| HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
so considerably increased, and the 
garrison so much strengthened, that, 
unless the French could attack it on 
the German, .as well as on their 
own, side of the Rhine, the com- 
munication with Germany would 
furnish it with continual supplies of 
men and provisions, and frustrate 
all their.endeavours to reduce it. 
The opening of the campaign 
Was auspicious to the | French, 
Moving from Dusseldorf, that divi- 
sion -which had wintered there, 
marched, under general Kleber, on 
the right side of the Rhine, towards 
a body of Austrians, encamped at 
the river Sieg, to guard its passage 
against the French; but these de+ 
feated them on the first of June, 
and, following their successes, en- 
' Counteredand routed another body, 
commanded by the prince of Wir- 
temberg on the fourth, at Alten- 
kirchen, a place lyingon the road 
to Mentz, whither the French in- 
tended to force their way, in order 
to intercept its communication with 
Germany. In the first of these en- 
-gagements, the Austrians lost about 
two thousand men ; in the second, 
near three thousand. 
They had now crossed the Sieg, 
and the Lahn, and were in pursuit 
of the troops they had defeated at 
the passage of these rivers ;” they 
had, .at the same time, invested the 
celebrated fortress of Ehrenbritstein, 
the capture of which would have 
given them the command of all the 
neighbouring country. 
_ Happily for the Austrians, this was 
_ @ place of extraordinary strength, 
and not to be subdued but by the 
" Bfeatest efforts and perseverance : 
in order, however, to secure it effec- 
tually, together with the adjacent 
Paris, it was judged adviseable by 
the Austrian commanders, to move, 
[197 
with the greater part of their forces, 
tothe defence of the German side 
of the Rhine. 
The archduke Charles, who was 
at the head of the Imperial army, 
crossed that river accordingly, about 
the eight of June, in such force as 
rendered the Austrians considerably 
superior in strength to the French, 
who, by this motion, were arrested 
in their progress towards Mentz, 
which they had nearly approached : 
and general Lefebre, one of their 
best officers, was, after a most brave 
and skilful defence, defeated on the 
fifteenth, near Wetzlaar, and com- 
pelled to repass the Lahn, and retire 
towards the Sieg, in his way back to 
Dusseldorf. 
General Jourdan, who command- 
ed the French army, opposed to the 
archduke, after raising the siege of 
Ehrenbritstein, near Siegburg, took 
a position where he hoped to make 
a stand, until the reinforcements he 
expeéted had joined him: but the 
archduke, confiding in the goodness 
of his troops, as well as the supe- 
riority of their numbers, attacked 
the division under Kleber, on the 
twentieth, at Kirpen, and after a 
well-disputed aétion, compelled him 
to retire, and abandon all the coun- 
try he had reduced in his march 
from Dusseldorf; to which place 
he found it necessary to make a re- 
treat, with that part of,the army 
under his command, while the other 
recrossed the Rhine at Neuwied 
with Jourdan, and repossessed their 
former positions, in order to pre- 
vent the Austrians from deriving 
any farther advantages from their 
success. 
Manheim and Mentz seemed now 
to lie open to the attacks of the 
French ; but as the protection they 
would receive from the Austrian 
armiesy 
