World's Best Histories — Volume 7: France

by François Guizot; Madame de Witt

"Soldiers!

"You have justified my expectations; you have made up for numbers by bravery. You have gloriously proved the difference which exists between the soldiers of Cæsar and the armed hordes of Xerxes.

"In a few days we have triumphed in the three pitched battles of Thann, Abensberg, and Eckmühl, and in the engagements of Peising, Landshut, and Ratisbon. A hundred cannon, forty flags, 50,000 prisoners, three sets of bridge-apparatus, all the enemy's artillery, with 600 harnessed wagons, 3000 harnessed carriages with baggage, all the regimental chests,—that is the result of your rapid marches and your courage.

"The enemy, intoxicated by a perjured cabinet, seemed to have retained no recollection of you; his awakening has been speedy, you have appeared to him more terrible than ever. Recently he crossed the Inn, and invaded the territory of our allies. Recently he was in full hopes of carrying the war into the bosom of our country; to-day defeated, terrified, he flies in disorder. My advance-guard has already passed the Inn. Within a month we shall be at Vienna."

It was at Ratisbon that the emperor at last received the news of the army of Italy which he was impatiently demanding. When attacked, on the 10th April, by the Archduke John, as the generals separated by Napoleon had been in Germany by the Archduke Charles, Prince Eugène, who was in command for the first time, had not been able, as Napoleon was, to retrieve, by a sudden stroke and powerful effort, an engagement badly begun. Being unable to hold head against the Austrian forces, he resolved to retire, in order to rejoin the main body of his army. This retrograde movement he performed with regret; hesitating, and feeling annoyed by the grumbling of the soldiers, because they wished to march to the enemy, and by the hesitation of the generals who dared not offer him advice, he halted on the 15th before the town of Sacile, and on the 16th made an unexpected attack on the Archduke John, who on the previous evening had surprised and beaten the French rearguard at Pordenone, though, as it now appeared, not any better guarded himself. Confused at the first moment by an unlooked-for attack, the Austrians defended themselves with great bravery. Their superior forces threatened to cut off our communications, and the prince, afraid of being isolated, ordered retreat when the issue of the battle was still uncertain. He had just left the battle-field—which the soldiers would scarcely leave, furious at not having gained the day—when the Viceroy of Italy, modest and brave, but evidently not equal to the task which the emperor had imposed upon him, wrote thus to the latter:—"My father, I have need of your indulgence. Fearing your blame if I withdrew, I accepted battle, and I have lost it." He accompanied this sad news with no message nor any details, and the want of information annoyed Napoleon still more than the check undergone by his troops. "Whatever evil may have taken place," he wrote, "if I had full knowledge of the state of things I should decide what to do; but I think it an absurd and frightful thing that a battle taking place on the 16th, it is now the 26th, without my knowing anything about it. That upsets my plans for the campaign, and I cannot understand what can have suggested to you that singular procedure. I hope to be soon at Salzburg, and make short work in the Tyrol; but for God's sake! let me know what is going on, and what is the situation of my affairs in Italy." And on the 30th April: "War is a serious game, in which one can compromise his reputation and his country. A man of sense must soon feel and know if he is made for that profession or not. I know that in Italy you affect some contempt for Masséna; if I had sent him, that which has happened would not have taken place. Masséna has military qualities before which one must humble himself. His faults must be forgot, for all men have their faults. In giving you the command of the army I made a mistake, and ought to have sent you Masséna, and given you the command of the cavalry under his orders. The Prince Royal of Bavaria commands a division under the Duke of Dantzic. Kings of France, emperors, even when reigning, have often commanded a regiment or division under the orders of an old marshal. I think that if matters become pressing you ought to write to the King of Naples to come to the army: he will leave the government to the queen. You will hand over the command to him, and serve under his orders. The case simply is, that you have less experience of war than a man who has served since he was sixteen. I am not displeased at the mistakes you have made, but because you don't write to me, and put me in a position to give you advice, and even direct operations from this place."

Fortunately for Prince Eugène, as well as the army of Italy, General Macdonald had just arrived at head-quarters, then moved beyond the Pena. Able, honorable, and brave as he had shown himself in the wars of the revolution, Macdonald underwent the weight of imperial disgrace on account of his intimacy with General Moreau. The young officers of the empire used to turn to ridicule his grave disposition and simple habits; but the soldiers loved him, and had confidence in him, and Prince Eugène had the good sense to let himself be guided by his advice. The retreat being continued to the Adige, the army rested there, waiting for the enemy, who were slow in coming in. When at last the Archduke John appeared, he durst not attack the line of the river, and waited for news from Germany. Prince Eugène was still ignorant of the emperor's success. On the 1st of May, Macdonald, who was taking observations, believed he saw a retreating movement of the enemy towards the Frioul. "Victory in Germany!" he shouted, running towards the viceroy; "now is the moment to march forward!" True enough, the Archduke John, being informed of Napoleon's movement upon Vienna, made haste to return to Germany, in the hope of joining his brother, the Archduke Charles. Prince Eugène immediately started in pursuit, passed the Piave hurriedly, and driving the archduke through the Carnatic and Julian Alps, marched himself, with a part of his army, towards the victorious emperor. On the 14th May, after dividing his forces, he sent General Macdonald with one part to meet General Marmont, who was advancing towards Trieste. The army of Italy was soon after reunited at Wagram.

