sed in the first boats, with the advanced
guard. The Austrians had only ten squadrons on the other side, and these
were easily overcome. The passage was now continued without
interruption, but very slowly. _If I had had a good ponton-equipage, the
fate of the enemy's army had been sealed; but the necessity of passing
the river by successive embarkations saved it."_

In the campaign of 1799, the Archduke attempted to pass the Aar, and
attacked the French on the opposite side, but for want of suitable
equipage his operation was delayed till the enemy had collected
sufficient forces to intercept the passage; he was now obliged to enter
into a stipulation for a suspension of hostilities, and to withdraw his
bridges.

The operations of the French in the campaign of 1800, led to the most
glorious results, but their execution was attended with the greatest
difficulties. The passage of the Alps was greatly facilitated by the
ability of the chief engineer, Marescot, and the skill of the troops
under his command; and the facility of passing rivers afforded Napoleon
by his pontoniers, had an important influence upon the success of the
campaign. "The army of the reserve had many companies of pontoniers and
sappers; the pontons of course could not be taken across the St.
Bernard, but the pontoniers soon found materials on the Po and Tesin for
constructing bridge equipages." Moreau's army in the same year profited
well by his pontoniers, in the passages of the Inn, the Salza, the
Traun, the Alza, &c., and in the pursuit of the Austrian army--a pursuit
that has but a single parallel example in modern history.

The facility with which Napoleon crossed rivers, made forced marches,
constructed redoubts, fortified depots, and grasped the great strategic
points of the enemy in the campaign of 1805, resulted from the skilful
organization of his army, and the efficiency given to the forces
employed in these important operations. The engineer staff of the French
army at this period, consisted of four hundred and forty-nine officers,
and there were four battalions of sappers, of one hundred and twenty
officers and seven thousand and ninety-two men; six companies of miners,
of twenty-four officers and five hundred and seventy-six men; and two
regiments of pontoniers, of thirty-eight officers and nine hundred and
sixty men. On the contrary, the enemy's neglect of these things is one
of the most striking of the many faults of the war, and his i