1800. CHAP produced the consequence which the general had hoped; the LXVII. rear division now arrived; the French combatants revived by this re-enforcenient, and assisted by a fresh corps, charged the enemy with enthusiastic ardour: but still the event was extremely doubtful,, when a movement of the Austrian general gave a fatal turn. Melas found he could not force the defile; but elated with success, and not informed that the re-enforcement was arrived, he extended his line in order to surround the enemy. Bonaparte, perceiving this change of position, instantaneously saw how it might be improved: hastily he aban doned the defile; and, formed into a strong column, the consu lar troops pressed on the Austrians where their front was weakened by extension. Of the French, besides the strength of their disposition, a great portion was quite fresh; the Austrians, besides their weakened arrangement, were fatigued and exhausted, by the preceding efforts of the day. The French broke the line of the imperialists, bore down all before them, put the enemy completely to the route, and obtained a victory which decided the fate of Italy. All the united efforts of Suwarrow and his Russians, of the Austrian generals and their gallant troops, which had rendered the Italian campaign of 1799 so signally successful to the confederates, were now undone by the overwhelming genius of Bonaparte. The fruits of all the British subsidies which set those operose bodies in mo tion, were blasted at Marengo. Signal victory, decides the fate of Italy. Armistice chief consul manders. The Austrian general finding it impossible any longer to de between the fend Italy, applied for an armistice until a message should be and the Au-sent to Vienna. Bonaparte granted his request, on agreeing to strian com- a conditional convention, the validity of which was to depend upon the ratification of the emperor, and the consul sent an envoy offering peace. The terms proposed by the conqueror Lewere, in the relative state of the belligerent powers, wisely mo derate. The Austrian army should retire within the line established by the treaty of Campo Formio; the Austrians should occupy the northeast corner of Italy, bounded by the Po on the south, and the Mincio on the west: Tuscany was to be a neu tral state. Whatever answer should be returned from Vienna to these propositions, it was agreed that the armistice should not be broken without ten days previous notice. Meanwhile renders to the fortresses, cities, and country, in the north and northwest of Italy, all surrendered to his arms. Italy sur Bonaparte. Measures of Having reconquered Italy, Bonaparte next considered its Bonaparte political settlement. He now resolved that Lombardy and for settling Liguria should form, instead of two, one very powerful repuhtry. lic; and declared that resolution in a speech at Milan. He es that coun tablished a provincial administration, and a consult for prepar ing for the republic a constitution and legislature: he gave orders for respecting religiou, and the property of all citizens without distinction. Citizens, who had fled from their country, were invited to return; with the exception of such as had REIGN OF GEORGE III. LXVII. taken arms against the Cisalpine republic, after the treaty of CHAP. 1900. Having ef Bonaparte returns to Germany. operations. Meanwhile Moreau, in co-operation with Bonaparte, resumed feeted his an offensive campaign. Having already manifested his genius purposes, in the dexterous and consummate prudence which suited his situation, Moreau now showed enterprise as active, energetic, Paris. and decisive, as his caution had been wise. The republicans Moreau were now arrived at Blenheim, so fatal to their monarch when resumes contending with a British hero. To cross the Danube, the offensive French general had neither bridges nor boats, as both had been destroyed by the Austrians; who possessing the opposite bank, rendered it apparently impossible. To remove this obstacle, Moreau bethought himself of an expedient, manifesting that combination of courage and genius, which has so eminently distinguished the republican warriors of France in this arduous contest. Eighty soldiers undertook to swim across the river; and when armed with muskets and knapsacks, sent in two small boats for their use, to secure the bank! This enterprise they effected they took possession of the villages of Grensheim and Blenheim, seized several pieces of cannon, these they manned with artillery men, who had passed upon ladders, placed on the wrecks of the bridge. The republicans thus occupying the left bank, maintained their positions with extraordinary courage, while a great number of miners and bridge builders, though exposed to the enemy, completed the repairs, and enabled the army to cross the river. The republicans having succeeded in their attempt, the Austrian army fell back from Ulm, and retired towards Bavaria. Moreau took posses- Moreau adsion of Munich, and laid the Bavarian territories under heavy vances into contributions: the elector was compelled to pay to the French a great part of the subsidy of five hundred thousand pounds which he had