HISTORY OF EUROPE. [181 



Thus divided, the Austrian army 

 had the appearance of weakness j 

 but it possessed all the means of 

 being easily recruited, and provided 

 with all things necessary for action. 

 The reinforcements which it re- 

 ceived, from time to time, during 

 its long repose, were in like man- 

 ner dispersed over an immense ex- 

 tent of country, and were scarcely 

 to be perceived. On the whole, 

 the French were persuaded that it 

 would be late in the season before 

 the Austrians could take the field. 

 They even flattered themselves that 

 they should be beforehand with the 

 enemy, at the very time when the 

 different corps, that were to com- 

 pose the Austrian armies, were on 

 their march to the general rendez- 

 vous. Cities, towns, and villages, 

 all at once, as by a spontaneous 

 movement, sent forth companies, 

 regiments, and battalions, for the 

 formation of an active army. In a 

 few days, general Melas was enabled 

 to assemble ten thousand men before 

 Bobbio, ten thousand in front of 

 Tortona, thirty thousand at Acqui 

 and Alexandria, to advance with 

 this great force against Massena, 

 and, at the same time, to leave behind 

 him, in the plains of Piedmont, the 

 whole of his cavalry, a fine park of 

 artillery, and twenty thousand in- 

 fantry. The astonishment, excited 

 by all these circumstances, was great 

 and universal. Massena adopted the 

 only measure that was prudent and 

 practicable in his situation. He con- 

 tracted his lines; he formed masses^ 

 which though altogether dispropor- 

 tioned to the numerous bodies to 

 which they were opposed, might 

 yet make an impression, and divide 

 the enemy, by darting upon them 

 at points favourable to an attack, 

 and obtaining different advantages, 



according to local circumstances, 

 and the genius and combinations of 

 the chief commander. But the di- 

 visions of his army being extended 

 on a line of sixty miles, to draw 

 them close together was a very dif- 

 ficult matter. 



The business of covering the city 

 of Genoa was undertaken by Mas- 

 sena himself, at the head of one of 

 his divisions ; but the right wing of 

 general Melas's army, which bore 

 principally on Vado and Savona, 

 took Vado on the second day of the 

 siege, and, by this movement, iso- 

 lated the right wing of the army 

 under the orders of Massena. 



It will here be proper, before 

 entering more particularly into the 

 siege of Genoa, to give some ac- 

 count of the manner in which the 

 army of Genoa, being the right 

 wing of the French army of Italy, 

 was composed, and also of the dif- 

 ferent points or posts in which the 

 different divisions were stationed. 

 —The commander-in-chief of this 

 axmy was Massena. His head-quar- 

 ters were at Genoa. The officers of 

 his staff were as follows: Audinot, 

 general of division ; was the first 

 general of the staff; major-general 

 Ardneux, adjutant-general. 



Thiebault, Reille, Gautier, and 

 Campana, adjutants-general, em- 

 ployed by the commander-in-chief. 



Degiovani, Ottovi, and Neroo, 

 adjutants-general, employed by the 

 staff. 



Aubernon, inspector-general. 



La Martilliere, commander-in- 

 chief of the artillery. 



SibiUe, commander of the naval 

 force. 



More, commander of the corps 

 of engineers. 



The ^rsl division of the army, 

 consisting of four thousand t wo hun- 



