FRANCE. 
847 
verer, Valaffen, and Appenvir. A divifion under general 
Richepanfe, palling the river by the bridge of Bade, 
reached the mountains of Huhlingen, and gained the de¬ 
files of Kander. The four following days were fpent in 
xnanoeuvering and gaining more central pofirions; the 
Aullrians not being able, from inferiority of numbers, to 
make refinance at all points ; and while the divifions who 
had already crolfed were thus employed, Lecourbe palfed 
the river between Schaffhaufen and Stein, and the whole 
army was at length united at Wutach. The imperial 
troops, compelled to retreat, took an excellent pofition on 
the heights of Pfullendorff; their right fupported by the 
Danube near Sigmaringen, their centre at Mosfkirch, and 
their left under the walls of Stockach. 
In this drong pofition the imperialifls were attacked by 
the French on the 3d of May; and, after a battle which 
lafted three days, compelled by fuperiority of numbers to 
retire. Their right palled the Danube at Sigmaringen, 
their centre and left united at firIt on the Ihore of the 
Federfee, but foon abandoning thefe pods, the whole 
army retreated to the right of the I Her under the cannon 
of Ulm, and on the right and left of the Danube. In 
confequence of the battle of Mce/kirck, the French became 
loaders of the whole circle of Suabia. The duke of 
Wirtemburg abandoned his refidence at Stutgard, which 
•was garrifoned by St. Suzanne ; Philiplburg was again 
blockaded; Moreau feized all the magazines on the banks 
of the Danube as far as Ulm, on the Necker, and on the 
lake of Condance. Lecourbe placed a body of troops in 
the city and defiles of Bregenz. The advanced detach¬ 
ments of the army entered Auglburg, Kempten, and Me- 
mingen, and made incurfions beyond the Lech into the 
heart of Bavaria, plundering and levying contributions 
in every direction. Kray had no longer any communica¬ 
tion with the Auftrian corps dationed in the Tyrol and 
the Italian bailiwicks of Swifferland, but by making long 
circuits towards the fources of the Lech and the Inn. 
Yet the imperial cabinet appeared to view thefe events 
as objects of minor importance, compared with the ex¬ 
pected refults of the invadon of Provence. 
Among the earlied meafures of the new government of 
France for impeding the projects of the allies, was a de¬ 
cree for forming an army of referve of dxty thoufand men 
to be adembled at Dijon, under the immediate command 
6f the fird conful. All foldiers who had obtained their 
difcharges, all who were even fuperannuated, if in a con¬ 
dition to make a campaign, and all the youth of the re- 
quifition and confcription, were to be fumnioned to join 
this dandard before the 5th of April, and on the 10th of 
that month a public report was to be made in honour of 
thofe departments which had furnilhed the greated pro¬ 
portion of volunteers. 
While the hopes and fears of Europe were balanced 
between the achievements of Melas and the exploits of 
Moreau, and while the events of the campaign were fup- 
pofed in a great degree to depend on the liege of Genoa, 
this army of referve was fpeedily fupplied with all ne- 
cefTaries. Under the command of Berthierit had quitted 
Geneva, and, following the (bores of the lake, craverfed 
the Pays deVaud; when Bonaparte, fuddenly leaving 
Paris, joined it near Laufanne on the 13th of May, and, 
having reviewed and encouraged the troops, he adfimed 
the chief command. The fuperior conduCt and ability 
of the fird conful now came into view. He purified his 
route into Italy along the lake of Geneva, and afterwards 
by the borders of the Rhone, through Villeneuve, l’Ai- 
gle, and Bex, to the confluence of the Rhone and Du¬ 
rance near Martinach. So far the roads had been prac¬ 
ticable ; but, in order to enter the valley of Aoda, it was 
neceffary to traverfe, for more than twenty Italian miles, 
the mountain called the Great St. Bernard, (Striated be¬ 
tween thefe of Sitnplon and Mont-Blanc. From Marti- 
nach to St. Peter’s, the road, though extremely bad, was 
not ablolutely untrodden ; human abodes, vegetation and 
padurage, were found; but after palling this place, na¬ 
ture, entirely dill, prefented no object to the eye but 
fnow and naked rocks. From St. Peter’s it is three 
leagues to the fummit of the St. Bernard, by a road 
which cannot be palled by two men a-bread. 
