CHAP. impassable floods. The Adige, in particular, preXX. sented an uncommonly strong line of defence in these 1796. respects; its deep and ample stream, from the foot

of the Alpine cliffs behind Verona, to its junction with the Po, was strongly fortified at every point where a passage could be attempted; and the line of fortresses which guarded its bridges, Verona, Legnago, and Peschiera, could only be reduced by operations in form, and by the aid of heavy artillery. Mantua, protected by its strong bastions and surrounding lakes, would itself require an army for its reduction: the rugged banks and swoln streams of the Mincio, the Piave, the Tagliamento, the Brenta, formed so many defensible positions to which the defending army could retire; while the broad channel of the Po secured one flank from being turned, and the vast natural fortress of the Tyrol, on the other, presented a sure refuge in case of disaster. It already might have been anticipated, what experience in the sequel amply demonstrated, that it was 1 Napoleon, amidst the intricacies of these rivers, fortresses, and iii. 142, 146. mountains, that the great contest for the empire of observa- Italy would take place.

Personal

tion.

State of

the French

When Napoleon assumed the command of the Republican army in the end of March, he found everyarmy when thing in the most miserable state. The efficient Napoleon force under arms, and ready for offensive operations, command, amounted only to forty-two thousand men ; but it was 1796. continually reinforced by troops from the depots in the

took the

March 27.

interior, after his successes commenced; so that, notwithstanding the losses of the campaign, it was maintained throughout nearly at that amount. The guns did not exceed sixty pieces, and the cavalry was almost dismounted; but the garrisons in the rear, amounting to eight thousand men, could furnish supplies when

XX.

1796.

the war was removed from the frontier, and the CHAP. arsenals of Nice and Antibes were well provided with artillery. For a very long period the soldiers of all ranks had suffered the extremity of want. Perched on the inhospitable summits of the Appenines during the whole of the dreadful winter of 1795-6, they had enjoyed neither tents nor shelter; magazines they had none; their shoes were worn out, their clothing in rags; the troops had for a long time been placed on half a ration a day, and even this scanty supply was for the most part procured by marauding expeditions of the soldiers into the neighbouring valleys. The officers, from the effect of the depreciation of paper, had for years in reality received only eight francs a month of pay; and the staff was entirely on foot. On one occasion, the Directory had awarded a gratification of three louis-d'or to each general of division; and the future marshals and princes of the empire subsisted for long on the humble present. But, considered with reference to their skill and warlike qualities, the army presented a very different aspect, and was, beyond all question, the most efficient one which the Republic possessed. Composed, for the most part, of young soldiers, whom the great levies of 1793 had brought into the field, they had been inured to hardship and privations during the subsequent campaigns in the Pyrenees and Maritime Alps; a species of warfare which, by leading detached parties continually into difficult and perilous situations, is singularly calculated to strengthen the frame, and augment the intelligence of the soldier. "Poverty," says Napoleon, "privations, misery, are the school of good soldiers." Its spirit had been Hard. iii. greatly elevated by the successful result of the battle 306. Th. of Loano; and its chiefs, Massena, Augereau, Serru-221.

1

Nap. iii.

135, 136,

151. Jom.

viii, 57, 59,

viii. 220,

XX.

CHAP. rier, and Berthier, had already become distinguished, and, like stars in the firmament on the approach of 1796. twilight, began to give token of their future light.

of its

officers.

history.

