_General Belliard occupies Madrid--Napoleon returns to
France--Cause of his hurried return--View of the Circumstances
leading to a Rupture with Austria--Feelings of Russia upon this
occasion--Secret intrigues of Talleyrand to preserve Peace--Immense
exertions made by Austria--Counter efforts of Buonaparte--The
Austrian Army enters Bavaria, 9th April, 1809--Napoleon hastens to
meet them--Austrians defeated at Abensberg on the 20th--and at
Eckmühl on the 22d--They are driven out of Ratisbon on the 23d--The
Archduke Charles retreats into Bohemia--Napoleon pushes forward to
Vienna--which, after a brief defence, is occupied by the French on
the 12th of May--Retrospect of the events of the War in Poland,
Italy, the North of Germany, and the Tyrol--Enterprises of
Schill--of the Duke of Brunswick Oels--Movements in the
Tyrol--Character and Manners of the Tyrolese--Retreat of the
Archduke John into Hungary._
[Sidenote: MADRID.]
Having thus completed the episode of Sir John Moore's expedition, we
resume the progress of Napoleon, to whom the successive victories of
Reynosa, Burgos, and Tudela, had offered a triumphant path to Madrid. On
the 1st of December, his headquarters being at the village of Saint
Augustino, he was within sight of that capital, and almost within
hearing of the bells, whose hollow and continued toll announced general
insurrection, and the most desperate resistance. Nor was the zeal of the
people of Madrid inadequate to the occasion, had it been properly
directed and encouraged. They seized on the French officer who brought
a summons of surrender, and were with difficulty prevented from tearing
him to pieces. On the 3d, the French attacked Buen Retiro, a palace
which had been fortified as a kind of citadel. A thousand Spaniards died
in the defence of this stronghold. On the 4th, Morla opened a
capitulation with Napoleon. He and Yriarte, another noble Spaniard, of
whom better things had been hoped, came to testify their repentance for
the rash part they had undertaken, and to express their sense that the
city could in nowise be defended; but, at the same time to state, that
the populace and volunteers were resolute in its defence, and that some
delay would be necessary, to let their zeal cool, and their fears come
to work in their turn.
Buonaparte admitted these deputies to his own presence, and with the
audacity which sometimes characterised his language, he read them a
lecture on their bad faith,[469] in not observing the treaty of
Baylen--on their bad faith, in suffering Frenchmen to be
assassinated--on their bad faith, in seizing upon the French squadron at
Cadiz. This rebuke was gravely urged by the individual, who had
kidnapped the royal family of Spain while they courted his protection as
his devoted vassals--who had seized the fortresses into which his troops
had been received as friends and allies--who had floated the streets of
Madrid with the blood of its population--and, finally, who had taken it
upon him to assume the supreme authority, and dispose of the crown of
Spain, under no better pretext than that he had the will and the power
to do so. Had a Spaniard been at liberty to reply to the Lord of
Legions, and reckon with him injury for injury, falsehood for falsehood,
drop of blood for drop of blood, what an awful balance must have been
struck against him![470]
In the meantime, those citizens of Madrid who had determined on
resistance, began to see that they were deserted by such as should have
headed them in the task, and their zeal became cooled under the feelings
of dismay and distrust. A military convention was finally concluded, in
virtue of which General Belliard took possession of the city, on the 4th
of December. The terms were so favourable, as to show that Buonaparte,
while pretending to despise the sort of resistance which the population
might have effected, was well pleased, nevertheless, not to drive them
to extremity. He then published a proclamation, setting forth his desire
to be the regenerator of the Spanish empire. But in case his mild and
healing mediation should be again refused, he declared he would treat
them as a conquered people, and place his brother on another throne. "I
will, in that case, set the crown of Spain on my own head, and I shall
know how to make it respected; for God," concluded this extraordinary
document, "has given me the power and the will to surmount all
difficulties."[471]
[Sidenote: VALLADOLID.]
There were now two operations which nearly concerned Buonaparte. The
first was the dispersion of the remaining troops of Castanos, which had
escaped the fatal battle of Tudela, and such other armed bodies as
continued to occupy the south of Spain. In this the French had for some
time an easy task; for the Spanish soldiers, surprised and incensed at
their own disasters, were, in many instances, the assassins of their
generals, and the generals had lost all confidence in their mutinous
followers. But before pursuing his successes in the south, it was
Buonaparte's first resolution to detach a part of the French army upon
Portugal, by the way of Talavera, and by occupying Lisbon, intercept the
retreat of Sir John Moore and his English army. The advance of the
English general to Salamanca interfered with this last design. It seemed
to Napoleon, that he did not yet possess forces sufficient at the same
time to confront and turn back Sir John Moore, and, on the other hand,
to enter Portugal and possess himself of Lisbon. The latter part of the
plan was postponed. Placing himself at the head of his Guards, Napoleon,
as we have seen, directed his march towards Valladolid, and witnessed
the retreat of Sir John Moore. He had the pleasure of beholding with his
own eyes the people whom he hated most, and certainly did not fear the
least, in full retreat, and was observed scarcely ever to have appeared
so gay and joyous as during the pursuit, which the French officers
termed the race of Benevente.[472] But he had also the less pleasing
spectacle of the skirmish, in which the general commanding the cavalry
of his Imperial Guard was defeated, and his favourite, General Lefebvre,
made prisoner. He halted with his Guards at Astorga, left Ney with
18,000 men to keep the country in subjection, and assigned to Soult the
glorious task of pursuing the English and completing their destruction.
