The blockade of Genoa had been kept up all this time; while Suchet resolutely maintained the last line of defence on the old frontier of France.  On the 22nd of May Melas made a desperate effort to force the passage of the Var, but failed; and immediately afterwards received his first intelligence of the movements of Buonaparte, and the defeat of his own detachment at the bridge of Chiusilla.  He perceived that it was high time to leave Suchet to inferior hands, and set off to oppose in person “the army of reserve.”  Suchet, on his part, was not slow to profit by the departure of the Austrian Commander-in-chief:  he, being informed of Buonaparte’s descent, forthwith resumed the offensive, re-crossed the Var, and carried Vintimiglia at the point of the bayonet.  Pursuing his advantage, Suchet obtained the mastery, first of the defile of Braus, and then of that of Tende, and at length re-occupied his old position at Melagno, whence his advanced guard pushed on as far as Savona.

The garrison of Genoa, meantime, had been holding out gallantly.  Massena for some time kept possession of the semicircular chain of heights on the land side, and was thus enabled to obtain provisions, despite the 40,000 Austrians under General Ott who lay watching him, and the English fleet under Lord Keith which completely blockaded the shore.  A great effort made to dislodge him from the heights on the 3rd of April had failed.  But by degrees the superiority of numbers proved too much for him, and being shut at last within the walls—­where, to increase all his difficulties, a great part of the population was violently hostile to the French cause—­his sufferings from want of provisions, and the necessity of constant watchfulness and daily skirmishes, began to be severe.  In his sorties, Massena had for the most part the advantage; and never in the whole war was the heroism of the French soldiery more brilliantly displayed than during this siege.[36] The news of the expedition of Napoleon at length penetrated to the beleaguered garrison, and the expectation of relief gave them from day to day new courage to hold out.  But day passed after day without any deliverer making his appearance, and the scarcity of food rendered it almost impossible to keep the inhabitants from rising en masse to throw open the gates.  The English, meanwhile, anchored closer to the city, and having cut out the vessels which guarded the entrance of the harbour, were bombarding the French quarters at their pleasure.  Everything eatable, not excepting the shoes and knapsacks of the soldiers, had been devoured, ere Massena at length listened to the proposal of a conference with General Ott and Lord Keith.  If the French general’s necessities were urgent, the English admiral’s desire to get possession of Genoa, ere Buonaparte could make further progress, was not less vehement.  Lord Keith frankly told Massena, that his gallantry had been such that no terms could be too good for him.  The word capitulation Was omitted:  the French marched out of the town with arms and baggage, and were allowed to proceed to Suchet’s headquarters; and, on the 5th of June, Ott occupied Genoa.