both inclufive,* to whofe luminous views, we take this opportunity of making our acknowledgements, and to which we beg leave to refer the military reader, rather than to put them off with any compreffed abridgement of their narratives. Our object, in this general hiftory, is not to enter into a full detail of military operations, but rather to mark fituations, defigns, and refults, and the principal means, whether prepared or accidental, by which plans were accomplished, on the one hand, or failed on the other.

Of the three hundred and twenty thoufand, who, at this time compofed the French army, forty-five thousand under the orders of general Maffena, occupied Switzerland and the left bank of the Rhine, almoft from its fource, to the western extremity of the lake of Conftance, and from that point, the two banks of the river as far as Bafle. Between that town and Duffeldorf were ftationed about 65,000 men, commanded by general Jourdan, and forming what was called the army of Mentz. They occupied the 'fort of Kehl, on the right bank of the Rhine, lined the left bank, from the frontier of Switzerland to Mentz, and from the latter town to Duffeldorf, poffeffed all the country upon the two banks. The corps, in the latter pofition, amounting to about twenty thousand men, was called the army of obfervation. The plan of the directory was the fame that had been pursued in 1796, and 1797; namely, the invafion of the hereditary states of the houfe of Auftria, and the junction of the French armies under the walls of Vienna. For this end it was ne

ceffary that the army of obfervation fhould take poffeffion of Philipfburg, the only fortrefs remaining on the Rhine to the empire; that the army' of Jourdan fhould crofs that river, traverfe the defiles of the Black Foreft, extend ittelf into Suabia, turn the lake of Conftance, and the fouthern part of the Tyrol; that the army of Switzerland fhould drive the Auftrians from the country of the Grifons, attack the Tyrol in front, and feize the vallies of the Lech and of the Inn, while the army of Italy fhould penetrate into Germany, either through the Tyrol or Friuli. Thus the Auftrian troops, pofted on the lake of Conftance, in the country of Regentz and that of the Grifons, would have been encompaffed by Jourdan's army, and that of Maffena; and thofe which defended the Italian Tyrol and the Veronefe, between Maflena's army and that of Italy. The fituation and the views of the Auftrians were as follows:

More than fixty thoufand were concentrated under the archduke Charles, on the Lech. Twenty thoufand were collected in the Palatinate, in the environs of Auberg, or at Wurtzburg, under the orders of general Sztarray. A like number was under thofe of generaľ Hotze, in the Voralberg, and the country of the Grifons. Near twen-` ty-five thousand, commanded by general Bellegarde, were on the frontiers of the laft-mentioned coun try and the Tyrol. The army of Italy, part of which was on the Adige, and the reft in Friuli and Carinthia, was reckoned to be more than fixty, thoufand ftrong. Thus the emperor had to oppole to the

French,

French, one hundred and eighty-five thoufand fighting men, ninety thoufand of whom were in a fituation for acting against Jourdan and Maffena. But, determined as the Auf trians were to let the odium of recommencing hoftilities fall on the French, their firft operations could only be defensive, and dependent on thofe of their enemies. Generals Hotze and Bellegarde could do nothing but watch the motions of the French, and fortify and defend, as well as poffible, the pofts occupied in Suabia, Tyrol, and the country of the Grifons, as likewife thofe held on its frontiers, in the Valtelline and in Italy. It was the bufinefs of the archduke, on his part, to confine himself, in the first instance, to preparations for the paffage of the Lech with all his army, the moment he fhould hear that the French had paffed the Rhine, and, in that event, to advance fo rapidly as to come up with them, not only before they fhould arrive on the Iller, but even before they could push beyond the lake of Conftance.