received from Britain: the republicans also laid the duchy of Wirtemberg under a severe contribution. The right wing, commanded by Lecourbe, drove the Austrians entirely from the Grisons, and entered the Tyrol; while on the left, a new army of French and Batavians were preparing to enter Germany, to penetrate into Franconia and Bohemia. Animated by the exhortation and example of Britain, and supplied by her treasures, the emperor had hitherto refused the terms offered by the republicans; but, as their armies now menaced the very heart of his dominions, he judged it expedient to sue for an armistice, which Moreau, with the approbation of Bonaparte, granted on the 14th of July. On the 28th and overof the same month, St. Julien, envoy from Francis, in the name tures for of his imperial majesty, signed at Paris the preliminaries of peace. peace, on the basis of the treaty of Campo Formio; on the part of the French, they were signed by the minister of foreign affairs, the ex-bishop Talleyrand. Meanwhile, the emperor VOL. II. 90 Bavaria. Armistice, LXVII. 1800 sidy from tain in the refuses. CHAP, received a subsidy of two millions sterling from England, and had concluded a new treaty, by which the contracting parties stipulated for the one not to make peace without comprehending The empe the other the emperor, adhering to this engagement, endearor receives voured to include Britain in the negotiation. But it was the a new sub-uniform policy of Bonaparte, to detach the members of the England. confederacy, and to listen to no terms but of separate peace. Proposes to The emperor refused to ratify the preliminaries, alleging that include Bri- St. Julien had exceeded his powers. The armistice was to exnegotiation. pire on the 7th of September; the French government, directed Bonaparte its generals to begin hostilities that day. The emperor im puting the rupture to the French, put himself at the head of the army, and endeavoured to rouse the force of Germany in defence of the empire; but the king of Prussia, in neutrality hostile, kept the whole north of Germany in the same inaction with hunself, and intimidated its weaker princes from sending assistance to the head of the empire, and contributing to the repression of such formidable invaders. His imperial majesty proposed the prolongation of the armistice; the chief consul declared, that he would not waste the rest of autumn in idle conferences, or expose himself to endless diplomatic discus sions, without securities for the sincerity of the enemy's intentions: the securities which he demanded were Philipsburg, Ulm, and Ingolstadt, with their dependent forts. This condi tion, though it laid the hereditary dominions of Austria in a great measure at the mercy of the enemy, being agreed to at Prolonga Hohenlinden, a suspension of arms was concluded for forty-five days, commencing from the 21st of September. This interval was occupied by both parties in formidable preparations. Moreau's army was seconded on the left by Angereau, prepar ed with the French and Batavians to invade Germany, from the Maine; and on the left the army of the Helvetic Rhine, commanded by Macdonald, advanced as far as the entry of Expiration, the Tyrol, and was ready to proceed on the first signal. The and renewal armistice expiring, the army of the left, crossing the Rhine, of hostili- defeated the Austrians in a series of engagements, penetrated Operations, through Franconia to the confines of Bohemia, and ascertained partial suc its communication with the army of the centre in Bavaria. Austrians, Macdonald, defying the severities of an Alpine winter, pushed forward from the Grisons to the Valteline, drove the Austrians before him wherever he came, and supported by the army of Italy, was ready to advance to Austria, menaced by a still more formidable danger from the west. Moreau, with the grand and centrical army, resumed offensive operations on the 29th of November. The Austrians commanded by the archduke John, fourth brother of the emperor, making a very powerful resistance, repulsed the French army, and in their turn attacking their posts, obtained considerable advantages. Encouraged by these successes, the young prince ventured a general assault on the lines of the enemy at Hohenlinden, on the 3d of De tion of the armistice. ties. cesses of the sault the French Lines. REIGN OF GEORGE IIL cember. The archduke had no sooner begun his march, than CHAP there fell a heavy shower of snow and sleet, by which he was so much retarded, that only the central column had arrived at the place of destination, at a time when all the divisions ought to have been ready for action. A division of the French, con- Battle of ducted by Richepanse, pierced between the left wing of the Hohenlinฟอ Austrians, and the centre, reached the great road behind the denoga centre, and assaulted the left flank and rear of that column, at an a moment when it had formed in front, and commenced an at- dat mar tack. The Austrians with their usual courage maintained the The French sive victory. conflict for several hours, but were at length broken by the gain a deciimpetuosity of the French, thrown into