All this was possible to a commander who could overcome the initial difficulties.  But these difficulties were enormous.  The position of the French Army of Italy in March, 1796, was precarious.  Its detachments, echelonned near the coast from Savona to Loano, and thence to Nice, or inland to the Col di Tende, comprised in all 42,000 men, as against the Austro-Sardinian forces amounting to 52,000 men.[36] Moreover, the allies occupied strong positions on the northern slopes of the Maritime Alps and Apennines, and, holding the inner and therefore shorter curve, they could by a dextrous concentration have pushed their more widely scattered opponents on to the shore, where the republicans would have been harassed by the guns of the British cruisers.  Finally, Bonaparte’s troops were badly equipped, worse clad, and were not paid at all.  On his arrival at Nice at the close of March, the young commander had to disband one battalion for mutinous conduct.[37] For a brief space it seemed doubtful how the army would receive this slim, delicate-looking youth, known hitherto only as a skilful artillerist at Toulon and in the streets of Paris.  But he speedily gained the respect and confidence of the rank and file, not only by stern punishment of the mutineers, but by raising money from a local banker, so as to make good some of the long arrears of pay.  Other grievances he rectified by prompt reorganization of the commissariat and kindred departments.  But, above all, by his burning words he thrilled them:  “Soldiers, you are half starved and half naked.  The Government owes you much, but can do nothing for you.  Your patience and courage are honourable to you, but they procure you neither advantage nor glory.  I am about to lead you into the most fertile valleys of the world:  there you will find flourishing cities and teeming provinces:  there you will reap honour, glory, and riches.  Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack courage?” Two years previously so open a bid for the soldiers’ allegiance would have conducted any French commander forthwith to the guillotine.

[Illustration:  MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE CAMPAIGNS IN NORTH ITALY.]

But much had changed since the days of Robespierre’s supremacy; Spartan austerity had vanished; and the former insane jealousy of individual pre-eminence was now favouring a startling reaction which was soon to install the one supremely able man as absolute master of France.

Bonaparte’s conduct produced a deep impression alike on troops and officers.  From Massena his energy and his trenchant orders extorted admiration:  and the tall swaggering Augereau shrank beneath the intellectual superiority of his gaze.  Moreover, at the beginning of April the French received reinforcements which raised their total to 49,300 men, and gave them a superiority of force; for though the allies had 52,000, yet they were so widely scattered as to be inferior in any one district.  Besides, the Austrian commander, Beaulieu, was seventy-one years of age, had only just been sent into Italy, with which land he was ill acquainted, and found one-third of his troops down with sickness.[38]