ness, returned to the charge, and Victor's line was broken. Thus encouraged, Melas pushed on with additional forces, established himself in the village, and having outflanked Lannes, he, too, was compelled to retreat. At first, he retired by echellon in squares, with admirable discipline; but the Imperial cavalry, which swept like a tempest around the retreating troops, at length disordered their squares, while the Hungarian infantry, halting at every fifty yards, poured in destructive volleys at point-blank range, and the incessant storm of grape from the well-served Austrian artillery, completed the rout. The whole mass at length gave way; the plain was covered with a confused host of fugitives; the alarm spread even to the rear of the army; and the fatal cry "tout est perdu, sauve qui peut," echoed over the field.

Matters were in this condition, when, at eleven o'clock, Napoleon arrived with a detachment of the right wing. The sight of his staff, surrounded by two hundred mounted grenadiers, and accompanied by the Consul's own guard of reserve, revived the spirit of the fugitives. Napoleon immediately detached eight hundred grenadiers of his guard, to make head against Ott; at the same time, he himself advanced with a demibrigade to support Lannes, and sent five battalions under Monnier, to hold in check the Austrian light infantry on the left. The grenadiers advanced in squares into the midst of the plain, making their way through both their own fugitives and the enemy, and for a time they sustained the brunt of the battle; but at length, the steady fire of the Austrian artillery, followed up by a charge of hussars, broke their ranks, and drove them back in disorder; the leading battalions of Desaix's division, however, came forward in time to cover their retreat. Melas now, deeming the victory secure, retired to Alexandria, leaving Zack, chief of his staff, to follow up his success: while Napoleon made arrangements to secure a retreat by the line of Castel Nuovo.

It was now four o'clock; and Desaix's main body, being the French right wing, made its appearance. "What do you think of the day?" said Napoleon. "The battle is lost," answered Desaix; "but it is early; there is time to gain another one." Napoleon coincided with this opinion, but all the other officers advised a retreat. The combat was, therefore, to be renewed; and Desaix put himself at the head of his division, and pressed on to meet Zack's advancing columns, who, expecting no resistance, were at first thrown into disorder. They soon rallied, however, checked the French advance, and at this moment Desaix was mortally wounded by a ball in the breast. The Hungarian grenadiers pressed on, and the French column soon hesitated, broke, and gave way. At this critical moment, when everything seemed lost for Napoleon, Kellerman, by a sudden movement, conceived and undertaken by himself, changed the defeat into a victory. He was stationed with eight hundred cavalry in a vineyard, where the overhanging vines concealed him from sight; and the advancing column of Zack, having just broken Desaix's division, was following up its success, and marching past Kellerman's squadron without being aware of his presence. In an instant, Kellerman dashed out on the unprotected flank of this column, threw it into inextricable confusion in less time than is requisite to relate the fact; and, being supported by Desaix's division, which immediately rallied, made Zack himself, and two thousand of his grenadiers prisoners on the spot. The remainder of the column retreated in confusion, overturned those who were advancing

to its support, and the entire Austrian army became, in those few moments, one mass of fugitives, flying across the plain.

The tide of battle being thus suddenly and unexpectedly turned, it was easy to rally the broken French divisions, and secure the victory. The loss of the Imperialists was seven thousand killed and wounded, three thousand prisoners, eight standards and twenty pieces of cannon. The French sustained an equal loss in killed and wounded, together with one thousand prisoners taken in the early part of the day. But although the losses on both sides were so nearly equal, defeat was highly disastrous to the Austrians; for they fought to secure a passage through Napoleon's enveloping masses, and having failed, they were left without retreat; so that, by a single victory, Napoleon had in effect destroyed his enemy, and gained the command of Italy. Nor was that all: for such a result, coming at the outset of his career as First Consul, served to fix him permanently on the throne of France.

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In view of these brilliant consequences, one would suppose that Napoleon might have been generous to Kellerman, who in reality and directly secured them: but his was a disposition that could not pardon one whose services chanced to diminish the lustre of his own exploits. When this young officer appeared at head-quarters after the battle, Napoleon coolly said, You made a good charge this evening;" then turning to Bessieres, he added, "The guard has covered itself with glory." "I am glad you are pleased with my charge," said Kellerman, nothing daunted, "for it has placed the crown on your head." But the obligation was too great and too notorious to be forgiven, and Kellerman though promoted with the other generals, never afterward enjoyed the favor of Napoleon.

