510 
GERMANY. 
peace, on the hard conditions of ceding Savoy and Nice 
to tile invaders ; general Beaulieu, after an oblHnate 
conflict at Lodi, was forced to retire, with the lhattered 
remains of his army, to Mantua; and the conquerors, 
foon afterward, took polTeffion of the whole of Lom¬ 
bardy. The armiftice which had been concluded on the 
Rhine, was declared to be at an end on the 3ilt of May; 
when the army of the Sambre and Meufe, under Jour, 
dan, gained I'ome great advantages over the Auflrians, 
and penetrated into the interior of the empire. Mean- 
wliile another army, under general Moreau, having 
crolTed the Rhine at Stratburg, marched through Bava¬ 
ria, in order to join the conquerors. This attempt, 
however, was rendered abortive, and both armies expe¬ 
rienced a reverfe of fortune which obliged them to re- 
crofs the Rhine. The archduke' Charles, commander 
of the Auftrian forces, followed Moreau with great ex¬ 
pedition, and retook the fort of Kehl, after a mod ob- 
llinate refiftance on the part of the French. 
Meanwhile the emperor affeinbled a new army; with 
a view to rettore the affairs of Italy, and gave the com¬ 
mand of it to general Wurmfer, one of the ablefl: offi¬ 
cers in the Autlrian fervice. This force, on its firlt ar- 
rival was fo extremely fiiccefsful, that the French were 
repuHed, defeated, and compelled to raife the liege of 
Mantua. But Bonaparte foon returned to the cliarge ; 
and, after a feries of obftinate engagements, Wurmfer 
was obliged to take refuge behind the walls of Mantua, 
■while a detachment of the republicans made an irrup¬ 
tion into the Tyrol, and gained polfcirion of the pall'es 
leading into Vienna. The Aulfrians, at the fame time, 
made a gc-illant etfort, under general Alvinzy, to refeue 
Wurmlerand his belieged army; but the battles of Ar¬ 
eola and Rivoli unfortunately frulfrated their delign, and 
Mantua was obliged to furrender on capitulation. 
While the vidtorious Bonaparte was compelling the 
pope, the king of Naples, and other princes, to conclude 
fuch treaties as he thought proper to dictate, the impe¬ 
rial court was bulily occupied in the means of difputing 
once more the empire of Italy. At length it was deter¬ 
mined to colledt a moll formidable army from the nume¬ 
rous divilions and garrifons in the Auftrian tervice ; and 
to give the command to the archduke Charles, whofe 
condudl and fuccelfes during the Lift campaign had ren¬ 
dered him extremely popular. Tl\e Aulfrians had been 
fo eftecfually dilcouraged by their defeat at Rivoli, that 
they had ever fince avoided an engagement, and re¬ 
mained cautioully pofted on the northern fide of the 
Piava ; w'hile the enemy lay on the oppolite bank, to 
obferve their motions, and prevent them from crofting 
the river. 
Upon the firll appearance of the archduke Charles at 
the head of the Auftrian army, in the campaign of 1797, 
the French refolved to give him ba.ttle ; and accordingly 
advanced to the Piava in three diviftons. The firft, com¬ 
manded by Maft'ena, crolfed over near Feltri, and obliged 
the imperialifts to retire to Belluno; the fecond, under 
berrurier, palfcd the river at Afola, after repulling a 
detachment who had attempted to check his progrefs ; 
and the third, commanded by general Gtiiaux, advanced 
to Sacali, where he overtook the rear-guard of a divifion 
of the Aulfrians, and took a confiderable number of pri- 
foners.' The French divilions now diredfed their march 
toward Tagliamento; but the Auftrians entrenched them- 
felves on the oppolite fide, and prepared to make a vi¬ 
gorous rcliltance; being perfedlly aware that the enemy, 
by palling this river, ■v\ould be able to over-run a large 
extent of country. Bonaparte and the archduke Cht^'les 
were the commanders in chief on this occafion, and both 
generals drew up their troops with extraordinary Ikill; 
T)ut after a long and fanguinary conflifl, the Auftrians 
■were overpoweied, and compelled to retreat with prodi¬ 
gious lofs. 'I'he archduke, however, retained his ac- 
cuftomed intrepidity, and refolved to hazard another 
combat the next morning; but the difcoiiragement of 
his troops, and an unexpedfed alTault on the part of the 
French, compelled him to abandon his defign, and con- 
fult his fafety by a precipitate flight. 
