esumes his
command--Insurrection of Pavia--Military Executions--The French
pass the Mincio at Borghetto--Beaulieu retreats behind the
Adige--Mantua besieged--Peace with the King of the Two
Sicilies--The Pope buys a Respite.

Piedmont being now in the hands of Buonaparte, the Austrian general
concentrated his army behind the Po, with the purpose of preventing the
invader from passing that great river and making his way to the capital
of Lombardy.

Napoleon employed every device to make Beaulieu believe that he designed
to attempt the passage of the Po at Valenza; and the Austrian, a man of
routine, who had himself crossed the river at that point, was easily
persuaded that these demonstrations were sincere. Meanwhile his crafty
antagonist executed a march of incredible celerity upon Placenza, fifty
miles lower down the river; and appeared there on the 7th of May, to the
utter consternation of a couple of Austrian squadrons, who happened to
be reconnoitring in that quarter. He had to convey his men across that
great stream in the common ferry boats, and could never have succeeded
had there been anything like an army to oppose him. Andreossi
(afterwards so celebrated) was commander of the advanced guard; Lannes
(who became in the sequel Marshal Duke of Montebello) was the first to
throw himself ashore at the head of some grenadiers. The German hussars
were driven rapidly from their position. Buonaparte himself has said
that no operation in war is more critical than the passage of a great
river; on this occasion the skill of his arrangements enabled him to
pass one of the greatest in the world without the loss of a single man.

Beaulieu, as soon as he ascertained how he had been outwitted, advanced
upon Placenza, in the hope of making the invader accept battle with the
Po in his rear, and therefore under circumstances which must render any
check in the highest degree disastrous. Buonaparte, in the meantime, had
no intention to await the Austrian on ground so dangerous, and was
marching rapidly towards Fomboi, where he knew he should have room to
manoeuvre. The advanced divisions of the hostile armies met at that
village on the 8th of May. The Imperialists occupied the steeples and
houses, and hoped to hold out until Beaulieu could bring up his main
body. But the French charged so impetuously with the bayonet, that the
Austrian, after seeing one-third of his men fall, was obliged to
retreat, in great