On the fecond of March, a detachment of the French army of observation took poffeffion of the town of Manheim, in confequence of a capitulation. On the fame day, general Bernadotte prefented himfelf before the town of Philipfburg, which, in confequence of the treaty of Campo Formio, was garrifoned only by the troops of the empire, commanded by the rhingrave of Salm. To an infolent letter of fummons from Bernadotte, in which he fiated that the garrifon was ready to revolt, and denounced the most terrible punishment to thofe who fhould oblige him to give orders for the affault, the rhingrave, neither deceived nor intimidated, returned

afpirited though moderate answer, "Surely, general," faid he," it must be your own opinion that I fhould be culpable, were I to deliver up a fortrefs, the command of which has been intrufted to me by the commander-in-chief of the army of the empire. The fituation of the fortrefs under my command is not fuch as you appear to believe, nor do I know of any difcontents among the garrifon. I muft, there. fore, declare to- you that I will not receive a French garrifon into the place, nor commence hoftilities, though I will refift any attack." This foldierly, and gentlemanlike reply to Bernadotte, was juftified by the conduct of the garrifon, compofed of nearly two thousand chofen troops of the empire, who had ferved with diftinction in the preceeding campaigns. The officers, imitating the zeal of their leader, protested with indignation against the dishonourable views imputed to them by the French general. The inundations, which form the principal defence of Philipsburg, prevented the French from approaching near enough for the purpose of reducing the place in a fhort time. Thefe local cire cumftances, with events which took place about this time in Suabia, compelled him to turn the fiege into a blockade, and even that he was obliged to raife soon after.

General Jourdan's army, continuing to advance in the direction it had taken, was beyond the mountains of the Black Foreft. Its right was at Rhinberg near Schaff haufen, and its left at Rothwell. The army of obfervation, at the fame time, fpread itfelf into the country of Heffe Darmstadt, and the Palatinate, and was bufily em ployed in repairing the fortifications

at Manheim. The different corps of Jourdan's army met with no inpediment in their march, as the Auftrians were ftill at a great diftance, and the duke of Wurtemberg, the only prince who could have thrown any obftacles in their way, obferved the ftricteft neutrality; to which he was compelled by the armistice fubfifting between France and the empire, by his own military weakness, and ftill more by the dread of giving the French a pretext for effecting a revolution in his ftates: to which the French plenipotentiaries, taking advantage of their refidence at Raftadt, and of differences then exifting between that prince and his fubjects, had applied themfelves, with their ufual affiduity and addrefs, to difpofe them. That the entry of the French into the duchy of Wurtemberg did not produce a revolution in that state, is to be attributed to the hope they entertained of being able to detach the princes of the empire from the caufe of the emperor. They contented themselves with preying on that country, notwithstanding all the fine promiles of general Jourdan, and treated it almost as badly as the Brigaw, on which they levied all kinds of contributions. Their amity with the new elector of Bavaria did not protect even the Palatinate from their rapacity. The abfolute neceffity, under which the French government lay, of fubfifting its armies, and the impoffibility of doing this at their own expenfe, outweighed every other confideration. The diftrict of Raftadt was alone refpected: the circumstances of its being almoft feparated from Germany, by the advance of the French armies, and having, befides, but a very precarious and limited commu

11

nication with the reft of the empire, enlivened the hopes of the directory of realizing its project of a partial pacification. The name of the army of Mentz, after it had penetrated fo far into Suabia, was changed into that of the army of the Danube; and Jourdan was appointed commander-in-chief of the three armies of the Lower Rhine, the Upper Rhine, and of Switzerland, under his fuperior direction. The first of thefe armies was commanded by Bernadotte, the laft by Maffena.

In order to form a junction, according to the French plan, on the eaftern fide of the lake of Constance, between the armies of Jourdan and Maffena, the former general had only to march through countries without defence, but the latter, in the very outlet, to encounter the Auftrians, in fpite of their opposition, to pass the Rhine, to drive them from the country of the Grifons and the Voralberg, and to force them to retreat into the Upper Tyrol. The difficulties attending thefe ope rations, rendered it neceffary for Maffena to begin his attack before the archduke could oppofe the march of Jourdan, and find time to fend reinforcements to the lake of Conftance. A body of Auftrians, to the number of about fix thou fand, under the command of general Auffenberg, and ftationed in different pofts, communicated along the left bank of the Rhine, with the army of general Hotze, from which it had been detached, and which lay, part at Fieldkirk, and part at Bregentz, and the intermediate places. In this manner were the Auftrians fhut up in a valley, having the Rhine before them, and behind them a chain of extenfive mountains, rendered impal

narrow

fable,