Berthier was chief of the staff, a situation which he continued to hold in all the campaigns of Napoleon, down to the battle of Waterloo. He was son of the Governor of the Hotel de la Guerre, at Versailles, who had formerly been chief engineer of the armies under Louis XV., and colonel of the corps of Character geographical engineers; so that he enjoyed the advantages of respectable birth, and a military educaBerthier. tion. He was born at Versailles, on the 28th NoHis early vember 1753, and was at this period forty-three years of age. He had entered the army at the age of seventeen, and, in 1778, had served with such distinction under Rochambeau in America, that, before the end of that war, he had risen to the rank of colonel, a very unusual thing in those days for an officer who did not possess the advantages of patrician birth. In 1789 he was appointed major-general of the National Guard at Versailles, in which character he rendered the Royal Family some service, during the stormy days of the 5th and 6th October. His disposition, however, was decidedly marked for the popular side, and, in 1790, he presented a petition to the National Assembly, praying for the erection of a monument to the soldiers killed during the democratic revolt of Nanci. On the 19th February 1791, he behaved with equal coolness and conduct, on occasion of the furious mob which attempted to break into and pillage the chateau of Bellevue, the residence of the princesses, aunts of Louis XVI. His good conduct on this occasion gave great umbrage to the Jacobin party, and he was glad to secure his safety, by accepting the situation of adju

XX.

tant-general of the army of old Marshal Luckner. CHAP. Dumourier, however, who had a command in it, perceived that his capacity was not equal to the general 1796. direction of affairs, and he wrote to the Directory, he was ruining the old marshal. He was in consequence removed early in 1792 to La Vendée, where he acted in a subordinate command, with distinction; and at the battle of Saumur, in 1793, he had three horses shot under him. He was afterwards chief of the staff to Custrin, and, with difficulty, and by consummate prudence, only avoided the fate of that general. Immediately after the 9th Thermidor, he was sent by the Government as chief of the staff to Kellerman, in the army of the Alps; and it was in 1 Biog. that capacity he was found by Napoleon, when he Univ. sup. took the command of that army, in April 1796.1 104.

lviii. 103,

ter.

Active, indefatigable alike on horseback and in the cabinet, he was admirably qualified to discharge His characthe duties of that important situation, without being possessed of the originality and decision requisite for a commander-in-chief. Perfectly master of the geography of every country which the army was to enter, understanding thoroughly the use of maps, he was able to calculate with admirable precision the time requisite for the different corps to arrive at the ground assigned to them, as well as direct in a lucid manner the course they were to pursue. He was precision itself in his habits; and above all possessed of such an extraordinary faculty of enduring fatigue, that he was never, on any occasion, whatever labour he had previously undergone, unable to resume the duties either of the field or the cabinet. Faithful and entirely to be trusted, he obeyed his instructions with docility, readiness, and perfect silence. A secret entrusted to Berthier, was as safe as if its possessor was

XX.

CHAP. in his grave; and these qualities made him an invaluable assistant to Napoleon. But he had no 1796. genius in his character; he was destitute alike of great conceptions and generous feelings: an admir185. Ibid, able second in command, he was wholly unfit to be Iviii. 105. General-in-Chief.1

1 Nap. iii.

Early history of Massena.

Massena, a native of Nice, was born on the 6th May 1758, of respectable parents, in the mercantile line; but having lost his father early in life, he never received a suitable education. One of his relations, a captain of a trading vessel, out of humanity took the young orphan on board his vessel, and he made several voyages with him; but having conceived a dislike for a sea life, he entered the army as a private soldier in the year 1775, in the regiment Royal-Italian, in which one of his uncles was captain. After some time he was made a corporal; and after he had become a marshal of France, he said that that step was the one in his whole career which took him most trouble to gain, and which had given him most satisfaction. His intelligence and good conduct soon raised him to the rank of sergeant and adjutant; but in those days of aristocratic exclusion, he could not rise higher, the epaulettes of a sublieutenant could be conferred only on those of noble birth. After having served fourteen years, he became weary of a life of inactivity, and retired in 1789 to his native city, where he made an advantageous marriage; but no sooner did the Revolution break out, and the military career become open to all ranks, than he resumed his old profession, and was soon raised by the suffrages of the soldiers, to the rank of adjutant-major of the battalion of the Var, and subsequently colonel of the same regiment. His great military abilities now speedily raised him