drawing their troops from the archduke's army; on the other, Spain was signing an offensive and defensive alliance with France; a measure that could hardly fail to have some weight with the governments of Italy. England, though engaged in a life-and-death contest, was ignorant how a great war should be carried on; and instead of striking at the vital points of an adversary's power, frittered away her forces in puny efforts directed against sugar islands and distant colonies, leaving her ally unsupported in the field at the very time when a small and efficient army, employed on the coast of Italy, might have produced the most decisive events in favour of the general cause. to be resumed, the French army The French government no sooner heard of the victories achieved near Mantua than they immediately urged upon Napoleon the expediency of following the Austrians into the Tyrol, and completing their destruction. "If General Wurmser obtains any respite," they say, "he will be able to detach troops which, joined to the force of the Archduke Charles, may possibly fall upon the army of the Rhine, and combat it with success." Nothing could be more strategically correct than this view, and the wonder is, that, as we shall see presently, the Austrians did not perceive the great advantage their position in the Tyrol then gave them. Napoleon, however, instead of complying with the plan of the Directory, has a project of his own: he wishes to march on Trieste, to destroy that city altogether with its harbour, and then penetrate into Germany. This project, independently of its being in the regular Vandal style, promised, as certain as any thing can be certain in war, to cause the total destruction of the French army, and was, therefore, negatived by the Directory, though with great and evident deference for Napoleon's opinion. While these discussions were carrying on, the armies had, to some extent, been reinforced and reequipped. Straitened as the Austrian government were in Germany, they had, nevertheless, sent about 6000 men into the Tyrol; some regiments had also joined Napoleon, so that by the end of August, at the moment when operations were about It is not very clear what Napoleon's object was when he broke forth at the end of August.* Historians tell us, indeed, that having penetrated Wurmser's project, he determined to fall upon Davidowitch with all his forces, as soon as the main body of the Austrian army should be at too great a distance to lend him support. Unfortunately for this brilliant conception, it vanishes, like so many others ascribed to Napoleon, before dates, distances, and the unpremeditated words of his own despatches. But if we do not know his exact object on this occasion, we know the result of his expedition, which could hardly be more striking or successful. Leaving the usual corps of observation before Mantua, and some troops under General Kilmain at Verona, he advanced with great rapi dity towards the head of the Lake of Garda. General Vaubois marched on the western shore of the lake, Massena over Monte Baldo and the isthmus, and Augereau on the left bank of the Adige. While the French were thus moving upon Trent, and almost due north, Wurmser's army was leaving that place in three successive divisions, and marching to the southward on Bassano; the hostile armies thus passing each other to the right on different tacks, as seamen would, perhaps, express it. On the 3d of September, the French drove the advanced posts of the Austrians back upon Mori and St. Marco, and as General Davidowitch had gone to Trent, to hold a last conference "Wurmser, Let him speak for himself. In the St. Helena Memoires, he says, reinforced by 20,000 men, was in the Tyrol, and beginning his movement for the relief of Mantua, by marching through the gorges of the Brenta, Bassano, and the with Field-marshal Wurmser, and did not return to his head-quarters at Roveredo, till early on the morning of the 4th, he only learned that the enemy were in force when it was already too late to take the best measures for defence. That this error, or want of arrangement, led to the loss of many brave men, cannot be doubted, but it was trifling compared to what followed. of irreparable ruin. Instead of having troops properly posted in the defences of the pass,-having the men and officers settled in their position, familiar with its points of strength and weakness, and coolly prepared to take up the rear-guard and to resist the enemy if he pressed, the duty was left to be performed by the rear-guard itself. This body, consisting of 1700 men, of the regiment of Preiss, commanded by Colonel Weidenfeld, was ordered to make front on reaching La Pietra, and to defend the gorge. Numerically the corps was sufficiently strong for the purpose, but it had been sharply engaged during the retreat, and was closely pressed upon by the enemy, who gave the soldiers no time to settle in their new position. The Republicans, elate with recent success, and panting for victory, attacked La Pietra with great resolution; and, while swarms of tirailleurs ascended the height on one side, and extended along the banks of the river on the other, the head of Massena's division, advancing in close column under the protection of eight pieces of artillery, carried the village. The astonished Austrians, unable to obtain a firm footing behind their defences, were thrown back into the pass: victors and vanquished rushed headlong through the dark defile, where the tempest of war, gathering strength from the narrow limits within which it was compressed, swept