When Napoleon set out from Paris on the 21st of March 1796, to take command of the Army of Italy, after a honeymoon of but three days, he traversed France with the swiftness of a courier, turning aside but a few hours at Marseilles with his mother and family, whom he was now able to provide for in an adequate manner. His letters to Josephine were full of passionate expressions of tenderness, and regret at their separation. But after paying his tribute to the affections, his heart was speedily filled with exultation and triumph. For the first time he was chief in command; the power within him was now free to direct his actions, unhampered by the restraint he had so long felt in the capital. He was extremely anxious to commence the career to which Fate called him, by placing himself at the head of the Army of Italy at once.

It would not be difficult to imagine with what delight this young general—then scarcely twenty-six years old—advanced to an independent field of glory and conquest, confident in his own powers, and in the perfect knowledge of the country which he had previously acquired. He had under his command such men, already distinguished in war by success and bravery as: Augereau, Massena, Serrurier, Joubert, Lannes, Murat, La Harpe, Stengel and Kilmaine, all of whom were astonished at the youthful appearance of their new commander.

It was not without some discontent that the old generals beheld a young man, lately their inferior, taking the command over their heads,—to which each supposed he had a prior claim, and reaping the benefits of a plan of operations they did not imagine to have originated with himself. As he rode along the ranks the soldiers observed that he did not sit well on horseback, and complained that a "mere boy" had been sent to command them. The young general, however, soon obtained that respect for his character, which had been denied to his physical constitution. The firmness he exhibited, soon put a stop to the insubordination which had prevailed in the army; and, even before they had conquered under him, the troops became as submissive as at any subsequent period, when his character was fully established.

Some years before, when Bonaparte was conversing at Toulon with M. de Volney, the well-known Corsican traveler and literary man, at a dinner given to the two friends by Turreau, then in command of the military force at Nice, a campaign in Italy was suggested. After the dessert was brought in Napoleon said to Turreau: "Don't you think it's altogether too bad to have 10,000 men lying idle here at Nice when the Republic could make such excellent use of them in Italy?"

"Possibly," replied Turreau, "but we can do nothing; we have no order to move from the Committee of Public Safety."

"Then," said Napoleon, "it is your duty to make the committee ashamed of its inactivity."

"What would you do if you could act as you pleased?" asked Turreau. Napoleon promised to give a reply the next evening. At the time fixed he came prepared with a complete plan of campaign written out and classified under seventeen heads. It involved the invasion and conquest of Italy on almost the same lines that he was now about to undertake, and the outgrowth partially of that meeting, for Turreau forwarded the plan to the Committee of Public Safety at Paris on condition that it be put in the hands of Carnot, in whose judgment Napoleon had confidence. Carnot looked over the plan and was delighted. He was unable to secure immediate action, but two years later, when the invasion of Italy was determined upon, he had sufficient influence to see that Napoleon was put in charge of it.

Bonaparte arrived at the headquarters of the army at Nice on the 27th of March, 1796. The French Army of Italy, which amounted to 31,000 available men, had endured great hardships and privations, were destitute of shoes, clothing, and almost everything which their comfort demanded. The cavalry was wretchedly mounted and they were very deficient in artillery. To silence their complaints, and reconcile them to their situation, as well as to endear them to himself, Napoleon lived familiarly with his soldiers, participated in their hardships and privations, and redressed many of their grievances. "My brave fellows," he said to them on one occasion, while endeavoring to revive their spirits; "although you suffer great privations, you have no reason to be dissatisfied; everything yields to power; if we are victorious, the provisions and the supplies of the enemy become ours; if we are vanquished, we have already too much to lose."

The allies, Austrian and Sardinian, were a greatly superior force, numbering as they did 80,000 men, were well equipped with supplies, and occupied in their own, or a friendly country, all the heights and passes of the Alps. Berthier, then on Napoleon's staff as major-general, took great pleasure in showing as a curiosity in after years a general order by which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply for an outfit to each general of division, and dated on the very day of the victory at Albinga.

On the 8th of April Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "I found this army, not only destitute, but without discipline; their insubordination and discontent were such that the malcontents had formed a party for the Dauphin, and were singing songs opposed to the tenets of the Revolution. You may, however, rest assured that peace and order will be re-established; by the time you receive this letter, we shall have come to an engagement."

It was under such circumstances that Bonaparte proposed forcing a passage to Italy and converting the richest territory of the enemy into the theatre of war. "Soldiers," said he to his destitute and disheartened men, "you are naked and ill-fed; the Republic owes you much, but she has nothing with which to pay her debts. Your endurance and patience amidst these barren rocks deserves admiration; but it brings you no glory. I come to lead you into the most fertile plains the sun shines upon. Rich provinces, and great cities will soon be in your power; there you will reap riches and glory—they will be at your disposal. Soldiers of Italy! with such a prospect before you, can you fail in courage and perseverance?"

This was the commander's first address to the army, and the words of encouragement which he gave them shot martial enthusiasm through their veins like electric fire. Under the incompetent management of Scherer the army, which had obtained some success against the Austrian general, De Vins, had been without glory, although their battalions were headed by valiant officers whose leader had neglected to improve his good fortune. The French soldiers were thirsting for a commander capable of leading them on to fame and glory, the conquest of Italy, therefore, seemed reserved for General Bonaparte.

Napoleon's system of tactics, although then unknown even to his officers, were a fixity with him. They appear to have been grounded on the principle that "the commander will be victorious who assembles the greatest number of forces upon the same point at the same moment, notwithstanding an inferiority of numbers to the enemy when the general force is computed on both sides." He eminently possessed the power of calculation and combination necessary to exercise these decisive manoeuvres.

Napoleon's career of victory began, as it continued, in defiance of the established rules of warfare, and what distinguished him above all his contemporaries was his ability to convert the most unfavorable circumstances into the means of success. He perceived that the time was come for turning a new leaf in the history of war. With such numbers of troops as the impoverished Republic could afford him, he soon saw that no considerable advantages could be obtained against the vast and highly-disciplined armies of Austria and her allies unless the established rules of etiquette and strategy were abandoned. It was only by such rapidity of motion as should utterly surprise the superior numbers of his adversaries that he could hope to concentrate the entire energy of a small force, such as he commanded, upon some point of a much greater force, and thus defeat them. He knew he would have to deal with veteran soldiers and experienced generals—men who had learned the art of war before he was born. He therefore resolved that every movement should be made with celerity, and every blow be leveled where it was least expected.

To effect such rapid marches as he had determined upon, it was necessary that the soldiery should make up their minds to consider tents and baggage as idle luxuries; and that instead of a long and complicated chain of reserves and stores, they should dare to rely wholly for the means of sustenance on the countries into which their venturesome leader might conduct them.

The objects of Napoleon's expedition were to compel the king of Sardinia, who maintained a powerful army in the field, to abandon the alliance of Austria; to compel Austria to concentrate her forces in her Italian provinces, thus obliging her to withdraw them from the bank of the Rhine where they had long hovered. It was hoped, also, to humble the power of the Vatican and break the prestige of its Jesuitical diplomacy forever. He had as yet achieved no fame in the field and not a general in Europe would have blamed him if he had only succeeded in holding the territory of Nice and Savoy, which France had already won.

Napoleon's plan of reaching the fair regions of Italy differed from that of all former conquerors; they had uniformly penetrated the Alps at some point of access in that mighty range of mountains; he judged that the same end might be accomplished more easily by advancing along the narrow strip of comparatively level country that intervenes between those enormous barriers and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and forcing a passage at the point where the last or southern extremity of the Alps melt, as it were, into the first and lowest of the Appenine range.

No sooner did he begin to concentrate his troops towards this region than Beaulieu, the Austrian general, took measures for protecting Genoa and the entrance of Italy with a powerful, disciplined and well-appointed army. He posted himself with one column at Voltri, a town on the sea some ten miles west of Genoa; D'Argenteau, with another column occupied the heights of Montenotte, while the Sardinians, led by General Colli, formed the right of the line at Ceva. This disposition was made in compliance with the old system of tactics; but it was powerless before new strategy. The French could not advance towards Genoa but by confronting some one of the three armies and these Beaulieu supposed were too strongly posted to be dislodged.

On the morning of the 12th of April, 1796, when D'Argenteau advanced from Montenotte to attack the column of Rampon, he found that by skillful manoeuvres during the night Napoleon had completely surrounded him—a man who had fancied there was nothing new to be done in warfare.

On the previous day the Austrians had driven in all the outposts of the French and appeared before the redoubt of Montenotte. This redoubt, the last of the intrenchments, was defended by 1,500 men commanded by Rampon who made his soldiers take an oath, during the heat of the attack, to defend it or perish in the intrenchments, to the last man. The repeated assaults of the French were without avail, their advancement was checked and they were kept the whole night at the distance of a pistol shot, 400 men being killed by the fire of their musketry alone.

At daybreak, the following morning, Bonaparte then being at the head of the French forces, and having introduced two pieces of cannon into the redoubt during the night, the action was recommenced with great vigor and with varying success. The contest had continued for sometime, when Bonaparte, with Berthier and Massena appearing suddenly with the centre and left wing of the army upon the rear and flank of the enemy, at once commenced a furious attack, filled them with terror and confusion, and decided the fate of the day. D'Argenteau, who commanded the rear, had fought gallantly, but seeing that to continue the battle would only end in total destruction, he fled, leaving his colors and cannon, a thousand killed and two thousand prisoners.

Thus was the centre of the great Austrian army completely routed before either its commander-in-chief at the left, or General Colli at the right, knew that a battle had begun. It was from this battle, the first of Napoleon's victories, that the French Emperor told the Emperor of Austria, some years later, that he dated his nobility. "Ancestors?" said Napoleon, "I, sir, am an ancestor myself; my title of nobility dates from Montenotte!"

This victory enabled the French, under La Harpe, to advance to Cairo, and placed them on that side of the Alps which slopes toward Lombardy.

