CAMPAIGN IN ITALY.
Before the subsidiary treaty was signed between England and the Emperor Paul, the court of Vienna had formed a close alliance with the czar; and Russian troops had begun to assemble on the frontiers of Austria, while a large German army was collecting between the rivers Inn and Lech. The great object proposed was to drive the French out of Italy, where their arms were still making great progress. In November of the last year the liberation of the states of Italy was undertaken by the King of Naples, who placed General Mack at the head of his forces. Mack succeeded in making himself master of Rome; while 5000 troops, conveyed by British ships, took possession of Leghorn. But this success was of short duration. In the month of December the Neapolitan troops suffered a signal defeat at Civita Castellana; and this disaster was followed by the evacuation of Rome. Nor did the French successes stop here. Following up their victory, under General Champiounet, by the middle of January they obtained possession of Naples; and the King of Sardinia was obliged to take refuge on board the British fleet. He afterwards went to Palermo under British protection, resigning all his continental territories to his conquerors, who also soon occupied all Tuscany; Sicily was preserved from their domination by the energy of Nelson, assisted by Sir Charles Stuart, who hastened from Minorca with 1000 troops, in order to assist him in measures for its defence.
While Naples was thus falling a prey to the French, Austrian and Russian troops were collecting on the other side of the Alps. After demanding from the Emperor of Germany the dismissal of all the Russian troops, the French negociators declared the congress at Radstadt dissolved. War, therefore, commenced anew with Austria; and Jourdan once more crossed the Rhine, and established himself in Suabia. In the month of March he advanced towards the Danube; but he was again met by the Archduke Charles, who drove him back over the Rhine. About the same time, also, the Austrian generals, Bellegarde and Hotze, recovered the Grison country, and poured into Switzerland, driving the French, under Massena, before them. In the meantime another Austrian army, commanded by General Melas, poured through the Tyrol, driving all the French outposts before him, and entered Upper Italy, where he obliged the French general, Scherer, to retire beyond the Mincio. Moreau subsequently took the command of Scherer’s forces; but he was likewise defeated by Melas. It was while Melas was giving chase to Moreau that Suvaroff came up with 50,000 Russians, and assumed the chief command of both armies. A great battle was gained by Suvaroff at Cassano, on the 27th of April, and by that victory the fate of the Cisalpine republic was sealed; everywhere the people rose in arms against the French; and the native democrats whom the French had set up as a government, Brescia and Peschiera, surrendered; Mantua was invested; and Suvaroff entered Milan in triumph. Moreau continued his retreat towards Genoa, hoping to be joined there by the army of Macdonald from Naples. But Macdonald was already on his route to meet the Russo-Austrian army, which he found by the river Trebia. In his route he had been joined by General Victor; but after three days’ hard fighting on the banks of the Trebia, he was defeated by Suvaroff; and flying thence towards the pass of Bochetta, he joined Moreau, who had recently received some re-enforcements from Nice and Genoa. Moreau had made some entrenchments on the declivities of the Apeu nines, and in the entrance of the Bochetta pass, behind the Piedmontese town of Novi. While here he was superseded in command by Jourdan, who stationed himself on the same heights behind Novi, and improved and extended his field-works. He was attacked in this formidable position by Suvaroff; and his army was defeated and himself slain. Shortly after this victory Suvaroff struck across the Alps to make head against Massena, who had recently defeated a Russian corps under General Korsakoff, who had arrived in Switzerland to co-operate with General Bellegarde and the Austrians. There was some fearful fighting in the ravines of St. Gothard, and Suvaroff opened a way into the heart of Switzerland; but not being assisted by either the Russian general, Korsakoff, or the Austrian general, Bellegarde, he turned aside towards the lake of Constance and Germany. He was interrupted in his march by Massena; but he attained his object, and effected a junction with Korsakoff; and then the two Russian generals marched to Augsburg, leaving the French once more absolute masters of Switzerland.
