CHAP.

XX.

1796.

attacked the corps of Augereau, but they also were repulsed and followed to the bridge by the victorious French. There commenced a desperate struggle; the Republican column advanced with the utmost intrepidity, but they were received with so tremendous a fire from the artillery in front, and a line of infantry stationed along the banks of the Alpon in flank, that they staggered and fell back. Napoleon, deeming the possession of Arcola indispensable not only to his future operations, but to the safety of his own army, put himself with his generals at the head of the column, seized a standard, advanced without shrinking through a tempest of shot, and planted it on the middle of the bridge; but the fire there became so violent that his grenadiers hesitated, and seizing the general in their arms, bore him back amidst a cloud of smoke, the dead and the dying. The Austrians instantly rushed over the bridge, and pushed the crowd of fugitives into the marsh, where Napoleon lay up to the middle in water, while the enemy's soldiers for a minute surrounded him on all sides. The French grenadiers soon perceived that their commander was left behind; the cry ran through their ranks, "Forward to save the general," and returning to the charge, they drove back the Austrians, and extricated Napoleon from his perilous situation. During this terrible strife, Lannes received three wounds. His aid-de-camp, Meuron, Nap. iii. was killed by his side, when covering his general viii. 463-7. with his body, and almost all his personal staff were 216, and badly wounded.'

Meanwhile Guieux, who commanded the column which had been directed against Albaredo, had arrived at that place, and was directly in rear of the village of Arcola; but it was too late. During the

1

361-3. Th.

O'Meara, i.

ii. 226.

XX.

CHAP. desperate stand there made by the Austrians, Alvinzi had gained time to draw off his baggage and artillery, and it was no longer possible to take the

1796.

364.

Nap. iii. enemy in rear. Towards evening, the Austrians abandoned Arcola, and drew up their army, facing the marshes, at the foot of the heights of Caldiero.'

Th. viii.

467.

16th Nov.

During the night, Napoleon on his side drew back his forces to the right bank of the Adige, leaving only an advanced guard on the left bank; while the Austrians re-occupied the village of Arcola, and all the ground which had been so vehemently disputed on the preceding day. They even advanced, in the confidence of victory, along the dikes, to within 600 yards of the village of Ronco; but when they were thus far engaged in the defiles, the French attacked them with the bayonet, and drove back their columns, after an obstinate engagement, to the vicinity of Arcola. The Nap. iii. battle continued the whole day, with various success, and at nightfall both parties retired, the Austrians over the Alpon, the Republicans across the Adige.*

366, 367.

Th. viii.

468.

During the whole of these eventful days, big with the fate of Italy and the world, the conduct of the Austrian generals was timid, and unworthy of the brave troops whom they commanded. Davidowich, while the contest was raging on the lower Adige, remained in total inactivity on the upper part of that stream; while Alvinzi, fettered by secret instructions from the Aulic Council to attempt nothing hazardous, and rather keep on the defensive, in order to facilitate the hidden negotiations which were going forward or about to commence, repeatedly halted in the career of success, and lost the fairest opportunities of crushing his adversary. Napoleon, aware, from the treachery which constantly prevailed at the Imperial headquarters, of these secret restrictions,

augmented the irresolution of the commander-inchief by privately despatching intelligence from Verona to him of the approaching mission of Clarke to conduct negotiations for peace, of the conferences opened at Paris with England, and the probability of an immediate accommodation. Alvinzi rejected the proposal for an armistice which he made, but suspended his movements to join Davidowich, and paralysed every successful operation for fear of injuring the negotiations. To such a length did this timidity proceed, that when, after the repulse of the French from Arcola, his bravest officers besought him instantly to form a junction with Davidowich, and terminate the warby a general attack on Verona, instead of following the heroic advice, he retired towards Viemza.1

CHAP.

XX.

1796.

Hard. iv. 67, 75.

Again the sun rose on this dreadful scene of carnage, and both parties advanced, with diminished numbers, but undecaying fury, to the struggle which 17th Nov. was to decide the fate of Italy. They met in the middle of the dikes, and fought with the utmost animosity. The French column in the centre was routed, and driven back so far, that the Austrian balls fell upon the bridge of Ronco, where the action was restored by a regiment which Napoleon had placed in ambuscade among the willows on the side of the road, and which attacked the victorious column in flank, when disordered by success, with such vigour, that they were almost all driven into the marshes. Massena, on his dike, experienced similar vicissitudes, and was only enabled to keep his ground by placing himself at the head of the column, and leading the soldiers on with his hat on the point of his sword. Towards noon, however, Napoleon, perceiving that the enemy were exhausted with fatigue, while his own soldiers were comparatively fresh, deemed the moment for decisive

success arrived, and ordered a general charge of all his forces along both chaussées; and, having cleared them of the enemy, formed his troops in order of battle at their extremity, on the firm ground, having the right towards Porto Legnago, and the left at Arcola. By the orders of Napoleon, the garrison of that place issued forth with four pieces of cannon, so as to take the enemy in rear; while a body of trumpeters were sent, under cover of the willows, to their extreme left flank, with orders to sound a charge, as soon as the action was fully engaged along the whole line. These measures were completely successful. The Austrians, while bravely resisting in front, hearing a cannonade in their rear, and the trumpets of a whole division of cavalry in their flank, gave way, and, after a desperate struggle of three days' duration, yielded the victory to their enemies. Alvinzi had stationed 8000 men in echelon along his line of retreat, so that he was enabled to retire in good order, and with very little farther loss.1

It was so apparent to all the Austrian army that this last retreat was the result of a secret understanding with the French general, and with a view to the negotiation which was now depending, that they openly and loudly expressed their indignation. One colonel broke his sword in pieces, and declared he would no longer serve under a commander whose conduct brought disgrace on his troops. Certain it is, that Alvinzi, during this dreadful strife at Arcola, had neither evinced the capacity nor the spirit of a general worthy to combat with Napoleon ;-not that he was in reality deficient in either, but that the ruinous fetters of the Aulic Council paralysed all his movements, and the dread of hazarding any thing on

the eve of a negotiation, made him throw away every chance of success.1

CHAP.

XX.

1796.

of Davido

wich.

While this desperate struggle was going forward Hard. iv. in the marshes of Arcola, Davidowich, who had 71, 77. opened the campaign with such brilliant success, was far from following up his advantages with the vigour which might have been expected. He merely advanced with his forces to the neighbourhood of Verona on the 18th, following Vaubois, who aban- Nov. 18. doned the positions of Corona and Rivoli on his Operations approach; whereas, had he pressed him hard on the preceding days, Napoleon would have been compelled to cross the Adige, and raise the siege of Mantua. Without losing an instant, the French general returned with a large part of his forces through Verona, and compelled Davidowich to retire into the Tyrol, while the French resumed their old positions at Corona and Rivoli; and Augereau drove them from Dolce, with the loss of 1000 prisoners and nine pieces of cannon. The inhabitants of that town were lost in astonishment when they beheld the army which had left their walls by the gate of Milan three days before, return in triumph, after so terrible a combat, by the gate of Venice; and, without halt- • Nap. iii. ing, pass through the town to make head against the 371. fresh enemies who approached from the Tyrol.

Alvinzi, when Napoleon was absent in pursuit of Davidowich, advanced towards Verona, now chiefly occupied by invalids and wounded men, and a universal joy pervaded the army when the order to march in that direction was given; but his old irresolution soon returned; the instructions of the Aulic Council prevailed over his better genius, and the final order to retire to Vicenza again spread grief and despair among his heroic followers.'

Th. viii.

472.

• Hard. iv.

75.