Beaulieu now fell back on Dego, where he could open his communication with Colli, who had retreated to Millessimo, a small town about nine miles from Dego. Here the two commanders hoped to unite their forces. They were soon strongly posted, and dispatching couriers to Milan for reinforcements, intended to await their arrival before risking another battle. It was their object to keep fast in these positions until succor could come from Lombardy; but Napoleon had no intention of giving them such a respite; his tactics were not those of other generals.

The morning after the victory of Montenotte Bonaparte dispatched Augereau to attack Millessimo; Massena to fall on Dego, and La Harpe to turn the flank of Beaulieu.

Massena carried the heights of Biestro at the point of the bayonet, while La Harpe dislodged the Austrian general from his position, which separated him hopelessly from the Sardinian commander and put him to precipitate flight. By these movements Bonaparte was in such a position, that, though they had not traversed, his army had at all events scaled the Alps.

Meanwhile Augereau had seized the outposts of Millessimo and cut off Provera, with 2,000 Austrians who occupied an eminence upon the mountain of Cossaria, from the main body of Colli's army. Provera took refuge in a ruined castle which he defended with great bravery, hoping to receive assistance from Colli.

The next morning Napoleon, who had arrived in the night, forced Colli to battle and compelled him to retreat towards Ceva. Provera imitated the gallant example of Colonel Rampon in his defense, but not with the same success. He was compelled to surrender his sword to Bonaparte at discretion, after a loss of 10,000 in killed and prisoners, twenty-two cannon and fifteen standards. The French found on the summit of the Alps every species of ammunition and other necessities which the celerity of their march had prevented them from carrying.

Dego, situated at the summit of the Alps, secured the entrance of the French into Italy, cut off the communications between the Austrian and Sardinian armies, and placed the conqueror in a situation to crush them in succession one after the other. Beaulieu, fully sensible of the danger of his situation, collected the best troops in his army, and at break of day on the 15th of April, retook Dego at the head of 7,000 men.

The Austrians stood two attacks headed by Napoleon, but at the third Causse rushed forward, holding his plumed hat on the point of his sword, and Dego was soon again in possession of the French. For this piece of gallantry he immediately received the rank of brigadier-general. Here also, Lannes, who lived to be a marshal of the Empire, first attracted the notice of Napoleon, and was promoted from lieutenant-colonel to colonel. The triumph, however, was purchased with the life of the brave General Causse. He was carried out of the mÊlÉe mortally wounded. Napoleon passed near him as he lay. "Is Dego retaken?" asked the dying officer. "It is ours," replied Napoleon. "Then long live the Republic!" cried Causse, "I die content."

Hotly pursued by the victors, Colli rallied his fugitives at Mondovi, where they again yielded to the irrisistible onset of the French, the Sardinian commander leaving his best troops, baggage and cannon on the field. The action was a most severe one in which, among others, the French general, Stengel, a brave and excellent officer, was killed, and the cavalry would have been overpowered but for the desperate valor of Murat.

The Sardinians lost ten stands of colors and fifteen hundred prisoners, among whom were three generals. The Sardinian army had now ceased to exist, and the Austrians were flying to the frontiers of Lombardy.

Napoleon, following up his advantage, entered Cherasco, a strong place about ten miles from Turin, as a conqueror. Here he dictated the terms by which the Sardinian king could still wear a crown. From the castle where he stood, and looking off on the garden-fields of Lombardy—which had gladdened the eyes of so many conquerors—with the Alps behind him, glittering in their perennial snows, Napoleon said to his officers: "Hannibal forced the Alps—we have turned them." To his soldiers, whom he addressed in a proclamation, he said: "In fifteen days you have gained six victories, taken twenty-one stands of colors, fifty-five pieces of cannon, several fortresses, and conquered the richest part of Piedmont: you have made 15,000 prisoners, killed or wounded upwards of 10,000 men. Hitherto you have fought for barren rocks, rendered famous by your valor, but useless to your country. Your services now equal those of the victorious army of Holland and the Rhine. You have provided yourselves with everything of which you were destitute. You have gained battles without cannon! passed rivers without bridges! made forced marches without shoes! bivouacked without strong liquors and often without bread! Republican phalanxes, Soldiers of Liberty, only, could have endured all this. Thanks for your perseverance! If your conquest of Toulon presaged the immortal campaign of 1793, your present victories presage a still nobler. But, soldiers, you have done nothing while so much remains to be done; neither Turin or Milan are yours. The ashes of the Conquerors of the Tarquins are still trampled by the assassins of Basseville."

To the Italians Napoleon said: "People of Italy! The French army comes to break your chains. The people of France are the friends of all nations—confide in them. Your property, your religion and your customs shall be respected. We make war with those tyrants alone who enslave you."

The French soldiers, flushed with victory, were eager to continue their march, and the people of Italy hailed Napoleon as their deliverer. The Sardinian king did not long survive the humiliation of the loss of his crown—he died of a broken heart within a few days after signing the treaty of Cherasco.

In the meantime the couriers of Napoleon were almost every hour riding into Paris with the news of his victories, and five times in six days the Representatives of France had decreed that the Army of Italy deserved well of their country.

Murat was sent to Paris bearing the news of the capitulation of the king of Sardinia, and twenty-one stands of colors. His arrival caused great joy in the capital.

The consummate genius of this brief campaign could not be disputed, and the modest language of the young general's dispatches to the Directory lent additional grace to his fame. All the eyes of Europe were fixed in admiration on his career.

In less than a month's campaign Napoleon laid the gates of Italy open before him; reduced the Austrians to inaction; utterly destroyed the Sardinian king's army, and took two great fortresses called "the keys to the Alps!"

To effect the rapid movements required for such results, everything was sacrificed that came in the way, not only on this occasion, but on every other. Baggage, stragglers, the wounded, the artillery—all were left behind, rather than the column should fail to reach the destined place at the destined time. Napoleon made no allowance for accidents or impediments. Things until now reckoned essential to an army were dispensed with; and, for the first time, troops were seen to take the field without tents, camp equipage, magazines of provisions, and military hospitals. Such a system naturally aggravated the horrors of war. The soldiers were, necessarily, marauders, and committed terrible excesses at this first stage of the campaign; but every effort was made, and with much success, to prevent this evil after conquest had put the means of regular supply within the power of the commander-in-chief. The wounded were frequently left behind for want of the means of conveyance. According to one authority, the loss by the disorders inseparable from this means of war was four times as great as by the fire or the sword of the enemy.

The army, nevertheless, adored its fortunate general, and it still doted upon him even when undeceived respecting his providence for it. "To be able to solve this enigma," says General Foy, "it was requisite to have known Napoleon, the life of camp and of glory, and, above all, one must have a French head and heart." With the sufferings of the army, he never failed to show an active sympathy when it did not tend to the compromise of his plans. The hours, too, spent by Napoleon on the field after a battle, endeared him to his followers. He visited the hospitals in person and made his officers, after his example, take the utmost interest in this duty. His hand was applied to the wounds; his voice cheered the sick. All who recovered could relate individual acts of kindness experienced from him by themselves or their comrades.

It was at this period that a medal of Napoleon was struck at Paris as conqueror of Montenotte. The face is extremely thin, with long, straight hair. On the reverse, a figure of Victory is represented flying over the Alps, bearing a palm branch, a wreath of laurel and a drawn sword. It was the first of the splendid series designed by Denon to record the victories and honors of France's great warrior.

Napoleon determined to advance without delay, giving Tuscany, Venice, and the other Italian States no time to take up a hostile attitude. After accomplishing so much, a general of less enterprise might have thought it right to rest awhile and wait for reinforcements before attempting further conquest, but not so with Napoleon. The French army, to which recruits were now flocking from every hospital and depot within reach, was ordered to prepare for instant motion.

It was after one of the successful movements of this period that an old Hungarian officer was brought prisoner to Bonaparte, who entered into conversation with him, and among other matters asked what he thought of the state of the war. "Nothing," replied the prisoner, who did not know he was addressing the commander-in-chief, "nothing can be worse. Here is a young man who knows absolutely nothing of the regular rules of war; to-day he is in our rear, to-morrow on our flank, the next day again in our front. Such violations of the principles of the art of war are intolerable sir, and we do not know how to proceed!"

To secure the route to Milan it was necessary to drive the Austrians from the banks of the Adda, behind which they had retired after a heavy loss at Fombio. Lannes upon that occasion gave proofs of his astonishing intrepidity; at the head of a single battalion, he attacked between seven and eight thousand Austrians, and not content in causing their flight, he pursued them ten miles, following the trot of their cavalry on foot.

Having collected an immense quantity of artillery and the main division of his army at a narrow wooden bridge erected across this stream at the town of Lodi, General Beaulieu awaited the arrival of the French, confident of defending the passage of the Adda and arresting their progress. Beaulieu had placed a battery of thirty cannon so as to completely sweep every plank of the bridge. Had he removed the structure, which was about 500 feet in length, when he changed his headquarters to the east bank of the river, he might have made the passage much more formidable than even his cannon made it.

Well aware that his conquest would never be consolidated till the Austrian army was totally vanquished, and deprived of all its Italian possessions, Bonaparte hastened to pursue the enemy to Lodi. Coming up on the 10th of May, he easily drove the rear-guard of the Austrian army before him into the town, but found his further progress threatened by the tremendous fire of thirty cannon stationed at the opposite end of the bridge so as to sweep it completely. The whole body of the enemy's infantry drawn up in a dense line, supported this appalling disposition of the artillery.

Bonaparte's first care was to place as many guns as he could get in direct opposition to the Austrian battery. He was determined that no obstacle should oppose his victorious career, and at once resolved to pass the bridge.

Exposed to a shower of grape-shot from the enemy's batteries, Napoleon at last succeeded in planting two pieces of cannon at the head of the bridge on the French side, and to prevent the enemy from destroying it a column was immediately formed from the troops that at once appeared, determined to carry the pass. The French now commenced a fearful cannonading. Bonaparte himself appeared in the midst of the fire, pointing with his own hand two guns in such a manner as to cut off the Austrians from the only path by which they could have advanced to undermine the bridge.