On the following morning, after holding a council of war, Melas sent a flag of truce to the French head-quarters, with proposals for a capitulation. An armistice was immediately agreed upon, until an answer could be received from Vienna; and, in the mean time, the Imperial army was to occupy the country between the Mincio and the Po, and the fortresses of Tortona, Milan, Turin, Pizzighitone, Arona, Placentia, Ceva, Savona, Urbia, Coni, Alexandria and Genoa were to be surrendered to the French, with all their artillery and stores, the Austrians taking with them only their own cannon.

CHAPTER XVIII.

SECOND CAMPAIGN OF 1800.

Two days before intelligence was received of the battle of Marengo and the armistice that followed it, a treaty between Austria and Great Britain for the further prosecution of the war had been signed at Vienna : but even the disasters of that defeat could not shake the firmness or good faith of the Austrian cabinet. The inflexible Thugut, who then presided over its councils, was assailed by representations of the perils of the Empire; but he opposed all such arguments by producing the treaty with England, and pointing out the disgrace that would attach to the Imperial

government if, on the first appearance of danger, engagements so solemnly entered into were to be abandoned. Nor did the situation of affairs justify any measures of despondency. If the battle of Marengo had deprived the allied powers of Piedmont, the strength of the Imperial army was still unbroken it had exchanged a disadvantageous offensive position in the Ligurian mountains, for an advantageous defensive one on the frontiers of Lombardy; the cannon of Mantua, so formidable to France in 1796, still remained to arrest the progress of the victor; and the English forces of Abercromby, joined to the Neapolitan troops and the Imperial divisions in Ancona and Tuscany, might prove too formidable a body on the right flank of the Republicans, to permit any considerable advance toward the hereditary states. Nor were affairs by any means desperate in Germany. The advance of Moreau into Bavaria, while Ulm and Ingolstadt were not reduced, was a perilous measure for the French; and the line of the Inn furnished a defensive frontier not surpassed by any in Europe.

Influenced by these considerations, the Austrian cabinet resolved to gain time, and, if they could not obtain tolerable terms of peace, to run all the hazard of a renewal of the war. Count St. Julien was sent to Paris, as plenipotentiary on the part of Austria, bearing a letter from the Emperor individually, in which were these words: "You will give credit to everything which Count St. Julien shall say on my part, and I will ratify whatever he shall do." In virtue of these powers, preliminaries of peace were signed at Paris, on the 28th of July, by the French and Austrian ministers. The treaty of Campo Formio was taken as the basis of the pacification, unless where changes had become necessary. It was provided that the frontier of the Rhine should belong to France, and the indemnities stipulated for Austria, by the secret articles of the treaty of Campo Formio, were to be given in Italy, instead of Germany.

As the treaty was signed by Count St. Julien in virtue of the Emperor's letter only, it was further provided that these preliminary articles should not be binding until after being ratified by the respective governments: a clause of which the cabinet of Vienna availed themselves. On the 15th of August, the Austrian plenipotentiary was recalled, and notice given of the refusal to ratify.

Napoleon was, or affected to be, highly indignant at this proceeding, and he immediately announced that the conclusion of the armistice should take place on the 10th of September, and ordered certain movements of the army in reference to that event. But he soon returned to more moderate sentiments, and dispatched full powers to M. Otto, resident at London as agent for the exchange of prisoners, to conclude a naval armistice with Great Britain. The object of this proposal, hitherto unknown in European diplomacy, was to obtain means, while the negotiations were pending, of throwing supplies into Egypt and Malta, the former of which stood greatly in need of assistance, while the latter was reduced to the last extremity from the vigilant blockade maintained for two years by the British cruisers.

As soon as the English government received this proposal, they signified their desire for a general peace, but declined to agree in the mean time to a naval armistice, until the preliminaries of such general pacification were signed. Napoleon, however, was obstinately bent on saving Malta and Egypt, and insisted on the naval armistice as a sine qua non; declaring,

that unless it were agreed to before the 11th of September, he would recommence hostilities in both Italy and Germany. The urgency of the case, and the imminent danger that would ensue to Austria if war were so soon renewed, induced the cabinet of London to make some concession they therefore presented to M. Otto a counter project for a suspension of hostilities between all the belligerent powers. By this it was proposed, that an armistice should take place by land and sea, during which the ocean was to be open for the navigation of trading vessels of both nations; Malta and Egypt were to be put on the same footing as the besieged fortresses in Germany, by the armistice of Parsdorf; that is to say, they were to be provisioned for twelve days at time, during the dependence of the negotiations. The blockade of Brest and other maritime ports was to be raised, but the British squadrons would remain off their entrances, and ships of war would not be permitted to pass. Nothing could be more equitable toward France or generous toward Austria, than these propositions. They compensated the recent disasters of the Imperialists on land with concessions by the British at sea, and abandoned to the vanquished on one element, those advantages of a free navigation which they could not obtain by force of arms, in consideration of the benefits that would accrue from a prolongation of the armistice to their allies on another.

