CAMPO FORMIO.


CHAPTER I.

DREADFUL TIDINGS.


The population of Vienna was paralyzed with terror; a heavy gloom
weighed down all minds, and the strength of the stoutest hearts
seemed broken. Couriers had arrived today from the camp of the army,
and brought the dreadful tidings of an overwhelming defeat of the
Austrian forces. Bonaparte, the young general of the French
Republic, who, in the course of one year (1796), had won as many
battles and as much glory as many a great and illustrious warrior
during the whole course of an eventful life--Bonaparte had crossed
the Italian Alps with the serried columns of his army, and the most
trusted military leaders of Austria were fleeing before him in
dismay. The hero of Lodi and Arcole had won new victories, and these
victories constantly diminished the distance between his army and
the menaced capital of Austria.

Archduke Charles had been defeated by Massena, and driven back to
Villach; Bernadotte had reached Laybach; the citadels of Goritz,
Triest, and Laybach had surrendered; Klagenfurth, after a most
desperate struggle, had been forced to open its gates to the
conquerors; Loudon, with his brave troops, had been dispersed in the
Tyrol; Botzen had opened its gates to General Joubert, who, after a
brief sojourn, left that city in order to join Bonaparte, who, in
his victorious career, was advancing resistlessly toward Vienna.