53. The Austrian cabinet at that period entertained serious thoughts of peace. The opinion was very general on the Continent, that the fearful en

out into bitter complaints at the breach | time before had left the extremities of of faith on the part of the Prussian the vast line extending from Philipville government, and reproached the mar- to Dunkirk, enabled to unite their vicshal with a fact which they had recently torious forces for the occupation of the discovered, that, instead of sixty-two capital of Flanders. thousand men, stipulated by the treaty, and paid for by the Allies, only thirtytwo thousand received daily rations at the army. The bad faith of the Prussians was now apparent; they were re-ergy and bloody proscriptions of Robesproached with it. Moellendorf denied the charge; recriminations issued on both sides at length they separated, mutually exasperated; and Lord Cornwallis declared he would suspend the payment of the British subsidy.

pierre had considerably calmed the effervescence of the Revolution, and that his stern and relentless hand was alone adequate to restrain its excesses, and restore anything like a regular government at Paris. These ideas received a strong confirmation from the speech which he delivered on occasion of the fête of the Supreme Being it was known that he had moderated many of the energetic plans of foreign invasion projected by Carnot, and that his brother had used his influence to preserve Piedmont and the north of Italy from an incursion, at a time when the Allies were little in a condition to have resisted it. The Imperial government was really desirous of an accommodation, in order to concentrate their ar mies and attention upon Poland, which was hourly approaching the crisis of its fate; and a large force had already entered Gallicia, where they professed their intention of coming as deliverers, and were received with open arms by the people of that province. Unable to bear, any more than Prussia, the weight of a double contest on the Rhine and the Vistula, and deeming the latter more material to the interests of the monarchy than the former, they had de

52. After the departure of Cobourg from Tournay, the Allies strove in vain to make head against the superior forces of the Republicans in Maritime Flanders. Tournay was evacuated; and while Pichegru himself marched upon Ghent to force back Clairfait, he detached Moreau with a considerable force to invest the places bordering on the ocean. Nieuport capitulated, Fort Ecluse, the key of the Scheldt, was blockaded, and the island of Cadsand overrun by the Republicans, who crossed the arm of the sea which separates it from the mainland by swimming. Clairfait, although reinforced by six thousand British, who had rapidly marched from Ostend, under Lord Moira, found himself unable to make head against Pichegru. The old German tactics of carrying on war by a series of positions, which only occasionally succeeded against the inconsiderable forces of Prussia, when guided by the genius of Frederick, totally failed when opposed to the vehement ardour and inexhaust-finitively determined at Vienna on the ible numbers of the Revolutionary abandonment of the Belgian provinces, armies. After in vain attempting, in and were now only desirous of extriconjunction with Cobourg, to cover cating themselves from a contest in Brussels, he was compelled to fall back which, as it appeared to them, neither behind the Dyle; while the Duke of honour nor profit was to be gained. A York also retired in the same direction, secret understanding, in consequence, and encamped between Malines and took place between Cobourg and the Louvain. The retreat of the allied French generals, the conditions of which forces enabled the victorious armies of were, that the Austrians should not be Pichegru and Jourdan to unite their disquieted in their retreat to the Rhine, forces at Brussels, where they met on and the Republicans permitted, withthe 10th July. And thus, by a series out molestation, to reduce the four of energetic movements and glorious great fortresses which had been wrestcontests, were two armies, which a shorted from France in the preceding and

present campaign. The fall of Robes- | render both the provinces of the Lower pierre prevented these overtures from Rhine and the United Provinces uncoming to any further issue; but they tenable. early attracted the attention of the vi- 55. Contrary to the expectations of gilant minister who directed the affairs all who were not initiated into the mysof Great Britain, and he urged his am-teries of the diplomacy, and in opposition bassador to make the strongest remon- to what might have been expected from strances against a step so prejudicial to the previous energy of their measures, the interests of Europe. But the Aus- the Committee of Public Salvation artrians were resolute in their determi-rested their army in the career of vicnation to abandon Flanders, alleging as a reason the inconstancy and disaffection of its inhabitants. "To behold a people so infatuated," said Count METTERNICH, afterwards so celebrated as the great diplomatic leader, to Lord Cornwallis, " as, notwithstanding the most pressing exhortations to take up arms in defence of their religion, their independence, and property, to refuse to move, and voluntarily place their necks under the yoke, singing Ca Ira, is a phe-troops, and the Duke of York retired nomenon reserved for these days of desolation."