Observing, meanwhile, that Beaulieu had removed his infantry to a considerable distance backwards, to keep them out of the range of the French battery, Napoleon instantly detached General Beaumont and his cavalry, with orders to gallop out of sight, ford the river, and coming suddenly upon the enemy, attack them in the rear. When that took place Napoleon instantly drew up a body of 3,000 grenadiers in close column under the shelter of the houses, and bade them prepare for the desperate attempt of forcing a passage across the narrow bridge, in the face of the enemy's thickly-planted artillery.

A sudden movement in the flanks of the enemy now convinced Napoleon that his cavalry had arrived and charged the enemy's flank, and he instantly gave the word. In a moment the brave grenadiers wheeled to the left and were at once upon the bridge, rushing forward at a charge step, and shouting: "Vive la RÉpublique!"; but the storm of grape-shot from the enemy's guns checked them for a moment. It was a very sepulchre of death and a burning furnace of destruction pouring out its broadsides of fire in defense of its position; a hundred brave men fell dead. The advancing column faltered under the redoubled roar of the guns and the rattle of grape-shot.

Lannes, Napoleon, Berthier and L'Allemand now hurried to the front, rallied and cheered the men, and as the column dashed across and over the dead bodies of the slain which covered the passageway, and in the face of a tempest of fire that thinned their ranks at every step, the leaders shouted: "Follow your generals, my brave fellows!"

Lannes was the first to reach the other side, Napoleon himself being second.

The Austrian artillerymen were bayoneted at their guns before the other troops, whom Beaulieu had removed too far back in his anxiety to avoid the French battery, could come to their assistance. Beaumont pressing gallantly with his horse upon the flank, and Napoleon's infantry forming rapidly as they passed the bridge, and charging on the instant, the Austrian line at once became involved in inextricable confusion. The contest was almost instantly decided; the whole line of Austrian artillery was carried; their order of battle broken; their troops routed and put to flight.

The slaughter of Austrians amounted to vast numbers, while the French lost but 200 men. Thus did Bonaparte execute with such rapidity and consequently with so little loss "the terrible passage," as he himself called it, "of the bridge of Lodi." It is justly called one of the most daring achievements on record.

The victory of Lodi had a great influence on Napoleon's mind. He declared subsequently that neither his success in quelling the "Sections," nor his victory at Montenotte, made him regard himself as anything superior; but that after Lodi, for the first time the idea dawned upon him that he would one day be "a decisive actor," as he himself put it, on the stage of the military and political world. That he was a fatalist is well-known, it being a frequent expression with him that "every bullet is marked."

On this occasion the soldiers conferred on him the nick-name of "Little Corporal." The original cause of the appellation, as applied to Bonaparte, has been related by Napoleon himself. He says that when he commanded near the Col di Tende the army was obliged to traverse a narrow bridge, on which occasion he gave directions that no women should be allowed to accompany it, as the service was particularly difficult, and required that the troops should be continually on the alert; to enforce such an order he placed two captains on the bridge with instructions, on pain of death, not to permit a woman to pass. He subsequently repaired to the bridge himself, for the purpose of ascertaining whether his orders were being scrupulously obeyed, when he found a crowd of women assembled, who, as soon as they saw him, began to revile him, exclaiming: "Oh, then, petit corporal, it is you who have given orders not to let us pass!"

Some miles in advance Napoleon was surprised to see a considerable number of women with the troops. He immediately ordered the two captains to be put under arrest and brought before him, intending to have them tried immediately. They protested their innocence, asserting that no women had crossed the bridge. Bonaparte caused some of the females to be brought before him, and learned with astonishment, from their own confession, that they had emptied some casks of provisions and concealed themselves therein, by which means they had passed over unperceived.

After every battle the oldest soldiers convened a council in order to confer a new rank on their young general, who, on making his appearance, was saluted by his latest title. Bonaparte, therefore, was nominated corporal at Lodi, and sergeant at Castiglione. It was "Little Corporal," however, that the soldiery constantly applied to him ever afterwards.

The fruits of this splendid victory at Lodi were twenty pieces of cannon, and between two and three thousand killed, wounded and prisoners, and the loss by the enemy of an excellent line of defense.

When Europe heard of the battle they named the conqueror "The Hero of Lodi."

Beaulieu contrived to withdraw a part of his troops, and gathering the scattered fragment of his force together, soon threw the line of the Mincio, a tributary of the Po, between himself and his enemy. The great object, however, he had attained,—he was still free to defend Mantua.

The French following up their advantages at Lodi, pursued the Austrians with great celerity. They advanced to Pizzighitone, which immediately surrendered. Pushing on to Cremona they met with like success, and the vanguard, having taken the route to Milan, entered this city on the 14th of May, having on their march received the submission of Pavia, where they found most of the magazines of the Austrian army. The tri-colored flag now waved in triumph from the extremity of the Lake of Como and the frontiers of the country to the gates of Parma.

The Austrians having evacuated Milan, when the French prepared to enter it, a deputation of the inhabitants laid the keys of its gates at their feet. A few days later, although the archduke had fled from his capital, overwhelmed with sorrow and mortification, the people collected in vast multitudes to witness the entry of the French, whom they hailed as their deliverers. The imperial arms were taken down from the public buildings and at the ducal palace this humorous advertisement was posted up:

The entry of Bonaparte into Milan under a triumphal arch and surrounded by the grenadiers of Lodi, among whom some generals were conspicuous, was eminently brilliant. The splendid carriages of the nobility and aristocracy of the capital went out to meet and salute him as the "Deliverer of Italy," and returned in an immense cavalcade, amidst the shouts and acclamations of an innumerable multitude, and accompanied by several bands playing patriotic marches, the procession stopping at the palace of the archduke, where Bonaparte was to take up his headquarters. The ceremonies of the day were concluded by a splendid ball at which the ladies showed their Republican feeling by wearing the French national colors in every part of their dress. On the same day Bonaparte entered Milan the treaty with the king of Sardinia and the Directory was signed at Paris.

Napoleon now addressed himself again to his soldiers, reminding them of their victories and responsibilities yet to come. "To you, soldiers," he said, "will belong the immortal honor of redeeming the fairest portion of Europe. The French people, free and respected by the whole world, shall give to Europe a glorious peace, which shall indemnify it for all the sacrifices it has borne the last six years. Then by your own firesides you shall repose, and your fellow-citizens, when they point out any one of you, shall say: 'He belonged to the Army of Italy!'"

From that period the Army of Italy was no longer a tax upon France, but on the contrary was a great source of revenue to her, and assisted in paying her other armies. Six weeks after the opening of the campaign, independent of ten million of francs placed at the disposal of the Directory, Bonaparte sent upwards of two hundred thousand francs to the Army of the Alps, and a million to the Army of the Rhine, thereby paving the way to his future greatness.

Bonaparte remained but six days in Milan; he then proceeded to pursue Beaulieu, who had planted the remains of his army behind the Mincio. The Austrian general had placed his left on the great and strong city of Mantua, which had been termed "the citadel of Italy," and his right at Peschiera, a well-known Venetian fortress. The Austrian veteran occupied one of the strongest positions that it is possible to imagine, and Bonaparte hastened once more to dislodge him.

The French Directory, meanwhile, had begun to entertain suspicion as to the ultimate designs of their young general, whose success and rising fame had already reached so astonishing a height. That they were exceedingly jealous of him there seems to be no doubt, and they determined to check, if they could, the career of a man of whom they seemed to be in fear. Bonaparte was therefore ordered to take half his army and lead it against the pope and the king of Naples, and leave the other half to terminate the conquest with Beaulieu at Mantua, under the orders of Kellerman. He answered by offering to resign his command. "One half of the Army of Italy cannot suffice to finish the matter with the Austrians," said he. "It is only by keeping my force entire that I have been able to gain so many battles and to be now in Milan. You had better have one bad general than two good ones!"

The Directory did not dare to persist in displacing the chief whose name was considered as the pledge of victory, and he continued to assume the entire command of the Army of Italy.

Another unlooked-for occurrence delayed for a few days the march upon Mantua. The success of the French and their exactions where victorious, had fostered the ire of a portion of the populace throughout Lombardy. Reports of new Austrian levies being poured down the passes of Tyrol were spread and believed. Insurrections against the conqueror now took place in various districts, placing thirty thousand men in arms. At Pavia the insurgents were entirely triumphant; they seized the town and compelled the French garrison to surrender. This flame, had it been suffered to spread, threatened immeasurable evil to the French cause.

Lannes instantly marched to Binasco, stormed the place, burnt it and put many of the insurgents to the sword. Napoleon appeared before Pavia, blew the gates open, took possession and later caused the leaders to be executed. At Lugo, where another insurrection took place, the leaders were tried by court martial and condemned.

These examples quelled the insurrectionists, and the French advanced on the Mincio. Bonaparte made such disposition of his troops that Beaulieu believed he meant to cross that river, if he could, at Peschiera. Meanwhile the French had been preparing to cross at another point, and on the 30th of May actually forced the passage of the Mincio, not at Peschiera, but further down at Borghetto. The Austrian garrison at this point in vain destroyed one arch of the bridge. Bonaparte quickly supplied the breach with planks, and his men, flushed with so many victories, charged with a fury not to be resisted. While the French were laboring to repair the bridge, under the fire of the enemy's batteries, impatient of delay, fifty grenadiers threw themselves into the river, holding their muskets over their heads with the water up to their chins, General Gardanne, a grenadier in courage as well as in stature, being at their head. The Austrians who were nearest, recollecting the terrible column at Lodi, fled. When the bridge was repaired the French entered Vallegio, where Beaulieu's headquarters had been stationed a short time previous. The latter was obliged to abandon the Mincio as he had the Adda and the Po, and to take up the new line of the Adige.

