cursion speedily on that side. The directory took similar precautions, and detached from the armies cantoned on that river a considerable division under general Bernadotte; so that the flower of both the Austrian and French armies were now assembled at the foot of the Noric Alps, to decide a quarrel which had begun near the shores of the Ger man ocean. Since the defeat of the Austrians along the Adige, previous to the surrender of Mantua, the French occupied the left part of the Arisio to the place where it empties itself mto that river; and the right side of the Piava, from its source in the Alps, to the Adriatic. The Austrian forces were recruiting on the Tagliamento, passing in small divisions through the Frioul and Carniola, and advancing, as they formed themselves, towards the Piava. Some slight skirmishes had taken place between the advanced posts of the two armies before Buonaparte returned from the interlude of the papal war to open the serious drama with prince Charles. While the French general was marshalling his troops on the Brenta, the archduke had advanced to the Piava. The cere of his army was placed on the small river of Cordeve, his right reached to the Adige, near Saturn, and his left extended on the side of the Saletuolo. The centre of the Austrian army withdrew, on the approach of Massena's division, to Feltre, and fell back on Belluno. The division under Serrurier, which was cantonnedat Asoto, passed the Piava, near the village of Vidor, while Guieux, who commanded the right wing of the army,passing the sameriver,advanced as far as Sacila, on the high road from Vicenza to Palma-Nuova. As the French advanced, the Austrians continued retreating, till theyhad repassed the Tagliamento, the banks of which they had so fortified from the mountains to the Adriatic, as to render the further progress of the French extremely hazardous, if not impossible. In six days this French army had marched from their cantonments to the border of the river, where they were compelled to halt, in order to deliberate on the measures to be taken to pass this new bulwark of the Austrian dominions. The centre of the Austrian army had fallen back on the side of Cadore, where the mountains separate the states of Venice from the Tyrol; this body of troops was kept in action by a division under Massena, drawn off from the main army of the French, while the left wing of this army, under Joubert, was ordered to penetrate through the Tyrol into Carinthia, by ascending the Adige up to its junction with the Eisach, near Belzano, and afterwards following this river to Brixen; from which town he was to descend along the stream of the Riantz to the sources of the Drave. In the mean time, the archduke, with the main army, was safely entrenched behind the deep andrapid Tagliamento, drawing his provisions from the fertile Frioul, by Gradisca and Goritz, and from the Venetian country, between the Tagliamento and the Alps, which formed a half circle behind him. In this space were situated the towns of Treviso, Udine, and Palma-Nuova, to cover his retreat, if, by any unfortunate occurrence, from any extraordinary impulse of audacity, the French should attempt and force the passage of the river. Had the waters of the Tagliamento continued to flow with their usual usual volume and impetuosity, the French might have found the enterprise extremely difficult; but a sudden frost having arrested the thaw, and the torrents on the Glaciers and the higher Alps,the river had sunk so as to be fordable in several places. Buonaparte, drawing a favourable augury from this fortunateinterposition of the northeasterly wind, made instant dispositions for the passage of the river; ordering general Guieux to cross it to the right of the Austrian entrenchments, and Bernadotte, with his battalions from the Rhine, to perform the same operation on the left. The whole line ranged itself in order of battle. General Duphot first threw himself into the river, at the head of a brigade of light-infantry, and soon crossed to the opposite bank, supported by the grenadiers of the division un der general Guieux; general Murat, who made the same movement on the left, was, in the same manner supported by the division of grenadiers under Bernadotte. The Austrian cavalry several times charged the French infantry, but were continually repulsed. The whole of the republican army having now passed the river, had formed itself for a general attack, when the Austrians, struck with terror at the boldness of the enterprise, the superiority of the French artillery which they had felt in the severe connonade that had preceded, and taken place during the passage, and by the promptitude and dexterity of the French, fell back on every side; but, when general Guieux had forced the village where the archduke had established his head quarters, the rout of the Austrian army became general. The prince seeing no hope but in flight,withdrew hastily, during the night, to the only retreat which the daring manoeuvres of the French had left him, and secured himself from danger among the ravines of the mountains, leaving part of his artillery, and the towns of Palma-Nuova, Udine, and all the Venetian territory, as far as the confines of Carinthia and Carniola, to the mercy of the conqueror. The French lost no time in taking advantage of this important victory, although it was impossible for them to pursue the Austrians as fast as they retreated, and who did not