44] 
other acts of oppression, had he pos- 
sessed the means of acting uniformly 
on his own principles. 
indeed, have abstained, from acting 
at all; but hampered as he was, 
by the directory, he could not unite 
‘a strict adherence to his princip!:s 
with his views of ambition. He 
displayed the utmost solicitude in 
consolidating it, in such a manner, 
that nostate, or sovereignty, in Italy, 
should exceed it in strength and im- 
portance. To this purpose, the 
confederations formed between the 
cities of Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, 
and Reggio, and the provinces, 
comprised under the name of Lome 
bardy, were converted into a single 
republic. The different arrange- 
ments that were made, to render 
their incorporation firm and durable, 
were due to the sagacity and la- 
borious exertions of Buonaparte, 
. who spared no pains to afford every 
reason, to the people of these coun- 
tries, to préfer their present to their 
former condition ;, and to be con- 
vinced, that they had made an ad- 
vantageous change in their circum- 
stances, by assuming the govern- 
ment into their own hands, instead 
of leaving it to the uncontroled 
exercise of absolute and arbitrary 
masters. 
In the mean time, events were 
taking place, that fully demonstrated 
a connivauce, on the pait of the 
French, at the endeavours. of the 
court of Vienna, to seek an in- 
demnification for its loss of territo- 
ries in those of the Venetians. It 
had been a current opinion, at tlie 
opening of the conferences for 
peace, that large portions of the 
Venetian territories, on the main 
land, would be made. over to the 
emperor, as compensations for what 
had been wrested from him in the 
He mizht,, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1797. 
Netherlands and Italy. Conform- 
ably to the general expectation, it 
was not long before thes2 surmises , 
received ample confirmation, The 
range of coast, along the province 
of Daimatia, had, ever since the 
downfal of Venice, excited a new 
species of ambition in the cauncils 
of Austria; that of increasing its 
naval strength, and succeeding ‘to 
Venice in the dominion of the 
Adriatic. The idea of sharing in 
the spoils of an unfortunate friend, 
whose calamities arose, in a great 
measure, from an neeaenoht eX- 
ercise of its good will, was odious 
to all those who did not think that 
politicians had a right tg exclude 
moral justice from their transactions, 
But the policy of the house of Aus- 
tria had long convinced those that 
attended to it, how feeble a bar all 
sentiments of this nature would 
prove, as in truth they had always 
roved, whenever fortune laid bee 
ae it opportunities of aggrandize- 
ment. Pursuant to the long-standing 
maxims of its conduct, the court of 
Vienna availed itself of the secret 
permission, either formally obtained, 
or indirectly given by the agents 
of France, to make an irruption 
into the province of Istria, a depen= 
dency of Vienna, and reduce it to 
iis own subjection, This happened 
in the month of June. The reasons 
set forth in the proclamation, that 
accompanied the entrance of the 
Austrian troops into that province, 
were, that a revolutionary spirit had 
manifested itself in the Vehetidh 
territories, which threatened to exe 
tend itself to the neighbouring coun- 
tries. In order therefore to secure 
himself from the pernicious conse- 
quences which this might produce, 
the emperor had thoughtit necessary 
to take possession of that age 
» TOR Gl 
