The Sun.
London, England, 1808-10-15 00:00:00

IirSTORICAL ratiTai OF t .1 (31-•
14,APARat IN rALY; IN THE Y EAid 17b6ANP 1797.

SECOND COMBAT OF PtGO.
W have just seed that many dedu74... ions are to tit
made frOm the glory which BUONAPAttTE 4117-?gatei
to himself for the c.l7tnre of Dego; which; after all;
had nothing of ektraordina• in it ; since an tha
heroism of the a,4, is co..fitieci to taking possession
of a Fort whiOlL,liad do longer any means of de-
fenbe We sh:4l now gee todi still more ileduc-
jions must be made from the pOrripous eulogiiims
which his historian bestows on him for the re-
.
capttire of thiS same Dego.. These are his words
The Freffth army, fatigued with the .aelion;
" lasie-d till night, resigned itself entirely
to the security of violory ; when BEAULItU, at
•
break Or
_day; clrawing together seven thousand
Austrians,,the
.choice of his army, recovered Chi-
" vil age of The
.drums iosi-autly beat tO

66
arms, add awoke the French; MASSENA began
" the attack, and was repulsed; he advanced a
" second and a third ,tirne,• but with tio better sac-
.
cess. GeneraICAUSSE was .not more fortunate;
he was on the point of reaching the enemy;
" when he was shot through the heart. It was

now past two in tb..o-afternoon, and the affair'
" was not yet decided. The Adjutant-General LA.4,
" NUS_ rallied the Bth derni-brigade of light infantry;
" and rushed, at its head, on the enemy's left
" an instant atter, his troops began to give way
" lint his intrepidity. gave them fresh courage, and'
" Do,c3.9„,Nfasollinutly retaken. 'The cavalry corn.,
" theitourof the enemy, who left behind
" them:six, hitindred killed, and fourteen hundred
" prisoners."

I have a preliminary,observatiori to' make On thii
recital : it is; that in allowing the.panegyrist of Buo-
NAPARTE ail that he here advanees to the praise of hid
hero, it is granting hini 'a Mere trifle : a cortibat Which
lasts neat-twelve hours between the army of 800-
NAPARTE and the choice of the Austrian forces; and
of which the final result is to kill six hundred; and
Make fourteen. hundred prisbners; is assuredly not n
eomblitiofigreoVitnportance, nor one that merits
very. distinguished place in history. It is true" that
an advantage of some consideration was delived front
it, namely; the re-'capture of DegO; but this very
re-capture places in the most striking point Of vid*
an essential fault whichcan never be forgiven in a Ge-
neral: What !--BUONAPARtg become master of De-
go; after three days of the Most violent and murderoui
' attacks, takes not' one necessary preaaution to secqr6
' his laud-carncd prize ! lie perMitS his whole arMy,:
officers and soldiers—vino soinnoque sepulti—plunged
in sleep and wine, to leave the walls and nit; gatei
of a fortress 'which has cost him rivers of blood;
open to the first corners !•-nto leave them so defence;
'less, that the Austrians possessed themselves of them
.without firing a Apt ! . A General who tolerates
such disorders as theo,• is totally unworthy to comes
maridAnariny6
TIIQ aUtli'Qr0 eucleavoult to' palliate the efrot,
t
saying, " that the army, fatigued with fighting;
had entirely resigned itself to the security of
tory." But we know too well what was the, "
entity of victory" among the soldiers Of the Revolu-
tion, especially at its- comtnenceinent, When the
savage enthusiasm of independence, or rather licen-
tiousness,
,increased Their natural ferocity: These
soldierS were then Undermine restraint frosni their
General, who, for them was inefely a citizen; and
were a\plit drlful scourge for all the towns arid
•
countries -.through which they passed: They add-
ed- to the cruel pra6licei of wat every horror
that unbridled.passion could inspire. Debauchery,
gluttony; rapacity, robbery.cif houses and churches,
and barbaroui and brutal violation of persons ;
such is the borripendions, and even mitigated
pielure; 'of. the conduct of the soldiers of BUONA-.
PARTE,III comparison of v:rlom the Goths and Van-
dais were mere novices in plundering. TheSe
creants had the iMpudenc6 to call themselves sat
client of liberty ! They should' have called them-
selves soldiers of licentiou§hess, and of licentious-
ness carried to its Utmost excess, foul and filthy in
all its enormities, and exercised.with the Most win
ton and atrocious insolence. Hitherto we have sup-I
posed that the narration of- BtiONAPARteS histories
was true ; but we `Alhall nchir proVe that it is false; •
abSolutelY fahe, its essential Points !
It if Ifalse-...tiraflßEAuLiEu was at this combat. It •
is falsi that there were seven thousand Austriaris.
It is false that they were thechoice of BEAULico's
army .! . -

No—.I3EAULEAU was not at the combat of Dego,
any more than he was at that of Monteuotte, where
BUUNAPARTE has the impudence to say he tom-

pletely defeated him, although he was not within
fifty. milei 'of the field of battle: It is very true that
he marched from Dego early in the morning of the
t 4th of April, with a body of seven thousand men,
because IYA'AGEFTEAU had written to him that the o

enemy's fuiltj).Lbelore which he so shamefully
•
tied, threatened to advance, and BEAULIEU there-
•

fore marched to meet it; but he went no father