835 
FRA 
and nearly half the kingdom of Naples. Their force con- 
fitted of about eighty thoufand French foldiers, and more 
than fifty thoufand Poles, Swifs, Piedmontefe, Genoefe, 
Romans, and Neapolitans, difperfed from the frontier of 
Piedmont to that of Calabria. Thefe were divided into 
two bodies ; one of which, called the army of Italy, and 
compofed of ninety thoufand men, occupying the Mode- 
nefe, the .Milanefe, the Valteline, and the countries of 
Brefcia, Bergamo, and Mantua, could only fpare fifty 
thoufand to be employed in active operations. It was in 
cantonments on the banks of the lake of Garda, the Min- 
cio, and the Po, from the frontier of Tyrol to the mouth 
of the laft-mentioned river. The remaining forty thou¬ 
fand formed the army of Naples; occupying the capital 
and conquered part of his Sicilian majefty’s dominions, 
Rome, and the (fates of the church. Though oppofed 
by no regular troops, it had, on one fide, to guard againft 
the population of Naples; and, on another, to combat the 
inhabitants of Calabria, Bafilicata, Tarentefe, Puglia, and 
of all the provinces fituated to the fouth and eaft of thefe, 
Abruzzo, and Benevento; who, led by cardinal Ruffo, 
at once a pried, a politician, and a warrior, had rifen en 
majfe, and taken arms in favour of the Sicilian monarch. 
On a third fide, the fame army had to defend itfelf againft 
the infurreftioris in a great part of the ftates of the church, 
which were often checked, but never totally fapprefTed. 
The Aufirian army occupied the line of the Adige, pa¬ 
rallel to that of the French, extending from the Italian 
Tyrol b'eyond Rovigo. About thirty thoufand men were 
diftributed along this line; while the army of referve, 
confiding of nearly the fame number, was cantoned in the 
Trevifano, Friuli, and Carniola. All thefe troops were 
under the orders of general Kray, until Melas (hould ar¬ 
rive to take the chief command. 
With regard to the comparative forces and pofitions, 
it appearsibat the French were greatly fuperior, but the 
Andrians had their forces concentrated upon a (hort line, 
and could not be attacked but upon that line; while the 
French and their auxiliaries, fcattered over the furface of 
Italy, from the foot of the Alps to the gulphs of Naples 
and Manfredonia, had condantly to keep in fubjedtion, 
and often to combat, a population of above ten millions 
of people ; and were obliged to guard the coads of the 
Mediterranean and of the Adriatic, upon which hodile 
troops might at any time be landed from the Englifh, 
Ruffian, and Turkiffi, fleets, which held the dominion of 
the two feas; blocked up the forts of Corfu, Ancona, 
and Malta; and frequently appeared before thofe of Leg¬ 
horn, Civita Vecchia, and Naples. It may then be faid 
that the Austrians, concentrated in a good pofition, having 
their left upon the Adriatic and their right upon the Alps, 
•^communicating with the army of the Tyrol, from which 
they could receive fuccours, and having only to oppofe 
the enemy in their front, poffefled a relative l'uperiority. 
At length, the French armies of the Danube and Swif- 
ferland, having gained the pofitions which were judged 
mod favourable, that of Italy, in order to co-operate, was 
formed in fix divifions, confiding of forty-five thoufand 
men, and put in motion on the 26th of March. The left, 
compofed of three divifions under Maflena, and fupported 
by an armed flotilla on the lake of Garda, drove the im¬ 
perial ids from the heights between the lake and the Adige; 
carried the intrenched camp of Padrengo ; took four thou¬ 
fand prifoners, and, palling the Adige at Polo, fpread 
themfelves on the left bank, both towards Verona and the 
Tyrol, cutting the line by which the Audriansmaintained 
the communication from the Upper to the Lower Adige. 