The left line of the Austrian force, learning from the cannonade that the French were at Borghetto, hastened to ascend the Mincio with a view of assisting in the defense of the division engaged with the enemy. They arrived too late, however, to be of assistance, as the commander at Borghetto had retreated before they arrived. They came, however, unexpectedly, and at a moment when Bonaparte and a few friends, believing the work of the day to be over and the village safe from the enemy, were about to sit down to dinner, as they thought, in security. Sebetendorff, who commanded the division, came up rapidly into the village, but with no idea what a prize was within his grasp. Bonaparte's attendants had barely time to shut the gates of the inn, and alarm their chief by the cry, "To arms!" They defended the house with obstinate courage while Bonaparte threw himself on horseback and galloping out by a back passage, effected the narrowest of escapes, proceeding at full speed to join Massena's forces.

It was shortly after this that Bonaparte met with an experience that gave him the idea of the "Imperial Guard of Napoleon" and which throughout his military career he ever afterwards maintained as a personal guard. It was the duty of this body, consisting of veterans who should number at least ten years of active service, to remain always near the person of the commander-in-chief, and who were only brought into action when important movements or desperate emergencies required their utmost energies. They were placed under the command of Bessieres at this time, and were known as "Le Corps de Guides."

During the same campaign Bonaparte again narrowly escaped being taken a prisoner. Wurmser, who had been compelled to throw himself into Mantua, having suddenly debouched on an open plain, learned from an old woman that not many minutes before the French general, with only a few followers, had stopped at her door and fled at the sight of the Austrians. Wurmser immediately dispatched parties of cavalry in all directions to whom he gave orders that if they came up with Napoleon he should not be killed or harmed; fortunately, however, for the French commander, destiny and the swiftness of his horse saved him.

In their different engagements, the grenadiers had learned to laugh and sport at death; they despised the Austrian cavalry and nothing could equal their intrepidity but the gaiety with which they performed their forced marches, singing alternately songs in praise of their country and of love. Instead of sleeping they amused themselves during most of the night, each telling a tale, or forming his own plans of operation for the following day.

Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French column and retreated, after Beaulieu's example, on the line of the Adige. The Austrian commander had, in effect, abandoned for a time the open country of Italy. He now lay on the frontier, between the vast tract of rich province, which Napoleon had conquered, and the Tyrol. Mantua, which possessed immense natural advantages, and into which the retreating general had flung a garrison of full fourteen thousand men, was, in truth, the last and only Italian possession of the imperial crown, which, as it seemed, there might be a possibility of saving.

Beaulieu anxiously awaited the approach of new troops from Germany, to attempt the relief of this great city; and Bonaparte, eager to anticipate the efforts of the imperial government, sat down immediately before it.

Mantua lies on an island, being cut off on all sides from the main land by the branches of the Mincio, and approachable only by five narrow causeways of which three were now defended by strong and regular fortresses or intrenched camps; the other two by gates, drawbridge and batteries. The garrison was prepared to maintain the position, was well-nigh impregnable and the occupants awaited the hour to discover whether Napoleon possessed any new system of attack capable of shortening the usual operations of a siege as effectually as he had already done by the march and the battle.

It was a matter of high importance that Napoleon should reduce this place quickly, for a large army under Field-Marshal Wurmser, one of the most able and experienced of the Austrian generals, was about to enter Italy. His commencement gave cause for much alarm to those within the fortress. Of the five causeways, by sudden and overwhelming assaults, he obtained four; the garrison was cut off from the main land except at the fifth causeway, the strongest of them all, named from a palace near it, "La Favorita." It seemed necessary, however, in order that this blockade might be complete, that the Venetian territory, lying immediately behind Mantua, should be occupied by the French, and the claim of neutrality was not allowed to interfere with Napoleon's plans.

"You are too weak," said Bonaparte, when a Venetian envoy reached his headquarters, "to enforce neutrality on hostile nations such as France and Austria. Beaulieu did not respect your territory when his interest bade him violate it; nor shall I hesitate to occupy whatever falls within the line of the Adige."

Garrisons were placed forthwith in Verona and all the strong places of that domain. Napoleon now returned to Milan to transact important business, leaving Serrurier and Vaubois to blockade Mantua.

The king of Naples, utterly confounded by the success of the French, was now anxious to secure peace on whatever terms proposed, and Bonaparte, knowing that it would result in a withdrawal of some valuable divisions from the army of Beaulieu, arranged an armistice which was soon followed by a formal peace, and the Neapolitan troops, abandoning the Austrian general, began their march to the south of Italy. This was followed by peace arrangements with the Pope of whom Napoleon demanded, and obtained, as a price of the brief respite from invasion, a million sterling, one hundred of the finest pictures and statues in the papal gallery, a large supply of military stores and the cession of Ancona, Ferrara and Bologna, with their respective domains. The siege of the citadel of Milan, rigorously pressed, was at length successful. The garrison capitulated on the 29th of June, and by the 18th of July, one hundred and forty pieces of cannon were before Mantua.

The French general had stripped Austria of all her Italian possessions except Mantua, and the tri-color was waving from the Tyrol to the Mediterranean. Napoleon was now, in effect, master of Italy. Future success seemed to him to be assured, although the French Directory was with difficulty persuaded to let him follow the course he had adopted for himself.

The cabinet of Vienna at last resolved upon sending stronger reinforcements to the Italian frontier, and Bonaparte was now recalled from Milan to the seat of war to defend himself against them. What the Austrian court now feared was that Napoleon, who had already annihilated her Italian army, and had wrested from her the Italian domains, would soon march into the heart of her Empire and dictate a peace under the walls of her capital. All Italy was now subdued or in alliance with the French Republic except Mantua.

Beaulieu, who had been so thoroughly routed by Napoleon, was to be no longer trusted. Finding himself incompetent to withstand a general "whose mistress was glory and whose companion was Plutarch" while traversing the Tyrol with the wrecks of his army, forwarded a letter to Vienna which fully displayed the irritated feelings of the veteran commander at this time. He said: "I hereby make known to you that I have only 20,000 men remaining, while the enemy's forces exceed 60,000. I further apprise you, that it is my intention to retreat to-morrow,—the next day—the day following—nay, every day,—even to Siberia, should they pursue me so far. My age accords me liberty to be thus explicit. Hasten to ratify peace, be the conditions what they may!" Wurmser, whose reputation was of the best, and who was older than Beaulieu but not less obstinate, was sent to replace him, and 30,000 men were drafted from the armies on the Rhine charged with restoring the fortunes of Austria beyond the Alps. Wurmser's orders, too, were to strengthen himself, on his march, by whatever recruits he could raise among the warlike and loyal population of the Tyrol.

When he fixed his headquarters at Trent, Wurmser mustered in all 80,000 men, while Napoleon had but 30,000—not 60,000 as Beaulieu had stated—to hold a wide country in which abhorrence of the French cause was now prevalent, to keep the blockade of Mantua, and to oppose this fearful odds of numbers in the field. The French commander was now, moreover, to act on the defensive, while his adversary assumed the more inspiriting character of the invader.

Wurmser was unwise enough to divide his magnificent army into three separate columns, which, united, Napoleon never could have met; but each of which was soon successively broken and captured. Melas with the left wing was to march down the Adige and expel the French from Verona; Quasdonowich with the right wing followed the valley of the Chiese towards Brescia, to cut off Napoleon's retreat on Milan; Wurmser himself led the centre down the left shore of Lake Guarda towards the besieged castle of Mantua.

The eye of Napoleon, who had hitherto been watching with the intensity of an eagle's gaze all the movements of his antagonist, now saw the division of Quasdonowich separated from the centre and left wing, and he flew to the encounter, although he was obliged to draw off his army from the siege of Mantua, something which very few generals would have done. On the night of July 31st, he buried his cannon in the trenches and intentionally marked his retreat with every sign of precipitation and alarm. Before morning the whole French army had disappeared from Mantua and by a forced march regained possession of Brescia. Napoleon was hurrying forward to attack the right wing of the Austrian army before it could effect a junction with the central body of Wurmser.

A courier could hardly have borne to Quasdonowich the news of his raising the siege of Mantua before Napoleon had attacked and overwhelmed him, and he was glad to save his shattered forces by falling back on the Tyrol.

This ill-omened beginning aroused the ire, and quickened the evolutions of Wurmser, and falling on the rear-guard of Massena under Pigeon, and Augereau under Vallette, the one abandoned Castiglione and the other retired on Lonato. These inconsiderable Austrian successes were obtained by good generalship, and Wurmser now attempted to open a communication with his defeated lieutenant. His columns were weakened by extending the line, and Massena at once hurled two strong columns on Lonato, retaking it, and throwing the Austrian forces into utter confusion.

The battle of Lonato occurred on the 3d of August (1796). At daybreak the whole of the French army was in motion, Augereau moving with the right wing towards Castiglione. General Pigeon, who commanded the French advance guard, was taken prisoner with three pieces of cannon; when, at the moment the Austrians were extending their line, Napoleon sent forward in close columns the 18th and 32d demi-brigades, which being supported by a strong reserve, broke the enemy's line of battle. The artillery and prisoners made under General Pigeon, were thus retaken, and the French entered Lonato.

At Castiglione a firm stand was again taken by the fleeing Austrians, but Augereau forced the position against a defense double in numbers and for which he was afterward created Duke of Castiglione in memory of his exploit.

On that day the Austrians lost twenty pieces of cannon, from three to four thousand men killed and wounded, and four thousand prisoners, among whom were three generals. Before this engagement Napoleon suddenly found himself placed between two armies each of which was more numerous than his own. In this situation of affairs, no one of his generals entertained the least hope; but what was the astonishment of the soldiers, when they first assembled in presence of their chief, to observe no alteration in his countenance. "Fear nothing," said the commander to them, "show that you remain unchanged; preserve your valor, your just pride, and the remembrance of your triumphs; in three days we shall retake all that we have lost. Rely on me! You know whether or not I am in the habit of keeping my word."

In this memorable battle Napoleon raised himself to an equality with the greatest generals. Although the position in which he was placed was critical to an eminent degree, he contrived to turn all the success gained by Wurmser to the advantage of the French army, and that by the mere strength of his genius alone. Junot distinguished himself by extraordinary efforts of courage in these actions. He was thus mentioned in the dispatch sent by Napoleon to the Directory after the victory: "I ordered my aide-de-camp, General-of-Brigade Junot, to put himself at the head of my company of Guides to pursue the enemy and overtake him by great speed at Dezenzano. He encountered Colonel Bender with a party of his regiment of hussars, whom he charged; but Junot, not wishing to waste his time by charging the rear, made a detour on the right, took the regiment in front,—wounded the colonel whom he attempted to take prisoner when he was himself surrounded,—and after having killed six of the enemy with his own hand, was cut down and thrown into a ditch."

