rectory. So far he had asserted and confirmed his military and
diplomatic independence: he now boldly assumed political supremacy.
Though at times he expressed a low opinion of the Italians, yet he
recognized their higher qualities. In Modena, Reggio, Bologna, and
Ferrara were thousands who understood the significance of the dawning
epoch. To these he paid visits and to their leaders he gave, during
the short interval at his command, hearty approbation for their
resistance to the reactionaries. Forestalling the Directory, he
declared Modena and Reggio to be under French protection. This daring
procedure assured his ascendancy with all Italian liberals and
rendered sure and certain the prosecution of his campaign to the
bitter end. Bologna and Ferrara, having surrendered to French
protection on June twenty-third, were soon in open revolt against the
papal influences which were reviving: and even in distant Naples the
liberals took heart once more.

The glory of the imperial arms having been brilliantly vindicated in
the north, the government at Vienna naturally thought it not
impossible to relieve Mantua, and restore Austrian prestige in the
south. Every effort was to be made. The Tyrolese sharp-shooters were
called out, large numbers of raw recruits were gathered in Illyria and
Croatia, while a few veterans were taken from the forces of the
Archduke Charles. When these were collected, Quasdanowich found
himself in Friuli with upward of thirty-five thousand men, while
Davidowich in the Tyrol had eighteen thousand. The chief command of
both armies was assigned to Alvinczy, an experienced but aged general,
one of the same stock as that to which Wurmser belonged. About
October first, the two forces moved simultaneously, one down the
Adige, the other down the Piave, to unite before Vicenza, and proceed
to the relief of Mantua. For the fourth time Bonaparte was to fight
the same battle, on the same field, for the same object, with the same
inferiority of numbers. His situation, however was a trifle better
than it had been, for several veteran battalions which were no longer
needed in Vendee had arrived from the Army of the West; his own
soldiers were also well equipped and enthusiastic. He wrote to the
Directory, on October first, that he had thirty thousand effectives;
but he probably had more, for it is scarcely possible that, as he
said, eighteen thousand were in the hospitals. The populations around
and behind him were,