the artillery of the fort, whose fire afforded a powerful protection to the camp. These batteries were completed on the morning of the 6th of January, and the archduke gave orders for the assault, but the enemy, perceiving that if they were now defeated, they should have no means of safety but in crossing the line on a flying bridge, did not think it prudent to remain any longer in so perilous a situation, and evacuated therefore all the works of the right wing, on the night of the 5th.

This retreat having considerably diminished the enemy's front, the operations became more direct and more concentrated. The besiegers were enabled to play on the bridges and constructed batteries to destroy them. The archduke, impatient to terminate a siege so tedious, so expensive and so fatiguing, ordered the remaining wing of the entrenched camp to be stormed. The Austrians were completely successful, and drove the French from their camp into the fort, at a moment when the French were relieving their troops on service. The guards that were relieved and relieving, united on the glacis of the fort, and returned to the charge against the Austrians. The combat was obstinate; but, notwithstanding the favorable circumstances which had doubled their forces, the French were unable to recover their entrenched camp, and retreated into the covered way of the fort. After this event, further resistance on the part of the besieged would have been worse than useless, and they were on the point of losing their communication with Strasburg, except by boats, as their bridges would be shortly destroyed by the batteries raised against them.

General Desaix obtained a conference with the archduke, in consequence of which the French abandoned the fort of Kehl on the following day, and withdrew entirely beyond the river, taking with them their arms, their baggage, and artillery.

Thus, after the trenches had been open for seven weeks, the imperialists recovered the possession of an important post which had been taken from them in a few hours.

History will record the siege of Kehl as one of the most remarkable events of the revolutionary war. If the Austrians did not display the same talents for attack which their enemies did for defence, it is but just to remember the obstacles of every description by which they were opposed and discouraged, the immense works which they were obliged to erect, notwithstanding the frost, the snow, the rains and the thaws. The constancy and the determination with which they supported the dangers, the fatigues, and the tediousness of the siege, were above all praise. The archduke discovered throughout, a firmness, resolution, and perseverance, not unworthy of a Frederic or a Wellington, and which are generally rewarded by ultimate success.

The loss of the Austrians in the siege of Kehl amounted to more than 10,000 men, and consisted of the flower of their infantry. The loss of the French was equally severe, and chiefly affected also their best troops. Whatever importance the latter attached to the possession of Fort Kehl, their chief motive for continuing its defence, was the hope of preventing the archduke from undertaking any other enterprise beyond the Rhine, or from retiring to seek new triumphs in Italy.

After Moreau had repassed the Rhine at the end of October, the archduke left a body of troops to blockade the tête de pont (the head of the bridge) of Huningen. As it was neither so well fortified, nor so advantageously situated as that of Kehl, it was not supposed that it would make se long resistance. But the perseverance of its defenders was not easily intimidated or subdued. Notwithstanding the commanding situation of the Austrian batteries, and the judicious direction of their fire, had broken the bridge which joined the two banks of the river, the French, by the most unwearied exertions, succeeded in repairing the misfortune, and in re-establishing the communication between the island, the town and the tête de pont of Haningen.

The month of December passed away unmarked by any important event: the Austrians refraining from hostile attack,

and proceeding by silent but regular approach. Immediately after the reduction of Kehl, the archduke sent to prince Furstenburgh the heavy artillery which he had used in the siege of that place. Its arrival enabled the prince to attack, with sufficient vigour, the tete de pont, and the works which defended it. The French, unable to withstand the number and force of his assaults, determined to abandon the right bank of the Rhine; and, having agreed to a capitulation, recrossed the river with their arms and baggage. On the same day the Austrians took possession of the tete de pont. It was specified in the VOL I.

capitulation, that the imperialists should not fire on the town of Huningen, that the French should not fire from the town on the Austrian posts, and that the right bank of the Rhine should be left in the same condition as before the passage of that river by the French. So indecisive was the issue of a campaign in which extensive provinces were laid waste, the principal towns over a large expanse of country destroyed, the inhabitants subjected to the brutality of a licentious soldiery, and 120,000 men became the unlamented sacri fice of revolutionary ambition.