We have already seen how far he proved able to accomplish his
commission.
Meanwhile, the Emperor himself returned to Valladolid, and from thence
set off for France with the most precipitate haste. His last act was to
declare his brother Joseph generalissimo over the French armies; yet,
notwithstanding this mark of trust and confidence, there is reason to
believe that Buonaparte repented already his liberality, in assigning to
another, though his own brother, an appanage so splendid, and which was
likely to cost so much blood and treasure. Something to this purpose
broke out in his proclamation to the people of Madrid; and he was more
explicit when speaking confidentially to the Abbé de Pradt, whom, in
returning from Benevente, the Emperor met at Valladolid.
They were alone; it was a stormy night; and Buonaparte, opening the
window from time to time, to ascertain the possibility of travelling,
only turned from it to overwhelm Monsieur de Pradt with questions on the
state of the capital which he had just left. The abbé did not disguise
their disaffection; and when Napoleon endeavoured to show the injustice
of their complaints, by insisting on the blessings he had conferred on
Spain, by the diminution of tithes, abolishing feudal servitudes, and
correcting other abuses of the old government, De Pradt answered by
saying, that the Spaniards did not thank Napoleon for relief from evils
to which they were insensible; and that the country was in the situation
of the wife of Sganarelle in the farce, who quarrelled with a stranger
for interfering with her husband when he was beating her. Buonaparte
laughed, and continued in these remarkable words:--"I did not know what
Spain was. It is a finer country than I was aware, and I have made
Joseph a more valuable present than I dreamed of. But you will see, that
by and by the Spaniards will commit some folly, which will place their
country once more at my disposal. I will then take care to keep it to
myself, and divide it into five great viceroyships."[473]
While the favourite of fortune nourished these plans of engrossing and
expanding ambition, the eagerness of his mind seems to have communicated
itself to his bodily frame; for, when the weather permitted him to mount
on horseback, he is said at once, and without halting, save to change
horses, to have performed the journey from Valladolid, to Burgos, being
thirty-five Spanish leagues, or about seventy English miles and upwards,
in the space of five hours and a half.[474]
The incredible rapidity with which Napoleon pressed his return to
France, without again visiting Madrid, or pausing to hear the fate of
the English army, surprised those around him. Some conjectured that a
conspiracy had been discovered against his authority at Paris; others,
that a band of Spaniards had devoted themselves to assassinate him; a
third class assigned different causes; but it was soon found that the
despatch which he used had its cause in the approaching rupture with
Austria.[475]
[Sidenote: AUSTRIA.]
This breach of friendship appears certainly to have been sought by
Austria without any of those plausible reasons of complaint, on which
nations generally are desirous to bottom their quarrels. She did not
allege that, with respect to herself or her dominions, France had, by
any recent aggression, given her cause of offence. The Abbé de Pradt
remarks upon the occasion, with his usual shrewdness, that if Napoleon
was no religious observer of the faith of treaties, it could not be
maintained that other states acted much more scrupulously in reference
to him. Buonaparte himself has alleged, what, in one sense of the word
was true, that many of his wars were, in respect to the immediate causes
of quarrel, merely defensive on his side. But this was a natural
consequence of the style and structure of his government, which, aiming
directly at universal empire, caused him to be looked upon by all
nations as a common enemy, the legitimate object of attack whenever he
could be attacked with advantage, because he himself neglected no
opportunity to advance his pretensions against the independence of
Europe.
The singular situation of Great Britain, unassailable by his arms,
enabled her to avow this doctrine, and to refuse making peace with
Napoleon, on terms how favourable soever for England, unless she were at
the same time recognised as having authority to guarantee the security
of such states as she had a chance of protecting, if she remained at
war. Thus, she refused peace when offered, under the condition that
France should have Sicily; and, at the period of which we treat, she had
again recently declined the terms of pacification proposed by the
overture from Erfurt, which inferred the abandonment of the Spanish
cause.
This principle of constant war with Buonaparte, or rather with the
progress of his ambition, guided and influenced every state in Europe,
which had yet any claim for their independence. Their military
disasters, indeed, often prevented their being able to keep the flag of
defence flying; but the cessions which they were compelled to make at
the moment of defeat, only exasperated their feelings of resentment, and
made them watch more eagerly for the period, when their own increasing
strength, or the weakness of the common enemy, might enable them to
resume the struggle. Napoleon's idea of a peace was, as we have
elsewhere seen, that the party with whom he treated should derive no
more from the articles agreed upon, than the special provisions
expressed in his favour. So long, for instance, as he himself observed
all points of the treaty of Presburg, the last which he had dictated to
Austria, that power, according to his view of the transaction, had no
farther right either of remonstrance or intervention, and was bound to
view with indifference whatever changes the French Emperor might please
to work on the general state of Europe. This was no doubt a convenient
interpretation for one who, aiming at universal monarchy, desired that
there should be as little interference as possible with the various
steps by which he was to achieve that great plan; but it is entirely
contradictory of the interpretation put upon treaties by the jurists;
and were the jurists of a contrary opinion, it is in diametrical
opposition to the feelings of human nature, by which the policy of
states, and the conduct of individuals, are alike dictated. Buonaparte
being, as his conduct showed him, engaged in a constant train of
innovation upon the liberties of Europe, it followed, that the states
whom he had not been able entirely to deprive of independence, should,
without farther, or more particularly national cause of war, be
perpetually on the watch for opportunities to destroy or diminish his
terrible authority. In this point of view, the question for Austria to
consider was, not the justice of the war, but its expediency; not her
right of resisting the common enemy of the freedom of Europe, but
practically, whether she had the means of effectual opposition. The
event served to show that Austria had over-estimated her own resources.
