The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

'292 LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
that a French army of 30,000 men and upwards, army they were to form the left wing. But ere we
descending from the Alps by ways hitherto deemed prosecute the account of Bonaparte's movements
impracticable for military movements, had occupied during this momentous campaign, it is necessary to
the valley of Aosta, and were endeavouring to de- trace the previous operations of Melas, and the situbouche by a path of steps cut in the Albaredo. But ation in which that Austrian general now found
he pledged himself to his commander-in-chief, that himself.
not a single gun or ammunition waggon should pass It has been already stated, that, at the commencethrough the town; and as it was impossible to drag ment of this campaign of 1800, the Austrians enterthese along the Albaredo, he concluded, that, being tained the highest hopes that their Italian army,
without his artillery, Bonaparte would not venture having taken Genoa and Nice, might penetrate into
to descend into the plain. Provence by crossing the frontier at the Var, and
But while the commandant of Bard thus argued, perhaps make themselves masters of Toulon anil
he was mistaken in his premises, though right in Marseilles. To realise these hopes, Mlelas, having
his inference. The artillery of the French army left in Piedmont a sufficient force, as he deemed it,
had already passed through the town of Bard, and to guard the passes of the Alps, had advanced tounder the guns of the citadel, without being dis- wards Genoa, which Mass6na prepared to cover
covered to have done so. This important manceuvre and defend. A number of severe and desperate
was accomplished by previously laying the street actions took place between these generals; hat bewith dung and earth, over which the pieces of ing a war of posts, and fought in a very mountainous
cannon, concealed under straw and branches of and difficult country, it was impossible by any skill
trees, were dragged by men in profound silence. of combination to insure on any occasion more than
The garrison, though they did not suspect what was partial success, since co-operation of movements
going on, fired nevertheless occasionally upon some upon a great and extensive scale was prohibited by
vague suspicion, and killed and wounded artillery- the character of the ground. There was much
men in sufficient number to show it would have hard fighting, however, in which, though more of
been impossible to pass under a severe and sus- the Austrians were slain, yet the loss was more
tained discharge fromn the ramparts. It seems sin- severely felt by the French, whose numbers were
gular that the commandant had kept up no intelli- inferior.
gence with the town. Any signal previously agreed In the month of March, the Englislh fleet, tnder
upon-a light shown in a window, for example- Lord Keith, appeared, as we have already hinted,
would have detected such a stratagem. before Genoa, and commenced a blockade, which
A division of conscripts, under General Chabrani strictly prevented access to the port to all vessels
was left to reduce Fort Bard, which continued to loaded with provisions, or other necessaries, for the
hold out, until, at the expense of great labour, bat- besieged city.
teries were established on the top of the Albaredo, On the 6th of April, Melas, by a grand movement,
by which it was commanded, and a heavy gun placed took Vado, and intersected the French line. Sutchet,
on the steeple of the church, when it was compelled who commanded Mass1na's left wing, was cut off
to surrender. It is not fruitless to observe, that the from that general, and thrown back on France.
resistance of this small place, which had been over- Marches, manoeuvres and bloody combats, followed
looked or undervalued in the plan of the campaign, each other in close detail; but the French, though
was very nearly rendering the march over Mont obtaining advantages in several of the actions, could
St Bernard worse than useless, and might have oc- never succeed in restoring the communication becasioned the destruction of all the chief consul's tween Sachet and Mass6na. Finally, while the forarmy. So little are even the most distinguished mer retreated towards France, and took up a line
generals able to calculate with certainty upon all on Borghetta, the latter was compelled to convert
the chances of war. his army into a garrison, and to shut himself lp in
*From this dangerous pass, the van-guard of Bo- Genoa, or at least encamp in a position close under
naparte now advanced down the valley to Ivrea, its ramparts. Melas, in the meantime, approached
where Lannes carried the town by storm, and a se- the city more closely, when Mass6na, in a desperate
cond time combated and defeated the Austrian sally, drove the Austrians from their advanced posts,
division which had defended it, when reinforced forced them to retreat, made prisoners twelve
and situated on a strong position at Romano. The hundred men, and carried off some warlike trophies.
roads to Turin and Milan were now alike open to But the French were exhausted by their very sacBonaparte-he had only to decide which he chose cess, and obliged to remain within, or under the
to take. Meanwhile he made a halt of four days at walls of the city, where the approach of famine
Ivrea, to refresh the troops after their fatigues, and began to be felt. Men were already compelled to
to prepare them for future enterprises. have recourse to the flesh of horses, dogs, and other
During this space, the other columns of his army unclean animals, and it was seen that the place nmust
were advancing to form a junction with that of the soon be necessarily obliged to surrender.
main body, according to the plan of the campaign. Satisfied with the approaching fall of Genoa,
Tureau, who had passed the Alps by the route of Melas, in the beginning of May, left the prosecution
Mont Cenis, had taken the forts of Susa and La of the blockade to General Ott, and moved himself
Brunneta. On the other hand, the large corps de- against Sachet, whom he drove before him in distached by Carnot from Moreau's army were ad- order, and who, overborne by numbers, retreated
vancing by Mount St Gothard and the Simplon, to towards the French frontier. On the 11th of May,
support the operations of the first consul, of whose Melas entered Nice, and thus commenced the pur