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 178 HISTORY OF FRANCE. [chap. the most precious pictures and statues froin conquered countries. The king of the Two Sicilies forsook the alliance of Austria for that of France. The pope lost the northern part of his dominions, known as the Lega- tions. New Austrian armies were beaten by Buonaparte at Areol a an d Rivoli. and in the spring of 1707 he passed t hrough Carinthia into the older provinces of Austria. Carnot had intended him to meet Moreau and Jourdan in Germany, when all were to besiege Vienna. But in Germany the French had been defeated and driven back by the Archduke Charle?, till Buonaparte himself came northward from Italy. Meanwhile there were risings in the Venetian territories which gave an excuse for the suppression of the Venetian republic. Buonaparte con- cluded peace on his own terms. The whole Austrian Netherlands were given up to France. The duchies of Milan and Matitua had already been made into a Trans- padane Republic, while the duchy of Modena and the territories taken from the pope became a Cispadane Re- public. The dominions of Genoa also formed a Ligurian Republic. The Cispadane and Transpadane Republics, enlarged by the western possessions of Venice, were now to form the Cisalpine Republic. By way of com- pensation, Venice, with the remainder of its Italian and all its Dalmatian territories, were to be made over to Austria, while the islands off the west coast of Greece, called the Ionian Islands, were taken by France. La Fayette was to be set at liberty. Spirit and courage had decayed in Venice, and the once great city did not strike a blow in self-defence when the French troops entered to secure it for the Emperor Francis. They took as their own share of the spoil the splendid horses of brass which Dandolo had taken from Constantinople. The treaty with Austria was signed at CampoFormio in October, i7Q2^. Austria secretly agreed thai France should have the German Provinces on the left bank of the Rhine. Prussia had already made a secret agreement to cede its own territory in this district ; so that nothing further was required but the consent of tlie German Diet, which was quite unable to help itself when the two great States had made their agreement with France. From this time until 1 8 14 France held the Rhenish Provinces, including Aachen, the old royal city of Karl the Great, and Mainz, Kdln, and Trier, some of the most historic and venerable cities of Germany, j