Two impossible to pass the Adige but at one | first drove back Augereau, and the or other of these places. Fortunately battle seemed for a time doubtful; but for him, the battalion which occupied a vigorous charge by Massena in the Porto Legnago had been withdrawn to centre, in the course of which he carVerona during the attack on that place, ried Fort St George at the point of the and the one destined to replace it had bayonet, restored affairs, and Wurmser not yet arrived. By a rapid march he was at length repulsed into Mantua, reached that town before the Republi- with the loss of three thousand men cans, and thus got his troops across the and twenty pieces of cannon. Adige. Napoleon, following his prey days afterwards, he threw a bridge over with breathless anxiety, no sooner dis- the Po, and attacked Governolo, one of covered that the Austrians had effected the fortresses erected by the French at the passage at Legnago, than he pushed the termination of the dikes, with the Massena across the river to Cerra, in design of cutting his way through to order to cut them from the road to the Adige; but he was repulsed with Mantua. But the Austrians fought the loss of six hundred men and four with the courage of despair, and their pieces of cannon; and, in the begincavalry, five thousand strong, who were ning of October, Kilmaine resumed his unbroken, and whose spirit had not old lines round the town, and the Aussuffered by disaster, proved irresistible trians were shut in on every side withto their enemies. Napoleon himself, in its walls. Wurmser killed the horses who had come up during the engage- of his numerous and splendid cavalry, ment, had great difficulty in saving salted their carcasses, and made every himself by flight; and Wurmser, who preparation for a vigorous defence: arrived a few minutes after, deemed while Napoleon despatched his aide-dehimself so secure of his antagonist, camp, MARMONT,* afterwards Duke of that he recommended to his dragoons to take him alive. Having missed so brilliant a stroke, the old marshal continued his march, passed the Molinella, cut to pieces a body of eight hundred infantry which endeavoured to interrupt his progress, and entered Mantua in a species of triumph which threw a ray of glory over his long series of dis asters. 119. Encouraged by these successes, he still endeavoured to keep the field with twenty thousand infantry and five thousand horse; and soon after his cuirassiers destroyed a regiment of light infantry at Due Castelle. But this was the termination of his transient gleam of prosperity. Napoleon soon after brought up the greater part of his forces, and Augereau stormed Porto Legnago, making prisoners a thousand men and fifteen pieces of cannon,-a stroke which, by depriving Wurmser of the means of passing the Adige, threw him back on Mantua, On the 19th he was attacked by the division of Augereau, that of Serrurier, then commanded by Salinguet, and that of Massena, constituting in all an equal force. The Austrian cavalry at *Auguste Frederic de Marmont was born at Châtillon-sur-Seine on 20th July 1774. His father, who belonged to an old and respectable military family, had himself followed the profession of arms; and he destined his son, from his earliest years, to the same. At the early age of fifteen he received his commission as sub-lieutenant in a regiment of infantry; aud artillery. He made his first essay in arms in was transferred, in January 1792, into one of the campaign of 1792, when he was attached to the army of the Alps. In 1793 he served at the siege of Toulon, and his skill in gunnery there first attracted the notice of Napoleon. He subsequently accompanied the future emperor to Paris, and shared in his disgrace after the 9th Thermidor. Having afterwards got employment with the army of the Rhine, he distinguished himself in various combats, in which he commanded, under Desaix, the artillery of the advanced guard. After the artive operations on the Rhine, he returned to mistice in December 1795 had terminated acParis, where Napoleon had now risen into high favour with government, in consequence of the suppression of the revolt of the Sections; aide-de-camp, which he held through all the Italian campaigns. Overflowing with courage, he was with the advanced guard of cavalry which crossed the river above Lodi, and had his horse shot under him on that occasion; notwithstanding which, he captured the first gun which was taken in that terrible combat, for which he received a sabre of hontinguished himself; and so brilliant were the our. At the battle of Castiglione he also disservices which he rendered during the actions and from him he obtained the situation of Ragusa, with the standards taken in | were united under a provisional gov these glorious actions, to lay at the feet of the French government. 120. By the result of these conflicts, the Austrian army in the field was reduced from fifty thousand to fifteen thousand men. Of these, twelve thousand under Davidovich had taken refuge in the defiles leading to Mount Brenner, while three thousand under Quasdanovich were in the mountains of Friuli. Wurmser, it is true, had brought sixteen thousand into Mantua; but this force, accumulated in a besieged and unhealthy town, was of no real service during the remainder of the campaign, and rather, by increasing the number of useless mouths within the place, accelerated the period of its ultimate surrender. Before the end of October, ten thousand of the garrison were in the hospitals; so that the besieged were unable either to make any use of their superfluous numbers, or get quit of the unserviceable persons who consumed their scanty provisions. But these successes, great as they were, had not been purchased without a very heavy loss to the French army, which, in these actions, was weakened by above fifteen thousand men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. 