54. The British forces, now entirely detached from their allies, were posted behind the canal of Malines, and they amounted to above thirty thousand British and Hanoverians, and fifteen thousand Dutch. Their object was, by remaining on the defensive, to cover Antwerp and Holland; while the Austrians retired by Tirlemont upon Liege. In this way, while the Republicans remained with their centre at Brussels, and their wings extending from Wilworde to Namur, their adversaries retired by diverging lines towards the north and the south, and every successive day's march carried them farther from each other a state of affairs of all others the most calamitous, in presence of an enterprising enemy, occupying a central position between them. The British were intent only on covering Antwerp and Holland; the Imperialists on drawing nearer to their resources at Cologne and Coblentz. Neither recollected that, by separating their forces, they gave the enemy the means of crushing either separately at pleasure, and that the secret conventions with the Austrians exposed the British to the whole weight of attack. Their separation, too, left him in possession of a salient position, which would soon

tory, and paralysed a hundred and fifty thousand men, in possession of an internal line of communication, at the moment when their enemies were disunited, and incapable of rendering each other any assistance. This was the result of the secret understanding with Prince Cobourg, which has just been mentioned. On the 15th July, the canal of Malines was forced, after an inconsiderable resistance by the Dutch

to Antwerp, which was soon after evacuated, and his whole forces concentrated towards Breda, for the defence of Holland. On the other wing, Jourdan, more in appearance than reality, pursued his advantages against Cobourg; and, after several inconsiderable engagements with the rearguard, Liege and Tongres were evacuated, and the Austrians retired behind the Meuse. But, with these exceptions, nothing was attempted by the Republicans for several weeks, while the government waited the reduction of Valenciennes and the other places captured by the Allies on the frontier at the commencement of the war.

56. To hasten their reduction, a bloody decree was passed by the Convention, ordaining their commanders to give no quarter to any garrison which should not surrender within twenty-four hours after the first summons. The humanity of the Republican generals made them refuse to carry this atrocious order into execution, and it was soon after rendered nugatory by the fall of Robespierre on the 27th July (9th Thermidor.) The governor of Condé, when summoned to surrender in virtue of this disgraceful injunction to the French generals, replied, "That one nation had no right to decreee the dishonour of another nation, and that he should pro

with the same humanity as before the issuing of the bloody decree.

57. While the fortune of war, after a desperate struggle, was thus decisively inclining to the Republican side on the northern, events of minor importance, but still upon the whole favourable to the French arms, occurred on the eastern and southern frontiers. The dubious conduct, or rather evident defection of Prussia, paralysed all the operations on the Rhine. Sixty thousand Prussians and Saxons were assembled round Mayence, and along the Nahe; and the departure of Jourdan, with forty thousand, to reinforce the army on the Sambre, offered the fairest opportunity of resuming offensive operations with

long his defence so as to deserve the esteem of the French themselves." The Committee of Public Salvation, under Carnot's direction, feeling the iniquity of the measure, took advantage of fictitious delays to allow the garrisons to capitulate on the usual terms. General Scherer collected a body of troops from the interior and the neighbouring garrisons, and formed the siege successively of Landrecies, Quesnoy, Condé, and Valenciennes, all of which fell, after a trifling resistance, before the end of August. At the same time the decree already mentioned was passed by the Convention, prohibiting their armies from giving quarter to the British or Hanoverians who might fall into their hands. "Republican soldiers!" said Barère, in the report on which that de-a preponderating force on the Moselle. cree was founded, "you must, when victory shall put into your power either English or Hanoverians, strike without mercy; not one of them ought to return to the traitorous territory of England, or to be brought into France. Let the English slaves perish, but let Europe be free." To this decree the Duke of York replied by an order of the day, worthy of the nation whose forces he led, and the cause with which he was intrusted, ordering all French captives to be treated with the same humanity as before.* This generous conduct had the desired effect; the humane efforts of the British commanders were seconded by the corresponding feelings of the French officers, and the prisoners on both sides were treated

