NY 
a 
| decisive action. 
HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
way, were compelled to surrender 
themselves, to the number of four 
thousand men, besides their cannon 
and standards. This advantage was 
obtained on the seventh of Septem- 
er. 
Buonaparte found no farther op- 
position in passing the other defiles 
on the road to Bassano. Near this 
place a strong division was posted, 
which, favoured by the ground, 
Maintained, the next day, a Vigorous 
dispute, but was finally routed. The 
French pushed forward to Bassano, 
from whence it was with difficulty 
that some chosen corps of Austrian 
' grenadiers were able to proteét the 
retreat of marshal Wurmser himself, 
who had hardly time to secure the 
military chest. This was truly a 
Five thousand men 
were taken, with thirty-five cannon 
and upwards of two hundred large 
waggons loaded with the baggage 
of the army, and a vast quantity of 
military utensils and stores. 
Notwithstanding this great de- 
feat, marshal Wurmser steadily ad- 
hered to the resolution he had 
formed, that in case his retreat 
should be cut off to the Austrian 
territories, he would throw himself 
into Mantua, and defend it to the 
last extremity. This was now pre- 
cisely his situation ; he had luckily, 
with the remains of some battalions, 
Tejoined a large division of his army 
at Montabello, a town in the proxi- 
ity of Vienna, and on the road to 
‘Verona. As it was impracticable 
to retire across the Brenta, where 
‘the French army commanded all 
the passages, he marched to Porto 
sago,where he passed tke Adige, 
_on the ninth of September, making 
all the expedition he was able to 
reach Mantua. 
_ The French, in the mean time, 
Vor, XXXVIIL. 
[113 
were pursuing him, and came up to 
a place through which it was ima- 
gined he would pass ; not finding 
him there, they took another route 5 
but their guide misled them, and 
they again missed him. He had 
now reached Cerea, a village lying 
between Governolo; and Castellaro, 
at which places large bodies of the 
French were posted to intercept 
him. Here too a division of their 
army met him, and an engagement 
ensued, but he defeated them, 
taking a number of prisoners, and 
advancing to Castéllaro, encounter- 
ed another division with like sue- 
cess. These two aétions took place 
on the twelfth, and at night he ar- 
rived at Mantua. 
A great number of Austrians had, 
during this escape of their general, 
fallen into the hands of the French. 
He had stationed the corps that 
came with him in the suburbs of 
Mantua, where the French attacked 
him on the fourteenth. The whole 
day was spent in very bloody skir- 
mishes; and on the fifteenth a-se- 
rious engagement followed. . The 
Austrian general’s objeét was to re- 
tain possession of the suburbs, from 
which be hoped, by means of his 
numerous cavalry, to forage the 
country round, and procure provi- 
sions for the garrison. The objeé& 
of the French was to drive him 
from these posts, and confine him 
within the body of the place. The 
confliét was severe and obstinate on 
both sides, but the Austrians lost 
the day, and were compelled to seek 
shelter within the walls of Mantua. . 
No less than tw® thousand fell in 
the d&tion, and as many were taken, 
with twenty-pieces of cannon, and 
a large quantity of ammunition. 
The loss of the French was also 
considerable, as the Austrians 
mail- 