At the top of this mountain is the monadery, from the 
founder of which it derives its name. The tenants, ce¬ 
lebrated above all eulogy for their benevolence to way¬ 
worn travellers, were on thisoccafion made auxiliaries to 
Bonaparte. The progrefs of the foldiery had been An¬ 
gularly laborious and, heroic. For tranfporting the ar¬ 
tillery, generals Marmont and Gaffendi contrived two 
ingenious devices : the fird was, to hollow out trunks of 
trees like canoes, in which were depolited the artillery 
and mortars; then a hundred men harneding themfelves 
to a cable, dragged the piece along, while others, fur- 
nidied with hand-fpikes to prevent its falling over the 
precipices, directed its courfe. The other fcheme was 
the ufe of dedges on eaders ; the gun-carriages being 
taken to pieces were tranfported feparately, except the 
carriages of four-pounders, which were laid on a kind of 
litters and conveyed entire. The caiffons were emptied, 
and the ammunition (towed in cheds borne by men or by 
mules. Every thing in the expedition favoured -of ro¬ 
mance ; the folitude of the region ; the concurrence of 
individual efforts to the general advantage, which made 
every'man a hero ; the Angularity of the route, and the 
importance of its refults ; all aided the predifpofition to 
lofty contemplations which the mod judicious philofo- 
phers have obferved to prevail in mountainous countries. 
While the troops were thus animated, and their imagi¬ 
nations exalted, Bonaparte had contrived that even the 
ordinary folace of reflection (hould harmonize with the 
general fublimity of the feene and fentiment. By his 
orders, and with money fupplied by him, the monks ot 
St. Bernard had prepared a fead for the.whole army ; and 
when the panting foldiers reached the heights of the mo¬ 
nadic abode, tables fpread, as if by enchantment, on the 
fnow, and well furnifhed with bread, meat, and wine, 
were fuddenly deferied ; and the holy fathers, with reli¬ 
gious folemnity, folicited the army to partake of their 
humble fare.—See the article Alps, vol. i. p. 370; and 
Mont Blanc, vol.iii. p. 87. 
In thedefeent from St. Bernard to Verney, fatigue was 
diminilhed, but peril augmented. For a league, a road 
is formed on a rugged mountain; the horfeman is there 
obliged to lead or follow his bead, as lie cannot walk 
a-bread without danger of falling into an abyfs. On one 
fide the road is bounded with frightful precipices; on 
the other, mountains of fnow fufpended over the head of 
the paffenger threaten to defeend and bury him and every 
oppodng objeCt in their irrelidible courfe. In defend¬ 
ing, fome foldiers imagined the fcheme of diding over 
the polilhed fnow to abridge their toil : the general him- 
felf, it is faid, fet the example ; and many who followed 
it reached in a few minutes a fmall plain at the bottom, 
at which they could not have arrived by the path under 
feveral hours. The whole journey was performed with¬ 
out any other lofs than a piece of artillery and three men, 
and four or five horfes, who fell over the precipice. As 
the army defended, the air became more mild, and grafs 
and flowers again relieved their eyes ; in half an hour af¬ 
terwards the heat became luffbeating ; fo that in one day 
the army experienced three feafons, winter, fpring, and 
dimmer. 
The advanced guard under Lafnes, having reached the 
valley of Aoda on the 18th of May, took the road to 
Turin by Dora Baltea. In their way lay the cadle of 
Bard, which protects the entrance into Piedmont, and is 
defended by an excellent citadel, and might havearrelled 
the progrefs of the army ; but their diligence and faga- 
city in planting, after three hour’s labour, a battery on 
a point in the rocks which commanded the fort, com¬ 
pelled it to furrender. When they were maders of this, 
cadle, the French had before them two roads by which 
they might march to the relief of Genoa ; the one by 
Cbivuffb, 
