HISTORY OF EUROPE. [203 



General St. Susanna, with the 

 division of the French array under 

 his command, had alwaj's remained 

 on the left bank of the Danube, in 

 the neighbourhood of Geisligen, 

 which was his head-quarters. While 

 the attention of the Austrians was 

 occupied by a great deal of mancsu- 

 vering and sku-mishingin that quar- 

 ter, and other demonstrations of a 

 design to penetrate into the heart of 

 Germany, and to the capital, St. 

 Susanne, stretched oft', by degrees, 

 along the course of the Ilkr, by 

 Memmingen and Kampten, to the 

 lake of Constance. By cutting off 

 prince Reuss from geneial Kray,and 

 keeping the commander-in-chief so 

 long in check, he had already ena- 

 bled divisions or detachments, from 

 his army, to get possession of Aus- 

 burgh, Linilau, Bregentz, Feldkirk, 

 and other posts, which might be 

 considered as the keys of the Grisons 

 and the Tyrol, through which coun- 

 tries it would now be in his power 

 to corimunicate with Buonaparte, 

 by this time descending from the 

 summit of the Alps into the plains 

 of Piedmont and Lombardy. 



For nearly two months Moreau 

 had sought nothing farther than to 

 amuse general Kray by marches 

 and counter marches, by threatened 

 sieges, and sham irruptions, to alarm 

 the Austrians for the safety of the 

 hereditary states, and prevent them 

 from paying any attention to the 

 affairs of Italy. After the battle of 

 Marengo, he was at liberty to act 

 with more entcrprizc and vigour 

 The armistice in I taly did not extend 

 to Germany; and the last, and one 

 of the most important articles in the 

 convention, as above observed, pre- 

 vented either party from sending 

 detachments to tliat quarter. This 

 condition was evidently in favour 



of the Austrians ;' but there were 

 other circumstances equally encou- 

 raffins: to the French commander. 

 A small body of men remamed, or- 

 ganized, at Dijon, after the depar- 

 ture of Buonaparte, and its numbers 

 had been since very considerably 

 increased. This body had already 

 made a movement from Dijon to- 

 wards a point from whence it could 

 go to the assistance of either army, 

 and now it received orders to re- 

 pair to the banks of the lUer; and 

 the very success and splendour of 

 Buonaparte's enterprize, raised the 

 spirits of Frenchmen to an enthu- 

 siasm, which nothing could with- 

 stand, that was not in its nature 

 impossible. The victories, the 

 conquests, and the positions of the 

 French at this time, were indeed 

 such as might have inspired a less 

 sanguine and volatile nation with 

 confidence in government, political 

 and military, and the genius of 

 France under proper direction. — 

 Switzerland was in theirhands, and 

 formed a most important point of 

 communication between the armies 

 in Italy and Suabla. They were in 

 possession of both sides of the Lake 

 of Constance. All Suabia was in 

 their hands. A corps of troops, in 

 Switzerland, was ready to attack 

 the Grisons. A detachment of 

 twenty-five thousand men, from the 

 Milanese, was marchmg through 

 the Valtelline,for the same purpose. 

 — TherightwingofMoreau'sarmy, 

 threatened the Austrian positions in 

 the Tyrol, upon the north-west: 

 in a word, the French armies, from 

 the shores of the Mediterranean to 

 the Danube, and even the Lower 

 Rhine, formed but one compact 

 force, without any points to inter- 

 rupt their correspondence; and with- 

 out any obstacle to their entire co- 



