obtained some successes, and it began to be apprehended that Buonaparte's army was in great danger. This spirit manifested itself principally at Ferrara and Bologna, but more than any where at Milan. Here the majority of the inhabitants expressed the most avowed concern at the retreat of the French before the Imperial army, and at the raising of the siege of Mantua: on the report of the total rout of the French, and the approach of the Austrians, the streets and public places were filled by crowds, de manding arms, and offering to march instantly to the assistance of the French. But of all those Italian states and princes that shewed unequivocal signs of satisfaction at the temporary successes of the Austrians, none equalled the temerity with which the court of Rome acted upon this occasion. As soon as intelligence arrived that the French had retreated from Mantua, a vice legate was dispatched to retake possession of Ferrara, notwithstanding the noted aversion of the citizens to the Roman government. This was evidently a breach of the armistice between the French and the pope, but the vice legate remained in the city even in opposition to the incli nation of the inhabitants, nor quitted it, until news arrived of the entire defeat of the Austrian army. At Rome itself the detestation of the French broke out in the most outrageous treatment of the few that were in that city. Those who shewed themselves most forward to abuse them, were the priests and monks. Incited by their example and discourses, the populace werę, with difficulty restrained, by the government, from exercising their ut most fury on the natives of France, known to be republicans. The news of the victories obtained over the Austrians, put a stop to these proceedings, by the consternation they spread in Rome, where the general expectation was, that the French would shortly be expelled from Italy: but the cooler part of the public highly censured the readiness with which the pope had been induced to violate the treaty concluded with the French general, and expressed a full persuasion that he would require such a satisfaction as would produce a deep repentance for its infraction. In the mean time, marshal Wurmser was occupied in securing his retreat towards the mountainous country on the north of the Venetian dominions; but he was followed so closely by Buonaparte, that he was overtaken and defeated in two engagements, on the 11th and 12th, with a severe loss of men, artillery, and baggage. It was with difficulty that he pursued his march to the other side of the city of Trent, where he reassembled the remains of his forces. The flight of the Austrians en, abled the French to resume the siege of Mantua. The garrison had, on its being raised, totally destroyed the works of the besiegers, carried all their cannon, amounting to one hundred and forty pieces, into the town, and supplied it with large quantities of stores and provisions. From the thirtieth of July, when the siege was raised, to the nineteenth of August, when the French re-commenced their operations against that city, it had been put into the completest state of defence, and was now reputed more capable than ever to withstand all the the efforts of the French, till a more auspicious opportunity of relieving it effectually. France, in the mean while, was resounding with the exploits and praises of Buonaparte and his victorious army. The standards taken from the Austrians, and sent by him to the directory, were presented to it with great pomp and ceremony on the twenty-seventh of August. The officer commissioned to deliver them, addressed the directory in a soldierly and spirited speech, which was received with great satisfaction and applause. It was entirely des, criptive of the bravery and determination of the French soldiers, in Italy, to shed their blood for the service of the republic. It specified their intrepidity on divers occasions, and the great things it had done for the benefit of the state, and the glory of the nation. La Revailliere Lepaux, then president of the directory, returned him a suitable answer. He loaded the French soldiery with all those praises that affect them possibly more than any other people of the same profession elsewhere. He compared them to the most renowned warriors of antiquity, and exhorted them to proceed in that career of triumph and fame, which would raise France above all its enemies, and eternize their own name. These en comiums were carefully transmitted to the army of Italy, where they produced their intended effect, in the satisfaction they afforded to both officers and men, and the ardour it filled them with, to be considered and treated as the heroes of their country. - These enthusiastic sentiments were, at this period, particularly wanted. The victories gained in Italy had cost the French many of their best officers, and bravest soldiers; and their distance from France, together with other impedi ments, obstructed the recruiting of their forces. Their enemies, on the contrary, had many facilities in this respect: the country behind them was their own: it abounded with robust and hardy men, inured to a laborious life, and inclined to the military profession. Hence continual reinforcements were drawn, by means of which marshal Wurmser was