232 
foon recommended. him to the marked 
notice of Generals Victor, Groglio, and 
Cuftine, who fucceffively employed him 
as aid-de-camp and captaia adjun& to the 
ftaff. But he difplayed fuch talents and 
bravery in ‘various adverfe conjun@ures 
where his prefence of mind and his coun- 
fels prevented the fatal confequences that 
threatened to attend the difafters which 
the army had experienced —particularly 
at the taking of the lines at Weiflemburg 
—that the reprefentatives of the nation, 
who were there'on miffion, did not hefi- 
tate to confer on him the. rank of'a gene- 
ral-of brigade: and his fubfequent con- 
duct fully jeffified their judicious choice. 
On every occafion, when he was appoint- 
ed to direét an attack or to defend a poft, 
he gained the advantage over the enemy. 
They were his fuccefles which began to 
raife and improve the character of fhe 
French troops after the defeats which they 
had fuffered in the departments of the 
Rhine. He particularly fet them the ex- 
ample of fortitude and valour: at the af- 
fair of Lauterburg, being wounded by a 
mufket-ball which had pierced both his 
cheeks, he refufed to quit the field of 
combat, or fuffer his wound to be dreffed, 
until he had previoufly rallied his batta- 
lions which were in diforder.. In confe- 
quence of fuch behaviour, the French and 
Auftrian foldiers gave him the appellation 
of “ the warrior exempt from fear or re- 
proach.” Yet, notwithftanding his vir- 
tues and his fucceffes, the committee of 
public fafety, in thofe times of general 
delirium when fupericr merit was a fuf- 
ficient ground of profcription, twice gave 
orders for his removal from the poit 
which he held: but the general in chief 
who then commanded the army of the 
Rhine, refufed to comply with their in- 
junctions: and Defaix even continued ig 
norant of their intentiens until the mo- 
ment when, covered with the laurels 
which he had wen at tlie raifing of the 
fiege of Landau, he had the fatisfaGion 
-of feeing-the whole army. oppofe the exe- 
cution of a third order for his removal, 
brought by a member of the reprefenta- 
tive body ; on which occafion, the bearer 
of the obnoxious order had the good fenfe 
to yield to the wifhes of the foldiery, who 
with loud cries infifted that they fhould 
not be deprived of that- general who in- 
variably led them to victory. So pure 
were the motives which had prompted 
him to devote himfelf ta-the creat caufe 
of liberty, that, neither the injuftice done 
to himfelf by the committee of public 
fafety, nor the ill treatment which he ex- 
perienced in the perfon of an affectionate 
and beloved mother, whofe. releafe from 
prifon, he had: vainly laboured ‘to-obtain, 
Memrs of General Défuix. 
{ Jan. Ty 
was capable of producizg any diminution. 
in his zeal to prornote the welfare of his 
country, and to enhance the luftre of the. 
Gallic name. He conftantly had the 
greateft fhare in all the brilliant aétions 
which fignalized the Republican arms on 
the Rhine during the fecond and third 
years of the Republic. At length he was. 
nominated a general of divifiom; for which 
nomination, though well entitled to it by 
his fignal fervices, he was principally in- 
debted to Moreau, a difcerning apprecia- 
tor of military merit, who, being appoint~ 
ed to the command in chief of the army 
of the Rhine and Mofelle, promoted De- 
faix to the command of the left wing. 
The pencil of hiftory will record in lu- 
minous characters the glorious march of 
that army during the brilliant campaign 
of the fourth year. It had over-run the 
Brifgau, Swabia, Bavaria, and had ad- 
vanced into the Upper Palatinate, when, 
forced by circumftances to retire from the 
banks of the Danube to thofe of the Rhine, 
it performed that retrograde march with 
a judicious and majeftic flownefs which. 
rendered its retreat even more honourable 
then its triumphs. Defaix, who had aéted 
fo confpicuous a part in the aequifition 
ei thofe victories, was one of the perfons 
who moft diftinguifhed themfelves in that 
mafterly operation of military fkill, which 
is juftly reckoned among the moft bril- 
liant and difficult that ever were executed. 
Moreau, a model of patriotic devotion, 
could no otherwife confole his grief for 
. the lofs of the campaign than by contri<- 
buting at laft to facilitate the glorious 
exploits of the army of Italy. He in- 
trnited to General Defaix the care of de- 
fending Kehl, the capture of which was 
the object of Prince Charles’s moft eager 
wifhes: and while the numerous arm 
of the archduke was thus detained before 
that fortrefs, Bonaparte won from Field- _ 
marfhal Alvinzi the famous battle of Ar- 
cole, which decided the fate of Italy, and 
prepared the way for the furrender of 
Mantua, that was followed by the figna- 
ture of the preliminary treaty of Leoben, 
But, before the fignature of that treat 
had fufpended the exertions of Gallic 
courage, the army of the Rhine and Mo- 
felle, accomplifhed under the condu.t of 
General Defaix, the famous paffage of the 
Rhine on the rft ef Floréal in the fifth 
year of the republic, the boldeft and moft 
perilous enterprife of the kind that ever 
was executed. After having fo glorioufily 
terminated that period of the war, and 
recovered from the wounds which he had 
received in the laft battle, Defaix took 
advantage of the {ufpenfion of hoftilities 
to rcpair to Italy, to vilit thofe celebrated 
plains to which Bonaparte had given ads 
" ~ ditionak 
