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BOOK III. making any resistance, published a declaration, requesting, as a proof of the attachment and afCHAP.XIV. fection of his faithful subjects, that they would respect the French army." At the same time, General Miollis became possessed of the port of Leghorn; and all the property belonging to the subjects of Great Britain, Portugal, Austria, Russia, the Ottoman Porte, and the states of Barbary, was subjected to sequestration. The victors, however, thought proper to furnish his royal bighness and his family with a guard of honor, and to permit them to pass through the quarters of the French, unmolested, on their journey to Vienna. The aged pontiff, Pius VI., was, indeed, treated with extraordinary rigor. Having been permitted to retire to the Tuscan territories, he was now arrested by order of Scherer, and, with about forty attendants, conveyed to the fortress of Brançon, whence he was removed to Valence, where he soon after died, August 29.

Although the invasion of Tuscany enabled the French, by means of requisitions, to maintain and pay the soldiery; still it contributed to enfeeble the army, in consequence of the number of troops required to garrison the respective towns. The number of the Austrians, too, had by this time increased; and as those in the Tyrole, under General Bellegarde, were no longer needed since the defeat of Jourdan by the Archduke Charles, a numerous army was marching towards Italy to oppose the French.

The commander-in-chief, Scherer, having collected his troops, and established his head-quarters at Mantua, held a council of war, when it was determined to attack the enemy, before they received any new reinforcements from Suabia, and had effected a junction with the Russians.

The command of the Austrian army had been entrusted to General Melas, an aged officer, who now occupied Verona and the neighbourhood of that city, with a body of 20,000 men; from 8 to 10,000 were posted at Porto-Legnano; the heights of Pastringo, Cyse, and Calmasino, were carefully fortified; and while the right wing extended to the lake of Garda, the left was posted on the Adige, over which were thrown two bridges of boats; with the double view of preserving a communication, and facilitating a retreat.

Between lake Garda and the Adige, the whole Austrian line was attacked on the 26th of March, by six divisions, three of which endeavored to force the posts on the lake, that they might take Verona in the rear; a plan which was concerted by General Moreau, who headed those divisions, and completely succeeded in as far as the plan related to himself. The redoubts and intrenchments were carried; the French made themselves masters of Rivoli, and having passed the Adige, they cut the lines of the Austrian troops, part of which retreated a long way into the valley. The

remaining divisions, commanded by Scherer in person, attacked the outposts of Verona with great fury; but with such intrepidity did the Austrians receive them, that the fort of St. Maximin was taken and re-taken no less than seven times. General Kaim, who was wounded, observed in his report," that there was no former example of so deadly a fire of musket-shot having been maintained without interruption during the space of eighteen hours." The battle continued from sun-rising until night. The Generals Victor and Grenier, after repeated attacks, obtained session of St. Lucia, whence they were twice driven out by General Hohenzollern.

pos

The French having been finally repulsed, Moreau proposed to evacuate the territories of Tuscany, Rome, and Naples, for a time; but the commander-in-chief resolved to re-pass the Adige, and retreat to Peschiera: which retrogade movement was strongly condemned by the former.

By this time General Kray had arrived with a large body of troops, intending to drive the French behind the Mincio, in order to be able afterwards to besiege Peschiera and Mantua. The action, called the second battle of Verona, accordingly commenced, March 30, by an attack on the right wing of the French, while a large body of the imperialists advanced against the left, where Moreau was posted, with the divisions of Hatry, Montrichard, and Serrurier.

Having thrown bridges over the Adige, Gen. Scherer renewed his attack on the Austrian line, but was again defeated with great slaughter; and the bridges being demolished by a detachment which took the French in the rear, the retreat of many thousands was cut off, or they were disperse persed among the mountains in the vicinity. The loss sustained by the French upon this occasion was estimated at 7000 men.

Thus vanquished in all his endeavours, Scherer drew off his forces on the first of April, from the lake of Garda, after placing a strong garrison in Peschiera, and collected his army below Villa Franca, in the neighbourhood of Magnan, the right division being encamped before Porto Leg

nano.

In the mean time, the Austrian army crossed the Adige, occupied Castel Nuovo, and pressed on the left of the French army, after masking Peschiera. General Scherer determined to hazard a third general engagement on the 5th of April, that the Austrians might thus be prevented from turning his left flank; for which conflict General Kray was well prepared, and resolved not to let pass the favorable opportunity of engaging a retreating enemy. The battle was long and desperate, as every point of the line on which the combatants met was obstinately disputed. Moreau forced his way through the enemy's centre, and fought under the walls of Verona. The left column of the Austrian army,

having turned the right of the French, threw them into confusion, and in the issue decided the victory. Scherer next day retreated towards Roverbello, and passed the Mincio at Goito.

