recognizing the truth; and even yet the
notion of a supernatural influence fighting on Bonaparte's side has
not entirely disappeared. But the facts as we know them reveal
cleverness dealing with incapacity, energy such as had not yet been
seen fighting with languor, an embodied principle of great vitality
warring with a lifeless, vanishing system. The consequences were
startling, but logical; the details sound like a romance from the land
of Eblis.

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Conquest of Piedmont and the Milanese[67].

[Footnote 67: The latest important authorities on this
campaign and its results are, in addition to those
already given, Sargent: Napoleon Bonaparte's First
Campaign. Sorel: Bonaparte et Hoche en 1797. Bonaparte
et le Directoire, Vol. V of his large work. Colin:
Etudes sur la Campagne de 1796 en Italie. Fabry:
Histoire de l'armee d'Italie, 1796-1797. Bouvier:
Bonaparte en Italie, 1796. Graham's Despatches, edited
by Rose, in English Historical Review, Vol. XIV.
Tivaroni: Storia del risorgimento italiano. The Dropmore
Papers. Of primary value are Napoleon's "Correspondance,"
official edition, and the unofficial edited by Beauvais.
Hueffer: Ungedruckte Briefe Napoleon's in the Archiv fuer
Oest. Geschichte, Vol. XLIX. Of value are also the
memoirs of Marmont, Massena, and Desgenettes, of
Landrieux in Revue du Cercle Militaire, 1887. Yorck von
Wartenberg: Napoleon als Feldherr, almost supersedes the
older authority of Clausewitz, Jomini, Ruestow, and
Lossau. There are also Malachowski: Entwickelung der
leitenden Gedanken zur ersten Campagne Bonaparte's, and
Delbrueck: Unterschied der Strategie Friederich's des
Grossen und Napoleon's.]

The Armies of Austria and Sardinia -- Montenotte and
Millesimo -- Mondovi and Cherasco -- Consequences of the
Campaign -- The Plains of Lombardy -- The Crossing of the Po
-- Advance Toward Milan -- Lodi -- Retreat of the Austrians
-- Moral Effects of Lodi.

[Sidenote: 1796.]

Victor Amadeus of Sardinia was not unaccustomed to the loss of
territory in the north, because from immemorial times his house had
relinquished picturesque but unfruitf