The Austrians, still able to collect 25,000 men and a numerous cavalry, now fled again in all directions upon the Mincio where Wurmser himself, meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua. When Wurmser reached this point he was utterly astounded to find the trenches abandoned and no enemy to oppose. One of the defeated Austrian divisions wandering about without method in anxiety to find their commander or any part of his army that was still in the field, came suddenly on Lonato, the scene of the recent battle, and at a moment when Napoleon was there with only his staff and Guard about him. He was not aware that any considerable body of the enemy remained in the neighborhood, and but for his great presence of mind must have been taken prisoner. As it was, he turned his critical position into an advantage. The officer who had been sent to demand the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded, according to custom on such occasions, to his headquarters. Bonaparte, by a secret sign, caused his whole staff to draw up around him, and when the bandage was removed from the messenger's eyes, exclaimed to him: "What means this insolence? Do you beard the French general in the very centre of his army? Go and tell your general that I give him eight minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army, and if a single gun is fired, I will cause every man to be shot." The officer, appalled at discovering in whose presence he stood, returned to his comrades with Napoleon's message.

The general of the enemy's column now made his appearance, stating his willingness to surrender and capitulate. "No" replied Bonaparte with energy, "you are all prisoners of war." Seeing the Austrian officers consulting together Napoleon instantly gave orders that the artillery should advance and commence the attack. On observing this the general of the enemy's forces exclaimed, "We all surrender at discretion!" The shortness of time allowed prevented the truth from being discovered, and they gave in to a force about one-fourth of their own. They believed that Lonato was occupied by the French in numbers that made resistance impossible. When the four thousand men had laid down their arms they discovered that if they had used them nothing could have prevented Napoleon from being taken as their prize!

Wurmser, whose fine army was thus being destroyed in detail, now collected together the whole of his remaining force, and advanced to meet the Conqueror. He had determined on an assault and was hastening to the encounter. They met between Lonato and Castiglione, and Wurmser was totally defeated, besides narrowly escaping being himself taken a prisoner. He was pursued into Trent and Roveredo, the positions from which he had so lately issued confident of victory. In this disastrous campaign he had now lost forty thousand soldiers—half his army—and all his artillery and stores, while Bonaparte placed his own loss at seven thousand. The French soldiers have called this succession of victories "the campaign of five days." The rapid marches and incessant fighting had exhausted the troops, and they now absolutely required rest.

During the exciting days while the campaign with Wurmser lasted, Napoleon never took off his clothes, nor did he take the time to sleep except at brief intervals of less than an hour. His exertions, which were followed by such signal triumphs, were such as to demand some repose, yet he did not pause until he saw Mantua once more completely invested. The reinforcement and revictualling of the garrison were all that Wurmser could show in requital of his lost artillery, stores and forty thousand men.

While Napoleon was giving some respite to his wearied army and rendering the subjugation of Italy complete, Austria was hurrying a new army to the relief of its aged but not disheartened marshal. The reinforcements of twenty thousand fresh troops at last arrived, and Wurmser was again in the field with fifty thousand men—an army vastly larger than Napoleon's. But once more he divided his forces and again each division was to be cut to pieces. He marched thirty thousand men to the relief of Mantua, and left Davidowich at Roveredo with twenty thousand men to protect the passes of the Tyrol. The two Austrian divisions were now separated and their fate was sealed.

On September 4, by the most rapid marches Europe had ever seen, Napoleon, having penetrated the designs of the Austrian general, reached Roveredo where Davidowich was intrenched in a strong position before the city, covered by the guns of the Calliano castle overhanging the town.

The camp was yielded on the same day before the terrific charge of General Dubois and his hussars. The latter, though mortally wounded, cheered his men on with his dying words, and as he fell pressing the hand of the general-in-chief, said: "Let me hear the shout of victory for the Republic before I die." These words fired his troops with deep ardor, and they drove the Austrians through the town and carried the frowning heights of the castle at the point of the bayonet, as they had carried the batteries of Lodi. The French pursued the fleeing Austrians throughout the night and Wurmser was cut off from the Tyrol.

Scarcely had the Austrian commander recovered from his surprise at hearing of the overthrow of his lieutenant at Roveredo before Napoleon, by a march of sixty miles in two days, descended in front of his vanguard at Primolano and cut it to pieces, taking four thousand prisoners. The same night Napoleon's army advanced on Bassano where on Sept. 8 Wurmser made his last stand with the main body of his army.

While Augereau penetrated the town on his left, Massena entered it on his right, seizing the cannon that defended the bridge on the Bretna and overthrowing the old grenadiers who attempted to cover the retreat of their general. Five thousand prisoners, five standards, thirty-five pieces of cannon with their caissons fell into the hands of the French, and Wurmser himself narrowly escaped being taken. Lannes seized one of the standards with his own hands; and, in consequence, Bonaparte demanded for him the rank of general of brigade. "He was," he said, "the first who put the enemy to rout at Dego, who passed the Po at Plaisance, the Adda at Lodi, and the first to enter Bassano."

The number of the dead near the latter place was considerable. Curious to ascertain the loss of the enemy, Bonaparte in the evening rode over the field with his staff, when his notice was attracted by the howlings of a dog that seemed to increase as they approached the spot whence the yells proceeded. "Amidst the deep silence of a beautiful moon-light night," said Napoleon some years later, "a dog, leaping suddenly from beneath the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then immediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He alternately licked his master's hand, and ran toward us, as if at once soliciting aid and seeking revenge. Whether, owing to my own particular turn of mind at the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I know not, but, certainly, no incident, on any field of battle, ever produced so deep an impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, has friends in the camp, or in his company, and here he lies forsaken by all except his dog. What a lesson Nature presents here, through the medium of an animal. What a strange being is man! And how mysterious are his impressions! I had, without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the army; I beheld, with tearless eyes, the execution of those operations by which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings were roused by the howlings of a dog! Certainly, at that moment, I should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy. I could very well imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of Priam's tears."

In these terrible marches Napoleon endured the same privations as his men;—baggage and staff appointments were unable to keep up with such rapid movements. He shared his bread with one of his privates who lived to remind him of this night when the Republican general had become the Emperor of France. It was during Napoleon's progress through Belgium in 1804, while reviewing a division of the army that he was visited in one of the towns by a soldier of the fourth regiment of infantry who stepped forward and thus addressed him: "General, in the year Five of the French Revolution, being in the valley of Bassano, I shared with you my ration of bread when you were very hungry. You cannot have forgotten the circumstance. I request, in return, that you provide bread for my father who is worn with age and infirmity. I have received five wounds in the service and was made corporal and sergeant on the field of battle. I hope to be made a lieutenant on the first vacancy." Napoleon recollected the soldier and immediately acknowledged the reasonableness of both his demands, which were speedily complied with.

After the most heroic resistance Wurmser again fled. Six thousand Austrians laid down their arms, and the commander with his fleeing forces took refuge about the middle of September in Mantua, whither they were pursued by Napoleon's cavalry.

Wurmser was now strictly blockaded within the citadel of Mantua with sixteen thousand men. These, with ten thousand dispersed in the Tyrol, were all that remained of his army of 60,000 men with which he was to reconquer Italy. He had also lost seventy-five pieces of cannon, thirty generals and twenty-two stands of colors. Marmont, one of Napoleon's aids-de-camp, was sent with these latter trophies to the Directory at Paris. Perceiving that Wurmser now intended to avoid a general action Napoleon returned to Milan, leaving General Kilmaine to conduct the blockade.

While at Milan, Napoleon had just mounted his horse one morning, when a dragoon, bearing important dispatches, presented himself.

The commander gave a verbal answer, and ordered the courier to take it back with all speed.

"I have no horse," the man answered; "I rode mine so hard that it fell dead at your palace gates."

Napoleon alighted. "Take mine," he said.

The man hesitated.

"You think him too magnificently caparisoned and too fine an animal;" said Napoleon. "Nothing is too good for a French soldier!"

Again a call was made on Vienna to send a new army and a greater general to restore the Hapsburg dominion in Italy. In reply another powerful armament was dispatched to the Italian frontier and this, the fourth campaign against Napoleon, was intrusted to the supreme command of Alvinzi, an officer of high reputation.

Field-Marshal Alvinzi was placed at the head of an army of forty-five thousand men to which he joined eighteen thousand under Davidowich in the Tyrol. His object was to raise the blockade of Mantua, release Wurmser and, with a force which would by the accession of the garrison of the latter amount to an army of eighty thousand men with which to oppose only thirty thousand. With these he expected to reconquer Lombardy.

Three large armies, advancing with similar prospects, had already been destroyed by Napoleon; a fourth now prepared to pour down upon him, under still more terrible circumstances. The battle of St. George and the strict blockade of Wurmser in Mantua took place in the middle of September. Alvinzi's army commenced its march in the beginning of October.

Napoleon instantly ordered Vaubois and Massena to advance to the attack of Davidowich, whose forces were collected in the Tyrol, before he could form a junction with Alvinzi. Both failed. Vaubois, after two days' fighting was conquered; lost Trent and Calliano, and was forced to retreat. Massena in consequence had to effect a retreat without attempting an engagement, and Alvinzi approaching fast gained possession of all the country between the Brenta and the Adige and the command of the Tyrol. The two Austrian generals might now have effected a junction, but they neglected their opportunity. Napoleon hastened to Verona, Alvinzi having taken the same route.

It seemed likely that Austria, in this new campaign, was destined to recover her immense losses. Napoleon was now contending against an enemy vastly superior in numbers and most completely appointed. But twelve battalions had been sent to him from France to recruit his exhausted regiments, and nothing but the employment of the highest military skill could now save him from destruction.