The fate of Italy still hung in suspense, when, on the 18th of April, Marshal Suwarrow reached the heart of Lombardy, much earlier than the most sanguine expectations could have ventured to presage. Having been dispatched by the emperor Paul, he took upon him the direction of the Austro-Russian army, estimated at 100,000

men.

Field-marshal Suwarrow, who had risen from the ranks, through all the intermediate gradations, to that of general-in-chief, brought with him a reputation established by more than fifty campaigns. He first distinguished himself as a partisan, at the head of a body of light troops, during the seven years war; and afterwards acquired considerable fame by his exploits against the Poles, the Tartars, and the Turks. His greatest fame, however, was the victory he obtained at Ryminik, which, in addition to the title of Count, conferred by two emperors, had obtained for him the surname of Ryminiski; while his sanguinary feats at Ismailow and Praga, although demonstrative of consummate bravery, excited the dread more than the applause of mankind.

As he lived among his troops, like an Arab chief with his tribe, he won their affections by participating in all their hardships. Finding that the Greek cross was capable of inspiring its followers with fanaticism, he seized every opportunity to arouse the valor of his soldiers, by recurring to the popular superstitions of his country; and, though unacquainted with war as a science, he was passionately fond of all its stratagems and dangers.

No time could have been more favorable for the new commander than the present, as the French, having been successively defeated by the generals Melas and Kray, were obliged to take refuge under the cannon of Mantua, and had become so weak in point of numbers, that nothing but a sudden retreat could save them from captivity. At this critical period, Scherer, overwhelmed with shame, after having ruined the army of Germany by dilapidations as a minister, and the army of Italy by his ignorance as a general, resigned the command, and obtained an escort to shelter him from the indignation of the people. Moreau was immediately appointed his successor; but his forces did not exceed 35,000

men.

A retreat having become absolutely necessary, Isola Della Scala, and Villa Franca, were abandoned in succession; the Mincio was crossed, and the strong fortresses of Peschiera and Mantua being abandoned to their fate, the generals Kray and Klanau formed the blockade of both with a body of 25,000 men.

Suwarrow having taken the field, in order to BOOK IH. pursue the French, his commencement was ex--ceedingly auspicious; for, two days after his ar- CHAP.XIV. rival, April 20, the town and citadel of Brescia, with a garrison of 1000 men, capitulated to a detachment commanded by Field-marshal Lieutenant Otto.

The Russian field-marshal immediately took measures for pushing forwards. Having crossed the Oglio, and advanced to the Adda in three columns, the French were found strongly posted on the other side, as they had fortified Cassano, and made all the necessary preparations for an obstinate resistance. During the night of the 27th, General Vukassowich found means to cross the river Adda on a flying bridge, after which he immediately took post on the right bank near Brivio. In the course of the succeeding morning, an Austrian column, under General Otto, passed over near the castle of Trezzo, and falling in with Grenier's division, which was advancing against Vukassowich, at length forced it to give way. After this, the village of Pezzo, or Pozzo, was carried sword in hand. General Melas also marched with artillery against Cassano, and obtained possession of the bridge, while a division of French at Bertero was beaten, after an obstinate engagement, and forced to capitulate.

The battle of Cassano, during which Moreau had several of his aides-de-camp killed by his side, decided the fate of the Cisalpine republic. The directory having learned the fate of the action, immediately left Milan; the two councils followed on the succeeding morning, April 28, and in the course of the same forenoon, a body of the allies entered and took possession of the city.

On the 26th of May, Peschiera surrendered to General Count St. Julien, after a short siege; Mantua was closely pressed; the capital of Piedmont was at the same time threatened by a column of the allies, and Moreau was obliged to abandon his strong position between the Po and the Tonaro.

When Suwarrow became master of Milan, he determined to embrace a variety of objects by a loose and injudicious partition of his army. Accustomed to fight against the Poles and the Turks, he supposed that one victory produced the entire discomfiture of the enemy, and that nothing remained but to reap the immediate fruits of his success. His intentions therefore were-First, To prosecute his operations against Moreau, that he might oblige the French commander to hasten his retreat, and evacuate Piedmont and Genoa before he could procure reinforcements.-Secondly, To penetrate above the lakes, which would enable the Archduke more easily to pass with his left wing beyond St. Gothard.-Thirdly,