2. D.

T

THE operations in Germany were regarded by the government of France as of minor importance when compared with the rapid and splendid triumphs of the army of Italy, which had been entrusted to general Buonaparte, in consequence of the intercession of Barras. For this important favor he was indebted to his marriage with madame Beauharnois, the widow of the viscount Alexander de Beauharnois, and for many years mistress of Buonaparte's patron. Her maiden name was Josephine la Pagerie, and her husband was a major in a regiment of artillery. Both were descended from noble families, both were natives of Martinique, and educated in France. The fortune of the beautiful Josephine was an acceptable addition to the slender income of the youthful viscount: their expenditure was liberal, and, having been introduced at court, their rank, their manners, and their hospitality, rendered them the most favoured and conspicuous members of the polished circles of Parisian society.

At the beginning of the revolution, M. de Beauharnois was chosen by the nobility of the bailiwick of Blois, a deputy to the states-general, and in June, 1791, was 1791, was elected their president. He served under general Biron in 1792, in the capacity of adjutant-general, and afterwards succeeded Custine in the command of the army of the Rhine; but he was suspended by the

deputies in August, 1793, and soon after arrested with his wife. On the 23rd of July, 1794, he was consigned to the guillotine, and, had not Robespierre shared his fate after the lapse of a few days, madame Beauharnois, also, would have perished on the scaffold. On the 12th of August she was released; Barras commanded the national seals to be taken off her house, and honoured her by sojourning in her mansion, until October, 1795, when his election to the directory demanded his residence at the palace of the Luxemburg.

Barras, thus unexpectedly elevated to the station of a chief magistrate, found it inconvenient to continue his connection with madame Beauharnois, and the lady agreed to an arrangement, which shewed her obedience to the wishes of her friend, or the indifference with which she regarded him. She consented to give her hand to Napoleon Buonaparte, if the general could be induced to acquiesce in the arrangement. The plan was formed, and Barras proceeded to provide his mistress with a husband and his friend with a wife.

The army of Italy was destitute of a leader, Carnot having displaced general Scherer for habitual intoxication. Barras offered to Buonaparte madame Beauharnois, 500,000 livres, and (by the influence of Carnot,) the command of the army. Barras reminded him that the lady and

the army were equally necessary to a youthful and aspiring general, and as the terms of the offer intimated that his ambition could only be gratified by compliance, he became the husband of madame Beauharnois, and commander-in-chief of the army of Italy.

1796.

Buonaparte arrived at head-quarters in the spring. He lived familiarly with the soldiers, marched on foot at their head, suffered their hardships, redressed their grievances, and acquired, by attention to their desires, their esteem and admiration. His army, according to the statement of the French, was inferior to that of the enemy in point of numbers. On receiving this information, he replied, "If we are conquered, my forces will be too numerous, if victorious, it is numerous enough."

Many political and military considerations concurred to determine the French government to prosecute the war in Italy with unusual vigor. The example of the court of Spain, which had been induced to conclude a hasty and dishonourable peace by the invasion of its territory, impressed the directory with a belief that the same plan might be adopted with success against the king of Sardinia; and it was not improbable that they might be enabled to carry the war into the Italian states of the emperor himself, to destroy his preponderance in Italy, to exclude the English from its ports, and above all, to find in a rich and fertile country, money, subsistence, and resources.

To carry these designs into execution with the better chance of success, it was necessary to elude the vigilance of their enemies. Well assured that the falls of snow and the nature of the country would prevent the Austrians and the Piedmontese from attempting offensive operations during the winter, they abstained from reinforcing the army of Italy, and from repairing the losses it sustained in the campaign of 1795. The arrears of pay, and the scantiness of subsistence, having occasioned considerable discontents among the national volunteers, the French generals, finding that they could neither restore. could neither restore

subordination nor satisfy their demands, gave permission of departure to all who were inclined to return to their own country, regarded without jealousy or displeasure, the absence of those who quitted their colours without leave, and thus permitted many of their worst soldiers to return into France. The French government were extremely tardy in restoring. order and discipline to the army of Italy. Its weakness and state of disorganization were known to the allies, and they were therefore led to conclude, that it would not be necessary to oppose them by any considerable force in the course of the next campaign.