"The army" said he, in writing to the Directory, "so inferior in numbers, has been more weakened by the late engagements, while the promised reinforcements have not arrived. The heroes of Millessimo, Lodi, Castiglione, and Bassano, are dead or in the hospitals. Joubert, Lanusse, Victor, Lannes, Charlot, Murat, Dupuis, Rampon, Menard, Chabrand, and Pigeon are wounded; we are abandoned at the extremity of Italy. Had I received the 103d, three thousand five hundred strong, I would have answered for everything. Whereas, in a few days, 40,000 men, perhaps, will not be sufficient to enable us to make head against the enemy."

His men too, were becoming dispirited at the failure of the government to send reinforcements, and no longer fought with their accustomed vigor and enthusiasm. The retreating forces came before him with dejected looks. But the genius of Napoleon was not yet exhausted; with him discouragement was not despair. He ordered Vaubois' division—which had abandoned Calliano—drawn up on the plain of Rivoli, and thus addressed them: "Soldiers, I am not satisfied with you: you have shown neither bravery, discipline, nor perseverance. No position could rally you: you abandoned yourselves to a panic terror; you suffered yourselves to be driven from situations where a handful of brave men might have stopped an army. Soldiers of the 29th and 85th, you are not French soldiers. Quartermaster-general, let it be inscribed on their colors: 'They no longer belong to the Army of Italy!'"

The effect of these words was electric. The veteran grenadiers who had braved the terrific charges at Lodi sobbed like children and broke their ranks to cluster round their commander to plead for one more trial. Several of the veteran grenadiers, who had deserved and obtained badges of distinction, called out from the ranks: "General! we have been misrepresented; place us in the van of the army and you shall then judge whether we do not belong to the Army of Italy."

They were at last forgiven by their indignant commander, and when they were again arrayed against the enemy they quickly redeemed their lost reputation and gained new laurels. But a spirit of discontent pervaded the French army. "We cannot work miracles," said the soldiers. "We destroyed Beaulieu's great army, and then came Wurmser with a greater. We conquered and broke him to pieces, and then came Alvinzi more powerful than ever. When we have conquered him Austria will pour down on us a hundred thousand fresh soldiers and we shall leave our bones in Italy."

Although much dispirited, Napoleon was by no means disposed to abandon his campaign; to his soldiers he said by way of encouragement: "We have but one more effort to make and Italy is ours. The enemy is no doubt superior to us in numbers, but not in valor. When he is beaten Mantua must fall, and we shall be masters of all; our labors will be at an end, for not only Italy but a general peace is in Mantua. You talk of returning to the Alps, but you are no longer capable of doing so. From the dry and frozen bivouacs of those sterile rocks you could very well conquer the delicious plains of Lombardy; but from the smiling flowery bivouacs of Italy you cannot return to Alpine snows. Only beat Alvinzi and I will answer for your future welfare."

Ere long the French forces were once more ready for battle. Alvinzi had occupied the heights of Caldiero and by the middle of November threatened Verona. Massena attacked the heights but found them impregnable. The French were repulsed with considerable loss. Napoleon found it necessary to attempt taking the heights by other means in order to prevent the junction of Davidowich and Alvinzi. Pretending, therefore, to retreat on Mantua after his discomfiture, he returned in the night and placed himself in the rear of Alvinzi's army. When his columns advanced on Arcola the enemy thought at first it was only a skirmish and that the main army of the French was in Verona. The position of Arcola rendered any attack upon it so extremely hazardous that scarcely anyone would have conceived the idea of making the attempt. The village is surrounded by marshes intersected by small streams, by ditches and by three causeways or bridges, across which alone the marshes are passable. Arcola and the bridge leading to it were defended by two battalions of Alvinzi's army, and two pieces of cannon which commanded the bridge. The other two causeways were unprotected.

Napoleon ordered a division to charge the bridge of Arcola at daybreak. The attempt seemed even to the intrepid Augereau to be courting death, but he was a true soldier and obeyed orders.

On November 15 a column advanced on each of the three causeways. Augereau's division occupied the bridge of Arcola which was swept by the enemy's cannon and assailed in flank by their battalions. Even the chosen grenadiers, led by Augereau with a standard in his hand, faltered and fell back under the destructive fire, fleeing over the corpses of nearly half their comrades. It was a most critical situation, and one in which a false step or the loss of a few moments meant ruin. Napoleon, who knew that the moment was decisive, dashed at the head of the column, snatched a standard, and hurrying onwards planted the colors with his own hands on the bridge amidst a hail of balls from the enemy's artillery and musketry. As he did so he cried out: "Soldiers! are you no longer the brave warriors of Lodi? Follow your general!"

His soldiers rallied and rushed with him till they grappled with the Austrian division, but the sudden arrival of a fresh column of the enemy made it an impossibility to maintain their ground. The French fell back, and Napoleon, being in the very midst of the fight, was himself seized by his faithful grenadiers who bore him away in their arms through smoke, the dead and dying, as they were driven backwards inch by inch with dreadful carnage. Mounting a horse the commander once more prepared to make a charge at the head of his heroic troops, when his steed became unmanageable and plunged headlong throwing its rider into a morass up to his waist.

The Austrians were now between Napoleon and his baffled column. As the smoke rolled away the army at once perceived the critical position of their general. During this crisis Lannes pressed forward through the marsh and reached his commander as also did the gallant Muiron, the friend and aide-de-camp of Napoleon. Almost at the same moment a shot was fired at Napoleon. It was received by Muiron, who had interposed himself, and he died covering Napoleon's body with his own. But still the person of the commander remained in the utmost peril.

The grenadiers now formed in an instant, and with the cry, "Forward, soldiers, to save your general!" threw themselves upon the enemy, rescued their "Little Corporal" from his critical position and overthrew the Austrian columns that defended the bridge. Napoleon was quickly at their head again, rallied the column, struck terror through the ranks of the enemy, and Arcola was soon taken. Two other engagements followed at this point, in each of which the French were victorious, Massena pursuing the enemy until darkness compelled him to desist. The Austrians lost twelve thousand men killed, six thousand prisoners, eighteen pieces of cannon and four stands of colors. The loss of the French was less considerable in numbers than in the importance of the prominent individuals who fell during those three days, when the generals acted as soldiers, continually fighting at the heads of their columns. The great art of Napoleon, on that occasion, he having but 13,000 to oppose 40,000 men, was to maintain the combat in the midst of a morass where the enemy could not deploy. Upon such a field of battle, only the heads of the columns could engage; whereas, on a plain, the French army would in all probability have been surrounded.

Napoleon said at St. Helena that he considered himself in the greatest danger at Arcola.

When too late Davidowich made an advance upon Verona, but retreated quickly on hearing of Alvinzi's defeat at Arcola. Wurmser, too, made a desperate sally and was repulsed. He still held out, however. The horses of the garrison had long since been killed and salted for use; the men were reduced to half rations, and their numbers were being rapidly reduced by disease.

This fourth attempt of Austria to conquer Napoleon ended, therefore, as did the previous ones, in failure. It was one of the most memorable campaigns in history, in the course of which all the resources of skilled warriors were exhibited, not in a contest of a few hours but a succession of memorable battles. As yet, however, the young commander was but a temporary victor; the weakness of the Army of Italy did not permit him to draw all the advantages he had promised himself from Arcola. Alvinzi was now thoroughly beaten, his losses were very great, and like his predecessors he sent to Vienna for reinforcements to continue his contest against Bonaparte, who had repaired to Verona which he fixed upon as the central point of operations.

Once more the Austrian general's preparations were completed for a fresh campaign, and on January 7, 1797, at the head of sixty thousand soldiers, consisting of volunteers from the best families in Vienna and battalions from the Army of the Rhine, Croats, Hungarians, Tyroleans, etc., Alvinzi descended from the northern barriers of Italy to release the brave Wurmser from his prison at Mantua, and again attempt to "overwhelm the French invaders." A messenger dispatched to Wurmser from the imperial court was captured by the French, and dispatches concealed in wax balls recovered. From these Napoleon learned the present designs, signed by the emperor's own hand, of the Austrian government:—Alvinzi was once more placed at the head of sixty thousand men, and was again to march into Lombardy and to raise the siege of Mantua: Wurmser was directed to hold out to the last extremity: If the army of Alvinzi could be reunited with the garrison, the destruction of the French seemed undoubted; if not, and if, in the course of hostilities, he found it best to abandon Mantua, he was directed to cut his way into Romagna and to take command of the papal troops, the pope having broken the treaty of Bologna, and raised an army of seven thousand men to act in concert with Wurmser, when he should be released from Mantua.

Again the Austrian army,—the fifth—was divided, one column under Alvinzi for the line of the Adige; the other for the Bretna under General Provera, who was to join the marshal under the walls of Mantua.

When Napoleon learned this at his headquarters at Verona he posted Joubert at Rivoli to dispute Alvinzi's passage, and Augereau to watch the movements of Provera, knowing that within a few hours he could concentrate his own forces on either column.

At sunset on the 13th of January Joubert's messenger brought the news that he had met Alvinzi and with difficulty held him in check through the day. Napoleon examined with the utmost attention the maps and descriptions of the places, the reports of the generals, and those of his spies and light troops and passed a part of the night in a state of uncertainty and indecision. At length on receiving fresh reports he exclaimed: "It is clear—it is clear: to Rivoli!" and, quickly giving his orders to his aides assigning the troops to their different routes, he left a garrison at Verona and with General Massena and all the disposable troops he repaired to General Joubert. By one of his lightning marches he reached the heights of Rivoli two hours after midnight. Below in the valley five separate encampments of the Austrian army were visible in the moonlight. Napoleon quickly decided to force Alvinzi to battle before he was ready. Joubert, confounded by the display of Alvinzi's gigantic force was in the very act of abandoning his position when the French commander checked his movement, and, bringing up more battalions, forced the enemy from a position they had seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat.