*He stated in that noble document, "The National Convention has just passed a decree that their soldiers shall give no quarter to the British or Hanoverian troops. His Royal Highness anticipates the indignation and horror which has naturally arisen in the minds of the brave troops whom he addresses upon receiving this information. He desires, however, to remind them, that mercy to the vanquished is the brightest gem in the soldier's character, and exhorts them not to suffer their resentment to lead them to any precipitate act of cruelty on their part, which may sully the reputation they have acquired in the world. In all the wars which, from the earliest times, have existed between the English and French nations, they have been accustomed to consider each other in the light of generous as well as brave enemies; while the Hanoverians, the allies of the former, have shared for above a cen

Only two divisions, at a distance from each other, remained between Thionville and Kayserslautern; and though the Republican government made the greatest exertions to reinforce them, the utmost that could be done was to raise the one to twenty and the other to ten thousand men. Nor was the superiority less decisive on the Upper Rhine, where fifty thousand Imperialists formed the cordon from Bâle to Mayence, and seventy thousand more were prepared for active operations; while the force in the field, under General Michaud, to oppose them, was only thirty-six thousand, supported by fifty thousand still retained in garrison by the cautious policy of the French government.

58. Yet, with this immense superitury in this mutual esteem. Humanity and kindness have at all times taken place, the instant that opposition ceased, and the same cloak has been frequently seen covering those who were wounded, friends and enemies, while indiscriminately conveyed to the hospitals of the conquerors. The British and Hanoverian armies will not believe that the French nation, even under their present infatuation, can so far forget their character as soldiers, as to pay any attention to a decree as injurious to themselves as it is disgraceful to their government: and therefore his Royal Highness trusts that the soldiers of both na

tions will confine their sentiments of abhorrence to the National Convention alone, persuaded that they will be joined in them by every Frenchman who possesses one spark of honour, or one principle of a soldier."Proclamation, May 30, 1794; Ann. Reg. 1794; State Papers, p. 169.

have enabled them to have instantly commenced the invasion of Italy; but, pressed in other quarters, the Committee of Public Salvation, under the directions of Robespierre, contented themselves with enjoining their commanders to drive the enemy over the Alps, and get possession of all the passes, deferring to a future year the long-wished-for irruption into the Italian provinces. The first operations of the Republicans were not successful. General Sarret, with a detachment of two thousand men, was repulsed at the Little St Bernard, while the column destined for the attack of the Mont Cenis was also unsuccessful. Far from being discouraged by these trifling reverses, General Dumas returned to the charge with more considerable forces, and on the 23d April, after a vigorous resistance, made himself master of the first pass, which was followed on the 14th May by the capture of the second. The loss of Mont Cenis cost the Sardinians six hundred prisoners and twenty pieces of cannon. By these successes, the whole ridge of the higher Alps, separating Piedmont from Savoy, fell into the possession of the Republican generals; and the keys of Italy were placed in the hands of the French government.

ority of force, the Allies in this quarter | periority of the French forces would did nothing. Instead of assembling, as they might easily have done, eighty thousand men, to attack the centre of the French lines on the Rhine, and relieve the pressure which operated so severely on the Sambre, they contented themselves with detaching a small force to dislodge the Republican post at Morlautern. A slight advantage was gained at Kayserslautern over the Republican division intrusted with the defence of the gorges; and General Michaud, unable to make head against such superior forces, retired to the intrenchments of the Queich, while the army of the Moselle resumed the position it had occupied at the close of the preceding campaign. Shortly after, Michaud received powerful reinforcements, and made vigorous preparations for resuming the offensive; while the British ambassador vainly endeavoured to stimulate the King of Prussia to execute the part assigned him in the treaty of the Hague. The whole attention of Prussia was fixed on Poland, and the movements of General Kosciusko. So intent was the cabinet of Berlin on the partition of that country, that nothing could induce them to give any directions for the prosecution of the war on the Rhine, till after the fall of Charleroi, the battle of Fleurus, and the reinforcement of the Republican armies on the Rhine, had rendered it impossible to resume the offensive with any prospect of advantage.

