nto the Milanese in order to join his Sardinian
majesty; while the Genoese made an irruption into the Parmesan and
Placentia, where they committed terrible outrages, in revenge for the
mischiefs they had undergone.

THE CHEVALIER DE BELLEISLE SLAIN.

While the mareschal de Belleisle remained at Ventimiglia, his brother,
at the head of four-and-thirty thousand French and Spaniards, attempted
to penetrate into Piedmont: on the sixth day of July he arrived at
the pass of Exilles, a strong fortress on the frontiers of Dauphine,
situated on the north side of the river Doria. The defence of this
important post the king of Sardinia had committed to the care of the
count de Brigueras, who formed an encampment behind the lines,
with fourteen battalions of Piedmontese and Austrians, while divers
detachments were posted along all the passes of the Alps. On the eighth
day of the month the Piedmontese intrenchments were attacked by the
chevalier de Belleisle, with incredible intrepidity; but the columns
were repulsed with great loss in three successive attacks. Impatient of
this obstinate opposition, and determined not to survive a miscarriage,
this impetuous general seized a pair of colours, and advancing at the
head of his troops through a prodigious fire, pitched them with his own
hand on the enemy's entrenchments. At that instant he fell dead, having
received two musquet-balls and the thrust of a bayonet in his body. The
assailants were so much dispirited by the death of their commander,
that they forthwith gave way, and retreated with precipitation towards
Sesteries, having lost near five thousand men in the attack. The
mareschal was no sooner informed of his brother's misfortune, than he
retreated towards the Var to join the troops from Exilles, while the
king of Sardinia, having assembled an army of seventy thousand men,
threatened Dauphine with an invasion; but the excessive rains prevented
the execution of his design. General Leutrum was detached with twenty
battalions, to drive the French from Ventimiglia; but Belleisle marching
back, that scheme was likewise frustrated; and thus ended the campaign.

A FRENCH SQUADRON TAKEN.

In this manner was the French king baffled in his projects upon Italy;
nor was he more fortunate in his naval operations. He had in the
preceding year equipped an expensive armament, under the command of the
duke d'Anville, for the recovery of Cape Breton; but it was rendered
ineffectu