From the eminence on which he stood Napoleon's keen eye soon penetrated the secret of Alvinzi's weakness,—that his artillery had not yet arrived. To force him to accept battle, Napoleon took every possible means to conceal his own arrival and prolonged, by a series of petty manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that they had to do with a mere outpost of the French. Alvinzi was fully deceived, and instead of advancing on some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to endeavor to force the heights by insulated movements which the real strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. Two field-pieces had been abandoned by their drivers and which were seized by the enemy, when an officer whose name is not recorded, advancing, cried out: "Fourteenth, will you let them take your artillery?" Berthier, who had purposely suffered the enemy to approach, then opened a terrible fire, which leveled men and horses round the guns, and upon which the Austrians immediately fell back.

A moment later the bravery of the enemy resulted in their nearly overthrowing the French on a point of pre-eminent importance, but Napoleon himself, galloping to the spot, roused by his voice and action the division of Massena who, having marched all night, had laid down to rest in the extreme of weariness. They started up at the commander's voice and the Austrian column was speedily repulsed.

The French artillery was soon in position, while that of the Austrians, as Napoleon had guessed, had not yet come up, and this circumstance decided the fortune of the day. The batteries of the French made havoc of the broken columns; the cavalry made repeated charges; four out of the five divisions were thus broken and utterly routed. The fifth now made its appearance in the rear of the French. It had been sent round to outflank Napoleon and take higher ground in his rear according to the orders of the Austrian general before the action. When Lusignan's division achieved its destined object it did so,—not to complete the misery of a routed, but to swell the prey of a victorious, enemy. Instead of cutting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself insulated from Alvinzi and forced to lay down his arms to Bonaparte. Had this movement been made a little sooner it might have turned the fortune of the day: as it was, the French soldiers only exclaimed: "Here come further supplies to our market!" and very soon the Austrians, exposed to a heavy fire from the artillery, were forced to surrender.

"Here was a good plan," said Napoleon, "but these Austrians are not apt to calculate the value of minutes."

Had Lusignan gained the rear of the French an hour earlier, while the contest was still hot in front of the heights of Rivoli, he might have aided in the complete overthrow of Napoleon instead of being defeated on one of the brightest days in the young commander's career.

In the course of the day Bonaparte had remained in the hottest of the fight, which lasted during twelve hours, and had three horses shot under him, and although much fatigued, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender ere he set off with reinforcements to the Lower Adige to prevent Wurmser from either housing Provera or joining him in the open field and so effect the escape of his own formidable garrison. The flying troops of Alvinzi were left to the care of Massena, Murat and Joubert.

Marching all day and the next night Napoleon reached the vicinity of Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted and Serrurier's position highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars had but a few hours before established themselves in the suburb of St. George. This Austrian corps had been clothed in white cloaks resembling those of a well-known French regiment of hussars, and advancing towards the gate would certainly have been admitted as friends but for the sagacity of an old sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them to have stood the wear and tear of three Bonapartean campaigns. He instantly closed the barriers and warned a drummer who was near him of the danger. These two gave the alarm and the guns of the blockading force were instantly turned upon their pretended friends who were forced to retire.

Napoleon himself passed the night in walking the outposts, so great was his anxiety. At one of these he found a grenadier sentinel asleep from exhaustion and taking his gun, without waking him, performed a sentinel's duty in his place for about half an hour. When the man, starting from his slumbers, perceived with terror and despair the countenance and occupation of his general, he fell on his knees before him. "My friend," said Napoleon mildly, "here is your musket. You had fought hard and marched long and your exhaustion is excusable; but a moment's inattention might at present ruin the whole army. I happened to be awake and have held your post for you. You will be more careful another time!"

Such acts of magnanimity endeared Napoleon to his soldiers, and, while he rarely relaxed in his military discipline, he early acquired the devotion of his men who told and retold anecdotes of his doings in camp and on the battlefield, and as the stories spread from column to column his followers came to regard him with a veneration that few older commanders have been able to instill in their men. Another anecdote is related of Bonaparte, when upon the point of commencing one of his great battles in Italy. As he was disposing his troops in order of attack, a light dragoon stepping from the ranks, requested of the commander a few minutes private conversation to which Napoleon acquiesced, when the soldier thus addressed him: "General, if you will proceed to adopt such and such measures, the enemy must be defeated."

"Wretched man," exclaimed the commander, "hold your tongue; you will surely not betray my secret" at the same time placing his hand before the mouth of the dragoon.

The soldier in question was possessed of an inherent military capacity and appreciated every arrangement necessary to insure victory. The battle terminating in favor of Napoleon, he issued orders that the poor fellow should be conducted to his presence; but all search for him proved fruitless, he was nowhere to be found: a bullet had no doubt terminated his military career.

The next morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of St. George. The tumult and slaughter were dreadful and Provera with his whole force were compelled to lay down their arms. Wurmser, who had hazarded a sortie from Mantua to join his countrymen, was glad to make his way back again, and retire within the old walls, in consequence of a desperate assault headed by Napoleon in person, who threw himself between Wurmser and Provera and beat them completely one after the other. Provera now found himself cut off hopelessly from Alvinzi and surrounded by the French; he was disheartened and defeated. He and his five thousand men laid down their arms on the 16th of January, and various bodies of the Austrian force scattered over the country followed their example. This latter engagement was called the battle of La Favorita from the name of a country house near which it was fought. The 75th at this battle refused cartridges: "With such enemies as we have before us," said they, "we must only use the bayonet."

The battles of Rivoli and La Favorita had disabled Alvinzi from continuing the campaign. Thus had the magnificent army of Austria ceased to exist in three days.

Such was the prevailing terror of the enemy at this time that in one instance RenÉ, a young officer keeping guard of a position with about one hundred and fifty men, suddenly encountered and took prisoners a small body of Austrians. On advancing to reconnoitre, he found himself in front of a body of eighteen hundred more, whom a turn in the road had concealed from his sight. "Lay down your arms!" said the Austrian commandant. RenÉ answered with boldness, "Do you lay down your arms! I have destroyed your advance guard;—ground your arms, or no quarter!" The French soldiers joined in the cry, and the whole body of the astonished Austrians absolutely laid down their arms to a party, which they found to their exasperation when too late, was in numbers one twelfth of their own.

Wurmser was now thoroughly disheartened in not receiving relief, and as his provisions were by this time exhausted, found himself at length in dire straits. Napoleon sent him word of the rout and dispersion of the Austrian army and summoned him to surrender. The old soldier proudly replied that "he had provisions for a year," but a few days later he sent his aide-de-camp, Klenau to the headquarters of Serrurier with an offer of capitulation. General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade, received the bearer of Wurmser's message in which he stated that he was "still in a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honorable terms were granted."

Napoleon, who had been seated in a corner of his tent wrapped in his cloak, now came forward and addressed himself to the Austrian envoy, who had no suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his pen, wrote down marginal answers to the conditions proposed by Wurmser. He granted terms more favorable than might have been exacted in the extremity to which the veteran was reduced. "These," said he, "are the conditions to which your general's bravery entitles him if he opens his gates tomorrow. He may have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall have no worse: he may hold out to his last morsel of bread. Meantime tell him that General Bonaparte is about to set out for Rome."

The envoy now recognized Napoleon, and on reading the paper perceived that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to hope for; he then owned that only three days' provisions remained in Mantua.

The capitulation was forthwith signed and on the 2d of February, 1797, Wurmser and his garrison of 13,000 men marched out of Mantua: 7,000 were lying in the hospitals. When the aged chief was by the fortunes of war to surrender his sword, he found only Serrurier ready to receive it. Napoleon was unwilling to be a witness to the humiliation of the distinguished veteran, and had left the place before the surrender, thus sparing the conquered veteran the mortification of giving up his sword to so youthful a commander. This delicate generosity on the part of the French general was never forgotten by Wurmser.

The terms of surrender agreed to by Bonaparte were not readily accepted by the French Directory, who urged him to far different conduct. "I have granted the Austrian," he wrote in reply, "such terms as were, in my judgment, due to a brave and honorable foe, and to the dignity of the French nation." The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted altogether to not less than 30,000 men, besides innumerable military stores and upwards of 500 brass cannon.

The conquerer sent Augereau to Paris with the sixty captured standards of Austria, and his arrival at the capital was celebrated as a national festival. Thus it was that Napoleon, with a total force at the utmost, of 65,000 men, conquered, in their own country, and under the eye and succoring hand of their own government, five successive armies, amounting, in all, to upwards of 300,000 well-appointed well-provisioned soldiers, under old and experienced commanders of approved courage. Such was the conquest of Lombardy.

Some time later Wurmser sent Napoleon a letter by special messenger acknowledging the generosity and delicacy of conduct of the French commander at Mantua, and at the same time apprising him by his aide-de-camp of a conspiracy to poison him in the dominions of the pope, with whom he was about to wage war.

A few brief engagements with papal troops followed the capitulation of Wurmser, the pope fearing that the conqueror would enter the "Eternal City;" but Napoleon, by a rapid movement, threw his infantry across the river Senio, where the enemy was encamped, and met with but a brief resistance. Shortly afterwards the pope entered into negotiations with the French commander, and the treaty of Tolentino followed on the 13th of February, 1797, conceding to the French one hundred of the finest works of art, several castles and legations, and about two millions of dollars.

Napoleon was now master of all Northern Italy with the exception of the territories of Venice, which announced that it had no desire but to preserve a perfect neutrality.

More than a month had now elapsed since Alvinzi's defeat at Rivoli; in nine days the war with the pope had reached its close; and, having left some garrisons in the town on the Adige to watch the neutrality of Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions of the Austrian Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had joined his victorious standard from France, and at the head of perhaps a larger force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded towards the Tyrol where, according to his information, the main army of Austria, recruited once more to its original strength, was preparing to open a sixth campaign under the orders,—not of Alvinzi, but of a general young like himself, and hitherto eminently successful, the Archduke Charles, who had defeated the courage and skill of Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine, and was now to be opposed to Napoleon.

