“Hitherto” (he thus addressed his troops) “you have been fighting for barren rocks, memorable for your valour, but useless to your country; but now your exploits equal those of the armies of Holland and the Rhine.  You were utterly destitute, and you have supplied all your wants.  You have gained battles without cannon, passed rivers without bridges, performed forced marches without shoes, bivouacked without strong liquors, and often without bread.  None but republican phalanxes, soldiers of liberty, could have endured such things.  Thanks for your perseverance!  But, soldiers, you have done nothing—­for there remains much to do.  Milan is not yet ours.  The ashes of the conquerors of Tarquin are still trampled by the assassins of Basseville.”

The consummate genius of this brief campaign could not be disputed; and the modest language of the young general’s despatches to the Directory, lent additional grace to his fame.  At this time the name of Buonaparte was spotless:  and the eyes of all Europe were fixed in admiration on his career.

[Footnote 8:  Berthier used to keep, as a curiosity, a general order, by which three louis-d’or were granted as a great supply to each general of division, dated on the very day of the victory at Albegna.]

CHAPTER V

The French cross the Po at Placenza—­The Battle of Fombio—­The Bridge of Lodi—­Napoleon occupies Milan—­Resigns, and resumes his command—­Insurrection of Pavia—­Military Executions—­The French pass the Mincio at Borghetto—­Beaulieu retreats behind the Adige—­Mantua besieged—­Peace with the King of the Two Sicilies—­The Pope buys a Respite.

Piedmont being now in the hands of Buonaparte, the Austrian general concentrated his army behind the Po, with the purpose of preventing the invader from passing that great river and making his way to the capital of Lombardy.

Napoleon employed every device to make Beaulieu believe that he designed to attempt the passage of the Po at Valenza; and the Austrian, a man of routine, who had himself crossed the river at that point, was easily persuaded that these demonstrations were sincere.  Meanwhile his crafty antagonist executed a march of incredible celerity upon Placenza, fifty miles lower down the river; and appeared there on the 7th of May, to the utter consternation of a couple of Austrian squadrons, who happened to be reconnoitring in that quarter.  He had to convey his men across that great stream in the common ferry boats, and could never have succeeded had there been anything like an army to oppose him.  Andreossi (afterwards so celebrated) was commander of the advanced guard; Lannes (who became in the sequel Marshal Duke of Montebello) was the first to throw himself ashore at the head of some grenadiers.  The German hussars were driven rapidly from their position.  Buonaparte himself has said that no operation in war is more critical than the passage of a great river; on this occasion the skill of his arrangements enabled him to pass one of the greatest in the world without the loss of a single man.