of Novi
while rallying an army destined to defeat. Two small forces under
Kilmaine and Victor associated with Lannes were detailed to watch
Venice and Rome respectively; but the general good order of Italy was
intrusted to the native legions which Bonaparte had organized. Fate
had little more in store for Kilmaine, the gallant Irish cavalryman,
who was among the foremost generals of his army. Already a veteran
forty-six years old, as veterans were then reckoned, he had fought in
America and on the Rhine and had filled the cup of his glory at
Peschiera, Castiglione, and Mantua. He was yet to be governor of
Lombardy and end his career by mortal disease when in chief command of
the "Army of England." Victor, wounded at Toulon, general of brigade
in the Pyrenees, a subordinate officer to the unsuccessful Scherer in
Italy, quickly rose under Bonaparte to be division general. Of lowly
birth, he had scarcely reached his thirty-fourth year when on this
occasion he exhibited both military and diplomatic talent of a high
order. Throughout the consulate and empire he held one important
office after another, so successfully that he commended himself even
to the Bourbons, and died in 1841, full of years and honors. Lannes
was now twenty-eight. The child of poor parents, he began life as a
dyer's apprentice, enlisted when twenty-three and was a colonel within
two years, so astounding were his courage and natural gifts. Detailed
to serve under Bonaparte, the two became bosom friends. A plain, blunt
man, Lannes was as fierce as a war dog and as faithful. Throughout the
following years he followed Bonaparte in all his enterprises, and
Napoleon on the Marchfeld, in 1809, wept bitterly when his faithful
monitor was shot to pieces.

Massena advanced up the Piave against Lusignan, captured his
rear-guard, and drove him away northward beyond Belluno, while the
Archduke, thus separated from his right, withdrew to guard the road
into Carniola. Bonaparte, with his old celerity, reached the banks of
the Tagliamento opposite the Austrian position on March sixteenth,
long before he was expected. His troops had marched all night, but
almost immediately they made a feint as if to force a crossing in the
face of their enemy. The Austrians on the left bank awaited the onset
in perfect order, and in dispositions of cavalry, artillery, and
infantry admirably adapted to the ground. It seemed as if the first
meeting of the two young generals would fall