The allies having left 4000 men to defend the pass of La Bochetta, in the northern Apennines, a gorge which has always been considered as the key of Italy on the side of Genoa, and which is well defended by several redoubts, Count Brown advanced against it, and stormed the ravine, though it is so narrow that in some places only three men could march abreast. He attacked and routed another party on his way to Ponte Decimo; and after this, the Genoese, finding themselves completely abandoned, gave up all their gates, posts, and arsenals, and paid 50,000 genovines to the victorious Austrian troops. After this, Count Brown was appointed the generalissimo in Italy; and all thought of invading Naples having been completely laid aside for the time, it was arranged by the British and Austrian ambassadors, in a conference which they held in Santo Pietro d'Arena, that without loss of time he should make an invasion of Provence, into which the allies had retired. In obedience to this desire, after detaching General Gorani (who soon after was unfortunately killed) to fall upon the enemy's rear, and leaving the Marquis de Botta at Genoa with 18,000 men, he embarked on board a squadron consisting of three ships and eight pinnaces, commanded by the Scottish Captain Forbes, and sailing from Santo Pietro d'Arena, had a quick passage to Villa Franca, from whence he walked on foot to Nice, a two days' journey. He was disguised, for in such a country, convulsed as it was by war, assassination, and disorder, every precaution was necessary for personal safety. Having waited on the King of Sardinia, and settled their plan of future operations, he waited at Nice only until Captain Forbes brought over the Austrian artillery, &c., from Genoa, and until the forces collected for him by the Sardinians were reinforced by the troops from Piedmont, Milan, Genoa, and those which had been blocking up Tortona; and while they were collecting, at the head of a small force he reduced, by assault, Mont Albano, in the county of Nice. In triumph, and in defiance of the French troops under the Marshal Duke de Belleisle, he passed the Var on the 9th of November, with a fine army, consisting of forty-five squadrons of horse, and sixty-three battalions of foot--in all, 50,000 men. Among these were twenty regiments of the Piedmontese. The wild Croats on their swift grey horses, and the dashing Hungarian Hussars, clad in their brown uniforms, formed his vanguard; and fell with such fury upon the French with their long lances and sharp sabres, that they swept all before them; while the British sailors, under Vice-Admiral Medley, drove the enemy from Fort Laurette, and thereby secured his left flank. Thus safely and victoriously he passed the Var, and entered Provence, the ancient patrimony of the House of Anjou.