The 4th of December the allied army crossed the river March, and arrived at Hollitsch, much diminished in numbers, and with very few effectives, compared with the army to which it was opposed. The Emperor Alexander took up his quarters in the castle of Hollitsch, while the Emperor of Germany remained at Czeitsch, to be ready for the interview which was about to take place with the Emperor Napoleon.
An armistice had been agreed on, to take place at day-break on the 4th December. Prince John de Liechtenstein had returned from the head-quarters of the French the evening before with this intelligence. But their advanced guard, probably from not having received timely orders on this subject, advanced to attack the fore-posts of M. de Kienmayer's corps, which remained upon the heights of Nasedlowitz. Prince Bagration then retired quite behind Czeitsch. However, this misunderstanding, and the firing consequent upon it, were soon put a stop to. A suspension of arms took place, and the space of about a league and a half was left between the out-posts of the two armies. That of the French had advanced, and taken up its position in several lines, between Damborschutz, and Saruschutz, in front of Urschutz.
It was then that the famous interview, which gave peace to the two empires, took place between the Emperor Francis II. and Napoleon; it passed at a little distance from the village of Nasedlowitz, near a mill, by the side of the high-road, and in the open air. The conversation of these two sovereigns lasted some time, when the Emperor of Germany returned to Czeitsch, which he reached in the evening, and immediately set about informing his ally of the result of the interview.—For this purpose, an Austrian general was to be sent immediately to Hollitsch; and General Savary, aid-de-camp to the Emperor Napoleon, was named by his sovereign, in the first instance to attend the Emperor Francis II. and afterwards to accompany the general that should be sent to Hollitsch. In case his Majesty, the Emperor of all the Russias, should consent to the conditions of the armistice, General Savary was empowered to countermand the march of Marshal Davoust's corps, and was afterwards to accompany the Austrian general, to acquaint the corps of M. de Merveldt with the suspension of arms. General Stutterheim, who was with the rear-guard of the corps, near which the interview took place, was charged by his sovereign with this commission. It was twelve o'clock at night before these two generals reached Hollitsch, where they had the happiness of obtaining immediate access to the presence of the Emperor Alexander, who received them with kindness, and threw no obstacle in the way of the armistice. Upon this they again departed immediately to find out the corps under M. de Merveldt, and to countermand that under Marshal Davoust: the former they fell in with at two o'clock in the morning, retiring upon Goeding. M. de Merveldt, we have already seen, was charged with the protection of the left flank of the Russian army; but the whole force under his orders did not exceed 4,000 infantry and 500 cavalry, which made it impossible for him to impede the march of the right of the French army. The two generals succeeded in falling in with Marshal Davoust at Josephsdorf, at about four o'clock in the morning. General Gudin's advanced guard was at Neudorf. According to the agreement between the Emperor Francis II. and Napoleon, all the troops remained in the exact situation in which they were found upon the cessation of hostilities being made known to them. The following day Prince John de Liechtenstein returned to Austerlitz (which was the head-quarter of the Emperor Napoleon) for the purpose of negociating the boundary to be observed by the respective armies during the continuation of the armistice which preceded the peace concluded between Austria and France.
On the 4th December, the very day on which the armistice took place, the Archduke Ferdinand, who could not be made acquainted with it, and who had received orders to advance and observe the Bavarians that remained at Iglau, after the departure of Marshal Bernadotte: on this day, that prince attacked General Wrede (to keep him in check) with some troops, the remnant of his corps; with which he succeeded in driving him from Iglau.
The Archduke Charles, obliged to retreat in consequence of the unheard of catastrophe that happened to the German army, arrived in Hungary, with his army quite entire, after having at Caldiero incapacitated the French army of Italy from doing him any mischief.
It appears, then, that wherever their generals allowed the Austrian troops to fight, they fought well; and it would be a very rash, and a very false opinion, to impute the misfortunes of the war of 1805 to them. In that, as well as in all former instances, the Austrian army distinguished itself by its courage, its devotion to the cause, its constancy in supporting unheard of privations, and by its implicit obedience. It was at Ulm that these brave troops, victims to the conduct of M. Mack, were subjected to that heart-breaking fate which was the destruction of the German army. But, at Ulm, many regiments that had not fired a single shot were obliged to surrender, in consequence of the operations pursued, and in pursuance of orders given by that M. Mack, who talked of burying himself in the ruins of Ulm; who always talked of death, yet feared to die.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[17] Note by a French officer.—It is too ridiculous to suppose that the Russian army, without artillery, without baggage, and without provisions, would have preferred a retreat by its flank (which exposed it to the danger of being surrounded by the French army) to that upon Olmutz: but, in the course of this day, it lost its line of operation, which was the high road to Olmutz, and nothing remained for it but to move upon Goeding; and it did not gain much by that; for, had it not been for the too great clemency of the Emperor, and the armistice, which was concluded, the remains of the Russian army would have been entirely destroyed; as may be perceived from what the Austrian officer lets fall a little farther on.—The loss of a battle is no proof of want of talent in a general: but the loss of his artillery and baggage, of his line of operations, and his retreat, are positive evidence that he is ignorant of the art of war.
An army, so commanded, never could make head against a French army in so great and difficult a warfare. The emperor took advantage of the faults committed by the enemy, who would have committed yet greater errors had the emperor retired behind Brunn: the latter would have been in greater force; and had already planned new combinations, in the course of which, the general who possessed most experience, and the greatest genius for the art of war, must naturally have taken his adversary at a disadvantage.