The first reverses of Prince Eugène were not the only thing to disturb the emperor's joy at Ratisbon. In Tyrol a rising of the peasants, prepared and encouraged by Austrian agents, had suddenly engaged the whole population, men, women, and children, in a determined struggle against the French conquest and the Bavarian domination. A proclamation of the Emperor Francis was spread through the mountains, and General Chasteler was sent from Vienna to put himself at the head of the insurrection. The Bavarian garrisons were few, and the French detachments which came to their assistance being composed of recruits, the patriotic passion of the mountaineers easily triumphed over an enemy of inferior numbers. From Linz to Brunecken all the posts were carried by the Tyrolese; Halle, Innspruck, and Trente quickly fell into the power of the insurgents. A French column arriving beneath Innspruck when General Chasteler and Hofer had just taken possession of the place, was surrounded, and compelled to capitulate. General Baraguey d'Hilliers, who occupied Trente, had to fall back upon Roveredo, and then upon Rivoli. The Italian as well as the German Tyrolese had reconquered their independence; from one end of the mountains to the other re-echoed the name of the Emperor Francis and that of the Archduke John, whom the peasants were impatiently awaiting since the news of his first successes in Italy. The insurrection had been entirely patriotic, religious, and popular: the first leader, Andrew Hofer, was a grave and pious man, who rejoiced and triumphed with simplicity, asking God's pardon in the churches for the crime and violence which he had been unable to prevent, and which were only acts of reprisal for the Bavarian oppression. The modest glory of the honest innkeeper reached the Emperor Napoleon with the news of the loss of the Tyrol.

The whole of Germany seemed moved by the same breath of independence in the subject or conquered countries. In Swabia, Saxony, Hesse, a silent emotion thrilled all hearts; at certain points bands of insurgents collected together. In Prussia, the instinct of patriotic vengeance was still more powerful; the commandant of Berlin gave to the garrison as watchword "Charles and Ratisbon;" one of the officers at the head of the cavalry here, Major Schill, formerly known as leader of the partisans in 1806 and 1807, had just resumed his old task, drawing with him the body which he commanded; and several companies of infantry deserted to join him. The protestations of the Prussian ministers were not enough to convince Napoleon of the ignorance of government with regard to these hostile manifestations. The Archduke Ferdinand at the head of an army of 35,000 men, had just entered Poland, taking by surprise Prince Poniatowski and the Polish army, still badly organized. After a keenly-contested battle in the environs of Raszyn, near Warsaw, Prince Poniatowski was obliged to surrender his capital, and fall back upon the right bank of the Vistula.

Napoleon alone had conquered, and his lieutenants acting for him in more distant parts, by being surprised or incapable, had only caused him embarrassment. This was a natural and inevitable consequence of a too extensive power, and a territory too vast to be at all points usefully occupied and skilfully defended. All these events confirmed the emperor in the resolution which he had already taken to march upon Vienna. Neglecting the Archduke Charles's army, the Marshals Lannes and Bessières crossed Bavaria, Napoleon himself setting out for Landshut in order to take the management of his forces. Thus the whole army advanced towards the Inn. Masséna took possession of Passau, and by the 1st May all the troops had crossed the river. Masséna was ordered to make himself master of Linz, and secure the bridge over the Danube at Monthausen. There the archdukes and General Hiller might effect their junction, and there, therefore, must the road to Vienna be opened or closed.

Masséna never hesitated before a difficulty, and never drew back before the most fatal necessities. The Austrians were superior to him in number, and occupied excellent positions. Linz was carried and passed through in a few hours. When Napoleon arrived before the small town of Ebersberg which defended the bridge, the place, the castle and even the bridge were in our power, at the cost of a horrible carnage which caused some emotion to the emperor himself. He refused to occupy Ebersberg, everywhere swimming in blood and strewed with dead bodies. There was still a rallying-point left to the archdukes at the bridge of Krems, but they did not think they could defend it. The Archduke Louis and General Hiller passed to the right bank of the Danube, and the road to Vienna lay open.