HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
land. The possession of this im- 
portant pass, aided by the favour- 
able position of the mountains of 
Jura, rendered the extensive fron- 
tier of Franche-Compté entirely 
safe. M. Luckner was the only 
one of the general officers who 
spoke in any tolerable terms of the 
soldiery ; he was himself a favourite 
amongst them; and he had en- 
deared himself to them by every 
mark of attention to their wants, 
while he, at the same time, main- 
tained a regular discipline. The 
Marischal boasted of his troops, 
that they would follow him like 
Jambs. The system of this gallant 
veteran was in direct contradiction 
to that of Rochambeau :—the plan 
of operations, which he advised, 
and wished to practise, was, to carry 
‘immediately into the enemy’s coun- 
“try all the horrors of war, and to 
‘subsist at their expence. His line 
of conduct was stamped by the 
boldness of decision: he detested 
procrastination, and wished at once 
a vigorous offensive war. His ar- 
dour, however, was always damped 
by the enemy of the revolution, 
and the most successful intrigueant 
of France, Berthier, Chef de l’ Etat 
Major of Luckner’s army*. This 
officer had so much influence 
upon the old and weak Gene- 
ral, that he directed entirely his 
Operations; and, being notori- 
ously known for an enemy to 
the revolution, and a violent royal- 
ist, brought upon the poor Gene- 
ral an unfavourable opinion, which 
ake some time afterwards his 
grace and fall. 
_ A fourth army was likewise as- 
sembled on the side of Savoy, com- 
manded by M. de Montesquieu, 
to oppose the troops of his Sar- 
[93 
dinian Majesty, who had already 
advanced to Van-var and Mont- 
meliant, with a view to attack the 
city of Lyons. The Marischal’s or- 
ders were to fix three camps; one 
at Var, another at Barraux, and a 
third to cover Lyons. 
It will be here attended to, that 
the left of M. Luckner’s army ex- 
tended to Montbeliard, and to the 
pass of Porentrui; from whenge 
the connection was interrupted by 
the lofty mountains of Jura. The 
Marischal’s army may be term- 
ed the army of the Rhone, or of 
the Alps; the right of which ap- 
proached to Franche Compté, from 
whence it communicated with that 
of Luckner. 
Thestrength of these armies was 
rapidly encreased. 
The army of the north, com- 
manded by Rochambeau, amount- 
ed to about fifteen thousand men; 
the centre army, commanded by 
La Fayette, at most to seventeen 
hundred; the army of the Rhine, 
under Luckner, to about twenty- 
two thousand. Besides these ar- 
mies, there was a body of about ten 
or twelve thousand, dispersed in 
different stations on the coasts of 
France, from Bayonne to Dunkirk. 
In this statement of the French 
force, we do not include that sent 
abroad for the protection of the co- 
lonies, and which amounted to up- 
wards of 1'7,000 men. 
The magazines of France were 
found so empty, that the ministers 
were making contracts, and sending 
abroad different commissaries to buy 
arms, chiefly muskets. Beaumarché 
went to Liege and Holland; and 
another to North America, to 
procure the muskets that were in 
the magazines of that country, fa 
a 
* And afterwards of Bonaparte. 