121. Both parties remained in inactivity for a considerable time after these exhausting efforts, during which the Austrians were energetically employed in repairing their losses, and the Republicans in drawing forces from the other side of the Alps. The latter took advantage of the delay to organise revolutionary powers throughout all the north of Italy. Bologna and Ferrara at Mantua, that Napoleon selected him to bear the standards taken to the Directory at Paris. He became marshal of France, and shared largely in the glories and dangers of Napoleon's campaigns. He was a most able general, and second to none of the Emperor's lieutenants in the movements of a campaign, though on the field of battle he had not the daring of Murat, or the cool determination of Davoust. Defeated at Salamanca by Wellington, he had afterwards the misfortune to be twice compelled to sign a capitulation of Paris. But his reputation has survived these rude shocks; and his Travels in the East prove, that to the eye of a general he united the accomplishments of a scholar and the heart of a philanthropist. ernment, republican forces and Jacobin clubs established, and all the machinery. of democracy put in full operation; Modena was revolutionised, the old government replaced by a popular assembly, and French troops admitted within its walls; while legions of national guards were organised throughout the whole of Lombardy. But more efficient auxiliaries were approaching. Twelve battalions from the army of La Vendée, besides the remainder of the forces of Kellermann, joyfully crossed the Alps, happy to exchange the scene of utter penury and inglorious warfare, to which their efforts had hitherto been confined, for the luxurious quarters and shining achievements of the Italian army. In the end of October, Alvinzi, who had assumed the command of the army in Friuli, had assembled forty thousand men under his standards; while the corps of Davidovich was raised, by the junction of a large body of the Tyrolese militia, a force admirably adapted for mountain warfare, to eighteen thousand men. To oppose this mass of assailants, Napoleon had twelve thousand men under Vaubois, on the Lavis, in front of Trent; twenty thousand on the Brenta and the Adige observing Alvinzi, and ten thousand guarding the lines round Mantua. The disproportion, therefore, was very great in every quarter; and Napoleon, justly alarmed at his situation, and chagrined at the Directory for not putting a larger force at his disposal, wrote to the government that he was about to lose the whole of his Italian conquests.* 122. The Austrian preparations being *Napoleon's letter was in these terms:'Mantua cannot be reduced before the middle of February; you will perceive from that how critical our situation is; and our political system is, if possible, still worse. Peace with Naples is indispensable; an alliance with Genoa and Turin necessary. Lose no time in taking the people of Lombardy, Modena, Bologna, and Ferrara, under your protection; and, above all, send reinforcements. The Emperor has thrice re-formed his army since the commencement of the campaign. Everything is going wrong in Italy; the prestige of our forces is dissipated; the enemy now count our ranks. It is indispensable that you take into your instant consideration the critical situation of the Italian army, and forthwith completed, Alvinzi, on the 1st November, threw two bridges over the Piave, and advanced against Massena, whose headquarters were at Bassano. At the approach of the Imperialists in such superior force, the French fell back to Vicenza, and Napoleon hastened, with the division of Augereau and the reserve, to their support. On the 6th a general battle took place. Massena overthrew the Austrian left, commanded by Provera and Liptay, and drove them with loss over the Brenta; while Napoleon himself defeated the right, under Quasdanovich, and would have carried the town of Bassano, which the Imperialists occupied in force, had not Hohenzollern, who advanced at the head of the Austrian reserve, made good the place till nightfall. But early on the following morning, the French general received intelligence from Vaubois, in the Tyrol, which not only interrupted his career of success, but rendered an immediate retreat on the part of the whole Republican army unavoidable. passed that post, and was moving rapidly down on the Monte Baldo and Rivoli, so as to threaten his communications with Verona and the remainder of the army. Nothing was left for Vaubois but to retire in haste towards Verona, which was seriously menaced by the advance of the Tyrolese army; while their progress on the Monte Baldo could only be arrested by bringing up Joubert in the utmost haste from the lines before Mantua. 