60. Nor were the operations of the Republicans less successful on the frontiers of Nice. The counsels of the leaders were there directed by General Buonaparte, whose extraordinary military abilities had already given him an ascendancy far beyond his rank. His design was to turn Saorgio by its left, and cut off the retreat of its garrison, by the great road from over the Col de Tende. The attacking force was divided into three columns. The first, twenty thousand strong, commanded by Massena, broke up on the 1st April, with twenty pieces of cannon, to pass

59. In the south, the reduction of Lyons and Toulon, by rendering disposable the forces employed in the siege of these cities, gave an early and decisive superiority to the Republican arms. The levies ordered in September 1793, had brought such an accession of strength to their forces, that in the middle of April the army of the Alps amounted to seventy-five thousand combatants. Piedmont, menaced with in-between Saorgio and the sea; the vasion by this formidable force, had only at its command a body of forty thousand men, spread over a chain of posts along the summit of the Alps, from Savona to Mont Blanc, and an auxiliary Austrian force, ten thousand strong, in the interior. The great su

second, composed of ten thousand men, under the immediate directions of Dumorbion, remained in front of the enemy; while the third, of equal force, was destined to gain the upper extremity of the valleys of the Vesubia, and communicate with the army of Savoy by

61. Meanwhile the French left successfully ascended the Vesubia, and, after a vehement resistance, the winding rocky road between Figaretto and Lantosca was stormed, and the Allies driven back to the Col de Fenestrelles; while General Serrurier cleared the valley of the Tinea, and established a communication by Isola with the army of Savoy. To reap the fruit of so many successes, Dumorbion ordered Garnier to seize the Col de Fenestrelles, while his own centre drove the enemy from the Col de Tende. Both operations were successful. The Col de Fenes

Isola. In the course of his march, Mas- | sena traversed the neutral territory of Genoa, and, after a bold march as far as Carossio, found himself considerably in advance of the main body of the enemy, posted in intrenched camps on the western side of the mountains. Guided by the intrepid Colonel Rusca, an ardent hunter, well acquainted with these Alpine ridges, he boldly pursued his successes, and, by a skilful combination of all his force, succeeded in storming the redoubts of the Col Ardente. In vain the Piedmontese received the assailants with a shower of stones and balls; nothing could withstand the im-trelles fell, after hardly any resistance; petuosity of the Republicans; and Massena, pursuing his successes, reached Tanardo, and the heights which command the pass of the Briga. Rusca, familiar with the country, vehemently urged his commander to direct some battalions to descend to the convent of St Dalmazia, seize the great road, destroy the bridges, and cut off the retreat of the great body of the enemy posted at the camp at Rauss. But Massena had other objects in view. He had occupied, with considerable force, the cliffs which overhang in rear the fortress of Saorgio-an advantage which rendered that fortress no longer tenable. He preferred, in consequence, the certain advantage, now within his power, of rendering unavoidable, without risk, the evacuation of that important stronghold, which commands the pass by the Col de Tende from France into Italy, to the perilous attempt of compelling a force nearly equal to his own to surrender. Meanwhile the attack of the centre, under Dumorbion, had been attended with equal success; and the Sardinian forces, pressed in front and menaced in rear, evacuated the famous camp of Rauss, and fell back towards the Col de Tende. Dumorbion's leading columns approached the fort of Saorgio, at the same time that Massena's forces appeared on the heights immediately overhanging it behind; and this celebrated post, almost impregnable in front, but destitute of any defence against the forces of the Republicans, now perched on the rocks in its rear, surrendered at the first summons.

and although the Col de Tende was more bravely contested, the unexpected appearance of a division of French on their left spread a panic among the Piedmontese troops, which speedily led to the evacuation of the position. Thus the Republicans, before the end of May, were masters of all the passes through the Maritime Alps; and while, from the summit of Mont Cenis, they threatened a descent upon the valley of Susa and the capital, from the Col de Tende they could advance straight to the siege of the important fortress of Coni. Buonaparte, whose prophetic eye already anticipated the triumphs of 1796, in vain urged the government to unite the victorious armies in the valley of the Stura, and push on immediately with their combined strength to the conquest of Italy. The reverse at Kayserslautern induced them to withdraw ten thousand men from the army of the Alps to support the troops on the Rhine; and Dumorbion, satisfied with the laurels he had won, and with energies enfeebled by years, could not be induced to risk ulterior operations. After so brilliant a début, the Republican forces failed even in reducing the little fort of Exiles, on the eastern descent of Mont Cenis; and for the three summer months, the victorious troops reposed from their fatigues on the heights which they had won above the clouds.

62. On the frontiers of Spain the war assumed still more decisive features. The reduction of Toulon enabled the central government to detach General Dugommier, with half the forces em