18G] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



above one thousand men made pri- 

 soners. Of the French, the chief 

 of brigade, Villaret, was killed ; 

 and several other officers of rank 

 were wounded, among whom was 

 general Fressinet, who, on the fif- 

 teenth, received two musket shots. 

 A considerable number of the 

 French were also made prisoners 

 by the Austrians. The result of 

 all these different actions was, that 

 the French, exhausted of men, mo- 

 ney, and provisions, were obliged to 

 reconcile their minds, at last, to the 

 idea of retreating, by little and lit- 

 tle, towards Genoa, and the forts 

 with which it was environed : a 

 plan which was, at last, carried into 

 complete execution, after daily 

 fighting, on the twentieth of Aj^ril. 

 The kind of war that is carried 

 on by any army, necessarily de- 

 pends on the force wliich it pos- 

 sesses, and the situation in which it 

 is placed. It was naturally, there- 

 fore, to be expected, that the gene- 

 rals Melas and Massena should 

 pursue opposite systems of opera- 

 tion. The object of Massena, con- 

 tinually in action with an enemy 

 superior in numbers, as well as 

 fresh and hearty, was to divide the 

 enemy, by marching his own troops 

 in two columns. It was contrived 

 that these columns should not be 

 equal in strength. The one was 

 weaker than the other, and made it 

 its chief business to manoeuvre, as 

 much as possible, so as to occupy the 

 enemy, and keep him in play, with- 

 out either attacking him, or waiting 

 to receive an attack, except when it 

 was unavoidable, as was the case at 

 Albissola. The other, and the 

 stronger column, endeavoured to 

 keep up the tone of offensive opera- 

 tions, by bearing, in favourable cir- 

 cumstances, with its whole and un- 



divided force on the different divi- 

 sions of the enemy, and to beat 

 their different corps in succession, 

 as was the case at Macaralo, Sas- 

 sello, and La Verneria. 



The Austrians, on the contrary, 

 being able to divide, without too 

 much weakening themselves, stu- 

 died always to surround the French, 

 and never met them without at- 

 tacking them, except when detach- 

 ed columns were turning them on 

 every side. Even the different ad- 

 vantages resulting to the French 

 from this mode of warfare, in a 

 mountainous country, precipitated 

 their destruction, and forced them 

 to fall back on Genoa, which was 

 not done without difficulty, the 

 Austrians being several times on 

 thepoint of cutting off their retreat; 



During the series of events now 

 related, on the left of the army of 

 Genoa, the right, under the orders 

 of general Miolis, had tried the 

 some kind of warfare, and received 

 orders, at last, to fall back to 

 Genoa. 



In the course of the fifteen days 

 that the defence was maintained, if 

 we may so, by offensive operations, 

 Massena, having lost a third of his 

 men, although the Austrians had 

 lost a good deal more of theirs, 

 could not dissemble that he had 

 nothing more to expect from the 

 force of his arms. He therefore 

 set himself to fortify himself in his 

 positions, to discover some means 

 of subsistence, and to exercise the 

 severest economy in the use of such 

 as yet remained. By means of some 

 small ships, which yet remained to 

 the French army, notwithstanding 

 the vigilance of the English fleet, 

 he sent letters to Corsica, to gene- 

 ral Suchet, and to Marseilles. Se- 

 veral officers, whom he had sent 