The story of this sixth campaign is but a repetition of the five that preceded it. The archduke, a young prince of high talents, and upon whom the last hopes of the Austrian Empire reposed, compelled by the council of Vienna to execute a plan he had the discrimination to condemn, was destined to lead but a short campaign, although he had the best army Austria could enroll. This army once more proceeded to begin operations on a double basis, and Napoleon permitted him to assume the offensive.

On the 9th of March, 1797, the French commander's headquarters were fixed at Bassano, and he proceeded vigorously on his career of conquest. He issued one of his stirring proclamations, in which he told his soldiers that a grand destiny was still reserved for them, and then advanced to attack the archduke. He found the latter posted upon the plains bordering on the banks of the river Tagliamento in front of the rugged Carinthian mountains which guard the passage in that quarter from Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena with a division of cavalry to effect the passage of the Piave where the Austrian division of Lusignan was posted, Napoleon determined to charge the archduke in front. Massena was successful in driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, where he, with a rear guard of 500, surrendered, and thus turned the Austrian flank.

On the 16th of March, the two armies headed by Napoleon, and the Archduke Charles in person, were drawn up on opposite sides of the Tagliamento, face to face. Bonaparte then attempted to effect the passage of the river, but after a formal display of his forces, which was met by similar demonstrations on the Austrian side of the river, he suddenly broke up his line, retreated, and took up his bivouac. The archduke concluded that, as the French had been marching all the night before, their leader wished to defer the battle until another day, and in like manner withdrew to his encampment. About two hours later Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely laid down in ranks, upon the margin of the Tagliamento,—no longer adequately guarded,—and had forded the stream ere the Austrian line of battle could be formed. In the passage of the Tagliamento Napoleon was so nearly drowned, by the submersion of his carriage, that he for some moments gave up all thoughts of being rescued.

This affair was the first in which the division of Bernadotte had borne a part. He arrived upon the borders of the Tagliamento at the very moment of the combat: throwing himself into the river he exclaimed to his followers, "Think that you are the Army of the Rhine, and that the Army of Italy is looking on you!"

In the action which followed the troops of the archduke displayed much gallantry, and charged the French repeatedly with the greatest courage, but every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed; at length retreat was deemed necessary, and eight pieces of cannon and some provisions were left behind, the French following in close pursuit.

Adjutant General Kellerman distinguished himself at the head of the French cavalry and received many wounds in executing the manoeuvres that decided the success of the day; he was subsequently charged with carrying the trophies taken from the enemy to France.

The pursuers stormed Gradisca, where they made 6,000 prisoners; and the archduke continuing his retreat, occupied in the course of a few days Trieste, Fiume and every stronghold in Carinthia. In the course of a campaign of twenty days the Austrians fought Bonaparte ten times; but the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered. Their army was melting away like the snows of the Tyrol.

At last the Austrian leader decided to reach Vienna by forced marches, there to gather round him whatever force the loyalty of his nation could muster, and make a last stand beneath the walls of the capital. The archduke expected to reap great advantage from enticing the French army into the heart of Austria, where, divided by many wide provinces and mighty mountains and rivers from France, and with Italy once more in arms behind them, he hoped to cut off their source of supplies and compel them to retreat from a greatly reinforced imperial army.

From the period of the opening of the campaign the archduke had lost nearly 20,000 men made prisoners, so that the Austrians could make no stand except upon the mountains in the neighborhood of the Capital.

Vienna, however, was terror-stricken on hearing that Napoleon who was only sixty leagues distant, had stormed the passes of the Julian Alps. The imperial family—embracing little Marie Louise, then scarcely six years old, afterwards Napoleon's wife—fled with their crown jewels and treasures into Hungary; the middle classes became clamorous for a termination of the six years' war, and the archduke was ordered to avail himself of the first pretense which circumstances might afford for the opening of a negotiation. Napoleon wrote to the archduke suggesting peace: "While brave soldiers carry on war they wish for peace;" he said, "Has not the war already lasted six years? Have we not killed men enough, and inflicted sufficient sufferings on the human race? Europe has laid down the arms she took up against the French Republic. Your nation alone perseveres; yet blood is to flow more copiously than ever. Whatever be the issue, we shall kill some thousands of men on both sides, and after all we must come to an understanding, since all things have an end, not excepting vindictive passions. *** For my part, general, if the overture I have the honor to make to you should only save the life of a single man, I should feel more proud of the civic crown, I should think I thereby merited, than of all the melancholy glory that the most distinguished military successes can afford."

The archduke replied within two hours after the receipt of the letter and a series of negotiations followed, which with Napoleon's rapid advance on Vienna, finally brought about the provisional treaty of Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. Napoleon, without waiting for full power from the Directory to complete the treaty, took the responsibility upon himself and signed it on the part of France on the 19th of April. The Austrian plenipotentiaries had set down as a primary concession that "the Emperor acknowledged the French Republic."

"Strike that out!" said Napoleon; "the Republic is like the sun that shines by its own light; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are our own masters and shall establish any government we prefer." "If the French people should one day wish to create a monarchy," he afterwards remarked, "the Emperor might object that he had recognized a Republic."

This treaty was followed by a complete surrender on the part of the Venetian Senate which had violated its pledges of neutrality, and a democratic government was formed, provisionally, on the model of France. Venice consented to surrender to the victor large territories on the mainland of Italy; five ships of war, $600,000 in gold and as much more in naval stores, twenty of her best works of art and 500 ancient manuscripts. Napoleon took possession of the city, and the history of the Venetian Republic was ended. In their last agony the Venetian Senate made a vain attempt to bribe Napoleon with a purse of seven millions of francs for more favorable terms, reminding him of the proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments and of the slight attention which the French Directory had hitherto paid to his personal interests. "That is all true enough," he replied, "but I will not place myself in the power of this duke." To a larger tender on the part of Austria he replied: "If greatness or richness is to be mine, it must come from France."

Among the works of art sent by Napoleon to Paris was the celebrated picture of St. Jerome from the Duke of Parma's gallery. The duke, to save this treasure, offered Napoleon two hundred thousand dollars, which the conqueror refused to take, saying: "The sum which he offers us will soon be spent; but the possession of such a masterpiece at Paris will adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of genius."

The fall of Venice gave Napoleon the means of bringing his treaty with Austria to a more satisfactory conclusion than had been indicated in the preliminaries of Leoben. After settling the affairs of Venice and establishing the new Ligurian Republic he took up his residence at the palace of Montibello, near Milan, with Josephine, whom he had not seen since his departure from France a year before. The final settlement with Austria's commissioners was purposely delayed by that Empire, it being the universal belief that the government of France was approaching a new crisis, and Austria hoped from such an event to derive considerable advantage. Napoleon was becoming weary of the protracted negotiations and threats of the Austrian ambassadors. One day in the latter's chamber, he suddenly changed his demeanor. "You refuse to accept our ultimatum," said he, taking in his hands a beautiful vase of porcelain, which stood on the mantelpiece near him. The Austrian bowed. "It is well," said Napoleon, "the truce is broken, war is declared, but mark me,—within three months I shall shatter Austria as I now shatter this brittle affair!" So saying he dashed the fragile piece furiously to the floor, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and left the room. The ambassador followed him, and finding him preparing to march on Vienna, made submissions which induced him to once more resume negotiations, the result of which was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so called from the humble village at which it was signed on the 17th of October, 1797.

Bourrienne relates that while Napoleon was occupied with the organization of Venice, Genoa and Milan, he used to complain of the want of men. "Good God!" said he, "how rare men are! There are eighteen millions in Italy and I have with difficulty found two real ones,—Dandolo and Lelzi." These two actual "men" were immediately employed in important services, and justified his estimation of them.

It was from the palace of Montibello, five leagues from Milan, that Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "From these different points (the islands of the Mediterranean, which he proposed to seize) we can command that sea, keep an eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crumbling to pieces, and we can render the supremacy of the ocean almost useless to Great Britain. Let us take possession of Egypt, which lies on the road to India, and there we can found one of the mightiest colonies in the world. It is in Egypt we must make war on England."

To perfect the treaty with Austria Napoleon received orders from the French Directory to appear at a congress at Rastadt, all the German powers being summoned to meet there for that purpose. He took an affecting leave of his soldiers, in which he said in closing: "Soldiers, when you talk of the princes you have conquered, of the nations you have set free, and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, say: 'In the next two we shall do still more.'" He then proceeded by way of Switzerland, carrying with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of the finest armies that the world had ever seen.

A person who saw Napoleon at this time described his impressions of him in the following letter, which appeared in one of the Paris journals in December 1797: "With lively interest and extreme attention, I have observed this extraordinary man, who has performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which seems to indicate that his career is not yet closed. I found him very like his portraits—little, thin, pale, with an air of fatigue, but not of ill-health, as has been reported of him. He appears to me to listen with more abstraction than interest, and that he was more occupied with what he was thinking of than with what was said to him. There is a great intelligence in his countenance, along with which may be marked an air of habitual meditation which reveals nothing of what is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold mind, it is impossible not to believe that some daring designs are engendering which will have their influence on the destinies of Europe!"

"My extreme youth when I took command of the Army of Italy," Napoleon remarked afterwards, "made it necessary for me to evince great reserve of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly superior in age and experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato and must have appeared such to all. My supremacy could be retained only by proving myself a better man than any other man in the army. Had I yielded to human weakness I should have lost my power."

At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he was to command, Rampon undertook to give the young commander some advice. Napoleon who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in which enemies are mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat in hand and say: 'Gentlemen will you have the goodness to fire!' We must cut the enemy to pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon their battalions and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct the troops opposed to us. So much the better! Their experience will not avail them against me. Mark my words, they will soon burn their books on tactics and know not what to do."

Arriving at Rastadt Napoleon found that the multiplicity of details to be arranged was likely to require a long stay, and as his personal relations with the Directory were of a doubtful kind, he abandoned the conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues and reached Paris after a triumphal march, on the 20th of November, 1797. During his absence he had been the salvation of France, and his arrival created a great sensation in the capital. He was hailed with the most rapturous applause by the people, the streets through which he was expected to pass were thronged, and wherever he was seen the air was filled with shouts of, "Long live the General of the Army of Italy!"