irretrievable confusion," and entirely defeated with the loss of fifteen thousand men killed or taken prisoners. The battle of Hohenlinden decided the contest: the emperor found it impossible to stand against the rapidly advancing line of armies, every where victorious. The British court, sensible of the alarming situation in which the emperor was placed, released him from his engagements: he renewed his negotiations with the French, which have since The empeterminated in the peace of Luneville: and thus ended a cam- ror sues for paign between Austria and France, in which German valour, Review of discipline, tactical skill, and military experience, having to con- this extratend with French valour, discipline, experience, and skill, in- ordinary vigorated and guided by genius, demonstrated the inefficacy of mere customary expertness and precedented usage, when, in new combinations and arduous circumstances, they had to contend with rapid, fertile, and energetic invention. The grand de-o sign of Bonaparte comprehended every vulnerable point of the enemy; uniform in object, and consistent in plan, he, with rapid versatility, varied operations as circumstances changed; choosing his generals and officers according to their fitness; he brought or sent with the mass of French courage and force transcendent ability to guide it to its ends; and thereby completely effected his purposes: he recovered what had been War is ter lost, and compelled his enemy to sue for peace, which had minated been constantly and avowedly the object of his stupendous ef- between forts in war. While the chief consul thus crushed every hope that Bri-Operation tain had derived from continuing the war on the continent, this of the Bricountry undertook several expeditions, either entirely mari-tish forces. time, or in which her naval power could co-operate with her efforts by land. A squadron, under the command of sir Ed-Expeditions ward Pellew, attacked the southwest of the peninsula of Qui- on the coast beron, on the coasts of Bretagne, silenced the forts, and clear of France. ed the shore of the enemy; a party of soldiers then landed and destroyed the forts. An attack was afterwards made on various posts, and six brigs, sloops, and gun vessels, were taken, See Annual Register for 1800, p. 208. 200 que esta 20 CHAP. 1200. a corvette burned, and a fort dismantled. This success was soon followed by an interception of supplies destined for the use of the French fleet at Brest. On the 8th of July, an attempt was made to take or destroy four frigates in the road of Dunkirk: captain Campbell, of the Dart, took the La Desirée, but the other ships, in number three, escaped, though not without considerable damage. An exploit performed by lieutenant Jeremiah Coghlan, about this time, excited high admiration, and is a signal instance of the personal prowess, energetic courage, and unyielding intrepidity which combine in British heroism. This young gentleman was commandant of the Viper Cutter, under the orders of sir Edward Pellew, and watching port Louis, near L'Orient in Britanny: he conceived a design of cutting out some of the gunboats that were at the entrance of the harbour: with the permission of Pellew, he made the attempt in a ten oared cutter: with a midshipman and eighteen sailors, the gallant youth determined on boarding a gun brig, mounting three twenty-four pounders, and four six pounders, having her full complement of men, and within pistol shot of three batteries. On the night of the 29th of July, he and his valiant comrades undertook the enterpriset they boarded the brig, and though her crew. consisted of eightyseven, charged the enemy, who made a gallant resistance, and repeatedly repulsed their assailants; but the British handful returned to the charge, and with the loss of one killed and eight wounded, including the commandant himself, our twenty countrymen overpowered their eighty-seven enemies, and made a prize of the brig. Sir Charles Hamilton appearing with a small squadron near Goree, on the coast of Africa, the governor surrendered, and a British garrison took immédiate posses sion of the forts, and of Joul, a dependent factory. In August, a fleet under the command of sir John Borlase Warren, with a military force under the orders of sir James Morray Pulteney, set sail on a secret expedition. One object of this was, the conquest of Belleisle; but the strong works that had been provided for the defence of that island, discouraged the Attempt on attempt. The armament therefore proceeded to the coast of Spain; and on the 25th of August, arrived before the harbour of Ferrol. Our troops effected a landing, but finding, on examining the ground, that an attempt to storm the place would be impracticable, they re-embarked. Sir Ralph Abercrombie, with an army of about twenty thousand men, and a fleet of twenty ships of the line, commanded by lord Keith, appeared off Cadiz. An epidemic disease now raged in this city with pestilential violence. The governor of Cadiz sent a letter to Ferrol. a See letters of sir Edward Pellew and lord St. Vincent, in the London Gazette of August 9th, 1800. b London Gazette, July 8th, 1800, |