a general order, which had a
magical effect on the minds of the soldiery, Massena was highly esteemed
among them; and after his arrival at Genoa, the deserters flocked back
rapidly to their standards. At the same time Buonaparte ordered Moreau
to assume the command of the two corps of the Danube and Helvetia, and
consolidate them into one great "army of the Rhine." Lastly, the
rendezvous of the "army of reserve" was appointed for Dijon: a central
position from which either Messena or Moreau might, as circumstances
demanded, be supported and reinforced; but which Napoleon really
designed to serve for a cloak to his main purpose. For he had already,
in concert with Carnot, sketched the plan of that which is generally
considered as at once the most daring and the most masterly of all the
campaigns of the war; and which, in so far as the execution depended on
himself, turned out also the most dazzlingly successful.

In placing Moreau at the head of the army of the Rhine, full 150,000
strong, and out of all comparison the best disciplined as well as
largest force of the Republic, Buonaparte exhibited a noble superiority
to all feelings of personal jealousy. That general's reputation
approached the most nearly to his own, but his talents justified this
reputation, and the Chief Consul thought of nothing but the best means
of accomplishing the purposes of the joint campaign. Moreau, in the
sequel, was severely censured by his master for the manner in which he
executed the charge entrusted to him. His orders were to march at once
upon Ulm, at the risk of placing the great Austrian army under Kray
between him and France; but he was also commanded to detach 15,000 of
his troops for the separate service of passing into Italy by the defiles
of St. Gothard; and given to understand that it must be his business to
prevent Kray, at all hazards, from opening a communication with Italy by
way of the Tyrol. Under such circumstances, it is not wonderful that a
general, who had a master, should have proceeded more cautiously than
suited the gigantic aspirations of the unfettered Napoleon. Moreau,
however, it must be admitted, had always the reputation of a prudent
rather than a daring commander. The details of his campaign against Kray
must be sought elsewhere. A variety of engagements took place with a
variety of fortune. Moreau, his enemies allow, commenced his operations
by crossing the Rhine in the end of April; and, on the 15th of July