of Lombardy, by letting in the light upon their grievances, and breaking up the barbarism of conventual tyranny. Seated in this dismal cell, on a wretched chair, was a young female with her hands confined by manacles. Terrified at the sight of armed men, she begged them to spare her life. The brave grenadiers eagerly broke her handcuffs, and treated her with deferential kindness. She appeared to be about twenty-two years old, the four last of which she had spent in solitude and chains. Love, as natural to her country as her age, was her crime, and under its influence she had endeavoured to escape from the convent. If she interested her deliverers by the liveliness of her gratitude, she distressed them by the vivacity of her fear; for whenever any one approached the cell, the unhappy creature shuddered with the apprehension of being again laid hold of by the sisterhood. When the soldiers, in answer to her prayers to be allowed to breathe once more the fresh air, told her that balls were flying about, that her cell was the safest place, and that it would be dangerous to go out, she exclaimed: "Alas! it is death to stay here." A state of things, in which atrocities like this were permitted, the Austrians were struggling to maintain, and it is no wonder that the opinions and wishes of the just and enlightened, were in favor of the French (11).

Augereau, on his side, was also successful. As he approached the suburb of Cerèse, the advanced posts of the enemy numbering about three hundred men, quitted their ground on the plain of the Seraglio, abandoned the village, and retired before him to their main body, who were intrenched behind the bridges in the causeway, and the stone gateway, in front of which was a battery. The loopholed tower on the top of this gateway, was filled with sharp shooters. As soon as his infantry came within fire, Augereau, who felt that, though he might occupy the evacuated suburb, he could not be said, in the spirit of his orders, to possess it, as long as the head of the adjoining causeway was held by the Austrians, determined on dislodging them without delay. Posting his artillery in a situation to favour his attack, he led forward his infantry in two columns, the foremost battalions of which, upon getting in half musket shot, deployed into line and opened a fire so warm and effective that the Austrians were soon driven out of their position and forced across the causeway. The grenadiers advanced quickly in pursuit, but were stopped by the broken bridges, which they

endeavoured to repair, and the gateway, which the musketry from the tower above it, keenly defended. Andreossi was ordered to bring up the artillery, and burst open the gate. Before this could be done, a drummer, a boy only twelve years old, climbed over the gate in the midst of the fire, but unperceived by the enemy perched above him, and descending inside, opened it to the French, who rushed through, crossed the canal on a bridge, which had been left unbroken for the retreat of the garrison of the tower, and pursued the enemy until they took refuge within the ramparts of the town. The party in the tower, thus cut off from Mantua, surrendered at discretion (12).

Thus the two stronger of the exterior posts, being in possession of the besiegers, the two weaker or intermediate suburbs, were evacuated by the garrison. All were immediately occupied by the French. Six hundred men they stationed at St. George, Pietoli and Cerèse respectively, and at the remoter suburb of Pradella, a thousand. Consequently the Favorita was the only avenue by which the garrison could reach the mainland. This, Bonaparte ordered Serrurier to observe closely, with an adequate force; and charging that officer with the direction of the siege, leaving a variety of orders with Berthier, and requiring Augereau to prepare his division for a movement to the south of the Po, he himself set off in the evening for Milan. Personal observation had satisfied him that Mantua was proof against a coup de main; and if to be taken at all, before the Austrian army, reenforced by troops from the Rhine, should come upon the besiegers with the sweep of a returning tide, it must be by a vigorous siege, with open trenches and heavy cannon. But on this side the Adda, he had no other artillery than field pieces. The battering train, originally destined for his army, want of transport had compelled him to leave for the most part, where he found it, in the arsenals of Nice and Antibes; and that which he had formed of the cannon taken in Ceva, Coni, and Tortona, was detained at Milan in besieging the castle. To accelerate the fall of Mantua, it therefore became necessary to finish at once the siege of the castle of Milan, and he determined to give a personal impulse to the operation. Other objects required his reappearance in the capital of Lombardy, and on the right bank of the Po; for already he was the pivot on which not only the fate of Italy, but the war in Germany turned (13). Attended by Bessieres with the company of guides,

212

THE LIFE OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON.

[CHAP. XI.] accompanied by Murat with a detachment of hussars, and followed by Lannes with a corps of twelve hundred grenadiers, he reached Brescia at midnight of the day, in the morning of which he had left Verona.