It is true, that an opportunity now presented itself, which seemed in
the highest degree tempting. Buonaparte was absent in Spain, engaged in
a distant conquest, in which, besides the general unpopularity of his
cause, obstacles had arisen which were strangers to any previous part of
his history, and resistance had been offered of a nature so serious, as
to shake the opinion hitherto entertained of his invincibility. On the
other hand, Austria had instituted in her states organic laws, by which
she secured herself the power of being able to call out to arms her
immense and military population; and her chief error seems to have been,
in not postponing the fatal struggle until these new levies had acquired
a better disciplined and more consolidated form. Of this the Emperor of
Russia was fully sensible, and, as we have already noticed, he saw with
great apprehension Austria's purpose of opposing herself singly to the
arms of France; since, however close the intimacy which, for the
present, subsisted betwixt Alexander and Napoleon, it was impossible for
the former to be indifferent to the vast risk which Europe must incur,
should France finally annihilate the independence of Austria. A series
of intrigues, of a very singular nature, was accordingly undertaken at
Paris, in the hope of preserving peace. Talleyrand, who, perhaps on
Napoleon's own account as well as that of France, was unwilling that
another great continental war should arise, was active in endeavouring
to discover means by which peace might be preserved.[476] In the
evening, it was his custom to meet the Counts Metternich and Romanzow at
the assemblies of the Prince of Tour and Taxis, and there, totally
unknown to Buonaparte, to agitate the means of preventing war;--so
certain it is, that even the ablest and most absolute of sovereigns was
liable, like an ordinary prince, to be deceived by the statesmen around
him. But the ingenuity of these distinguished politicians could find
no means of reconciliating the interests of Austria--seeing, as she
thought, an opportunity of forcing from Napoleon, in his hour of
weakness, what she had been compelled to surrender to him in his hour of
strength--and those of Buonaparte, who knew that so soon as he should
make a single sacrifice to compulsion, he would be held as having
degraded that high military reputation which was the foundation of his
power. It may reasonably be supposed, that, with the undecided war of
Spain on his hands, he would willingly have adjourned the contest; but
with him, the sound of the trumpet was a summons to be complied with, in
the most complicated state of general embarrassment.
[Sidenote: EXERTIONS OF AUSTRIA.]
The exertions made by Austria on this important occasion were gigantic,
and her forces were superior to those which she had been able to summon
out at any former period of her history. Including the army of reserve,
they were computed as high as five hundred and fifty thousand men, which
the Archduke Charles once more commanded in the character of
generalissimo.[477] It is said that this gallant prince did not heartily
approve of the war, at least of the period chosen to commence it, but
readily sacrificed his own opinion to the desire of contributing his
utmost abilities to the service of his brother and of his country.
Six corps d'armée, each about thirty thousand strong, were destined,
under the archduke's immediate command, to maintain the principal weight
of the war in Germany; a seventh, under the Archduke Ferdinand, was
stationed in Galicia, and judged sufficient to oppose themselves to what
forces Russia, in compliance with her engagements to Napoleon, might
find herself obliged to detach in that direction; and two divisions,
under the Archduke John, were destined to awaken hostilities in the
north of Italy, into which they were to penetrate by the passes of
Carinthia and Carniola.
Buonaparte had not sufficient numbers to oppose these formidable masses;
but he had recourse to his old policy, and trusted to make up for
deficiency of general numerical force, by such rapidity of movement as
should ensure a local superiority on the spot in which the contest might
take place.[478] He summoned out the auxiliary forces of the
Confederation of the Rhine, and of the King of Saxony. He remanded many
troops who were on their march for Spain, and by doing so virtually
adjourned, and, as it proved, for ever, the subjugation of that country.
He had already in Germany the corps of Davoust, and of General Oudinot.
The garrisons which France had established in Prussia, and in the
northern parts of Germany, were drained for the purpose of reinforcing
his ranks; but the total amount of his assembled forces was still
greatly inferior to those of the Archduke Charles.[479]
On the 9th of April, 1809, the archduke crossed the Inn; and thus a
second time Austria commenced her combat with France, by the invasion of
Germany. Some confidence was placed in the general discontent which
prevailed among the Germans, and especially those of the Confederation
of the Rhine, and their hatred of a system which made them on every
occasion the instruments of French policy. The archduke averred in his
manifesto, that the cause of his brother was that of general
independence, not individual aggrandisement; and he addressed himself
particularly to those his brothers of Germany, who were now compelled by
circumstances to serve in the opposite ranks. Whatever effects might
have been produced by such an address, supposing it to have had time to
operate, the result was disconcerted by the promptitude, which with
Buonaparte was almost always the harbinger of success.
While the Austrian army moved slow, and with frequent halts, encumbered
as they were with their baggage and supplies, Napoleon had no sooner
learned by the telegraph the actual invasion of Bavaria, than he left
Paris on the instant, [11th April,] and hurried to Frankfort; without
guards, without equipage, almost without a companion, save the faithful
Josephine, who accompanied him as far as Strasbourg, and there remained
for some time watching the progress of the campaign, the event of which
was destined to have such a melancholy influence on her own happiness.