enabled to repair his frequent losses, by incorporating the new levies with his veterans. His head quarters were now at Bassano, a town in the Venetian territories. Here he had assembled a considerable force, which be dis tributed with great skill in all the advantageous positions in his neigh, bourhood. One of his divisions was stationed at Alla, on the Adige, in the road to the city of Trent, of which Buonaparte proposed to make himself master. This division occupied a strong post at Serravalle, on the right of the Adige, and another at Marco, on its left. By a series of skilful movements Buonaparte compelled a number of intermediate bodies of Austrians to fall back to these two posts, and crossing the Adige, on the fourth of September, he attacked the one at Marco, while the remainder of his forces fell upon the other at Serravalle. The engagement was obstinate on both sides, but the French prevailed, and the Austrians were defeated with great loss, and driven from both positions. They retreated to Roveredo, in order to recover themselves, and make a stand; but the French came them to the rout, and took possession of that town. came up with them, and again put tive council, composed entirely of natives of the district, to whom alone every place of power and The Austrians, having retreated emolument was assigned, in absoto Trent, were making preparations lute exclusion of all strangers. The to maintain themselves, by fortifying laws and usages established were the avenues to it: but Buonaparte, left untouched; but the sovereignty who perceived their design, gave was vested in the French republic, orders to attack them directly in to which an oath of obedience was the post they had taken. It was required from all persons in authoextremely strong, and it required rity. vast efforts to make them abandon it; but they were completely routed, and fled in confusion towards Trent, within three miles of which they were pursued. Thus terminated this famous fourth of September; in the course of which the Austrians sustained three defeats, and lost upwards of seven thousand men, who were made prisoners, besides a number of slain, together with thirty pieces of cannon, and a large quantity of baggage and horses. In the night that followed this memorable day, marshal Wurmser, losing all hope of making head at Trent, evacuated it, and, next morning, the French took possession of this celebrated city. At a small distance from it a large body of Austrians, posted themselves at a bridge, commanding the entrance into the town of Lavis. But hither they were immediately followed by Buonaparte, who forced the entrenchments they had thrown up, after making his way over the bridge, and put them to flight. Master of Trent, an independent principality of the empire, Buon parte resolved to organize the government of this city on a republican plan. He totally emancipated it from that Imperial jurisdiction, appointing an administra By thus investing the natives of this place with the exclusive enjoyment of all those employments and profits formerly diverted from them to aliens, he held out the prospect of a similar treatment to all that submitted to the French. He doubted not, by this exhibition of their justice and impartiality, to procure a general willingness to prefer subordination to France to the dominion exercised over them by their present masters. After settling the government of the city of Trent, Buonaparte lost no time in the prosecution of his advantages over the Austrians. Marshal Wurmser had fixed himself at Bassano, the way to which town was rendered excessively difficult, by the river Brenta, and the defiles that bear its name. Here again the superior generalship of Buonaparte enabled him to effect a paspage over this river. He directed a chosen body of men to attempt it at a place where it was not expected, and, by a circuitous march, to fall upon the rear of the Austrians. They succeeded completely; and, while the small fort of Cavela, that stood in the defile, was carried by storm, they gained the head of this narrow pass, through which the Austrians, after evacuating that fort, not being able to make their way, way, were compelled to surrender themselves, to the number of four thousand men, besides their cannon and standards. This advantage was obtained on the seventh of September. Buonaparte found no farther op position in passing the other defiles on the road to Bassano. Near this place a strong division was posted, which, favoured by the ground, maintained, the next day, a vigorous dispute, but was finally routed. The French pushed forward to Bassano, from whence it was with difficulty that some chosen corps of Austrian grenadiers were able to protect the retreat of marshal Wurmser himself, who had hardly time to secure the military chest. This was truly a decisive action. Five thousand men were taken, with thirty-five cannon and upwards of two hundred large. waggons loaded with the baggage of the army, and a vast quantity of military utensils and stores. Notwithstanding this great defeat, marshal Wurmser steadily adbered to the resolution he had formed, that in case his retreat should be cut off to the Austrian territories, he would throw himself into Mantua, and defend it to the last extremity. This was now