76] 
of their king, were hastening to 
their assistance.. The imperia! ge- 
neral, Bianchi, retired before the 
Neapolitan army, till he reached 
the Panaro, where, on April the 
4th, he made head against the 
enemy, on the road to Modena. 
The result of the action was, that 
Bianchi continued his retreat to 
Carpi, and afterwards took a 
strong position on the Po. The 
grand duke of Tuscany at this 
time quitted his capital, and re- 
tired to Pisa, and on the 6th, the 
Neapolitans entered — Florence, 
which was evacuated by the Aus- 
trian general, Nugent. The lat- 
ter retired to Pistoria, whither he 
was followed by the Neapolitan 
general, Pignatelli, who made re- 
peated attacks on the Austrians, 
in all of which he was repulsed 
with loss; and this was the limit 
of the advance of the Neapolitans 
on that side. 
Their maim army, under the 
immediate direction of king Jo- 
achim, was in the mean time 
pushing forward towards Ferrara; 
‘and it being considered by the 
‘Austrian generals as of essential 
consequence to defend this point, 
baron Frimont ordered the lieu- 
tenant field-marshal Mohr, to 
advance from the tete-de-pont of 
“Occhio Bello, and make an attack 
upon the enemy. This was ef- 
fected on the 12th by Mohr, 
‘whilst count Neipperg threatened 
the flank of the Neapolitans ; 
and its success was such, that 
‘they were driven from all their 
‘works, and Ferrara was delivered. 
~The retreating Neapolitans were 
‘pursued’ towards Bologna. Ge- 
‘neral Bianchi had at this time 
driven the invaders from Carpi, 
‘and had recovered Modena so 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
that the vicinity of the Po was 
entirelyfreed fromthe Neapolitans. 
The latter continued their retreat 
at all points. On the 16th, the 
van of the Austrian army entered 
Bologna, which had been hastily 
abandoned by Joachim. It was 
now manifest, that whatever were 
the wishes of the [talians for in- 
dependence, no co-operation could 
be expected on their parts; and 
that the grand scheme of uniting 
Lombardy against the Austrian 
dominion, and forming a pow- 
erful diversion in favour of Buo- 
naparte in that quarter, was be- 
yond the talents of Murat with a 
Neapolitan army. From Bologna, 
the pursuit was continued by the 
Austrian division under count 
Neipperg, which successively oc- 
cupied Imola, Faenza, and Forli. 
A large corps of Neapolitans being 
entrenched at Cesena, the count 
made an attack upon it on the 21st, 
and a brisk action ensued, after 
which, the position wasabandoned, 
and the troops hastily retreated. 
On the 21st, general Millet de 
Villeneuve, chief of the Neapolitan 
staff, sent a letter tothe Austrian 
commander, for the purpose of 
obtaining an armistice. He said, 
that the king of Naples, under 
the apprehensions for the security 
‘of his states, excited by the nego- 
‘ciations at Vienna, and in con- 
‘sequence of the events whichseem- 
ed likely to renew the coalition 
against France, had thought pro- 
per to occupy the; line which he 
held during the last war, the re- 
‘sult of which was, an attack by the 
Austrian troops ; thathe had even- 
tually found himself engaged in 
a war with a great power without 
intending it ; but that having now 
learned by communications with 