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BOOK III. Behind him, on the south-east, General Kray laid siege to Mantua with 25,000 men, while Ferrara CHAP.XIV. and Bologna were blockaded by Klenau; the defence of these places was favorable to the retreat 1799. of the troops commanded by General Macdonald. -Fourthly, He sent General Ott to assist Klenau to check General Macdonald in gaining the passes of the Appenines on Upper Tuscany, and cut off all intercourse with that country and the Ligurian republic on its north-west. He also sent a vanguard to reduce Novarra, and such places as the republicans had abandoned, and to march up the пр Po as far as Turin, and thus call the attention of General Moreau to his rear, by flanking his left wing. General Hohenzollern proceeded towards Placentia, with a part of the combined army, and drove back the republican vanguard beyond Voghera. To gain the passes into Genoa, by way of the Appenines, Suwarrow took a station at Bobbio, on the road from Placentia to Genoa. When General Kray was master of Peschiera, he went on to Burgoforte, and assembled the whole of his troops around Mantua, the garrison of which made frequent sorties. General Latterman opened the siege of Milan, May 5, the trenches before Pizzighitone having been opened at the time by General Kaim, which, after four days, was forced to surrender. This last place surrendered on the 9th, after an explosion of a small magazine of powder. The garrison, consisting of 600 men, were made prisoners of war. The castle of Milan, which was garrisoned with 700 troops of the line and about 600 natives, held out only a short time, under General Bechaud.

After Moreau retreated beyond the Adda, he advanced his army towards the territory of Genoa, in three columns; repairing in person to Turin, in order to make provisions for the eventual evacuation of that city, and the preservation of the citadel, fixing his head-quarters at Alexandria, on the 7th of May. Suwarrow, in the mean time, had advanced to Pavia; but, by the divisions of his army, had weakened his main force, which General Moreau could not possibly have withstood, had his strength been consolidated. That officer took an excellent position between Valenza and Alexandria, behind the Po, fortifying himself on the Adda, within a kind of intrenched camp. A Russian division crossed the river below Valenza, on the 12th of May, attacking, with great fury, the left of the French; but they were driven back with prodigious slaughter.

Suwarrow now determined to march the main body of his army along the left bank of the Po to Turin, to force the French general either to fall back on the French frontier, or take refuge in the territory of the Ligurian republic. As General Moreau saw the movements which were made to render this design easy, he threw a bridge,

during the night, over the Bormida, near Alexandria, which he crossed next morning, in person, at the head of a strong column, attacking and breaking the chain of Austrian and Russian posts of Marenzo, Guiliano, and Garrasols, and retreating in safety to Alexandria. But, though thus successful, he deemed it proper to evacuate Valenza and Alexandria, Casal having been captured by General Vukassowich; and he retreated by the way of Coni, still preserving his communication with Finale, and the other posts on the coast of Genoa. The schemes of Suwarrow were thus rendered abortive by the superior generalship of Moreau, which made him march towards Turin, that place instantly surrendering to the allies, and the garrison retiring to the citadel on the 27th of May. Scarcely had ten weeks passed away from the commencement of hostilities on the Adige, till Marshal Suwarrow had led his troops from the foot of the Rhetian Alps, across the plains of Lombardy, nearly within sight of the vineyards of Provence.

Though Suwarrow had made this astonishing progress in front, there was still an army in his rear, to oppose which a very considerable force was absolutely necessary. General Macdonald, being apprised of the retreat from the Adige, had departed from the kingdom of Naples. A camp was previously formed at Caserta, and at Naples was erected a strong national guard. Fort St. Elmo was provided and garrisoned for a siege, as were likewise Capua and Gaeta; the government was organized; and the patriots of Naples (as they were styled) appeared fully determined to defend themselves against every effort of the court of Palermo. When General Macdonald, however, departed from the camp of Caserta on the 9th of May, they were seized with astonishment; and the Roman republicans were scarcely less confounded.

Although Ferdinand IV. had abandoned his capital, he was not wholly forsaken by his subjects: the inhabitants of the provinces, in particular, still retained an affection for their absent king, and were ready to sacrifice their lives in his defence.

Cardinal Ruffo was very assiduous in cherishing these loyal sentiments. This ecclesiastic, one of the most extraordinary characters of the age, had, in consequence of some disputes with the pope, taken refuge in the court of Naples, where he was appointed Intendant of Caserta, an appointment by no means suitable to the dignity of the Roman purple. Having accompanied the king to Palermo, at a period when all the courtiers despaired of the restoration of the monarchy, he obtained leave to repair to Calabria, on purpose to erect the standard of royalty there. Although accompanied by five persons only when he landed at Scilla, viz. Spasiani, a priest, who acted as bis

secretary; his brother, a commander of one of the orders; a valet, and two domestics; this fortunate adventurer was soon joined by a number of inhabitants, headed by Don Reggio Renaldi, rector of Scalca, who had already organized an insurrection, and waited only the arrival of a chief!