halt till they reached the valley at the foot of the Alps, through which run the Drave and the Murh. In this position, the archduke once more formed his army; and a second time, aided by ramparts of ice and snowy mountains, he thought himself out of the reach of further attack, at least till he could get around him the means of making more effectual resistance than he had done at the passage of the Tagliamento. By taking this position, the archduke not only protected the retreat of his artilfery, and heavy baggage, but reinforced the passes amongst the mountains of the Tyrol against general Joubert, although the provinces of Istria and the Frioul, as far as the sources of the Ydria, lay open to the French. While the right division of the republican army advanced on the borders of the Adriatic, the left wing, under Joubert, was sealing the Tyrolian Alps. On the 21st of March, this general attacked the Austrians under/ general Laudohn at Lawis; and, after an obstinate conflict, in which they made four thousand prisoners, seized the bridge of Newmark, in order to cut off the retreat of the P 3 Austrians Austrians to Bolsano. A second bloody conflict ensued near this town, on the banks of the Adige, which ended in favour of the French, who took possession of the place, while Laudohn effected his further retreat to Clausen, among the mountains, which present at this place a natural and almost impregnable series of fortifications, and which have always been considered as the most formidable bulwarks of the Austrian empire on that side of the Alps. The position which the Austrian general had taken would have succeeded fully to his expectations, but for the daring impetuosity of the French. Aided by these almost inaccessible fortresses, the Austrians met their attack, and broke down the French columns with the force of their artillery; and the day would have ended in the totaldefeat of theassailants, had not some divisionsof light infantry,during the attack,climbed with infinite difficulty the heights that hung over the left of the Austrian army, and tearing up the rocks, rolled them down on the enemy, thus giving time for the columns to rally, who took advantage of the confusion occasioned by this strange and unexpected manoeuvre. The Austrians were terrified into flight, and left all their artillery and 1,500 prisoners more behind them. Laudohn fearing, that, if he retreated in the direction of the mountains, he should meet with the centre division under Massena, turned his army towards Inspruck, while Joubert marched into Brixen, where he made an important capture of all the magazines of this division of the Austrian army. The centre of the republican army, under Massena, in the mean while, continued the pursuit of the centre division of the Austrians, who had retreated precipitately from the heights of Cadore, on hearing the event of the passage of the Tagliamento. This river Masbut nearer its source, and met with sena also passed withoutopposition, no appearance of resistance till he advanced to the bridge of CasaSola, which the Austrians had forthe French, in close columns, tified. The resistance was short; the pursuit to Ponteba, a little forced the passage, and continued town on the Fella, and which belonged conjointly to the emperor and the states of Venice. From Ponteba, general Massena continued his way towards the banks of the Drave, over heights, and along roads, which were almost impassable, till he came to Tarwis, among the Alps, known for its iron founderies, and also for being the most elevated town in Europe. army, which had routed the left The right wing of the French division of the Austrians under prince Charles, had taken possession of the cities of Udine and Palma-Nuova, and had entered on. the Austrian Frioul, which was left to its own defence, having no other fortress than that of Gradisca. This post was, however, well fortified; and, though not capable of supporting a long siege, was fitted to retard, at least for vaders; particularly as the badness some time, the march of the inof the weather co-operated with the fortress against them. Austrians had, however, miscalcuThe lated with respect to the mode of attack. The French, notwithstanding the showers of artillery, took the advanced works with their bayonets in open day; the comthat the scaling ladders were on mander, advised by Bernadotte the the point of being applied, and that he could no longer restrain the fury of his soldiers, took advantage of the ten minutes given him by the French general, and the garrison surrendered prisoners of war. The French, by the surrender of this place, were now in posses sion of all the Austrian dominions between the Alps and the Adriatic; and, as if the possession was to have been permanent, Buonaparte published at Goritz, the capital of the province he had conquered, a proclamation to the inhabitants, instituting a provisionary form of government, after dissolving the former administrations; promising to the people not only protection to their persons, properties, civil and religious institutions, but also the restoration of their ancient rights and privileges; and named fifteen of the principal inhabitants as members of this central administration. The port of Trieste, and the country lying on the Adriatic, submitted without resistance to the arms of the republic. General Massena had advanced across the Alps with his centre division to the town of Tarwis, when prince