The Archduke Charles's plan was to act upon the offensive. His talents
were undoubted, his army greatly superior in numbers to the French, and
favourably disposed, whether for attack or defence; yet, by a series of
combinations, the most beautiful and striking, perhaps, which occur in
the life of one so famed for his power of forming such, Buonaparte was
enabled, in the short space of five days, totally to defeat the
formidable masses which were opposed to him.
[Sidenote: ACTION OF ABENSBERG.]
[Sidenote: 20th April.]
Napoleon found his own force unfavourably disposed, on a long line,
extending between the towns of Augsburg and Ratisbon, and presenting,
through the incapacity it is said of Berthier, an alarming vacancy in
the centre, by operating on which the enemy might have separated the
French army into two parts, and exposed each to a flank attack.[480]
Sensible of the full, and perhaps fatal consequences, which might
attend this error, Napoleon determined on the daring attempt to
concentrate his army by a lateral march, to be accomplished by the two
wings simultaneously. With this view he posted himself in the centre,
where the danger was principally apprehended, commanding Massena to
advance by a flank movement from Augsburg to Pfaffenhofen, and Davoust
to approach the centre by a similar manœuvre from Ratisbon to
Neustadt. These marches must necessarily be forced, that of Davoust
being eight, that of Massena betwixt twelve and thirteen leagues. The
order for this daring operation was sent to Massena on the night of the
17th, and concluded with an earnest recommendation of speed and
intelligence. When the time for executing these movements had been
allowed, Buonaparte, at the head of the centre of his forces, made a
sudden and desperate assault upon two Austrian divisions, commanded by
the Archduke Louis and General Hiller. So judiciously was this timed,
that the appearance of Davoust on the one flank kept in check those
other Austrian corps d'armée, by whom the divisions attacked ought to
have been supported; while the yet more formidable operations of
Massena, in the rear of the Archduke Louis, achieved the defeat of the
enemy. This victory, gained at Abensberg upon the 20th April, broke the
line of the Austrians, and exposed them to farther misfortunes.[481] The
Emperor attacked the fugitives the next day at Landshut, where the
Austrians lost thirty pieces of cannon, nine thousand prisoners, and
much ammunition and baggage.[482]
On the 22d April, after this fortunate commencement of the campaign,
Buonaparte directed his whole force, scientifically arranged into
different divisions, and moving by different routes, on the principal
army of the Archduke Charles, which, during these misfortunes, he had
concentrated at Eckmühl. The battle is said to have been one of the most
splendid which the art of war could display. An hundred thousand men and
upwards were dispossessed of all their positions by the combined attack
of their scientific enemy, the divisions appearing on the field, each in
its due place and order, as regularly as the movements of the various
pieces in a game of chess. All the Austrian wounded, great part of their
artillery, fifteen stand of colours, and 20,000 prisoners, remained in
the power of the French.[483] The retreat was attended with
corresponding loss; and Austria, again baffled in her hopes of
reacquiring her influence in Germany, was once more reduced to combat
for her existence amongst nations.
On the subsequent day, the Austrians made some attempt to protect the
retreat of their army, by defending Ratisbon. A partial breach in the
ancient walls was hastily effected, but for some time the French who
advanced to the storm, were destroyed by the musketry of the defenders.
There was at length difficulty in finding volunteers to renew the
attack, when the impetuous Lannes, by whom they were commanded, seized a
ladder, and rushed forward to fix it himself against the walls. "I will
show you," he exclaimed, "that your general is still a grenadier." The
example prevailed, the wall was surmounted, and the combat was continued
or renewed in the streets of the town, which was speedily on fire. A
body of French, rushing to charge a body of Austrians, which still
occupied one end of a burning street, were interrupted by some waggons
belonging to the enemy's train. "They are tumbrils of powder," cried the
Austrian commanding, to the French; "if the flames reach them, both
sides perish." The combat ceased, and the two parties joined in averting
a calamity which must have been fatal to both, and finally, saved the
ammunition from the flames. At length the Austrians were driven out of
Ratisbon, leaving much cannon, baggage, and prisoners, in the hands of
the enemy.[484]
In the middle of this last mêlée, Buonaparte, who was speaking with his
adjutant, Duroc, observing the affair at some distance, was struck on
the toe of the left foot by a spent musket-ball, which occasioned a
severe contusion. "That must have been a Tyrolese," said the Emperor
coolly; "who has aimed at me from such a distance. These fellows fire
with wonderful precision." Those around remonstrated with him for
exposing his person; to which he answered, "What can I do? I must needs
see how matters go on." The soldiers crowded about him in alarm at the
report of his wound; but he would hardly allow it to be dressed, so
eager was he to get on horseback and put an end to the solicitude of his
army, by showing himself publicly among the troops.[485]
Thus within five days--the space, and almost the very days of the month,
which Buonaparte had assigned for settling the affairs of Germany--the
original aspect of the war was entirely changed; and Austria, who had
engaged in it with the proud hope of reviving her original influence in
Europe, was now to continue the struggle for the doubtful chance of
securing her existence. At no period in his momentous career, did the
genius of Napoleon appear more completely to prostrate all opposition;
at no time did the talents of a single individual exercise such an
influence on the fate of the universe. The forces which he had in the
field had been not only unequal to those of the enemy, but they were, in
a military point of view, ill-placed, and imperfectly combined. Napoleon
arrived alone, found himself under all these disadvantages, and we
repeat, by his almost unassisted genius, came, in the course of five
days, in complete triumph out of a struggle which bore a character so
unpromising.[486] It was no wonder that others, nay, that he himself,
should have annexed to his person the degree of superstitious influence
claimed for the chosen instruments of Destiny, whose path must not be
crossed, and whose arms cannot be arrested.