124. No sooner was this disastrous intelligence received by Napoleon, than he drew back his whole force through Vicenza to Verona; while Alvinzi, who was himself preparing to retire, after his check on the preceding day, immediately resumed the offensive. Napoleon in person proceeded, with such troops as he could collect, in the utmost haste to the Monte Baldo, where he found the division of Vaubois all assembled on the plateau of Rivoli, and so much reinforced as to be able to withstand an attack. He here deemed it necessary to make a severe example of the regiments whose panic had so nearly proved fatal to the army. Collecting the troops into a circle, he addressed them, with a severe tone, in these 123. In obedience to the orders he had received, that general, on the same day on which the Austrians crossed the Piave, commenced an attack on their position on the Lavis; but he was not only received with the utmost intre-words-"Soldiers, I am displeased with pidity, but worsted in the encounter, and his forces having fallen into confusion in the course of their retreat through the narrow valley, he was driven back in disorder through the town of Trent, to the defile of Calliano, with the loss of four thousand men. There he made a stand; but Davidovich, having caused a large part of his forces to cross to the right bank of the Adige, secure it friends both among kings and people. The influence of Rome is incalculable: you did wrong in breaking with that power; would have temporised with it, as we have done with Venice and Genoa. Whenever the general in Italy is not the centre of negotiation as well as military operations, the greatest risks will be incurred. You may ascribe this language to ambition; but I am satiated with honours, and my health is so broken that I must implore you to give me a successor. I can no longer sit on horseback: my courage alone is unshaken. Everything was ready for the explosion at Genoa; but Faypoult thought it expedient to delay. We must conciliate Genoa till the new order of things is more firmly established."-Confident. Despatches, Oct. 8, 1796, ii. 92, 93. you. You have evinced neither discipline, nor valour, nor constancy. You have allowed yourselves to be chased from positions where a handful of resolute men might have arrested an army. Soldiers of the 39th and 85th, you are no longer French soldiers. Chief of the staff, cause it to be written on their standards, They are no longer of the Army of Italy." These terrible words, pronounced with a menacing voice, filled these brave regiments with consternation. The laws of discipline could not restrain the sounds of grief which burst from their ranks. They broke their array, and, crowding round the general, entreated that he would lead them into action, and give them an opportunity of showing whether they were not of the Army of Italy. Napoleon consoled them by some kind expressions, and, feigning to yield to their prayers, promised to suspend the order. A few days after, they behaved with un common gallantry, and regained their place in his esteem. confidence and courage, and a depressing feeling of the great strength of the enemy had entered every breast. The army, it was true, had still the advantage of a central position at Verona, in the midst of their enemies; but they could resume the offensive in no direction with any appearance of success. In the north they were arrested by the defiles of the Tyrol; in the east by the position of Caldiero, known by recent experience to be impregnable; in the south, the blockading force was hardly able to make head against the frequent sorties of the garrison of Mantua. The peril of their situation was rapidly and fully perceived by the French soldiers, more capable than any others in Europe of judging of the probable course of events, and extremely susceptible of strong impressions; and it required all the art of their general, aided by the eloquence of his lieutenants, to hinder them from sinking under their misfortunes. Napoleon wrote in the most desponding terms to the Directory, but in public he assumed the appearance of confidence; and the wounded in the rear, hearing of the peril of the army, began to issue, with their wounds yet unhealed, from the hospitals.* 125. Notwithstanding his check on the Brenta, the operations of Alvinzi had hitherto been crowned with the most brilliant success. He had regained possession of the whole of the Italian Tyrol, and of all the plain of Italy between that river and the Adige. But the most difficult part still remained, which was to pass the latter stream in the face of the enemy, and effect a junction with the right wing, under Davidovich, which had achieved such important advantages. He followed the retiring columns of the Republicans, who took a position on the heights of Caldiero, determined to defend the road to Verona to the very uttermost. Napoleon arrived there from the Monte Baldo, on the evening of the 10th, and resolved to attack Alvinzi on the following day, who had occupied a strong position directly in front, his left resting on the marshes of Arcola, and his right on the heights of CALDIERO and the village of Colognola. Massena was directed to attack the right, which appeared the most accessible, and his advanced guard succeeded in ascending an eminence, surmounted by a mill, which the Austrian general had neglected to occupy; but *The gloomy anticipations of Napoleon at the Imperialists, returning in force, re-lowing interesting secret despatch to the this period are strongly depicted in the folgained the post, and made the brigade Directory: "If the events I have to recount prisoners. The action continued the are not propitious, you will not ascribe it to remainder of the day along the whole the army; its inferiority, and the exhaustion of its brave men, give me every reason to line, without decisive success to either fear for it. Perhaps we are on the eve of party; but the rain, which fell in tor- losing Italy. None of the promised succours rents, and the mud, which clogged the have arrived; they are all arrested at Lyons wheels, prevented the French artillery ment at the commencement of the war can or Marseilles. The activity of our governfrom being brought up to meet the fire alone give you an idea of the energy of the of the Austrian cannon, which in posi- court of Vienna; hardly a day elapses that tion thundered with terrible effect upon for two months I have only been joined by they do not receive five thousand men, and the Republican columns. Wearied and a single battalion. I do my duty; the army dispirited, they drew back at night, does its part: my soul is lacerated, but my yielding, for the first time in the camconscience is at ease. I never received a paign, the victory in a pitched battle to ter of war announces in his despatches. fourth part of the succours which the minis their enemies. 