thirty thousand French. Souvarow began as usual with a
thundering blow. On 20th April he appeared before Brescia, which made
a vain attempt at resistance; after a cannonade of about half an hour's
duration, the Preschiera gate was forced, and the Korsakow division,
of which Foedor's regiment formed the vanguard, charged into the town,
pursuing the garrison, which only consisted of twelve hundred men, and
obliged them to take refuge in the citadel. Pressed with an impetuosity
the French were not accustomed to find in their enemies, and seeing that
the scaling ladders were already in position against the ramparts,
the captain Boucret wished to come to terms; but his position was too
precarious for him to obtain any conditions from his savage conquerors,
and he and his soldiers were made prisoners of war.

Souvarow was experienced enough to know how best to profit by victory;
hardly master of Brescia, the rapid occupation of which had discouraged
our army anew, he ordered General Kray to vigorously press on the siege
of Preschiera. General Kray therefore established his headquarters at
Valeggio, a place situated at an equal distance between Preschiera and
Mantua, and he extended from the Po to the lake of Garda, on the banks
of the Mencio, thus investing the two cities at the same time.

Meanwhile the commander-in-chief had advanced, accompanied by the
larger part of his forces, and had crossed the Oglio in two columns: he
launched one column, under General Rosenberg, towards Bergamo, and the
other, with General Melas in charge, towards the Serio, whilst a body
of seven or eight thousand men, commanded by General Kaim and General
Hohenzollern, were directed towards Placentia and Cremona, thus
occupying the whole of the left bank of the Po, in such a manner that
the Austro-Russian army advanced deploying eighty thousand men along a
front of forty-five miles.

In view of the forces which were advancing, and which were three times
as large as his own, Scherer beat a retreat all along the line. He
destroyed the bridges over the Adda, as he did not consider that he
was strong enough to hold them, and, having removed his headquarters to
Milan, he awaited there the reply to a despatch which he had sent to the
Directory, in which, tacitly acknowledging his incapacity, he tendered
his resignation. As the arrival of his successor was delayed, and as
Souvarow continued to advance, Scherer, more and more terrified by the
responsibil