terra Firma to the French, a part to be restored when the fyftem of Italy fhould be eftablished; the fort of Venice to be occupied by French troops; the state of Venice to pay 80 millions of livres; and laftly, the government of Venice to be changed. The laft article was almost immediately put in execution. The fenate and council of ten were abolifhed; and the three ftate inquifitors put under arrest. A provifional adminiftration was appointed; and a municipality of 50 members was chofen, under the prefidency of fix commiffaries appointed by the French general. Admitting all the charges to be juft, which were brought againft the Venetian government, this appears to have been a fufficient punishment for all their delinquencies the fequel is truly difgraceful to the French government and nation; but experience has fhown that re publics, not lefs than monarchies, are more frequently conducted on principles of policy than of justice. The Venetian territory was filled with French troops, and the only article of the treaty they took care to fulfil, was the levying of the contributions. In a word, on the final adjustment of the definitive treaty with the emperor, which, after much delay, was concluded at Udina, on the 17th of October, it was found that Venice was to be the facrifice to peace, and the whole of the territories of that ancient and renowned state were ceded by a republic (which profeffedly was in arms for the caufe of liberty) to the defpotic yoke of Austria. In cenfuring fuch proceedings as thefe, we flatter ourselves our readers will not confider us as inconfiftent-the friend of liberty looks to no party as the guide of his opinions "Null'us addicus jurare in verba ma giftri," When the nafcent liberties of France were attacked by a combination of defpotic powers on the continent, we deprecated what we efteemed a most unjustifiable aggreffion, an interference not warranted by the law of nations, or by the principles of juftice-when France in her turn becomes an oppreffor, the voice of truth and juftice will proclaim her infamy, and will cenfure the inconfiftency, the wickednefs of her rulers. The republic of Genoa felt at the fame time the predominant influence of the French; and its government, which was one of those mild aristocracies where the great are content with having all the po litical litical power without oppreffing their fellow-citizens, was changed for the fashionable form of a reprefentative government. Whether the change will ultimately prove for the happiness of the people or not, time only will determine; all that can at prefent be faid upon the fubject is, that the part which the French acted in the bufinefs was wholly unjuftifiable. In the beginning of May a formidable infurrection took place in that city, excited by a club of propagandifts, who commonly affembled at the house of an apothecary. The infurgents invested Philip Doria with the authority of chief, and the government, which had but little dependence on its feeble force, appeared to totter. The leffer council, in this extremity, prevailed upon the workmen employed in the port to unite themfelves with the foldiery; a defperate engagement enfued, in which victory declared itself on the fide of government; of the infurgents many were killed, among whom was their leader Doria, and feveral perfons who were recognised to be French. The conquering party did not make a proper ufe of their victory, but proceeded immediately to plun der, the houfes of the patriots, as they were called, and committed other outrages. In the mean time the vanquished party difpatched couriers to general Buonaparte to folicit his affiftance; and under the plea of restoring peace a column of French troops entered Genoa; the confequence was the removal of all the conftituted authorities, and the adoption of the democratic form of government, under the protection of France, and under the title of the Ligurian republic. In our next volume a more ample detail of these transactions, both in Venice and Genoa, will be prefented to our readers; and the fe cret hiftory of the revolutions there. will be explained. At prefent the tranfactions are too recent to be fully laid open to the public. In what we fubmit to our readers, we wish to be both authentic and impartial; and every man who writes or ftudies hiftory, muft know the difficulty, the impoffibility we might fay, of collecting found information from the common four ces. CHAP. |