While the relics of the Archduke Charles's army were on full retreat to
Bohemia, Napoleon employed the 23d and 24th of April, to review his
troops, and distributed with a liberal hand honours and rewards. It was
in this sphere that he was seen to greatest advantage; for although too
much of a soldier among sovereigns, no one could claim with better right
to be a sovereign among soldiers. It was on this occasion, that,
striking a soldier familiarly on the cheek, as he said, "I create you a
knight," he asked the honoured party his name. "You ought to know it
well," answered the soldier; "since I am the man, who, in the deserts of
Syria, when you were in extremity, relieved you from my flask." Napoleon
instantly recollected the individual and the circumstance. "I make you,"
he said "a knight, with an annuity of twelve hundred francs--what will
you do with so much money?"--"Drink with my comrades to the health of
him that is so necessary to us."
The generals had their share in the Imperial bounty, particularly
Davoust, to whose brilliant execution of the manœuvres commanded by
Napoleon, the victory was directly to be attributed. He was created Duke
of Eckmühl. It was a part of Napoleon's policy, by connecting the names
of fields of victory with the titles of those who contributed to acquire
it, to ally the recollections of their merits with his own grateful
acknowledgment of them. Thus the title of every ennobled marshal was a
fresh incentive to such officers as were ambitious of distinction.
[Sidenote: RETREAT OF THE AUSTRIANS.]
After the fatal battle of Eckmühl, the Archduke Charles effected, as we
have seen, his retreat into the mountainous country of Bohemia, full of
defiles, and highly capable of defence, where he could remodel his
broken army, receive reinforcements of every kind, and make a
protracted defence, should Napoleon press upon him in that direction.
But the victories of these memorable five days had placed the French
Emperor in full possession of the right bank of the Danube, and of the
high-road to the city of Vienna, which is situated on the same side of
the river. True to his principle of striking directly at the heart of
his antagonist, Napoleon determined to march on the metropolis of
Austria, instead of pursuing the archduke into the mountains of
Bohemia.[487] By the latter course, the war might have been long
protracted, a contingency which it was always Napoleon's policy to
avoid; and, alarmed for the preponderance which France was about to
acquire, Russia herself, now acting tardily and unwillingly as the ally
of Napoleon, might have assumed a right of mediating, which she had
strength enough to enforce if it should be declined.
On the other hand, the Austrian General Hiller, defeated at Landshut,
and cut off from communication with the archduke, had been able to unite
himself with a considerable reserve, and assumed the mien of defending
the high-road to the capital. Buonaparte had thus an enemy of some
consequence in front, while the army of Charles might operate from
Bohemia upon the communications in his rear; and a universal national
insurrection of the Tyrolese threatened not only entirely to expel the
French and Bavarians from their mountains, but even to alarm Bavaria
herself. Insurrections were also beginning to take place all through
Germany, of a character which showed, that, had the tide of war turned
against France, almost all the north of Germany would have been in arms
against her. These dangers, which would have staggered a man of less
determination, only confirmed Napoleon in his purpose of compelling
Austria to make peace, by descending the Danube, and effecting a second
occupation of her capital.
All was shortly in motion for the intended enterprise. General Hiller,
too weak to attempt the defence of the Inn, retreated to Ebersberg, a
village with a castle upon the river Traun, which was in most places
unfordable, and had elevated rocky banks, scarped by the hand of Nature.
One bridge communicating with the town, was the only mode of approaching
the position, which, viewed in front, seemed almost impregnable. It was
occupied by Hiller with more than thirty thousand men, and a formidable
train of artillery. He trusted to be able to maintain himself in this
strong line of defence, until he should renew his communications with
the Archduke Charles, and obtain that prince's co-operation in the task
of covering Vienna, by defending the course of the Danube.
Upon the 3d of May, the position of Ebersberg was attacked by Massena,
and stormed after a most desperate resistance, which probably cost the
victors as many men as the vanquished. The hardiness of this attack has
been censured by some military critics, who pretend, that if Massena had
confined his front attack to a feint, the Austrian general would have
been as effectually dislodged, and at a much cheaper rate, by a
corresponding movement upon his flank, to be executed by General Lannes,
who passed the river Traun at Wels for that purpose. But Massena, either
from the dictates of his own impetuous disposition, or because he had
understood the Emperor's commands as positively enjoining an attack, or
that he feared Lannes might be too late in arriving, when every moment
was precious, because every moment might re-establish the communication
between the archduke and Hiller--attempted and succeeded in the
desperate resolution of disposting the Austrian general by main
force.[488]
General Hiller retreated to Saint Polten, then crossed the Danube by the
bridge at Mautern, which he destroyed after his passage, and, marching
to form his junction with the Archduke Charles, left the right side of
the Danube, and consequently the high-road to Vienna, open to the
French. Napoleon moved forward with a steady yet rapid pace, calculating
upon gaining the advance necessary to arrive at the Austrian capital
before the archduke, yet at the same time marching without
precipitation, and taking the necessary measures for protecting his
communications.
[Sidenote: VIENNA.]
