Convention of Alessandria

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Convention of Alessandria, 15 June (1800)
Delegates of the commanders in chief of the French and Imperial Armies in Italy.

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Convention of Alessandria (or the Armistice of Marengo) was concluded on the 15 June 1800 in the Fortress of Alessandria. On the 15th, at daybreak, the Austrians sent a flag of truce with proposals for an armistice, which produced, the same day, the following convention, by which Genoa and all the fortified places in Piedmont, Lombardy, and the Legations, were given up to the French army; and by which the Austrian army obtained leave to retire behind Mantua, without being made prisoners of war. Thus was the conquest of all Italy secured by a French army under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Consulate.

Source: Gourgaud, Baron Gaspard, ed. (1823), Memoirs of the history of France during the reign of Napoleon, vol. 4 (Second ed.), H. Colburn and Company, pp. 298–189.

1463641Convention of Alessandria, 15 June1800Delegates of the commanders in chief of the French and Imperial Armies in Italy.

ART. I — There shall be an armistice and suspension of hostilities between the army of his Imperial Majesty and that of the French Republic in Italy, till an answer be received from the Court of Vienna.

ART. II — The army of his Imperial Majesty shall occupy all the country between the Mincio, Fossa, Maestra, and the Po; viz. Peschiera, Mantua, and Borgo-Forte; and thence all the left bank of the Po, as well as the city and citadel of Ferrara on the right.

ART. III — The army of his Imperial Majesty shall likewise occupy Tuscany and Ancona.

ART. IV — The French army shall occupy the country comprised between the Chiesa, the Oglio, and the Po.

ART. V — The country between the Chiesa and the Mincio shall not be occupied by either of the two armies. The army of his Imperial Majesty may draw provisions from the countries which formed a part of the duchy of Mantua. The French army to be supplied by the countries which formed a part of the province of Brescia.

ART. VI — The castles of Tortona, Alessandria, Milan, Turin, Pizzighetone, Arona, and Placenza, shall be delivered up to the French army, between the 27th of Prairial and the 1st of Messidor, (or the 16th and 20th of June).

ART. VII — The fortress of Coni, the castles of Seva, Savona, and the city of Genoa, shall be surrendered to the French army, between the 16th and 24th of June, (or 27th of Prairial and 5th of Messidor).

ART. VIII — Fort Urbino shall be surrendered on the 26th of June, (7th of Messidor).

ART. IX. — The artillery of the evacuated places to be divided as follows:

All artillery of the Austrian calibre and fount, to belong to the Austrian army.
All of Italian, Piedmontese, and French calibre and make, to belongto the French army.
The provisions to be divided: half to be at the disposal of the Commissary-general of the French army, and half at that of the Commissary-general of the Austrian army.

ART. X — The garrisons shall march out with the honours of war, repairing with their arms and baggage by the most direct road to Mantua.

ART. XI — The Austrian army shall repair to Mantua, by way of Placenza, in three columns: the first, between the 27th of Prairial and the 1st of Messidor, (from the 16th to the 20th of June); the second, from the 1st to the 5th of Messidor, (or from the 20th to the 24th of June); the third, from the 5th to the 7th of Messidor, (or from the 24th to the 26th of June).

ART. XII — General Saint-Julien and General de Schvertnick of the artillery, General de Brun of the engineers, M. Telsiege, commissary of provisions, and citizens Dejean, counsellor of state, and Daru, inspector of reviews, Adjudant-general Leopold Stabenrath, and Mossel, chief of brigade of artillery, are nominated commissioners to see that the articles of the present Convention are carried into execution, with respect to inventories, provisions, carriages, and all other objects in question.

ART. XIII — No individual shall be ill-treated on account of services rendered to the Austrian army, or on account of political opinions. The Commander-in-chief of the Austrian army shall set at liberty all persons arrested in the Cisalpine Republic for political opinions, and who may be confined in the fortresses under his command.

ART. XIV — Whatever may be the answer from Vienna, neither of the two armies shall attack the other without giving six days' previous notice.

ART. XV — During the suspension of hostilities, neither army shall send any detachments into Germany.

Alessandria, 26th of Prairial, year VIII of the French Republic, (15 June 1800).

(Signed,) Alexander Berthier,

Melas, General of Cavalry.