the fugitives in fury along, till the broken bands, seeing no other hope of safety, threw themselves into a wooded glen that carried them away, indeed, from the scene of havoc, but left the French in full possession of the road leading into the unprotected Austrian camp. Early on the morning of the 4th, the French attacked the posts of Mori and St. Marco. As there were only two Austrian brigades present, they fell back, fighting, and appear to have conducted their retreat with great steadiness and regularity; repulsing the French cavalry who attempted to break them, both before and after they had retired through Roveredo. In one of these charges General Dubois was killed. They intended to assemble their different corps at Calliano, a position of great strength, where they proposed to make a stand. This position can only be approached in front through a narrow gorge, a sort of Italian Thermopyla, of about one hundred and fifty yards in breadth, having the rapid and foaming Adige on one side, and a precipitous rocky eminence, crowned by an ancient baronial castle on the other: the pass is, besides, protected by the hamlet of La Pietra and an old foopholed wall, so that no position can have a stronger front. The main body of the two brigades had passed through the defile, and had already established themselves in their bivouacs on the open ground to the rear, and trusting to the strength of the pass, they had piled their arms, and were preparing to dress their dinners. With proper arrangements all this might have been effected in perfect safety; a single error in judgment made it the cause So rapid had been the flight from Lower Adige; while Davidowitch was left with 25,000 men for the protection of the Tyrol. Napoleon, feeling how important it was to occupy the Austrian army, and prevent them from detaching forces against the French army of the Rhine, which was already approaching the plains of Bavaria, had no sooner penetrated Wurmser's plan, than ke resolved to assume the offensive, and beat that general in detail." That is, as soon as he had discovered that the Austrian army was marching on Mantua and not into Germany, he assumed the offensive, to prevent them from marching into Germany. Besides be forgets his own despatches, written after the capture of Trent, by which it is shewn that he did not know Wurmser's plan, for in his letter of the 5th September, he tells the Directory that Wurmser had" fled to Bassano;" and next day he says that "Wurmser has thrown himself towards Bassano, in order to cover Trieste." All these pretended plans, formed on the asserted discovery of the Aus trian's projects, are mere fables, as gross as they are worthless. La Pietra, and through the pass, that not a single messenger was despatched to apprise the troops at Calliano of what had happened; not a single fugitive reached the camp; the firing of the artillery was unheeded; or, as afterwards stated, not even heard;* and now ruin was there. The French, leaving the fragment of the rear-guard unpursued, continued their onward course; their cavalry threw themselves upon the camp of the astonished and unprepared Austrians, which was soon one mass of utter confusion. Not a single company or battalion was under arms; not a squadron was mounted. In this hour of fear the officers vainly attempted to rally some troops; the charging horsemen gave no time to form or collect, all sought safety in wild flight; swarms of scattered soldiers spread wide and far in every direction, and the road to Trent was instantly covered with artillery, baggage, ammunition-carts, mounted and dismounted soldiers, who hurried to that town for shelter. The French followed fast, and slew and captured vast numbers. A few parties of infantry, gathered at last round their officers, and brought down some of the foremost pursuers, a slight respite was then gained, till, in the end, friendly night cast her peaceful mantle_on the scene of death and shame. But a hundred battles had to be fought, the blood of thousands had to be poured out before the disastrous results of that fatal day were remedied. Such was the rout of Calliano, commonly called the battle of Roveredo, in which the misconduct of a lieutenant-colonel, the commander only of a rear-guard, caused the dispersion of a whole army: how much the loss of that army may ultimately have cost the people of Austria, it is impossible to calculate; but the failure of Wurmser's enterprise, which it principally occasioned, forms one of the main links of that uninterrupted chain of heavy calamities which afterwards befell the monarchy. The catastrophe shews, if proof were wanting, how great is the charge, and how terrible the responsibility, liable to devolve on officers even of the humblest station; and no government, taking counsel from experience, and acting honourably, and free from all selfish motives towards the nation over which it rules, can ever allow a single step of military rank to be granted, unless to individuals possessing, or believed to possess, the highest professional qualities. The death of every soldier, who falls in consequence of the misconduct of his superior, may be fairly charged as murder against those who appointed the unfit commander, unless it can be clearly proved that every effort was used to find the person most fitted by talents, bravery, and acquirements, to hold such important trust; for, of course, no effort can ensure perfection in all cases. At present, however, military rank and preferment are actually sold for money in England, though long since abolished