With pomp and splendor Napoleon made his triumphal entry into Milan, to the sound of military music and the acclamations of an immense concourse of spectators. The rapidity of the French victories in Italy, and the destruction of the Austrian armies, sent to oppose them, crowned Napoleon as the greatest chieftain of his time. The marshes of Arcola, the heights of Montebello, and the plain of Rivoli witnessed his successive glories. But while the arms of Republican France were conquering in Italy, they suffered reverse and defeat under Moreau on the frontiers and the Rhine; and the Archduke Charles drove back the French legions who had dared to penetrate Germany. At the close of the year the death of the great Empress, Catharine of Russia, and the accession of Paul to the throne, changed, in many important respects, the fate of the war. In the midst of threatened invasion from France, a general panic seized England, and while the public funds had fallen from 99 to 51, a run commenced on the Bank of England, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. This caused those orders in Council in February, 1797--suspending specie payments, which, although only considered temporary at the time, continued a quarter of a century. The defeat of the Spanish fleet at St. Vincent, by Nelson and Collingwood, soon quelled the fear of invasion in England. The army of Napoleon in Italy opened the campaign of 1797 by attacking, early in March, the Archduke Charles before he had received his reinforcements. Napoleon arrived by rapid marches, with his army in front of the Austrians, who had chosen, on the line of the Julian Alps, the river Tagliamento on which to oppose the French. By a feint, Napoleon deceived the Austrians, crossed the river, charged them with fury, and drove them back with considerable loss. They retreated by the blue and glittering waters of the Isonza, and in twenty days the army of Charles was driven over the Julian Alps, and the French were within sixty leagues of Vienna; pushing forward, they came within sight of its steeples. But unsupported, and with Italy in insurrection behind his back, Napoleon proposed peace to Austria. Delay after delay occurring in the negotiation, Napoleon declared if the ultimatum of the Directory was not accepted in twelve hours, he would commence hostilities. The time having expired, he entered the presence of the Austrian ambassador, and taking up a porcelain vase of great value, and which had been presented by the Empress Catharine to the ambassador, he declared energetically, “The die is cast, the truce is broken, war is declared. But mark my words, before the end of autumn I will break in pieces your monarchy, as I now destroy this porcelain;” and with that he dashed it in pieces on the ground. Bowing, he retired, mounted his carriage, and despatched a courier to the Archduke, to announce that hostilities would commence in twenty-four hours. The Austrian plenipotentiary,