The Neapolitan kingdom was recovered in the course of the months of June and July by Cardinal Ruffo, assisted by Lord Nelson. A sanguinary vengeance was taken on the republicans by the Neapolitan government; and Nelson himself tarnished his fair fame by deeds at which a right-minded Englishman must shudder, and which no one will venture to palliate. It had been guaranteed to the republican garrisons that their persons and property should be respected; but these garrisons were delivered over to the vengeance of the Sicilian court, and that by the brave Nelson. “A deplorable transaction,” says his biographer, “a stain on his memory and on the honour of England! to palliate it would be vain; to justify it wicked.” Nelson conceived that nothing more was essential to the tranquillity of Naples than the recovery of Rome; and this he effected by a small detachment of his fleet, under the able conduct of captains Trowbridge, Hallowel, and Louis. The French having no longer any hope in arms soon concluded a capitulation for all the Roman states; and Captain Louis, rowing up the Tiber in his barge, hoisted the British standard on the capitol, and acted for a time as governor of Rome.
While the arms of France were thus occupied in Germany and Italy, a favourable opportunity seemed to offer itself for the liberation of Holland. A treaty was effected with the Emperor Paul, by which 17,000 Russian troops were engaged to co-operate with 20,000 English troops in that country. Troops set sail from England in the month of August; find the fleet, under Sir Ralph Abercrombie, after encountering much bad weather, came to anchor off the Helder, a point which commands the entrance of the Zuyder Zee. The troops were disembarked on the 27th, and on the next day took possession of Helder, the French and Dutch republicans having abandoned it in the night; and the Dutch fleet in the Texel surrendered to the British admiral without firing a shot. The main part of the army destined for this enterprise was still in England, and the Russian auxiliaries had not yet arrived. Before they received re-enforcements the invaders were attacked by about 12,000 men; but so strong was their position on the Zuyp, and so bravely was it defended, that the assailants were defeated, with the loss of nearly one thousand men. The Duke of York, with the main force from England, arrived on the day after this battle; and as the allied troops now amounted to 35,000 men, his royal highness, who superseded Abercrombie in the chief command, ventured on active operations. The army advanced, on the 19th, in four columns. That on the extreme right, consisting chiefly of Russian troops, under General De Hermaun, made an unsuccessful attack upon Bergen. Abercrombie with a column penetrated to the city of Hoorn, which surrendered; and the two other columns under Generals Dundas and Pulteney, also forced their way through great difficulties, in a tract of country intersected with deep ditches and canals. The rash confidence of the Russians, however, soon exposed the whole army to such danger that it was compelled to retire to its original position. For some time, in consequence of tempestuous weather, the invading force was blocked up by inferior numbers; but on the 2nd of October the British army resumed the offensive, and commenced an attack on the enemy’s whole line. A battle was fought at Egmont, which was favourable to the British; for, although it was indecisive, yet the retreat of the enemy in consequence gave them an opportunity of occupying several strong positions. The republican soldiers took up a strong post between Beverwyck and the Zuyder Zee; and the Duke of York resolved to attack them there, before their position could be strengthened by fresh works or re-enforcements. An action took place on the 6th of October, and it terminated so far in favour of the British and the allies, that they were left masters of the field; but the loss on both sides was very severe; and the enemy, who soon afterwards received a re-enforcement, maintained their position. The allied army, indeed, soon found itself in so critical a situation from the strength of the enemy, the severity of the weather, and the indifference of the party of the stadtholder, that the Duke of York suddenly issued an order for the troops to assemble; and they commenced a retreat toward Pelleu and Alkmaer. Before the troops could re-embark, however, the Duke of York was compelled to conclude a convention, by which it was agreed that the English and Russians should be allowed to leave Holland without molestation, on condition that 8000 prisoners of war, French and Batavians, then detained in England, should be released.
GEORGE III. 1798—1801