FRANCE. 387 



to make his escape to France ; where, as we shall presently see, he be- 

 came the author of a new and extraordinary revolution in the consti- 

 tution and government. 



The unprincipled attack on Egypt, contrary to the faith of treaties, 

 so incensed the Turks, that they immediately declared war against 

 the French republic ; and the emperor of Russia, having accepted a 

 subsidy from Great Britain, entered into a treaty of alliance with the 

 Ottoman Porte and with England, and gave orders for a large body 

 of troops to be raised to act against France. Austria likewise ap- 

 peared disposed to avail itself of the assistance of this new ally ; and 

 the French directory having applied to the emperor for an explana- 

 tion on this subject, and received none which they deemed satisfac- 

 tory, sent orders to general Jourdan to pass the Rhine, with the avowed 

 intention of forcing the diet of Ratisbon to declare against the march 

 of the Russian troops. He executed these orders on the 1st of 

 March, 1799; and nearly about the same time, general Bernadotte, 

 at the head of an army of observation, passed the Rhine at Waldeck, 

 invested Philipsburg,and summoned that fortress to surrender, while 

 general Ney sent a similar summons to Manheim which immediately 

 opened its gates to him. Yet, notwithstanding these proceedings, 

 the French ambassador declared to the congress of Rastadt, which, 

 though it had sat so long, had as yet come to no conclusion, that these 

 hostile movements were undertaken solely to prevent the interfe- 

 rence of the court of Petersburg, and accelerate a general peace. 

 The congress soon after was broken up, and two of the three French 

 plenipotentiaries basely and inhumanly murdered, as they were leav- 

 ing the town, by some Austrian hussars, or persons who had assumed 

 that disguise. 



The cabinet of Vienna being now certain of the aid of Russia, the 

 Austrian army, under the command of the archduke Chai'les, passed 

 the Lech, on the 4th of March ; and the war, which had so long 

 desolated Europe, was renewed. Fortune, at first, appeared to declare 

 in favour of the French. A body of troops of that nation, advancing 

 through Schaffhausen towards Suabia, were opposed by a detach- 

 ment of Aurlrians whom they defeated, taking the general and three 

 thousand men prisoners. They Avere also successful for a short time 

 in Italy. Their troops occupied the whole of Tuscany ; and the king 

 of Sardinia was reduced in the month of January, to the cruel neces- 

 sity of formally renouncing the sovereignty of Piedmont, and retiring 

 with his family and adherents to the island whence he derived his 

 title. The king of Naples likewise having taken up arms and invad- 

 ed the Roman republic, after being at first so successful as to obtain 

 possession of Rome, was totally defeated and obliged to take refuge 

 in the island of Sicily. 



But soon after the commencement of hostilities with Austria, the 

 French arms experienced a fatal reverse. On the 25lh of March, 

 general Jourdan attacked the Austrians near Stockach, but was 

 defeated, and obliged to retire in disorder ; and on the 26th of the 

 same month general Kray beat the French on the Adige near Verona, 

 and again defeated them on the 30th. On the 14th of April, mar- 

 shal Suwarrow arrived with the first column of the Russian troops, 

 and the successes of the allies became rapid and uninterrupted. On 

 the 24th of the same month, the Austrians and Russians passed the 

 Oglio, and drove the French before them. They then crossed the 

 Adda, and Suwarrow, on the 27th, defeated Moreau at Cassano: and 



