XX. 1797. Tolentino been formed against his life, and which was the CHAP. means of causing it to be frustrated. The papal troops were routed on the banks of Senio: like the other Italian armies, they fled at the first onset, and Junot, after two hours' hard riding, found it impossible to make up with their cavalry. Ancona was speedily taken, with 1200 men, and 120 pieces of cannon, while a small column on the other side of the Apennines pushed as far as Foligno, and threatened Rome itself. Nothing remained to the Vatican but submission; and peace was concluded at Tolentino, on the 19th February, on terms the most hu- 19th Feb. miliating to the Holy See. The Pope engaged to Treaty of close his ports against the Allies, to cede Avignon between and the Venaisin to France; to abandon Bologna, France and Ferrara, and the whole of Romagna, to their allies in the Milanese; to admit a garrison of French troops into Ancona, till the conclusion of a general peace; and to pay a contribution of 30,000,000 francs to the victorious Republic. Besides this, he was obliged to surrender a hundred of his principal works of art to the French Commissioners; the trophies of ancient and modern genius were seized on with merciless rapacity; and in a short time the Apollo Belvidere, the 1 Jom. viii. Laocoon, the Transfiguration of Raphael, and the St 312, 313. Jerome of Dominichino, were placed on the banks 425. of the Seine.1 * the Pope. Nap. iii. O'Mea. ii. 127. * This treaty was concluded by the French under the idea that it would eventually prove fatal to the Holy See. Napoleon proposed to overturn at once the papal government :-" Can we not," said he "unite Modena, Ferrara, and Romagna, and so form a powerful Republic? May we not give Rome to the King of Spain, on condition that he recognises the new Republic? I will give peace to the Pope on condition that he gives us 3,000,000 of the treasure at Loretto, and pays the Corres. 15,000,000 which remains for the armistice. Rome cannot long exist Secret de deprived of its richest possessions; a revolution will speedily break out Nap. ii. 543. Hard. there." -On their side, the Directory wrote as follows to Napoleon: iv. 181. CHAP. XX. 1797. Such was the campaign of 1796-glorious to the French arms, memorable in the history of the world. Certainly on no former occasion had successes so Retrospect great been achieved in so short a time, or powers so paign. vast been vanquished by forces so inconsiderable. of the Cam From maintaining a painful contest on the mountain "Your habits of reflection, general, must have taught you, that the Roman Catholic religion is the irreconcilable enemy of the Republic. The Directory, therefore, invites you to do every thing in your power to destroy the papal government, without in any degree compromising the fate of your army. Either by subjecting Rome to another power, or, what would be better still, by establishing in its interior such a government as may render the rule of the priests odious and contemptible, secure the grand object, that the Pope and the cardinals shall lose all hope of remaining at Rome, and may be compelled to seek an asylum in some foreign state, where they may be entirely stripped of temporal power."-Corres. Conf. de Napoleon, ii. 349. HARD. iv. 181, 182. * In his Confidential Despatch to the Directory of 28th December, 1796, Napoleon states the force with which he commenced the campaign at 38,500 men, the subsequent reinforcements at 12,600, and the losses by death and incurable wounds at 7000. There can be no doubt XX. 1797. But although its victories in the field had been so CHAP. brilliant, the internal situation of the Republic was in the highest degree discouraging; and it was more than doubtful whether it could continue for any length of time even so glorious a contest. Its condition is clearly depicted in a secret report, presented, by order of the Directory, on 20th December, 1796, by General Clarke to Napoleon :-" The lassitude of war is experienced in all parts of the Republic. The people ardently desire ardently desire peace; their murmurs are loud that it is not already concluded. The legislature desires it, commands it, no matter at what price; and its continued refusal to furnish to the Directory the necessary funds to carry on the contest, is the best proof of that fact. The finances are ruined; agriculture in vain demands the arms which are required for cultivation. The war is become so universal, as to threaten to overturn the Republic; all parties, worn out with anxiety, desire the termination of the Revolution. Should our internal misery continue, the people, exhausted by suffering, having found none of the benefits which they expected, will establish a new order of things, which will in its turn 'Report by generate fresh revolutions, and we shall undergo, for Corresp. twenty or thirty years, all the agonies consequent on Nap. ii. such convulsions."1 Clarke. Conf. de 426. Much of Napoleon's success was no doubt owing to the admirable character, unwearied energy, and indomitable courage of the troops which composed the French army. The world had never seen an array framed of such materials. The terrible position of whirlwind which had overthrown the fabric of Army. that he enormously diminished his losses and reinforcements; for the Directory maintained he had received reinforcements to the amount of 57,000 men.- Corres. Conf. ii. 312. Extraordi nary Com the French XX. 1797. CHAP Society in France, the patriotic spirit which had brought its whole population into the field, the grinding misery which had forced all its activity into war, had formed a union of intelligence, skill, and ability, among the private soldiers, such as had never before been witnessed in modern warfare. The middling-even the higher ranks-were to be seen with a musket on their shoulders; the great levies of 1793 had spared neither high nor low; the career of glory and ambition could be entered only through the humble portals of the bivouac. Hence it was that the spirit which animated them was so fervent, and their intelligence so remarkable, that the humblest grenadiers anticipated all the designs of their commanders, and knew of themselves, in every situation of danger and difficulty, what should be done. When Napoleon spoke to them, in his proclamations, of Brutus, Scipio, and Tarquin, he was addressing men whose hearts thrilled at the recollections which these names awaken; and when he led them into action after a night-march of ten leagues, he commanded those who felt as thoroughly as himself the inestimable importance of time in war. With truth might Napoleon say that his soldiers had surpassed the far-famed celerity of Caesar's legions.' 1 Th. viii, 522. Great But much as was owing to the troops who obeyed, still more was to be ascribed to the general who commanded in this memorable campaign. In this struggle is to be seen the commencement of the new system of tactics which Napoleon brought to such perfection; that of accumulating forces in a central situaHis System tion, striking with the whole mass the detached wings of the enemy, separating them from each other, and compensating by rapidity of movement for inferiority of numbers. All his triumphs were achieved by the genius of Napoleon. of War. XX. 1797. steady and skilful application of this principle. At CHAP. Montenotte he broke into the centre of the AustroSardinian army, when it was executing a difficult movement through the mountains, separated the Piedmontese from the Imperialists, accumulated an overwhelming force against the latter at Dego, and routed the former when detached from their allies at Mondovi. When Wurmser approached Verona, with his army divided into parts separated from each other by a lake, Napoleon was on the brink of ruin; but he retrieved his affairs by sacrificing the siege of Mantua, and falling with superior numbers, first on Quasdanovich at Lonato, and then on Wurmser at Castiglione. When the second irruption of the Germans took place, and Wurmser still continued the system of dividing his troops, it was by a skilful use of his central position that Napoleon defeated these efforts; first assailing with a superior force, the subsidiary body at Roveredo, and then pursuing with the rapidity of lightning the main body of the invaders through the gorges of the Brenta. When Alvinzi assumed the command, and Vaubois was routed in the Tyrol, the affairs of the French were all but desperate; but the central positions and rapid movements of Napoleon again restored the balance; checking, in the first instance, the advance of Davidowich on the plateau of Rivoli, and next engaging in a mortal strife with Alvinzi in the marshes of Arcola. When Austria made her final effort, and Alvinzi surrounded Joubert at Rivoli, it was only by the most rapid movements, and almost incredible activity, that the double attack was defeated; the same troops crushing the main body of the Austrians on the steeps of the Monte Baldo, who afterwards surrounded Provera on the Lake of Mantua, The same system has |