8-16 FRANC E. 
having conveyed to him abundant fupplies, and facili¬ 
tated the formation of his magazines for the approaching 
campaign. The French, in the mean while, fhut up in 
various pods from the Bochetta to the Alps of Dauphiny, 
in {he mid ft of fnows, and una(Tided by any friendly in- 
tercourfe, had fuffered every privation and hardthip ; and, 
with a force not amounting to fifty thoufand men, had 
to defend pofitions occupied by eighty thoufand of their 
enemies. 
The lines of the French army on the frontier of Ger¬ 
many, extended from Ehrenbreitftein to the Valais ; but, 
on the other hand, the archduke Charles, indignant per¬ 
haps at the part he had been obliged to aft in the lad, 
and difpleafed with fome circumdances in the plan of the 
prefect, campaign, renounced the command, which was 
conferred on field-mat dial Kray. As the principal efforts 
were intended to be made on the fide of Italy, the troops 
were put in motion. Melas quitted Milan on the 6th of 
April 1800, to befiege Genoa; having previoufly ad- 
drefi'ed to his troops a proclamation, reminding them of 
the glory they had acquired lad year, and the neceffity of 
maintaining it by r.ew exploits. He attacked the Bo¬ 
chetta in perfon, while field-marfhal the baron d’Elnitz 
affailed the heights of Vado, and another column of the 
army reached Savona by the road of Acqui and Saffello. 
Thefe combined efforts drove Maffena into Genoa, while 
a Britifh fquadron cruifcd off the coaft, and the Audriam 
general made great exertions to gain the furrounding 
heights. A party in Genoa, adverfe to the French inte- 
reft, facilitated the difperfion of a proclamation frbm ge¬ 
neral Melas, affurir.g the inhabitants that his intentions 
were not to fiibdue or fubjugate, but to deliver them from 
a yoke which had reduced them to a condition truly de¬ 
plorable. H^promifed to refpeft property and defend 
the true religion, -to edablifh a provifional government, 
make their harbour a free port, and protedl their com¬ 
merce. Thefe offers were rendered more impreffive by 
the blockade of the port by lord Keith, and the great 
want of provifions, which obliged Mafiena to have re- 
courfe to feverities to limit the confumption. 
The Andrians got poffeffion of the heights of Monte- 
notte and San Giacomo ; made themfelves maders of Fi¬ 
nale, Vado, and Savona ; and drove general Suchet, after 
many fevere conflicts, into the county of Nice. In thefe 
ijfyeral actions the French loft ten thoufand men; they 
captured many Auftrians, but were obliged to fet them at 
liberty on parole, for want of provifions. The befiegers 
gained polfeflion of the fuburb of San Pietro d’Ancona, 
and made an unfuccefsful attempt to force the gate called 
la Lanterne. Belet with internal as well as external foes, 
and determined to defend his poft to the laft extremity, 
Maffena took meafures for organizing the Cifalpine re¬ 
fugees within the walls, invited the citizens to depofiT 
their private dock of provifions in the public dores, and 
by proclamations exhorted his followers to redd the ef¬ 
forts of malevolence, and maintain good difcipline ; and 
animated the inhabitants to endure with firmnefs the ri¬ 
gours of a fiege, affirming the promifcs of Audria to 
be infidions, and her views treacherous, and reminding 
-them of the glorious defence made by themfelves, un¬ 
aided, in 1746. Thefe efforts produced great effePts, 
though flour was almoft entirely wanting, the inhabitants 
being reduced on the tenth day of the liege to four ounces 
of bread each as a daily allowance; but the {laughter of 
horfes fupplied the fhambles, and wine and brandy were 
in great abundance. 
Lord Keith having landed at Voltri the heavy artillery, 
and the Auftrians being maders of Savona and of .all the 
furrounding heights, the operations were fecure from in¬ 
terruption ; but Melas, fearing that the lofs of time on 
this objePt would fruftrate the general plan of the cam¬ 
paign, changed the fiege into a blockade, relying on the 
e fie Pis of famine rather than the operations of force or 
ficiji. Leaving therefore generals Ott and Hohenzollern 
with fifty battalions before the city, he marched with the 
remainder of his force, on the aSth of April, towards 
San Giacomo, to join general Elnitz and attack the French 
under Suchet and Rochambeau, who defended Oneglia, 
San Reino, and the county of Nice. 
