of the Adriatic. Triest and Fiume had not
been garrisoned, and the Austrians occupied them once more; the
Venetian senate organized a secret insurrection, which broke out
simultaneously in many places, and was suppressed only after many of
the French, some of them invalids in the hospitals, had been murdered.

On March thirty-first, Bonaparte, having received definite and
official information that he could expect no immediate support from
the Army of the Rhine, addressed from Klagenfurt to the Archduke what
he called a "philosophical" letter, calling attention to the fact that
it was England which had embroiled France and Austria, powers which
had really no grievance one against the other. Would a prince, so far
removed by lofty birth from the petty weaknesses of ministers and
governments, not intervene as the savior of Germany to end the
miseries of a useless war? "As far as I myself am concerned, if the
communication I have the honor to be making should save the life of a
single man, I should be prouder of that civic crown than of the sad
renown which results from military success." At the same time Massena
was pressing forward into the valley of the Mur, across the passes of
Neumarkt; and before the end of the week his seizure of St. Michael
and Leoben had cut off the last hope of a junction between the forces
of Charles and his expected reinforcements from the Rhine. Austria was
carrying on her preparations of war with the same proud determination
she had always shown, and Charles continued his disastrous hostilities
with Massena. But when Thugut received the "philosophical" letter from
Bonaparte, which Charles had promptly forwarded to Vienna, the
imperial cabinet did not hesitate, and plenipotentiaries were soon on
their way to Leoben.

The situation of Bonaparte at Leoben was by no means what the position
of the French forces within ninety miles of Vienna would seem to
indicate. The revolutionary movement in Venetia, silently but
effectually fostered by the French garrisons, had been successful in
Bergamo, Brescia, and Salo. The senate, in despair, sent envoys to
Bonaparte at Goeritz. His reply was conciliatory, but he declared that
he would do nothing unless the city of Venice should make the
long-desired concession about inscriptions in the Golden Book. At the
same time he demanded a monthly payment of a million francs in lieu of
all requisitions on its territory. At Paris the Venetian ambassador
had no bett