The city of Vienna, properly so called, is surrounded by the ancient
fortifications which withstood the siege of the Turks in 1683. The
suburbs, which are of great extent, are surrounded by some slighter
defences, but which could only be made good by a large army. Had the
archduke, with his forces, been able to throw himself into Vienna before
Buonaparte's arrival under its walls, no doubt a formidable defence
might have been made.[489] The inclination of the citizens was highly
patriotic. They fired from the ramparts on the advance of the French,
and rejected the summons of surrender. The Archduke Maximilian was
governor of the place, at the head of ten battalions of troops of the
line, and as many of Landwehr, or militia.
A shower of bombs first made the inhabitants sensible of the horrors to
which they must necessarily be exposed by defensive war. The palace of
the Emperor of Austria was in the direct front of this terrible fire.
The Emperor himself, and the greater part of his family, had retired to
the city of Buda in Hungary; but one was left behind, confined by
indisposition, and this was Maria Louisa, the young archduchess, who
shortly afterwards became Empress of France. On intimation to this
purpose being made to Buonaparte, the palace was respected, and the
storm of these terrible missiles directed to other quarters.[490] The
intention of defending the capital was speedily given up. The Archduke
Maximilian, with the troops of the line, evacuated the city; and, on the
12th, General O'Reilly, commanding some battalions of landwehr, signed
the capitulation with the French.
Napoleon did not himself enter Vienna; he fixed--for the second
time--his headquarters at Schoenbrun, a palace of the Emperor's, in the
vicinity of the capital.
In the meanwhile, the Archduke Charles, unable to prevent the fall of
Vienna, was advancing to avenge it. In the march which he made through
Bohemia, he had greatly increased his army; and the events in the north
of Germany and the Tyrol had been so dangerous to French influence, that
it required all the terrors of the battle of Eckmühl to keep the
unwilling vassals of the conqueror in a state of subjection. Before,
therefore, we trace the course of remarkable events which were about to
take place on the Danube, the reader is requested to take a brief view
of the war on the Polish frontier, in Italy, in the north of Germany,
and in the Tyrol; for no smaller portion of the civilized world was
actually the scene of hostilities during this momentous period.
In Poland, the Archduke Ferdinand threw himself into the Grand Duchy of
Warsaw, as the part of Poland which formerly belonged to Prussia;
obtained possession of Warsaw itself, and pressed northward with such
vivacity, that, while Prince Poniatowski was hardly able to assemble a
small defensive army between the Narew and the Vistula, the archduke
approached Thorn, and was in a situation to summon Prussia to arms. The
call would doubtless have been readily obeyed, had the Archduke Charles
obtained any shadow of success in the commencement of the campaign. But
the French had possession of all the most important Prussian fortresses,
which rendered it imprudent, indeed almost impossible, for that power to
offer any effectual means of resistance, until the arms of Austria
should assume that decided preponderance, which they were not on this
occasion doomed to attain.[491]
[Sidenote: SCHILL--KATT--DUKE OF BRUNSWICK OELS.]
The feeling of indignation against the foreign yoke had, however,
penetrated deeply into the bosom of the Prussians. The doctrines of the
Tugend-bund had been generally received among the higher and middling
classes--the lower listened to the counsels only of their own patriotism
and courage. The freedom of Europe--the independence of Germany--the
delivery of Prussia from a foreign bondage--the obtaining security for
what was most dear and valuable to mankind, determined Schill, a
Prussian major of hussars, to attempt, even without the commands of his
King, the liberation of his country.
During the former unhappy war, Schill, like Blucher, conducted himself
with the most patriotic devotion, and had, when courage and conduct
were rare, been distinguished by both in his service as a partisan
officer. On the present occasion, his attempt may be likened to a rocket
shot up into the firmament, which, by its descent upon a magazine, may
give rise to the most appalling results; or which, bursting in empty
space, is only remembered by its brief and brilliant career. Chance
allotted to Schill the latter and more unfavourable conclusion; but his
name must be enrolled in the list of those heroes who have ventured
their lives to redress the wrongs of their country, and the remembrance
of whose courage often forms the strongest impulse to others to reassume
the heroic undertaking, for which they themselves have struggled in
vain.
The movement which this daring soldier had projected, was connected with
a plan of general insurrection, but was detected by a premature
discovery. Colonel Doernberg, an officer of the Westphalian guard, was
engaged in the conspiracy, and had undertaken to secure the person of
Jerome Buonaparte. His scheme was discovered; and among his papers were
found some which implicated Schill in these insurrectionary measures.
Jerome, of course, made his complaint to the King of Prussia, who was in
no capacity to refuse to deliver up the accused officer. Obliged thus to
precipitate his plan of insurrection, Schill put himself at the head of
his regiment, which was animated by his own spirit, and marched out of
Berlin to proclaim the independence of his country. He showed the utmost
speed and dexterity in his military manœuvres, and soon assembled a
small army of 5000 or 6000 men, sufficient to take possession of various
towns, and of the little fortress of Domitz.
Katt, another insurgent, placed himself at the head of an insurrection
in Cassel; and a yet more formidable leader, distinguished alike by his
birth, his bravery, and his misfortunes, appeared in the field. This was
the Duke of Brunswick Oels, son of him who was mortally wounded at Jena.
