themselves to
Monte Velino, the tallest mountain of the range.

To attain this object of turning the Alps in the manner proposed, it was
necessary that Bonaparte should totally change the situation of his
army; those occupying a defensive line, running north and south, being
to assume an offensive position, extending east and west. Speaking of an
army as of a battalion, he was to form into column upon the right of the
line which he had hitherto occupied. This was an extremely delicate
operation to be undertaken in presence of an active enemy, his superior
in numbers; nor was he permitted to execute it uninterrupted.

No sooner did Beaulieu learn that the French General was concentrating
his forces, and about to change his position, than he hastened to
preserve Genoa, without possession of which, or at least of the adjacent
territory, Bonaparte's scheme of advance could scarce have been
accomplished. The Austrian divided his army into three bodies. Colli, at
the head of a Sardinian division, he stationed on the extreme right at
Ceva; his centre division, under D'Argenteau, having its head at
Sasiello, had directions to march on a mountain called Monte Notte, with
two villages of the same name, near to which was a strong position at a
place called Montelegino, which the French had occupied in order to
cover their flank during their march toward the east.

At the head of his left wing, Beaulieu himself moved from Novi upon
Voltri, a small town nine miles west of Genoa, for the protection of
that ancient city, whose independence and neutrality were like to be
held in little reverence. Thus it appears, that while the French were
endeavoring to penetrate into Italy by an advance from Sardinia by the
way of Genoa, their line of march was threatened by three armies of
Austro-Sardinians, descending from the skirts of the Alps, and menacing
to attack their flank. But, though a skilful disposition, Beaulieu's
had, from the very mountainous character of the country, the great
disadvantage of wanting connection between the three separate divisions;
neither, if needful, could they be easily united on any point desired,
while the lower line, on which the French moved, permitted constant
communication and cooperation.

On April 10, 1796, D'Argenteau, with the central division of the
Austro-Sardinian army, descended upon Monte Notte, while Beaulieu on
the left attacked the van of the French army, which had come as far as
Voltri. Gen