Charles, who had now retreated to Clagenfurt, the capital of Carinthia, detached a considerable division to cover the retreat of a body of troops that were escaping from general Guieux, and to oppose his further progress. These divisions met on the heights above Tarwis, where the snow yet lay some feet thick; and a severe contest took place in this position, and ended in the defeat of the Austrians, who retreated back to the head-quarters at Clagenfurt. General Guieux, in the mean time, continued the pursuit of the co lumn along the Lisonzo, which he had previously defeated at the vil lage of Buffero. This column was composed of troops that were the flower of the Austrian army, and were escoring the hea y artillery, and almost all the baggage belonging to the archdake. The rear of this column, throwing every ob stacle in the way of the French, retarded their march; but, being pressed by the impetuosity of the pursuers, they halted at the post of Chinze, where they entrenched themselves, in order to give time for the escort to proceed, and waited the arrival of the French. The post, though vigorously defended, was taken by assault, and the whole of the rear made prisoners. The escort which had escaped the pursuit of Guieux, having retreated a considerable way towards Clagenfurt, was met in its way by general Massena, who had descended the mountains of Tarwis, and, after a slight conflict, were made prisoners; and the whole of the convoy fell into the hands of the French. Bernadotte having drawn off his division to the right, followed the course of the Save; and, having taken possession of Laubach, made himself master of the remainder of the province of Carniola. General Joubert, with the left wing of the French army, was still entangled among the Tyrolian Alps. He had pursued general Laudohn in his retreat towards Inspruckafter the battle of Brixen; but, as the continuance of this pursuit would have interrupted the unity of the operations of the French army, he returned to the banks of the Rient, ascended this torrent to its source, and crossed the summits of those Alps that divide the streams which flow into the Adriatic from those P4 that that take their course to augment the rivers that swell the Black Sea. Above the village of Innichin, on the opposite side of the mountain, the Drave takes its source; from hence Joubert descended in the direction of the stream along the defiles, where an inconsiderable force might have arrested his progress; being obliged, in the space of fifteen leagues from this village to the town of Lintz, to cross fifteen times the river. From Lintz he continued, without opposition, his march along the Drave, and joined the main army assembled at Clagenfurt, from whence prince Charles, on the approach of the French, had made his further retreat. The French army was now in the capital of Carinthia, and were masters of the greater part of this province, and of the Tyrol, of Carniola, the Frioul, Istria, and, in short, of all the territory from the sea to the country over which they had marched, and almost in the heart of the Austrian dominions. Clagenfurt, Buonaparte published At another proclamation to the inhabitants of Carinthia, as he had before done to those of Goritia. He informed them, that his present appearance amongst them was the act of the court of Vienna; the ministers of which had betrayed the empire, by obstinately refusing to hear of any propositions of peace, or to acknowledge the existence of the French republic. He declared to them that the pride of their neutrality in the present contest should be anexemption from all contribution; and that the taxes which they paid to the emperor, should be collected only to pay for the provisions, and repair the damages necessarily attendant on the march of an army. Previous to the publication of this proclamation, Buonaparte,who in a campaign of about twenty days, had defeated the Austrians in ten pitched battles, had scaled mountains that were deemedalmost army of hisretreating enemy to half inaccessible, who had reduced the its original number, and was now within a few days march of the seat of empire, wrote to the archduke, exhorting him by divers considerations, to reflect on the circumstances in which they were mutually placed, and to interpose his influence to determine the cabinet of Vienna to put an end to the horrors of war, and the further effusion of blood. cool and unconciliating. He obThe answer of the archduke was served that it was not his business seek to end the quarrels of belligeto examine into the causes, nor to rent nations; and that not being authorized by the emperor to enter into any treaty, that Buonaparte must not deem it unreasonable if into any negotiation, for which he he should decline enteringwithhim the object was of high importance, must wait for superior orders; as and not within the reach of his instructions. that the court of Vienna entertainIt was evident from this answer, ed hope of extricating itself from the danger which seemedtomenace it from the approach of the repub lican armies. The archduke had burg and Newmark, waiting the taken his positions between Judemarrival of fresh troops. The city of Vienna, in the mean while, was thrown into great consternation. The dread of seeing the French under the walls of Vienna had led the government to the resolution of arming the people in a mass. Some thousands of workmen were employed in raising new works around the |