many accounts, should resume the course of its studies. Make known then to the learned professors and numerous students of that institution, that I invite them to repair immediately to Pavia, and to propose to me such measures as they may deem likely to give greater activity and a more brilliant existence to their famous university" (10).

With views not less liberal and enlightened, Carnot, in an official despatch of the 16th of May, had recommended the bestowal of favour and distinction on the learned men of Italy. "The French people," said this republican statesman, "attach greater value to the acquisition, as a fellow citizen, of a profound mathematician, a celebrated painter, or a distinguished man of whatever profession, than to the conquest of a rich and populous city." But, before this despatch reached Bonaparte, he had spontaneously accomplished its object.

As, in the heart of this fertile country, the troops were supplied with good and abundant rations, fine bread, fresh meat, and sound wine, they soon became healthy and cheerful, although on their first entering Milan, they were sadly in want of clothing and pay. Even the small pittance of two sous a man to the privates, and eight francs each to the officers of the army, which had been directed by the government to be paid in coin, had not been received by the troops in Italy (11); and their old threadbare uniforms, faded and tattered in the storms of more than one campaign, exposed them, in spite of their renovated discipline and unequalled prowess, to the alternate ridicule of laughter and compassion. This state of things, equally repugnant to the interest of the war and the feelings of the general, was not permitted to remain unredressed. With respect to clothing, Bonaparte had determined, from the moment of signing the armistice of Placentia, to purchase materials for that object, and, as soon as active operations were suspended, he carried that resolution into effect (12); so that, in the course of a few days after his entry into Milan, he had the gratification of seeing his men turn out on parade newly clad. Their arrears of pay were at the same time paid up to them ; and their comfort being thus assured by the political prudence and military skill of their general, a solid foundation for discipline was laid, the men being no longer inclined to disobedience, or tempted to disorder.

To meet these and other expences of the army, such as the pro

vision of hospitals, the establishment of magazines on his line of communication, at Tortona, Coni, Ceva, and Mondovi, and the equipment of the artillery and cavalry, all of which necessary outlays, instead of being received from France, were created in Italy; Bonaparte found an ultimate and an ample resource, after exhausting the payments of the Duke of Parma, in the contribution levied on the provinces of Austrian Lombardy. But an im– mediate and more seasonable one, he supplied by an armistice with the Duke of Modena, which was signed at Milan on the 20th of May.

This petty sovereign, whose daughter and sole heiress was married to the Viceroy of Milan, was as obnoxious to the severity of the French Government by that connexion, as his neighbour of Parma, by the consanguinity of Spain, was susceptible of their indulgence. He was tyrannical, and the more so as he was avaricious; and having extorted large sums from his subjects, was not less fearful of their resentment than of the hostilities of the French army. Safety from both, for his person and his treasure, he sought by an early flight to Venice (3), leaving the government of his small dominions to the care of a regency, and to his illegitimate brother, Frederick of Este, a commission to treat with the French general. The conditions agreed upon bound the Duke to send commissioners to Paris to conclude a peace, in the meantime to pay to the order of Bonaparte ten millions of francs, and to deliver, at his selection, twenty paintings of the great masters. On these terms, the Dutchies of Modena, Reggio, and Mirandola, which might have been seized upon and devastated without delay or resistance, by a division of the French army, were to enjoy the immunities of neutral states.

In compliance with the instructions of the directory in this regard, which had now reached headquarters, several paintings and rare manuscripts were taken from the public gallery and from the Ambrosian library at Milan, and, with the objects ceded by the Dukes of Parma and Modena, were forwarded to Paris. In this case, Bonaparte, acting as an executive officer, enforced to a certain extent the rights of conquest. In the former instances, exercising the discretion of an uninstructed agent, he exchanged his military advantages for equivalents specified in a peaceful convention (14).

While he thus established sources of supply within the country

overspread by the force or terror of his arms, he improved on the habits of Roman generals as much as on their maxims of conquest. For not only did he make the war in Italy support itself, but he furnished from the fruits of his victories the sinews of war to distant armies and rival commanders, treasures for the general service of the state, and monuments of taste for the embellishment of the capital. Accepting for himself neither a grain of gold nor an object of art, he sent to Paris more than seventy paintings, remitted to General Kellermann two hundred thousand francs, to Moreau one million, and more than ten millions to the directory, after having supplied the numerous wants of his own army (15).

It was then, when his troops were renovated by rest, invigo rated by plenty, and gratified by triumph, that he summoned them to a fresh career of exertion and glory, by an address, every word of which must have stimulated with energy and fire the enthusiasm of their inmost souls.

