A CONCISE AND COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF SUWOROW's ITALIAN CAMPAIGN. IT was in the month of April, 1799, that the renowned Suworow opened the campaign which threw such brilliancy over the close of the eighteenth century, and which delivered Italy from the galling and disgraceful yoke, from the pillagings, the murders, and the sacrilege of the rapacious, bloody and impious republicans of France. This charming country had fallen, state after state, before the arms of the enemies of God and man. The Emperor's Italian possessions, those of the Dukes of Tuscany and Modena, had been over-run and revolutionized; Rome followed next, the aged Pope had been robbed, insulted, and led captive by a French Calvinist, acting under the orders of the infidels of Paris; lastly, the Kings of Naples and Sardinia had been driven from their dominions: so that, at the time Suworow entered Italy, the French were in possession of the whole country from Dauphiné to the gulph of Venice, and from Switzerland to the bay of Taranto. To defend this territory, to keep the Italians chained at their feet, and to sally out on their enemies, their force was evidently inadequate. Moreau with about forty thousand men, was stationed in the Milanese; Championnet, with eighteen thousand, in the states of the church; Macdonald, · with twenty thousand, in the kingdom of Naples, and Scherer with forty-seven thousand on the banks of the Adige. The insolent usurpers of France, still sacrificing safety to pride, and reason to presumption, instead of collecting their forces, which were scattered over the whole face of Italy, and opposing the entire body to the Austrians, who were preparing to attack Schérer on the Adige, were obstinately determined to keep possession of all their conquests. On the 26th of March, Schérer, though inferior in force, attacked the Austrians, under General Kray, who were posted on the opposite side of the Adige. This was little more than a drawn battle. Schérer did, indeed, inform his masters, that he had gained a victory and had taken four thousand Austrians and twelve pieces of cannon; but, it nevertheless appeared, that, even from his own account, this victory was confined to the carrying of two bridges. The two hostile armies renewed the combat on the 31st of March, and again on the fifth of April, on which last day the French were driven from the banks of the Adige to Mantua with very great loss. According to General Kray's official accounts, the enemy, during the twelve days they were engaged, from the 26th of March to the fifth of April at night, lost twenty thousand men killed and wounded, and seven thousand prisoners. Schérer did not attempt to make a stand at Mantua; he continued his flight till he got behind the Oglio and the Adda; and, by the 18th of April, the countries of Ferrara, Brescia and Mantau were in the hands of the Imperialists. The accounts of General Kray were probably exaggerated, but certainly the army of "invincible conquerors" were greatly reduced in number. Schérer was recalled by the mortified tyrants of France, and the remnant of of his army, after leaving ten thousand men in the city of Mantua and five thousand in Peschiera, was put under the command of Moreau. On the 14th of April twenty-three thousand Russians, led by Field Marshal Suworow, reached Verona, and the next day proceeded on their way to join Field-Marshal Kray. The command of the combined Imperial armies now devolved on Suworow; nor was it long before the audacious and impious enemy began to feel the effects of his valour, Moreau, who had received great reinforcements, had posted his army on the banks of the Adda. The position was very strong, and reached from Lecco to Pizzighitone. It was absolutely necessary for the French to keep this station, or yield a very extensive tract of country. On the 23d of April the right wing and centre of the allies entered Bergamo and Bergamasco, while General Klenau passed the Po. and led a division of Austrians into the Modenese. The fate of Milan, therefore, and of the Cisalpine republic, depended on the preservation of the post of the Adda. This river was very difficult to pass, having in its course from the Lake of Como to Lodi, very steep banks, and having all its passes well guarded by intrenchments. The French had very faintly defended the space between the Mincio and the Adda, but on the banks of the latter they had taken every measure to make up for their inferiority of numbers and the decreasing courage of the troops. They had strongly fortified Cassano,* which place and the right bank of the Adda were defended by formidable batteries and a well-constructed tête-de-pont. The head quarters of Moreau were at the village of Inzago, and two divisions of his army were posted there, in order to prevent the passage of the Adda * A fortress in the Milanese, fifteen miles N. E. of Milan.. |