The language and conduct of some Prussian officers contributed to keep up the prejudice against them. I treated them with great severity; the least fault was punished to the utmost; but at the same time I always rendered them justice, and never allowed them to be molested. Tranquillity, however, was restored. Each party mutually laid aside their animosity, and confidence was re-established. I saw and received the Prussians; and I may say, that from the first year after I obtained the command, all the reports which I forwarded to Paris were distinguished by moderation and truth. I represented to Napoleon that it was difficult for the Prussians so soon to forget their former greatness; that the public mind was becoming tranquil, and that the King, the ministers, and the Royal family never ceased to recommend to the people that resignation which misfortune renders indispensable.
I always wrote to this purport. I had no cause to complain of any one; for my own part, I was on very good terms with the civil and military authorities. I saw them frequently; and all of them, I may say, placed the greatest confidence in me. They were sensible of the justice of my proceedings.
All the commandants, however, did not act in the same way: their reports, and the disasters of Baylen, excited fresh doubts in Napoleon's mind with regard to the conduct of Prussia. He charged me to double my vigilance: "Overlook nothing in the Prussians," he said to me in one of his letters; "they must not be allowed to raise their heads."
The news of the disasters which we had experienced in the peninsula at length spread over Germany, and awakened new hopes; the public mind was violently agitated. I informed Napoleon of this; but he disliked the revival of painful recollections, and was still more averse to unpleasing anticipations of the future. He replied to me: "Germans are not Spaniards; the character of the German bears no resemblance to that of the fierce Catalonian."
CHAPTER XVIII.
The interview of Erfurt took place. Napoleon set out for Spain; he attacked and dispersed all that were opposed to him; and the English army would have been destroyed had he been enabled to pursue it himself; but the fourth Austrian war broke out, and he was obliged to hurry to the assistance of Bavaria. Prince Berthier sent me orders to rejoin the army. The Emperor was already with it; I found him at Landshut, just after he had gained the battle of Ratisbonne; I was not well pleased with my reception: he asked me drily, "How do your Prussians and Dantzickers get on? You ought to have made the latter pay me what they owe me. You see we have not all been killed in Spain; I still have men enough left to beat the Austrians." I felt the allusion.
We marched on Vienna. The Emperor became more good-humoured, and treated me more kindly. The battle of Esslingen took place. Thousands of brave men lost their lives; Marshal Lannes was disabled; the cavalry and artillery were destroyed; and the village of Esslingen, the most important point that remained for us to defend, was inundated by twenty battalions of Hungarian grenadiers. We could no longer maintain our station: the enemy had already penetrated into the square-work which Napoleon had directed to be fortified the day before. Count Lobau advanced to meet them, and checked their progress; but they immediately received reinforcements. The Emperor perceived this, and I was directed to take two battalions of the young guard, and to hasten to the assistance of our troops: I was to disengage them, to effect a retreat with them, and to take a position between the village and the remainder of the guard, on the banks of the Danube, near the bridge which had been broken. The Austrian columns advanced from all quarters on this point: our position became most hazardous. On our left, Massena still occupied Gros Aspern; he had lost great numbers of his force, but he still maintained his ground. I placed myself at the head of my two battalions and entered the village. I drew up my troops in the rear of General Mouton, and went to deliver to him the Emperor's orders; but the whole of the enemy's reserve, under the command of the Archduke Charles, deployed at some distance. "You have," said I to Count Lobau, "astonished those masses by your resistance; let us charge them with the bayonet, and drive them back upon the columns that are advancing: if we succeed, the Emperor and the army will give us credit for our success; if we fail, the responsibility will rest with me."—"With both of us," replied the General. Our five battalions moved forward, charged, repulsed, and dispersed the enemy at the point of the bayonet. We were masters of the village. The Archduke endeavoured in vain to recover it: five times he led his troops to the charge, and five times he was defeated. He experienced immense loss: ours was also considerable. Generals Mouton and Grosse were wounded; several other officers were killed. Napoleon was delighted with this affair; he complimented me very highly, and added, "If ever you did well in not executing my orders, you have done so to-day; for the safety of the army depended on the taking of Esslingen."
Napoleon thought that the people of Vienna were more unfavourable to us than in our preceding campaigns; he made the remark to me. I replied that despair had contributed greatly to produce the feeling; that the people were every where tired of us and of our victories. He did not like this sort of reflections.