Next day Foedor wrote to his protector: "I have kept my word. I am a
lieutenant, and Field-Marshal Souvarow has requested his Majesty Paul I
to bestow upon me the order of Saint Vladimir."

On 28th of April, Souvarow entered Milan, which Moreau had just abandoned
in order to retreat beyond Tesino. The following proclamation was by his
order posted on all the walls of the capital; it admirably paints the
spirit of the Muscovite:

"The victorious army of the Apostolical and Roman Emperor is here; it has
fought solely for the restoration of the Holy Faith,--the clergy,
nobility, and ancient government of Italy. People, join us for God and
the Faith, for we have arrived with an army at Milan and Placentia to
assist you!"

The dearly bought victories of Trebia and Novi succeeded that of Cassano,
and left Souvarow so much weakened that he was unable to profit by them.
Besides, just when the Russian general was about to resume his march, a
new plan of campaign arrived, sent by the Aulic Council at Vienna. The
Allied Powers had decided upon the invasion of France, and had fixed the
route each general must follow in order to accomplish this new project.
It way decided that Souvarow should invade France by Switzerland, and
that the arch-duke should yield him his positions and descend on the
Lower Rhine.

The troops with which Souvarow was to operate against Massena from this
time were the thirty thousand Russians he had with him, thirty thousand
others detached from the reserve army commanded by Count Tolstoy in
Galicia, who were to be led to join him in Switzerland by General
Korsakoff, about thirty thousand Austrians under General Hotze, and