in every other country in Europe. The practice dates from the age of barbarism, and is more disgraceful, perhaps, than any which that age could have bequeathed to a land of freedom. Napoleon entered Trent on the morning of the 5th September, and only then discovered that the main body of the Austrian army had marched on Bassano. He determined to follow them; but first resolved to drive Davidowitch, whose corps he probably suspected of being stronger than it really was, farther into the mountains. This unfortunate commander, whose army was 14,000 strong on the 1st of September, was enabled to assemble only 5000 men at Trent on the night after the rout of Calliano; with these he retired before the advancing French, till he reached Lavis, where he made a short stand, to gain time, and collect dispersed men, and then fell back, skirmishing, to Newmark, where the pursuit ended. Though the last division of his army had marched some days before, Field-marshal Wurmser himself was still at Trent, where the report of the disaster of Calliano reached him. The idea of countermarching the army and rejoining Davidowitch was entertained for a moment, but subsequently aban It is only on the unquestionable authority, on which the events of these cam paigns are related, that the writer could venture to claim credit for such statements. doned, and orders sent to press the original movement. The road to Mantua was now, indeed, perfectly open, and the fortress might have been reached without difficulty, had not a series of fatalities, for they can be called nothing less, attended the execution of a plan which was already faulty enough in its original conception. As the last division of Wurmser's army was already some days in advance on the road to Bassano, no apprehension of being overtaken by the enemy seems to have been entertained, and yet detached corps were left on the road, far too weak, indeed, to arrest the progress of a pursuing force; but so strong, as very much to weaken the army from which they were detached, and far too strong also for mere posts of observation. the Brenta are now cleared. At Campo Lungo, three battalions are surrounded, on the morning of the 8th they are instantly attacked, and routed; while three additional battalions, detached from the Austrian camp for their support, come only to augment this confusion. Bassano was now in sight, and the expected prize fired the weary and exhausted soldier to renewed exertions, which were soon crowned indeed with the easiest and the most brilliant success. Several of the Austrian divisions were already before Verona; but Wurmser, with the brigades of Sebottendorff and Quasdanowitch, encumbered too with all the parks, baggage, reserve artillery, and the pontoon train of the army, were still halting at Bassano. On the evening of the 7th, he already learned the advance of the French; and, for a moment, the idea of retiring into Friouli suggested itself, but was soon relinquished, and orders given for the troops to be in readiness to proceed with the march on Vicenza. Why the execution was delayed, the Austrians have not explained, so that we only know the fatal result that attended their loss of time. The French having overthrown the troops at Campo Lungo, were advancing on Bassano by both banks of the river, when, at eight o'clock, the Austrians commenced their march. On issuing from the town, the leading column already met the French, and though the front battalions forced their way through on the Vicenza road, the rest were driven back at the very time when Massena's division was already attacking the town on the other side of the river. To augment the confusion, the parks were at this moment filing over the bridge: some drivers attempted to proceed, others to turn, so that the streets were instantly blocked up. A wild scene of confusion followed, and here also an army was defeated without having fought. All fled; the greatest number in the direction opposite to that in which the enemy advanced; and this, fortunately, led to Citadella, and was the right one. The brigade of Quasdanowitch was separated from the main body, and effected its retreat into Friouli; but the parks, baggage, artillery, and what Buonaparte, when at Trent, issued a proclamation to the Tyrolese, calling upon them, in the usual Republican style of the period, to throw off the yoke of Austria, and seek shelter under the protection of France. His stay at this time was too short to enable him to see the contempt with which a brave and loyal people received such an invitation; but he had afterwards to purchase the information with the blood of thousands. On the present occasion he only left General Vaubois with 10,000 men to watch the remnants of Davidowitch's corps, and having countermarched the divisions of Augereau and Massena, followed Wurmiser with giant strides down the valley of the Brenta. From Trent to Bassano is little short of fifty miles, a distance which the French traversed between the 6th and the morning of the 8th September, notwithstanding the previous toils they had undergone, and the combats they had fought. It was, in truth, a gallant march, which the trifling forces interposed by Wurmser could not arrest for a moment. At Levico the first Austrian corps, consisting of 2000 men, was encountered and instantly dispersed. A second corps, of equal strength, was stationed at Primolano, the troops fought, were surrounded, and forced to lay down their arms. No stop, no stay, the fiery torrent rolled impetuously along, and the gorges of VOL. XXXIII. NO. CXCIV. N |