The young prince had ever since before his eyes the remembrance of his
father, to whom Buonaparte's enmity would not permit even the leisure of
an hour to die in his own palace. The breaking out of the war betwixt
France and Austria seemed to promise him the road to revenge. The duke
contracted with Austria to levy a body of men, and he was furnished by
England with the means to equip and maintain them. His name, his
misfortunes, his character, and his purpose, tended soon to fill his
ranks; the external appearance of which indicated deep sorrow, and a
determined purpose of vengeance. His uniform was black, in memory of his
father's death; the lace of the cavalry was disposed like the ribs of a
skeleton; the helmets and caps bore a death's head on their front.
The brave young soldier was too late in appearing in the field. If he
could have united his forces with those of Schill, Doernberg, Katt, and
the other insurgents, he might have effected a general rising in the
north; but the event of Eckmühl, and the taking of Vienna, had already
checked the awakening spirit of Germany, and subsequent misfortunes
tended to subdue, at least for the time, the tendency to universal
resistance which would otherwise certainly have been manifested. It was
about the middle of May when the Duke of Brunswick advanced from Bohemia
into Lusatia, and by that time the corps of Schill and others were
existing only as separate bands of partisans, surrounded or pursued by
the adherents of France, to whom the successes of Buonaparte had given
fresh courage.
General Thielman opposed himself to the duke, at the head of some Saxon
troops, and was strong enough to prevent his forcing his way into the
middle of Germany, where his presence might have occasioned great
events. Still, however, though the plans of the insurgents had been thus
far disappointed or checked, their forces remained on foot, and
formidable, and the general disposition of the nation in their favour
rendered them more so.
[Sidenote: THE TYROLESE.]
While the insurrectional spirit which animated the Germans smouldered in
some places like subterranean fire, and partially showed itself by
eruptions in others, the mountains of the Tyrol were in one general
blaze through their deepest recesses. Those wild regions, which had been
one of the oldest inheritances of Austria, had been torn from her by the
treaty of Presburg, and conferred on the new kingdom of Bavaria. The
inclination of the inhabitants had not been consulted in this change.
The Austrians had always governed them with a singular mildness and
respect for their customs; and had thus gained the affection of their
Tyrolese subjects, who could not therefore understand how an allegiance
resembling that of children to a parent, should have been transferred,
without their consent, to a stranger sovereign, with whom they had no
tie of mutual feeling. The nation was the more sensible of these natural
sentiments, because the condition of the people is one of the most
primitive in Europe. The extremes of rank and wealth are unknown in
those pastoral districts; they have almost no distinction among their
inhabitants; neither nobles nor serfs, neither office-bearers nor
dependents; in one sense, neither rich nor poor. As great a degree of
equality as is perhaps consistent with the existence of society, is to
be found in the Tyrol. In temper they are a gay, animated people, fond
of exertion and excitation, lovers of the wine-flask and the dance,
extempore poets, and frequently good musicians. With these are united
the more hardy qualities of the mountaineer, accustomed to the life of a
shepherd and huntsman, and, amidst the Alpine precipices, often placed
in danger of life, while exercising one or other of the occupations. As
marksmen, the Tyrolese are accounted the finest in Europe; and the
readiness with which they obeyed the repeated summons of Austria during
former wars, showed that their rustic employments had in no respect
diminished their ancient love of military enterprise. Their magistrates
in peace, and leaders in war, were no otherwise distinguished from the
rest of the nation than by their sagacity and general intelligence; and
as these qualities were ordinarily found among inn-keepers, who, in a
country like the Tyrol, have the most general opportunities of obtaining
information, many of that class were leaders in the memorable war of
1809. These men sometimes could not even read or write, yet in general,
exhibited so much common sense and presence of mind, such a ready
knowledge of the capacity of the troops they commanded, and of the
advantages of the country in which they served, that they became
formidable to the best generals and the most disciplined soldiers.[492]
In the beginning of April these ready warriors commenced their
insurrection, and in four days, excepting in the small fortress of
Kufstein, which continued to hold out, there was not a Frenchman or
Bavarian in the Tyrol, save those who were prisoners. The history of
that heroic war belongs to another page of history. It is enough here to
say, that scarcely supported by the Austrians, who had too much to do at
home, the Tyrolese made, against every odds, the most magnanimous and
obstinate defence. It was in vain that a French army, led by Lefebvre,
marched into the country, and occupied Inspruck, the capital. The French
were a second time compelled by these valiant mountaineers to retreat
with immense loss; and if Austria could have maintained her own share of
the contest, her faithful provinces of Tyrol and the Vorarlberg must on
their side have come off victors.[493]
But the disasters of the Archduke Charles, as they had neutralized the
insurrections in Germany, and rendered of no comparative avail the
victories of the Tyrolese, so they also checked the train of success
which had attended the movements of the Archduke John in Italy, at the
commencement of the war. We have already said, that the safety and
honour of Austria being, as it was thought, sufficiently provided for by
the strength of the main army, this young prince had been despatched
into Italy, as the Archduke Ferdinand into Poland, to resuscitate the
interest of their House in their ancient dominions. Eugene, the
son-in-law of Buonaparte, and his viceroy in Italy, was defeated at
Sacile upon the 15th of April, by the Archduke John, and compelled to
retire to Caldiero on the Adige. But ere the Austrian prince could
improve his advantages, he received the news of the defeat at Eckmühl,
and the peril in which Vienna was placed. He was, therefore, under the
necessity of retreating, to gain, if possible, the kingdom of Hungary,
where the presence of his army might be of the most essential
consequence. He was in his turn pursued by Prince Eugene, to whom the
Austrian retreat gave the means of uniting himself with the French force
in Dalmatia, from which he had been separated, and thus enabled him to
assume the offensive with forces much augmented.[494]
Thus the mighty contest was continued, with various events, from the
shores of the Baltic to those of the Adriatic, and from the eastern
provinces of Germany to those of Hungary. But the eyes of all men,
averted from the more remote and subordinate scenes of the struggle,
were now turned towards the expected combat betwixt Buonaparte and the
Archduke Charles, which it was easily predicted must soon take place
under the walls of Vienna, and decide, it was then apprehended for ever,
the future fate, perhaps the very existence, of the empire of Austria.