During the months, however, of January and February, the directory, under the pretence of pretence of preventing disturbances in the south of France, assembled 4000 of their best troops in the provinces of Languedoc, Roussillon, and Provence. The greater part of them having been engaged in the campaigns of Spain, and having become accustomed to a hot climate, were therefore enabled to resist that of Italy. During the month of April, almost the whole of these troops arrived, by forced marches, in the territories of Genoa. Soon after the opening of the campaign, Buonaparte found himself at the head of an army of more than 60,000 men, of which 45,000 were under his immediate orders, in the position of Savona; the rest were posted on the Col de Tende, and in the other. passages which lead from the Riviera de Ponente, to Piedmont. The exertions of the court of Vienna were by no means. adequate to the importance of the emergency, and the promises it had made to the king of Sardinia, who had long resisted the bribes and the solicitations of the French, were no longer remembered after the occasion which gave them birth. The same promises had been made to general Beaulieu, to whom the command of the army was entrusted. He left Vienna with. the hope of finding or receiving the promised reinforcements. His chagrin and astonishment were great, when he discovered that of the 60,000 men whom he had expected to precede him, only 30,000, even including,

a corps of Neapolitans, had reached their places of destination, and that general D'Argenteau, the commander of the right of the army, retained his station, notwithstanding the express intimation of the court that he should be immediately recalled.

The forces of the king of Sardinia amounted to 60,000 men, including his militia: 20,000 commanded by general Colli, defended the Col de Tende, and the other approaches of Piedmont on the side of Nice and of Genoa; 10,000 guarded the different valleys which separated Piedmont from France; 15,000, commanded by the duke D'Aoust, were in Savoy; opposed to the French army of the Alps, amounting to 25,000 men, commanded by general Kellerman; and the rest were divided among the places of the interior.

On reviewing the different statements of the opposing parties, it will appear that the effective and moveable force of the opposing armies at the commencement of the campaign exclusive of the troops employed in the occupation of garrisons, in the defence of insulated positions, and in the prosecution of minor objects, was on the side of the French 85,000, and on that of the allies 75,000. This estimate is the more worthy of confidence, as it is computed and attested by the generals of the

enemy.

The allies were in possession of all the passes in that chain of mountains which divides the Riviere or coast of Genoa, from Lombardy and Piedmont. The French army commanded under Buonaparte by Massena, Berthier, and Angereau, was posted near the sea, having Savona on its right, the village of Montenotte on its left, and an advanced guard under general Cervonif, between Savona and Genoa. They were entrenched in these positions when Beaulieu, after waiting in vain for the expected reinforcements, advanced by the way of Novi, and the pass of the Boehetta, a name by which the Italians distinguished a chain of mountains forming many windings, through which passes the great road from Lombardy to Genoa. On the top of the highest of these mountains the road contracts itself so

much, that only three soldiers can march abreast. Having attacked Cervoni on the 9th of April, and forced him to retreat to the main army, he afterwards attacked in succession, the post which guarded his enemy's centre, and drove them from their ground till the division under D'Argenteau presented themselves before the redoubt of Montenotte, the last of the entrenchments, where they were destined to be arrested in their progress. Rampon, the gallant officer to whom its defence was entrusted, sensible of the importance, of his charge, sustained the vigorous assaults of the Austrians, and held them at bay till the dawn of the ensuing day; when the French generals who had made their preparatory movements during the night attacked his forces, fatigued by preceding actions with so much impetuosity, that they were routed after a desperate engagement, and were driven from the field with the loss of 1000 killed, and 2500 prisoners.

In the mean time Buonaparte having reinforced his right, and ordered general Laharpe to advance between generals Beaulieu and D'Argenteau, and, to turn the left of the latter, had marched forward in two columns, the one by the valley of Tanaro, and the other by the heights of Savona, in order to turn the right of the same general, and separate him from general Colli. The latter fearing to be cut off, and wishing to preserve his communication with the imperialists, fell back after an obstinate defence. Buonaparte having thus deprived M. D'Argenteau of the cooperation of the Piedmontese general, rapidly advanced upon his right flank, which he turned, while general Laharpe executed the same movement upon his left. The advantage remained at all points with the French, but their victory was dearly purchased. The loss of the Austrians was estimated at 3500, of whom 2500 were made prisoners. After this victory, the French advanced in the mountains, took possession of Careare, and proceeded to establish themselves on the heights surrounding Cairo, which the Austrians had abandoned. M. de Beaulieu, perceiving that the French had carried