The first line of the
Austrian infantry charged, however, with equal resolution. At that
moment Kellerman's horse came on them in flank; and being, by that
unexpected assault, broken, they were, after a vain struggle, compelled
to surrender:--General Zach himself was here made prisoner. The Austrian
columns behind, being flushed with victory, were advancing too
carelessly, and proved unable to resist the general assault of the whole
French line, which now pressed onwards under the immediate command of
Napoleon. Post after post was carried. The noble cavalry of Elsnitz,
perceiving the infantry broken and retiring, lost heart; and, instead of
forming to protect their retreat, turned their horses' heads and
galloped over the plain, trampling down every thing in their way. When
the routed army reached at length the Bormida, the confusion was
indescribable. Hundreds were drowned--the river rolled red amidst the
corpses of horse and men. Whole corps, being unable to effect the
passage, surrendered: and at ten at night the Austrian commander with
difficulty rallied the remnant of that magnificent array on the very
ground which they had left the same morning in all the confidence of
victory.

It is not to be denied that Napoleon was saved on this occasion by the
arrival of the reserve under Dessaix, and the timely charge of
Kellerman. On the other hand it is impossible not to condemn the
rashness with which the Austrian generals advanced after their first
successes.

The discomfiture of the imperialists was so great, that rather than
stand the consequences of another battle, while Suchet was coming on
their rear, they next day entered into a negotiation. Melas offered to
abandon Genoa and all the strong places in Piedmont, Lombardy, and the
Legations--provided Buonaparte would allow him to march the remains of
his army unmolested to the rear of Mantua. Napoleon accepted this offer.
By one battle he had regained nearly all that the French had lost in the
unhappy Italian campaign of 1799: at all events he had done enough to
crown his own name with unrivalled splendour, and to show that the
French troops were once more what they had used to be--when he was in
the field to command them. He had another motive for closing with the
propositions of General Melas. It was of urgent importance to regain
Genoa, ere an English army, which he knew was on its voyage to that
port, could reach its destination.

On the 17th of June Napoleon