Napoleon, however, insisted on a condition which ultimately proved fatal to the negotiation. This was, that the French ships of the line only should be confined to their ports, but that frigates should have liberty of egress, and that six vessels of that description should be allowed to go from Toulon to Alexandria without being visited by the English cruisers. This condition was inadmissible, and the negotiation was broken off. The Austrian cabinet, being now left to contend alone with Napoleon, were in no condition to resist his demands. A new convention was therefore concluded at Hohenlinden, on the 28th of September, by which the cession of the three German fortresses, Ulm, Philipsburg and Ingolstadt, was agreed on, and the armistice was prolonged for forty-five days, both in Germany and Italy.

As soon as it became evident that Great Britain would not accede to the First Consul's demands, the portfolio of the French war department was placed in the hands of Carnot, and every exertion made to put all the armies in a condition to resume hostilities. On the same day that this took place, October 8th, a plot to assassinate Napoleon at the opera was discovered by the police. Cerachi and Demerville, the leaders of the conspiracy, and both determined Jacobins, were arrested and executed.

It was not long before the French armies were in a very formidable condition. In addition to a corps of fifteen thousand under Macdonald at Dijon, and one of twenty thousand on the Maine under Augereau, the army of Italy was raised to eighty thousand men, and the grand army under Moreau in Bavaria to one hundred and ten thousand. Austria, too, foreseeing the result of the negotiations for peace, had made good use of the armistice to recruit and reorganize her forces, having raised her entire German army to one hundred and ten thousand men; though its efficiency was greatly impaired by the usual system of the Aulic Council, which caused the troops to be scattered too much in detail over the country; and also by their injudicious removal of Kray, and the substitution in his place of the young Archduke John. In Italy, the total force under

Field-marshal Bellegarde amounted to one hundred thousand men; but it was so subdivided that not more than sixty thousand could be assembled at any one point. Renewed efforts were made at this time to engage Russia and Prussia in the common cause; but they both declined to interfere.

In the middle of September, the garrison of Malta, having been entirely reduced by famine, capitulated, on condition of being sent to France and not serving again until regularly exchanged: this noble fortress, therefore, with its unrivalled harbor and impregnable walls, was permanently annexed to the British dominions. The English also made themselves masters, in the course of this year, of Surinam, Berbice, St. Eustache and Demerara, Dutch settlements in the West Indies and on the main land adjoining them.

After the death of Pope Pius VI., through the cruelty and tyranny of the French government, the Roman conclave made choice of Cardinal Chiaramonte as his successor, with the title of Pius VII. Rome at this time was suffering under the exactions of the recently recovered power of the King of Naples, and the new pontiff, without openly engaging in a war, lent a willing ear to the proposals of Napoleon. But in other parts of Italy, a feeling of entire hostility to France prevailed; and in Tuscany an insurrection broke out among the peasants, which was promptly subdued, and with great cruelty, by the French troops. The army employed on this service was afterward dispatched to Leghorn, where they seized and confiscated forty-six English vessels with their cargoes.

In the month of November, Napoleon announced the conclusion of the armistice, and on the 28th of that month, both parties were prepared to commence hostilities. The line of the Inn, behind which the Austrians were intrenched, is one of the strongest frontier positions in Europe; and the true policy of the Imperial forces, at this time, was to remain on the defensive, but the Aulic Council decided on carrying the war into Bavaria; and accordingly, the Austrian columns were moved to Landshut on the 29th; and as it chanced, Moreau, unaware of their march, was at the same time advancing toward Ampfing on such a line as to bring the flank of his left wing in immediate contact with the main body of the Imperialists. The consequence was, that despite the utmost efforts of Ney, Grenier and Legrand, the division was totally routed, and, falling back in confusion on the centre, spread terror and discouragement through the whole army. Had this success been vigorously followed up, there can be no doubt that Moreau would have suffered an overwhelming defeat. But the Archduke John, satisfied with his advantage, allowed the French troops to recover from their consternation; and on the following day, they retired in good order through the forest of Hohenlinden to the ground beyond, which Moreau had previously studied as the probable theatre of a decisive battle, and where he now defended his position with great care and skill.

The Archduke, after having thus allowed the enemy to escape when he might have taken him at advantage, resolved now to pursue him; not imagining that Moreau had made a stand, but indulging the belief that he was retreating in disorder. On the 3rd of December, long before day. light, his whole army was in motion in three columns, and they plunged into the forest, trampling the yet unstained snow in full confidence of victory. From the outset, however, the most sinister presages attended