"Soldiers,-You rushed down from the Appennines like a torrent; you overthrew and scattered all that stood in your way. Piedmont, rescued from Austrian tyranny, yields to her natural sentiments of peace, and of friendship for France. Milan is yours; the flag of the republic floats triumphant over Lombardy; and their political existence, the Dukes of Parma and Modena, owe to your generosity.

"The army which, in its pride, dared to menace you, could find no barrier to withstand your courage. The Po, the Ticin, the Adda, stopped your march not a single day. You passed these boasted bulwarks of Italy as rapidly as you did the Appennines. These great successes fill the bosom of your country with joy; and, to commemorate them, your representatives have decreed a festival, to be celebrated in every commune of the republic. There, your fathers, mothers, wives, sisters, and mistresses, will rejoice in your triumph, and exult in being dear to you.

"That you have done much, soldiers, is true; but does there remain nothing more for you to do? Shall it be said that we knew how to gain victories, but not to improve them; or shall posterity reproach us with having found a Capua in Lombardy? No; already I see you fly to arms. Inglorious rest fatigues you; and days lost to fame you account as days lost to happiness. Then

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THE LIFE OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. [CHAP. VIII.]

let us hasten onward; we have still forced marches to make, armies to vanquish, laurels to gather, and injuries to avenge. Let the incendiaries who whetted the dagger of civil war in France, who basely assassinated our ministers, and who burnt our fleets in the harbour of Toulon, tremble-the hour of vengeance is come!

"But let the people every where be tranquil. We are the friends of every people, more especially so of the descendants of Brutus, of Scipio, and the great men we have taken for models.

"To rebuild the capitol, and place in triumph within its walls, the statues of those heroes who rendered it famous; to awaken, from the torpor of a slavery of ages, the Roman people; such are the fruits of victories which will constitute an epoch in the eyes of posterity, and will confer on you the glory of improving the condition of the finest part of Europe.

"The French people, free and respected by all nations, will bestow on Europe a glorious peace, which will requite the numerous sacrifices they have made in the last six years. To your firesides you will then return, and your fellow-citizens, singling you out, will say, 'He belonged to the army of Italy.'

The vigour of conception, truth of colouring, and rapture of style, in which, in a few sentences, the varied events of the campaign are portrayed; the address, in alluding to the armistice of Cherasco, as the offspring of sentiments natural to the cabinet of Turin; and the felicity with which the troops are reminded that the promises made at Albenga were already fulfilled in the capture of Milan, and the conquest of Lombardy, are evidences of judgment and eloquence, which no reader can be blind to, and no orator surpass. But neither the force nor the propriety of this address can be justly estimated, without considering it in connection with a despatch from the directory, which Bonaparte received at Lodi, the day before his entrance into Milan (16).

CHAPTER IX.

From the 21st to the 28th of May 1796.

Plan of the directors for dividing the army of Italy-Their probable and pretended motives-Remonstrance of Bonaparte-The plan of dividing the army abandoned-Good effects of Bonaparte's remonstrance-His authority enlarged-He renews military operations-Leaves Milan-Revolt of Pavia-He returns to Milan-Burns Binasco, and storms Pavia-The revolt suppressed-Moderation of Bonaparte-Sends hostages into France —The army reaches the Oglio-Uneasiness of Berthier-Bonaparte rejoins the army-Enters Brescia-His proclamation-Reception by the Venetian authorities-Instructions of the directory respecting Venice.

In his letters from Cherasco, as was before observed, Bonaparte had asked for reenforcements, and proposed, after expelling the Austrians from Italy, to force his way across the Tyrolian Alps; and, concerting operations with Moreau and Jourdan, to dictate peace under the walls of Vienna. A project so vast, and at that time unexampled, appears to have alarmed the directory; who, distrusting the prudence, or dreading the ambition of a general, whose plans were cast in a mould of such colossal enterprise, proposed, before his ascendancy should become uncontrollable, to turn his spirit into safer channels. Objects of an ostensible character readily presented themselves, as sufficient motives for the policy inspired by this timid design. Their desire to avenge upon the papal government the murder of Basseville, was naturally enough unextinguished; the King of Naples, whose officers had participated in the plunder and destruction of Toulon, had a contingent of cavalry in the army of Beaulieu; and they complained that the neutrality of Tuscany, either through the inability or the indisposition of the Grand Duke to prevent it, was abused by the English fleet in the harbour of Leghorn. Influ

VOL. I.

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