126. The situation of Napoleon was now to all appearance utterly desperate. He had been weakened by the loss of four thousand men under Vaubois, and three thousand in the recent actions with Alvinzi; his troops, dispirited by these disasters, had lost much of their "To-day I shall allow the troops to repose, but to-morrow we shall renew our operations. ade of Mantua; should that disaster arrive, I despair of preventing the raising the blockwe shall soon be behind the Adda, if not over the Alps. The wounded are few, but they are the elite of the army. Our best officers to a handful of heroes, is exhausted. The are struck down; the Army of Italy, reduced heroes of Lodi, of Millesimo, of Castiglione, out any regard to the fearful odds to which they were exposed. 127. But the genius of Napoleon did not desert him in this dilemma, and his fortitude was equal to the terrible crisis 128. Having perceived, during the in which his affairs were placed. With- former action at Caldiero, that the posiout communicating his design to any tion was too strong to be carried by an one, he ordered the whole army to be attack in front, Napoleon had resolved under arms at nightfall on the 14th to assail it in flank, by the village of November, and they began their march ARCOLA, and for that purpose placed his in three columns, crossed the Adige, army in the midst of the morasses, and took the road to Milan. The hour which stretch from thence to the banks of departure, the route, the universal of the Po. He thought with reason ignorance in regard to their destination, that, on the narrow causeways which all inspired the belief that they were traversed these marshes, the superiorabout to retreat, and relinquish to their ity of numbers on the part of the enemy rivals the plains of Italy. Breathless would be unavailing; everything would with anxiety, the troops defiled through come to depend on the resolution of the the western gates of Verona; not a word heads of columns; and he hoped that was spoken in the ranks; grief filled the courage of his soldiers, restored by every heart; in the dark columns, the being thus brought to combat on equal measured tread of marching men alone terms with the enemy, and animated was heard. Suddenly the order was by this novel species of warfare, would given to turn rapidly to the left, and prevail over the discipline and tenacity all the corps, descending the course of of the Germans. The position which the Adige, arrived before daybreak at he had chosen was singularly well adRonco. There they found a bridge of apted for the purpose in view. boats prepared, and the whole troops chaussées branch off from Ronco : one, were rapidly passed to the other side, following the left bank of the Adige, asand found themselves in an immense cends that river to Verona; another, in sea of morasses. A general feeling of the centre, leads straight to Arcola, by joy was immediately diffused over the a stone bridge over the little stream of army; the soldiers now perceived that the Alpon; the third, on the right, folthe contest for Italy was not abandoned, lows the descending course of the Adige, and, passing quickly from one extreme along its right bank, to Albaredo. Three to another, prepared with alacrity to columns were moved forward on these follow the footsteps of their leader, with-chaussées: that on the left was destined of Bassano, are dead, or in hospital; there remains only their reputation, and the pride they have given to the soldiers. Joubert, Lanusse, Victor, Murat, Charlot, are wounded: we are abandoned in the extremity of Italy. "I have lost few soldiers, but those who have fallen are the flower of the army, whom it is impossible to replace. Such as remain have devoted themselves to death. Perhaps the hour of the brave Augereau, of the intrepid Massena, of Berthier, is about to strike; what, then, will become of these brave soldiers? This consideration renders me circumspect; I know not how to brave death, when it would so certainly be the ruin of those who have so long been the object of my solicitude. "In a few days we shall make a last effort; should fortune prove favourable, we shall take Mantua, and with it Italy. Had I received the 83d, three thousand five hundred strong, I would have answered for every thing: in a few days forty thousand men will perhaps not give me the same security."Confidential Despatch, 14th Nov., ii. 246-251. Three town so as to secure it from any sudto approach Verona, and observe that den attack of the enemy; that in the centre, to attack the flank of their position by the village of Arcola; that on the right, to cut off their retreat. 129. At daybreak on the 15th, Masfar as a small eminence, which brought sena advanced on the first chaussée as him in sight of the steeples of Verona, and removed all anxiety in that quarter as to the ultimate destination of the troops. Augereau, with the division in the centre, pushed, without being peradvanced guard was there met by three ceived, to the bridge of Arcola; but his battalions of Croats, who kept up so heavy a fire on the head of the column, that, notwithstanding the greatest exertions on the part of the soldiers, they were driven back. In vain Augereau |