precisely his situation: he had luckily, with the remains of some battalions, rejoined a large division of his army at Montabello, a town in the proximity of Vienna, and on the road to Verona. As it was impracticable to retire across the Brenta, where the French army commanded all the passages, he marched to Porto Lagnago, where he passed the Adige, on the ninth of September, making all the expedition he was able to reach Mantua. The French, in the mean time, were pursuing him, and came up to a place through which it was imagined he would pass; not finding him there, they took another route; but their guide misled them, and they again missed him. He had now reached Cerea, a village lying between Governolo, and Castellaro, at which places large bodies of the French were posted to intercept him. Here too a division of their army met him, and an engagement ensued, but he defeated them, taking a number of prisoners, and advancing to Castellaro, encountered another division with like success. These two actions took place on the twelfth, and at night he arrived at Mantua. A great number of Austrians had, during this escape of their general, fallen into the hands of the French. He had stationed the corps that came with him in the suburbs of Mantua, where the French attacked him on the fourteenth. The whole day was spent in very bloody skir mishes; and on the fifteenth a serious engagement followed. The Austrian general's object was to retain possession of the suburbs, from which he hoped, by means of his numerous cavalry, to forage the country round, and procure provisions for the garrison. The object of the French was to drive him from these posts, and confine him within the body of the place. The conflict was severe and obstinate on both sides, but the Austrians lost the day, and were compelled to seek shelter within the walls of Mantua. No less than two thousand fell in the action, and as many were taken, with twenty pieces of cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition. The loss of the French was also considerable, as the [I] Austrians main maintained a long and desperate -fight. Various were the sallies and skir mishes that took place in the course of this famous siege, between the garrison and the besiegers. Every species of art and stratagem was employed by each party, and numbers fell in the encounters that continually happened. But the suécess was usually on the side of the French, who gradually diminished the strength of the garrison, by the frequent captures of those who salhed out, and who, notwithstanding the skill and valour they displayed on these occasions, seldom could make good their retreat into the town. While the French army lay before Mantua, the standards taken from the Austrians in the several actions on the borders of Italy, towards the Tyrol, and lately before Mantua, were sent to the directory, and presented, on the first of October, with great form and solemnity, by Buonaparte's aid-de-camp, Marmont, who, in a set speech, detailed the recent triumphs of the French in Italy. They had, he observed, in the course of this campaign, destroyed three hostile armies, taken fortyseven thousand men, two hundred and eighty pieces of cannon, and forty-nine stand of colours. Two of these indeed, the French, he said, held in little value, as they were taken from the troops of his holiness, who had changed his late tone, as will presently appear; an enemy unworthy of their notice: but still they shewed the number of their enemies, and the extent of their own successes. Shortly after the festivals and rejoicings, occasioned by the presentations of these trophies, the directory had another opportunity of ex ulting in the good fortune that seemed so invariably connected with the proceedings of the French in Italy. Since their occupation of Leghorn, it had been the resort of all those Corsicans who had fled from, or been expelled their country, when it became annexed to the British dominions. They received every encouragement from the French there, and came to the determina. tion of forming a plan for the expulsion of the English from Corsica. A circumstance that operated powerfully for the French in that island was, that Buonaparte was a native of it. The great actions be had performed had rendered him an object of universal respect among his countrymen, who gloried in him, as a man who reflected the highest honour on his country. The report of his continual vict ries emboldened the French party, in Corsica, to renew their endea vours to undermine the interest of the English, whose government they represented as domineering and oppressive,and contrary to those principles that were congenial to the natives of this island. They gradually succeeded in propagating discontent among a people noted for their fickleness and the incon stancy of their attachments. A communication was established between the exiles at Leghorn and elsewhere, and their partisans in Corsica. In a short time, the adherents to France became so numerous and active, that the English in the island clearly perceived that an insurrection was preparing against them, which, from the inconsiderableness of their force, they would not be able to withstand. The Corsicans held meetings and asembled numbers of men in arms, whose |