The warlike cardinal, after collecting a number of new levies, in the capacity of general, recurred to his sacred functions as a priest, on purpose to arouse the fanaticism of a people whom he knew to be both superstitious and barbarous in the extreme. In virtue of his spiritual authority, he excommunicated all those who would not take up arms, while he enjoined every true catholic to wear a red cross in his hat, as a signal of faith, and promised such as might die in battle the immediate enjoyment of paradise. In addition to many of the peasantry, his eminence was soon joined by a multitude of galley-slaves, criminals imprisoned in the gaols, and robbers who had infested the highway; these were immediately formed into divisions, under three chiefs; the first of whom was called Fra' Diabolo, a monk, who, after being expelled from his convent, became the leader of a desperate band of freebooters; the second was the gaoler of Salerno, who marched at the head of his prisoners; and the third, Pauzanera, who, as reported, had committed fourteen homicides. Such, as asserted by some writers, were the troops under Cardinal Rufio; but, be it recollected, that those styled criminals had been imprisoned by the revolutionists, and were probably more worthy characters than those whom they now opposed. The royalist army, though chiefly composed of Lazzaroui, or beggars, consisted of some hundreds of Calabrians and Russians, and amounted to upwards of 20,000 men. The martial prelate, having bestowed on them the appellation of "The Christian Army," attacked and seized the port of Avigliano, and the towns of Cotrona and Can

tanzaro.

Having defeated the republican levies of men which were sent against him, Cardinal Ruffo marched against the capital, which, on the 20th of June, surrendered by capitulation.

Castel-a-mare, about eighteen miles from Naples, was summoned, by the members of the Neapolitan government, to surrender. The patriots fought with incredible valor, having, at first, formed the resolution of burying themselves under the ruins. They were summoned a second time, and, as they had no hope of obtaining any succours, they surrendered to a British squadron, under the command of Commodore Foote. The capitulation was signed on the 22d of June, and ratified by Cardinal Ruffo, Commodore Foote, and the commanders of the Russian and Turkish squadrons, the last of whom affixed his mark and

seal. Those who capitulated amounted to 1500, BOOK III. and declared their intention of emigrating.

1799.

Soon after, a coalesced army of English, Rus- CHAP.XIV. sian, Turkish, Portuguese, and Italian troops, came into port, animated by the activity, and directed by the talents, of Lord Nelson, and his meritorious second, Captain Trowbridge. To the treaty which the cardinal had agreed to with the Prince of Caraccioli and some other members of the revolution, Lord Nelson refused to accede. A body of English, Russian, and Portuguese troops having obtained possession of the castles of Ovo and Nuovo on the 26th, under the command of Captain Hood, another detachment, led by Captain Trowbridge, invested the castle of St. Elmo on the 29th. This was a work of great difficulty: seven batteries, armed with cannon of the largest bore, were successively erected; and, on July 11, thirty pieces of ordnance were ready to play on the fort. This arduous task was chiefly accomplished by the exertions of a body of British seamen. of British seamen. The garrison persisted in a vigorous defence; but the batteries of the place being almost all dismounted, and the works very much shattered, Mejan, the commanding officer, thinking the place was about to be stormed, at length consented to a capitulation. The terms were agreed to and signed on the 12th. The garrison, after having laid down their arms, were to be embarked for France, on the condition of not serving again until an exchange should take place; and all the subjects of his Sicilian majesty were to be delivered up to the allies.

The King of the Two Sicilies had arrived from Palermo, July 10, and, having repaired on board the Foudroyant, the English admiral's ship, where the royal standard was hoisted, saw also his flag waving once more over his capital. Lord Nelson and Captain Trowbridge did not confine their efforts to the restoration of the king, but extended them to that of the papal chair. The fate of the unfortunate Pius the Sixth had been unknown, even to the Austrians, who had entered Parma twenty-four hours after the pontiff had been torn from thence.

The only towns not yet reduced, under the authority of the Neapolitan government, were Capua and Gaeta. The former surrendered to Capt. Trowbridge, June 28. The French garrison laid down their arms on the glacis on the 29th, and marched towards Naples, to be there embarked for France. Capua surrendered, July 1, on the same conditions.

The King of the Two Sicilies formally disavowed the authority of Cardinal Ruffo to treat with subjects in rebellion. Ferdinand entertained exalted notions of his prerogative, having lately imprisoned the viceroy, Prince Pignatelli, on account of his negociation with General Championnet; his letter to that prince, which we have given