aken by the English from the
Algerines.

THE CAMPAIGN OF THE ALPS.

During the severity of the winter, the French, who had taken possession
of the Alps, were in a state of miserable destitution from desertion
and sickness, and no measures were taken by the convention to reinforce
them. On the other hand, the courts of Vienna and Turin were making
vigorous efforts for prosecuting the war on the Piedmontese frontier.
All that the republicans aimed at, was to retain possession of the
posts they had gained on the Alps; but, after various actions, they were
obliged to evacuate every position on the maritime Alps, and the allied
armies threatened the country of Nice and the territory of the republic.
If the allies had pushed their advantages with vigour, the republicans
must have lost more; but they, as was their general rule, were sluggish
and irresolute. Nelson, who had been detached with a small squadron
to co-operate with the Austrian general, Devins, and who served on the
coast of Nice, was almost frantic at his sluggishness. A plan had
been formed for getting between the French divisions that occupied the
Nissard territory and a part of the Western Riviera, or coast of the
republic of Genoa, for taking the first of these divisions in the rear,
and for blockading the port and city of Nice. But planning and executing
were two different things. To carry out the plan proposed it was
necessary that the allies should occupy the town and bay of St. Remo;
but when Nelson suggested its capture, Devins, imagining that Nelson
wanted possession of St. Remo for its harbour, argued that the bay of
Valdo, which could be of no service in reducing Nice, was a much better
and safer anchorage. He finally agreed to send 10,000 men to St. Remo,
if Admiral Hotham would send him ten ships of war, and transports
sufficient to carry them; but Hotham declined sending any more ships,
and the plan therefore failed, the old German attributing its failure
to the British admiral. While these divisions paralysed the movements
of the allies, the Alpine legions of the republicans were re-enforced
by 7000 men from the Eastern Pyrenees, and 10,000 from the army on the
Rhine. Moreover, the neutral powers and states assisted France more
effectually than the allies assisted each other. Great as had been the
insults and wrongs which the Genoese republic had suffered from the
French republic in 1794, yet privateers carried abundant supplies of
provisio