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474 RISE OF THE CONTINENTALplish this object. Three armies were to make an attempton three different points to force away into the heart of thismonarchy in the summer of 1796, in order, if possible, todictate peace in the capital itself. One proceeding from theLower Rhine under General Jourdan, was to penetratethrough Franconia; a second under General Moreau,through Swabia and Bavaria while;another under the newgeneral-in-chief, Buonaparte, drove back the Austrian forcein Lombardy. The unsuccessful issue of this plan is wellknown. Austria found in her own imperial house (a discovery of inestimable importance for her cause) the generaland hero who held her enemies at bay. Jourdan, defeatedatAmberg and Wtirsburg, hastened back across the Rhinewith the relics of his army Moreau was also ;obliged to makea retreat. These victories, however, had no effect on Italy.There the commander-in-chief, relying solely upon himself,pursued his own course undisturbed. "While those eventswere taking place in Germany, he completely establishedthe influence of France in Italy ;and this country, whichhad been hitherto only a subordinate seat of the war, wasmade by him the theatre of itsgreat operations. HereAustria, and with her, England, had a train of allies, amongwhom Sardinia was in every respect pre-eminent. Herterritozies are, by their position and their fortresses, the keyof Italy.The first object, therefore, of the new generalissimo was to dissever this connexion, and to force Sardiniainto a separate treaty.A few weeks sufficed for the execution of this project. By the 17th May, 1796, Victor Amadeussaw himself compelled to sign a peace, by which he not onlyrenounced Savoy and Nice, but even received French garrisons into his principal fortresses. Thus Englandlost oneof her allies, who had formed for the last hundred years animportant link in the chain of her continental relations, andAustria a friend who had never been of greater importanceto her than at the present crisis.They were now both obligedto depend on their own resources, for no dependence couldany longer be placed on the other states of Italy,which werewell satisfied if they could obtain by negotiation or purchasean armistice or a peace. Austria might now expect to bedissolution of the National Convention, the Directory, consisting of fivemembers, was established.