The centre of the republicans was compofed of two divi- 
fions and a corps de referve, led by Sc herer in perfon, and 
animated to vigorous exertion by a promife of the pillage 
«f Verona. They were refided with great fpirit by gene¬ 
ral Kaim ; and, at the dole of a hard-fought day, no ma¬ 
terial advantage refulted to them from the attack. The 
remaining divifion,which compofed the right of the French 
army, was ordered to burn Legnano j but the refinance 
N C E. 
made by the Andrians afforded time for the arrival of a 
corps de referve, when Kray in turn became the aflailant, 
and put the republicans to the rout, with the lofs of two 
thoufand men killed'and wounded, and fix hundred pri¬ 
foners. This fuccefs would have enabled Kray to ad¬ 
vance againft Mantua, but the progrefs of the other French 
armies obliged him to fend reinforcements to Verona; and, 
after fome partial fkirmifhes, both parties agreed to a fuf- 
penfion of arms on the 30th, for the purpofe of burying 
their dead, who, having lain on the field fince the 26th, 
began to infedt the air. 
Several partial actions occupied the enfuingdays, which 
were moftly favourable to the Auftrians; when general 
Scherer, alarmed by the increafing dangers of his pofi¬ 
tion, and knowing that twenty-three thoufand republican 
auxiliaries were hourly expended to arrive, refolvcd on 
making a vigorous effort to drive the imperialifts beyond 
the Adige, and to eftablifh himfelf on the other fide of 
that river. At the fame time general Kray had formed 
a project for forcing the French to crofs the Mincio. Both 
armies moved on the 5th of April to execute their refp^dt- 
ive plans; they encountered each other at ten o’clock in 
the morning, and maintained a furious conteft, whie'h did 
not terminate till fix in the evening. The French mus¬ 
tered only thirty-fix thoufand men, while the Auftrians 
had forty-five thoufand ; but for the firft two hours the re¬ 
publicans had every appearance of fuccefs. The Auftrians, 
however, brought up their referve, which confided of ten 
thoufand men, and finally put their opponents to flight 
in every direction ; they took feventeen pieces of cannon, 
and three thoufand prifoners ; the French alfo loft: in 
killed and wounded, three thoufand five hundred men ; 
and the Auftrians, two thoufand five hundred. In the 
evening general Kray eftablifhed a line of oblervation from 
Lecco to Veleggio, and took the French fortified camp at 
Magnano, from which the bdttle derives its name. 
When Kray had thus fuccefsfully fignalifed himfelf and 
his army, general Melas arrived On the 10th of April, to 
alfume the command ; and fent his vanguard over the 
Mincio to occupy the approacb.es to Pefchiera, while on 
the left Klenau pufhed on to the vicinity of Mantua. 
Melas was not however fufficiently ftrong to advance his 
main body beyond the Mincio and blockade thofe two 
fortreffes; but was foon reinforced by the arrival of the 
Ruffian troops at Verona. He then loft no time in palling 
the river; and while encamped near Campagnola was 
joined by the Ruffian army and by field-marfhal Suwarrow, 
who affumed the chief command of the troops of the two 
emperors, amounting to fixty thoufand men, befides the 
corps detached on their flanks. The celebrity of this com¬ 
mander confifted principallyin the promptitude with which 
he formed his plans, and the rapidity with which he car¬ 
ried them into execution. He loft no time therefore by 
inaflion ; but, having allotted near twenty thoufand men 
to the blockades of Pefchiera and Mantua, which were 
foon to be regularly befieged, and committed the charge 
of that fervice to general Kray, he made provifion againft 
all contingencies which might impede his progrefs, and 
fet forward in purfuit of the republicans. 
The war having now become inevitable, the French 
plenipotentiaries at Raftadt, on the 19th of April, received 
orders from the directory to retire to Strafburg, and invite 
all the minifters of princes of the empire, who were willing 
to conclude feparate treaties with the republic, to attend 
them. Their retreat was more urgent, as after the defeat 
of Jourdan, a detachment from the archduke’s army had 
been fent to occupy Raftadt. The French minifters there, 
fore declared, by an official note, their intention of de¬ 
parting on the 28th. The three plenipotentiaries, Bon¬ 
nier, Roberjot, and Jean Debry, were in carriages. The 
wife of Roberjot, and the wife and daughters of Jean 
Debry, were with them ; and they were attended by the 
minifter of the Cifalpine republic. When they had ad¬ 
vanced a (hort diftance from Raftadt, they were met by 
about fifty huflars of the Auftrian regiment of Szeckler, 
wit® 