By the palfages of the Piava and Tagliamento, the 
whole country to the north of thefe rivers lay open to 
the French, while the imperialifts retired in every direc¬ 
tion. Palma Nova was haftily evacuated ; Gradifca and 
Goritz were obliged to furrender, notwithllanding the 
utmoff exertions of their garrifons; and Triefte, the 
only fea-port belonging to his imperial majefty on the 
Adriatic, foon fell into the hands of the conquerors. 
Meanwhile an Auftrian army was utterly defeated by 
Maft'ena, at Tar-vis, with the lofs of a prodigious num¬ 
ber of men, thirty pieces of cannon, and four hundred 
baggage-waggons. Towards the end of March, the 
central divilion of the republicans, having entered Ca- 
rinthia, chafed the archduke from his head-quarters at 
Clagenfurth, and advanced acrofs the Draveto Frifach. 
An obftinate conflict took place at the defiles leading 
to Neumark ; but the imperialifts were again forced to 
retire, with the lofs of a great number of ftain, and about 
fix hundred prifoners. The archduke, having colledled 
his flying troops, attempted to make a vigorous Hand 
at Hundfmark, but he was again defeated with great 
llaughter. In the mean time, the arms of Joubert were 
attended with equal fuccefs in the Tyrol. The impe¬ 
rialifts had-pofted themfelves in the defiles leading to 
Infpruck, and, as they confifted entirely of veteran troops 
detached from the Rhine, it w'as hoped they would have 
been able to guard the accelfes of this province; but 
the difeharge of the I'rench artillery was fo tremendous, 
that they were foon routed, with the lofs of fix hundred 
prifoners and the whole of their baggage. About the 
fame time Bernadotte completed the redudlion of the 
province of Carniola, and opened an entrance on that 
fide into Stiria. The court of Vienna now' began feri- 
oully to regard their fuccefs againft the revolutionary 
French, as doubtful and precarious: the fifth army 
which Aullria had raifed againft them was nearly de- 
ftroyed ; the recruits that were raifing could not fupply 
the place of veterans who had not themfelves been able 
to refift the enemy ; and the archduke, on whom implicit 
confidence was repofed, had proved as unfortunate in 
command as his predecelfors. The only apparent re- 
foiirce was to acquiefee in the terms of pacification of¬ 
fered by France. But the Auftrian nobility declared to 
the contrary, and expreft'ed a zealous determination to 
ftiare the fortune of their fovereign, and to defend his 
capital to the lall extremity. Accordingly, a'body of 
young gentlemen who had ferved as volunteers under 
Alvinzi, were again to be completed; the Hungarian 
nobles were earneftly exhorted to repair with tlieir valfals 
to Vienna ; a formidable niafs of refolute foldiers was to 
be raifed in the hereditary ftates ; and the regular troops 
were ordered to alfemble from all quarters. 
During thefe tranfadfions, Bonaparte was colledling 
and concentrating his forces in order to proceed to Vi¬ 
enna, where he refolved to planfthe ftandard of France, 
if the emperor ftill refufed to terminate tiie war. Pre- 
vioully to his renewing hoftilities, liowever, he wrote a 
letter to the archduke Charles, which excited the uni. 
verfal attention of Europe, and was admirably calcu¬ 
lated to conciliate t!ie ellecm of a-people to whom lie 
prefented the olive-branch of peace : hut on t'he arch¬ 
duke’s exprelTing his inability to conclude a treaty with¬ 
out fpecial orders, the French troops w ere immediately 
put in motion, and their general declared tliat he \vould 
foon carry all his defrgns into e.xecution. The news of 
this determination, and the rapid approach of a vitto- 
rious enemy, induced his imperial mtijefty to liften to 
terms of accommodation. Accordingly, generals Mur- 
veldt andjlellegarde were deputed to cotiter w itli Bona¬ 
parte on the fubjecl of an arm i ft ice ; and, at ter a few days, 
preliminaries of p.-ace were ligned by both parties. 
Meanwhile the F'rcn^ch armies on the Rhine had ob, 
4 ^ taiued 
