The New Hampshire Gazette

CONSul BONAPARTE.

The following intercepted letter has been published at Leghorn : It develops some curious facts, and shews the talents of Bonaparte.

Dispatch from the Chief Consul, Bonaparte, to Gen. Massena.

Paris, March 22, 1800.

"I CONFESS, my dear general, that I am not at all satisfied with your last dispatches. Why those eternal complaints and reproaches ? Do you think we might have managed affairs better ? We do not rest on beds of roses here and if our armies are in want it is because our resources are extremely weak. The most pressing orders have already been given for supplying you with the necessary articles.You must have already received "what concerns the artillery department:, Since the loan could not be effected in Holland, I am only enabled to send you five or six hundred thousand livres, instead of the four million that had been promised. Apply this entirely to paying the army and let the contractors and those employed under them complain; should those gentlemen wish to quit the service, menace them with death, and be as good as your word ; there is no want of adventurers of that description, whom the love of gain will allure to the army. Our care must be directed to the soldier who suffers and fights. By no means count on the reinforcements which you desire.

" If you find it difficult to maintain an army of 60,000 men in the Genoese, what would you do with a still greater number ? 'I cannot spare a single demi-brigade of veteran troops : all I am able to do for you is to keep a few weak battalions of conscripts to the department of Var, to disperse the discontented in the South of France; in case of necessity, you might unite those troops with your army. It grieves me that you suffer yourself to be misled by accounts which ought not to be relied on. If the imperial army actually has the 133 battalions which give you so much uneasiness, what would be the consequence ?-How is it possible for the enemy to employ even one half of his forces in the mountainous position you occupy ? Can he attack you otherwise than with single columns ?

" And are you not the brave the fortunate Massena / Do you not command the best infantry in the World I Is not the active and intelligent French soldier superior to all the troops of Europe in mountainous districts : Besides, the enemy can convey provisions only for a small number of troops in the mountains, as they are in want of mules. No, my dear General! the superiority of the enemy gives me no uneasiness that can only be excited by the plans which they may hit upon; but strong as the situation is, you are not entirely out of danger.

I will tell you. what a skilful General might undertake against you.

By daily attacks he would harass your center and right wing towards the sources of the Taro, the Biaqro, and la Polcevera, while he would vigorously attack the left, and endeavor to gain one of the three passes leading to Savona, Finale, and Albenga.

Should he succeed in this attempt your army would be divided into two corps, and your communication with France cut off.

Bot I believe German caution will never enter on carrying a plan. Meanwhile you must carefully guard those three passes; and should the enemy attack you and carry one of those important points, (which is possible). then, my dear General, you must fall upon him like lightning. attack from the side of Genoa, while Suchet attacks him from Nice, and destroy every Austrian that should pass the Mountains."