FOOTNOTES:
[469] "Injustice and bad faith," exclaimed the Emperor, "always recoil
upon those who are guilty of either."--_Fourteenth Bulletin._
[470] "'The Spanish ulcer destroyed me,' was an expression of deep anguish
which escaped from Napoleon in his own hour of misfortune."--NAPIER,
vol. i., p. 414.
[471] Nineteenth Bulletin of the French Army in Spain.
[472] Savary, tom. ii., part ii., p. 20; Twenty-second Bulletin.
[473] De Pradt, p. 211.
[474] "Never did any sovereign ride at such a rate. He ordered his
saddle horses to be placed in relays on the road, with a picket of
chasseurs at each relay, so as to leave a distance of only three or four
leagues from one relay to another. He often made these arrangements
himself, and in the utmost secrecy. The horses belonging to the grooms
carried portmanteaus with complete changes of dress, and with portfolios
containing papers, pens, ink, maps, and telescopes."--SAVARY, tom. ii.,
part ii., p. 30.
[475] "The Emperor returned amongst us in a sudden and unexpected
manner; whether, as those about him assured me, that a band of Spanish
fanatics had sworn to assassinate him (I believed it, and had, on my
side, given the same advice;) or whether he was still acted upon by the
fixed idea of a coalition in Paris against his authority, I think both
these motives united had their weight with him; but they were disguised
by referring the urgency of his sudden return to the preparations of
Austria."--FOUCHÉ, tom. i., p. 330.
[476] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 133; Savary, tom. ii., part ii., p. 32.
[477] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 155.
[478] "A conscription was immediately called out; the soldiers were
equipped in all haste, and sent off in carriages to their destination.
The guard, which was still at Burgos, was ordered to repair to Germany.
Never had Napoleon been taken so much by surprise: this war completely
astonished him.--'There must,' he said to us, 'be some plans in
preparation which I do not penetrate, for there is madness in declaring
war against me. They fancy me dead. I expect a courier from Russia: if
matters go on there as I have reason to hope they do, I will give them
work.'"--SAVARY, tom. ii., part ii., p. 34.
[479] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 155.
[480] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 158. "At Donawert we found the Prince of
Neufchatel; but, very shortly after our arrival, the Emperor fell into a
passion, which we were at a loss to account for: he was addressing
Berthier in these words: 'What you have done appears to me so
extraordinary, that, if you were not my friend, I should suspect you of
betraying me; for Davoust is really situated at present much more for
the convenience of the Archduke Charles than for mine.' This was
actually the case: the Prince of Neufchatel had put a wrong construction
upon the Emperor's order, and so interpreted it as to expose us to the
danger of a most serious disaster at the very commencement of the
campaign."--SAVARY, tom. ii., part ii., p. 49.
[481] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 167; Savary, tom. ii., part ii., p. 57.
[482] "At Landshut the Emperor was fortunately overtaken by Massena, to
whom he had written these flattering words, 'Activity,
activity!--quickness! I rely upon you.' The marshal, whose zeal was
excited by these words, had accelerated his movement, and arrived on the
field of battle just at the close of the action."--SAVARY, tom. ii.,
part ii., p. 57.
[483] Second Bulletin of the French Army; Jomini, tom. iii., p. 17.
[484] Third Bulletin; Jomini, tom. iii., p. 175; Savary, tom. ii., part
ii., p. 63.
[485] "I was present at the accident. The Emperor's surgeon, M. Yvan,
was immediately sent for, who dressed the wound before us, and before
all the soldiers who happened to be near at the time: the more they were
ordered to keep off, the nearer they approached. A moment of confusion
ensued; which was nothing more than a consequence of the attachment the
troops bore him. Had the ball struck the instep, instead of the toe, it
must have penetrated the foot. His lucky star was again true to him on
this occasion."--SAVARY, tom. ii., part ii., p. 64.
[486] "On the night of the 22d of April (the eleventh day since his
departure from Paris,) the Emperor established his headquarters in a
palace which the Archduke Charles had occupied during the whole day: it
was, indeed, only at a late hour in the afternoon that the archduke gave
up the idea of passing another night there, since we supped off the
dishes which had been prepared for himself and suite."--SAVARY, tom.
ii., part ii., p. 61.
[487] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 177.
[488] Fifth Bulletin of the Grand French Army; Savary, tom. ii., part
ii., p. 68; Jomini, tom. iii., p. 181.
[489] Savary, tom. ii., part ii., p. 73.
[490] De Bourrienne, tom. viii., p. 190.
[491] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 236.
[492] The Austrians censured the want of tactics of the Tyrolese. Some
poetical sharpshooter defended his countrymen by an epigram, of which
the following is a translation:--
"It is but chance, our learn'd tacticians say,
Which without science gains the battle day;
Yet would I rather win the field by chance,
Than study tactics, and be beat by France."--S.
[493] Jomini, tom. ii., p. 232.
[494] Jomini, tom. iii., p. 224-232.