The Andrian army, divided into two part;s, purfued 
both the roads to France ; that by the Col de Tende was 
feebly guarded by the French ; and that by the Corniche 
was protePled by the Britilh fquadron, whofe light vef- 
fels failed clofe to the diore. The left of the army, 
ilfuing out by Montferrat, in the marquifat of Finale, 
and pading the Cento, took poffedion of Albenga, The 
right of the French immediately retreated to Marina di, 
Diano, and learning that the right of the Auftrians had 
reached the Col de Tende, which could not long hold 
out, they made a precipitate retreat from Porto Mauricio 
to Nice : even this city was evacuated in the night, on 
the approach of Melas ; but the French left garrifons ia 
the cadle, and in that of Montalbano, and withdrew all 
their troops to the other fide of the Var. 
The campaign in Germany, however, commenced tin¬ 
der circumdances lefs aufpicious to the imperial arms. 
The forces in this quarter were confiderably weakened by 
detachments fent into Italy, and the pofition extended 
from the Mein to the Adda. The right, under Sztaray, 
was cantoned from Frankfort to Baden on the Murg ; 
comprifing the divifions of general Szenterefkey, in the 
neighbourhood of Frankfort, of prince Hohenlohe be. 
tween Manheim and Heidelburg, and of baron Klinglin 
near Raftadt. The centre, under Kray, extended from 
Murg to the lake of Conftance ; and included the divi- 
fion of general Kenmager, occupying the environs of 
Offemberg ; general Giulai, in the Brifgau and Friburg; 
and that of the archduke Ferdinand, which defended the 
fhores of the Rhine and of the lake of Conftance, from 
Schaffhaufen to Linaau. A corps de referve, compofed 
of battalions of grenadiers, was ported near Villengen, 
The left wing, placed from the lake of Conftance to the 
bailiwicks of Swifferland, along the Rhetian alps, was 
compofed of the corps of the prince de Rufs in the Gri- 
fons, general Huller in the Voralberg, and general Dedo- 
vich near Mount St. Gothard. This army amounted to 
fifty thoufand men. 
The republican army was in like manner divided into 
three corps, and amounted to a hundred thoufand men, 
under the command of Moreau. The left, led by St. Su¬ 
zanne, who occupied the left bank of the Rhine, fcom the 
confluence of the Mofelle to Strafburgh. The centre, 
extending from that city to the left bank of the Saar, was 
led by St. Cyr, Delmas, Ney, and d’Hilliers. Lecourbe 
commanded the right wing, ftationed in the mountains of 
Swifferland. 
General Kray, informed of the movements made by 
the French to crofs the Rhine, affembled about thirty 
thoufand Infantry and ten thoufand cavalry in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Raftadt and Otfenburg; ordered Sztaray to 
draw near Philipfourg to fupport it if attacked ; and pre- 
ferved an impoling force in the important port of Donau- 
fchingen, whence he could, according to circumftances, 
proceed to the duchy of Wirtemburg, the borders of the 
lake of Conftance, or the frontiers of Tyrol. Thefe forces 
were very inferior to thofe oppofed to them by Moreau ; 
but Kray could not imagine that Lecourbe would dare to 
quit Swifferland to approach Upper Suabia ; and the 
court of Vienna, relying on the fuccefsof the expedition 
under Melas, confidered that, even if the French fliould 
gain fome ground in Suabia, it would have the good 
effeft of dilabling them from fending reinforcements to 
Provence. 
The chief object of the French was to pafs the Rhine, 
and, gaining the rear of the Black Foreft, to unite ht 
Schaffhaufen and Smettingen. To execute this project, 
St. Suzanne eroded the river at Kehl, and St. Cyr at New 
Brifac : the latter without oppolition took poffeffion of 
Friburg; the former, after a fmart conteft, placed his 
right at Vilftett, Gieffen, and Tant, and his left at Roder- 
1 verer 3 
