HISTORY OF EUROPE. [191 



the piece. The wheels, fixed to 

 poles, were borne on men's shoul- 

 ders; the tumbrils were emptied, 

 and placed on sledges, together 

 with the axle-trees. The ammuni- 

 tion, packed up in boxes, was car- 

 ried on the backs of mules. To 

 encourage the men, from four to 

 five hundred franks were allowed 

 for every piece of artillery thus 

 transported. One half of a regi- 

 ment was employed in drawing 

 cannon, whilst the other half bore 

 the necessary baggage belonging to 

 their corps. The men proceeded 

 in single files, it being impossible 

 for two to draw abreast, or to pass 

 each otherwithout danger of falling 

 down the precipices on the side, 

 The man who led, stopped, from 

 time to time, when every one took 

 the refreshment of biscuit, mois- 

 tened in snow water. It was the 

 labour of five hours to reach the 

 monastery of St. Bernard, when 

 each man was refreshed with a glass 

 of wine. They had then eighteen 

 miles of descent, by far the most difii- 

 cult and hazardous, which they did 

 not accomplish till nine the next 

 night, being ten hours in perform- 

 ing it. Buonaparte, and his staff, 

 marched on foot, and were in se- 

 veral places obliged to slide down 

 seated on the snow. 



On the sixteenth of May, the van- 

 guard reached Aosta, garrisoned by 

 a Hungarian battalion, which after 

 some loss, evacuated the place, when 

 a deputation from the town waited 

 upon the consul to surrender it. 



The van-guard now proceeded to 

 the attack of Chatillon, near which 

 place general Lannes was informed 

 the Austrians were preparing to 

 oppose liis passage over a bridge 

 thrown across a precipice ; but the 

 Austrians were so vigorously at- 



tacked by a body of hussars, that 

 they were soon driven off the bridge 

 with a considerable loss, and shut 

 themselves up in Fort de Barre, 

 built on an inaccessible rock. 



This fort, from its situation in a 

 narrow neck, appeared to stop the 

 progress of the whole army ; and, if 

 it could not be reduced in four days, 

 every soldier must have perished, 

 through hunger, as the provisions 

 were nearly exhausted, andnomeans 

 left of procuring an additional sup- 

 ply. Had general Melas foreseen 

 this obstacle, he might, by a timely 

 opposition, have frustrated the suc- 

 cess of Buonaparte's expedition. 



The rock on which the fort is 

 built, is in the shape of a sugar- 

 loaf; the pass at its foot is skirted 

 by a deep and rapid river, called 

 the Doria ; on the opposite side of 

 which is a steep inaccessible rock. 

 There was no alternative ; the fort 

 must either be taken or another pas- 

 sage sought. Each had its difficul- 

 ties, but Buonaparte's genius sur- 

 mounted them. 



The suburb was taken possession 

 of by three companies of grenadiers 

 previous to an attack on the fort, 

 which was defended by five hundred 

 men, and twenty-two pieces of can- 

 non. The attack was made at 

 night, when the republicans climb- 

 ed up the rocks and over the pal- 

 lisade amidst a shower of balls, and 

 drove the Austrians from the works, 

 but were at last obliged to retreat 

 themselves. 



This check made the consul re- 

 solve to find out another passage, 

 when a way was discovered up the 

 rock Albaredo ; which ascent gain- 

 ed, might with a little difficulty, be 

 descended. But the artillery could 

 not possibly be transported this 

 way ; it was therefore resolved, at 