He felt great confidence in his generals, and unbounded reliance on the troops. The spirit and activity of Massena, with his experience in mountain warfare, fitted him admirably for maintaining the line of the Adige, and the ground he had taken in the passes into the Tyrol. The prudence and firmness of Serrurier were well adapted to the conduct of a rigorous blockade. On leaving him, Bonaparte entertained the flattering hope, of soon reducing the Castle of Milan and the fortress of Mantua, and before the Austrian columns could pour down from the Tyrol, of having his whole force disembarrassed and active, united on the Adige. But to use his own expressive language, "before Mantua was to fall, how many battles were to be fought, what difficulties to be surmounted, and what perils overcome !"

CHAPTER XII.

From the 5th of June to the 3d of July 1796.

Causes of Bonaparte's return to Milan, and to the right bank of the Po-The quarrel with Rome-Armistice with Naples-Alarm of the Pope-The executive commissaries-The extent of their powers-The Directors adopt the policy of Bonaparte-His occupations at Milan-Converts the blockade of the castle into a siege―His correspondence—His attention to the family of general Laharpe-Insurrection of the Imperial Fiefs-Atrocities of the Barbets-Suppressed and punished-Bonaparte writes to the Senate ct Genoa-The Senate promises to comply with his demands-His proclamation to the inhabitants of the Tyrol-He dismantles the fort of FuentesThe expeditions to Bologna, and Leghorn-He goes to Modena-Reduces the fort of Urbino-Enters Bologna-Releases the cardinal legate on his parole-An example of ecclesiastical honour-Disposition of the Bolognese -Their reception of Bonaparte-The Spanish Jesuits-Overtures of the Pope-Armistice of Bologna-Faux pas of the commissaries-Bonaparte joins the column of general Vaubois-The armistice of Brescia ratified— Bonaparte writes to the Grand Duke of Tuscany-Marches upon LeghornArrests the Tuscan governor-The English cruisers, and merchant vessels escape from the harbour-The English merchandize seized-Vaubois appointed governor of Leghorn-Bonaparte visits his relative the AbbéRepairs to Florence-Dines with the Grand Duke-Visits the galleries of the Fine Arts, and of Anatomy-The castle of Milan surrenders-Bonaparte returns to Bologna-Thence to Roverbello-Revolt of Lugo-Suppressed by Augereau.

The affairs which engaged Bonaparte's attention during this second occasion of absenting himself from the front of his army, are deserving of attention, as much on account of their multiplicity, as of their importance. The time proposed for his absence

was of necessity short; for the fragments of Beaulieu's force were gathering strength from the accession of recruits and detachments in the Tyrol; and Wurmser who was about marching his columns from the Rhine, might be expected to be felt on the Adige, as early as the middle of July. This interval of four or five weeks during which the main action of the campaign was to be suspended, it was the purpose of the French general to employ it despatching the series of secondary matters, which had been brought by the instructions of his government and the progress of his arms, within the sphere of his duty; and which weighty, various and complicated as they were, he appears to have transacted, with as little difficulty as their narration will require.

Among the most urgent of these intervening objects, was the necessity of securing the rear of his army from annoyance on the part of Rome and Naples, before his front should be again engaged with the Austrians. From the moment of Basseville's unatoned murder, an open rupture had existed between the French republic and the Papal government; although, the want of means on one side and of opportunity on the other, had hitherto prevented actual hostilities. Nevertheless the Pope had not failed to employ the arms peculiar to his office, the weapons of superstition, in seconding the more palpable strength of the coalition, denouncing with sanctimonious horror, the progress and objects of the French revolution, and calling on the faithful, time after time, to defend from one common demolition, the thrones of Princes and the altars of God. The thunders of the Vatican, having almost exhausted their force in the dark ages and the incipient stages of the reformation, no longer struck statesmen with perplexity and nations with awe. Still, the exhortations of the head of the catholic church, were not without influence on the kings and people of Europe, emboldening their hostility, or discouraging their favour, towards the new republic. This influence, which was naturally strongest in Italy, was most authoritative in the southern states of that peninsula, which were darkly shaded by the wing of superstition, and remotely secluded from the general intelligence of Europe.

The temporal power of the Pope was so much more circumscribed even than his declining spiritual sway, that, sharing the alarm and following the examples of the Dukes of Parma and Modena, he would probably have made overtures for peace to Bo