1809. INSURRECTION AGAINST THE FRENCH. 235 The French had been beaten, certainly by forces vastly superior. The loss was enormous: Bonaparte sat between Berthier and Massena, on the brink of the river in the island, contemplating the broken bridge; his army shut up in the island of Lobau, separated too widely from Davoust and from succor, too narrowly from the foe. All counselled a retreat o the left bank, which could only be done by abandoning artillery, horses, and wounded. This was acknowledging defeat. The emperor knew the dreadful consequences of this. "You may as well bid me retire to Strasburg at once," said he. No; Vienna is now my capital; the centre of my resources. I will not abandon it, or retreat." The troops in the isle were, in consequence of this giant resolve, ordered to hold their ground. The news of the French defeat immediately spread, and insurrection began to menace. That of the Tyrol against the Bavarians was most serious. These brave montaineers surpassed the inveterate Spaniards in hardihood, and no efforts or force could subdue them. Napoleon pressed the arrival of aid from Italy, from Dalmatia, and from Saxony. He had engaged in that perilous path of conquest, in which victory and advance are necessary to existence, and in which reverse is ruin. His enemies had thus all the advantage; but not only the subjects of Austria were excited to reaction against the French, the Prussian youth could not let pass what they deemed a favorable opportunity for avenging their king and country. Several associations, called Tugenbund, were formed for working out the independence of Germany. In these meetings the spirit of resistance was roused, its means prepared and matured. It was yet, indeed, too soon. The misfortunes of the French were exaggerated. Still the braver and more impetuous Germans scorned to wait. Schill, a hussar colonel, inspired his regiment with his own feelings; quitted Berlin at its head; and without the sanction of his monarch, commenced a war of partisans against the French. The young duke of Brunswick, Katt, and others, followed his example. Civilization, wealth, and culture, proved hostile to resistance. These men formed regiments, and prepared to carry on war after military rules; whereas in their case the guerrilla system could alone have success. By it alone they could have enticed the peasant to quit his abode. But being mere soldiers, Brunswick and Schill were never able to organize more than a military band. The climate of Germany, and the character of its inhabitants, as well as the force and centralization of the government, rendered impracticable the Spanish system of resistance. Thus the great amelioration and perfection of government and civilization, when unequal to secure national independence, become obstacles to its recovery. The emperor had fortified his position in the island of Lobau, and busied himself with preparing another bridge. The archduke Charles still occupied the opposite bank, but remained tranquil, satisfied with having repulsed the French. His brother, prince John, was recalled from Italy, and wa closely pursued by Eugene Beauharnois, who defeated him at Raab. The French army of Italy had but a straight road to traverse in order to join Napoleon at Lobau; the Austrian troops under prince John had, on the contrary, a very circuitous path to reach the great Austrian army. And Bonaparte chose the moment when he was joined by Eugene, and before the archduke Charles could be joined by his brother, to pass the Danube once more to the attack. On the 4th of July, the French, reinforced by the Saxons, the army of Eugene, and that of Marmont from Dalmatia, were concentrated in the island of Lobau, to the number of 150,000. There was scarcely room for the troops to repose. Napoleon ordered the original bridge opposite Essling to be repaired, as if he intended to cross by its means. This was but to deceive the Austrians. In the night three more bridges, ready prepared, were fixed lower down, and the French army crossed on the night of the 4th and morning of the 5th. The archduke instantly found his batteries and preparations idle. Instead of fronting the Danube, he was obliged to extend his line perpendicular to it, from behind Aspern to Wagram, and from thence behind a little river on his left. The 5th was spent in manœuvring and cannonade, the Austrians retiring from Essling. Towards evening Bonaparte wished to dislodge them from their commanding position at Wagram, but his troops were beaten back and routed. Both armies slept on the field, and in their positions, the French without a fire, Napoleon in a chair. On the morning of the 6th commenced the famous battle of Wagram. The Austrian centre was on the high ground near that village. As the French, on the preceding evening, had been repulsed with ease from it, the archduke thought it strong to keep, and easy to maintain. He threw his chief force, therefore, into his wings. The Austrian right attacked Massena near Aspern and the Danube, and drove him back with such rout, that his four divisions crowded into one. Davoust, on the right, was able to resist with more success. But on Massena's side the battle seemed los'. That general, from the effects of a fall, was in a carriage, not on horseback; his troops, unanimated by his presence, shrunk from the enemy, whose cannon enfiladed the line. For a long time Napoleon 1809. BATTLE OF WAGRAM. 237 was in doubt, riding on a white charger in the midst of this raking fire, which Savary calls "a hail-storm of bullets." At length he resolved to allow his wings to resist as they might, and to fling all his disposable force once more upon the Austrian centre at Wagram. He sent Lauriston first against it with 100 cannon, at full trot, with orders to approach very near. He knew the weakness of the Austrians at Wagram would not allow them to advance from the position. The infantry under Macdonald followed Lauriston, Bessières supporting both with the cavalry of the guard. Macdonald's charging celumns arrived just as the artillery of Lauriston had made large breaches in the Austrian bodies. The French rushed into the gaps. A diversion from the extreme right aided them, and the centre of the archduke Charles, at Wagram, was driven in, routed, and the wings abandoned. It was then an easy task to take in the flank the corps already victorious over Massena. In short, the several portions of the Austrian army fled from the field in disorder, separated from one another. The French, however, had suffered too much to follow them. The guard did not charge with their wonted alacrity. This was attributed to its commander, Bessières, having had his horse carried from between his legs by a cannon shot, which of course stunned and incapacitated that officer for the time. In fact, the reverse of Essling had damped the courage of the French; and their troops at Wagram fought faintly wherever they wanted a bold and able general. Massena's hurt, Lannes' loss, Bessières' accident, had each an untoward effect at Wagram. Napoleon sought to replace Lannes by Macdonald, whom he created marshal on the field of battle.* Macdonald had been attached to Moreau, and hence had not been in favor with the emperor. But now all old grudges were forgotten between them, in admiration and reward on one side, gratitude on the other. The Saxons, under Bernadotte, had not shown any excess of courage in the action; still their commander, in a bulletin, attributed to them a great share in the success. Napoleon was so discontented with this, that he deprived Bernadotte of the command; an additional cause of quarrel between them. Wagram was a victory, but it was not a victory like Marengo or Austerlitz. The hostile army was defeated, but neither destroyed nor intercepted. The archduke Charles, formidable in force, and still more in military talents, had withdrawn into Moravia, awaited the army of his brother, and might have prolonged the campaign. Napoleon deemed * Oudinot and Marmont also were created mar als after Wagram. it prudent to make peace. Had he even the will, it was not possible to display the triumphant insolence shown to the Prussians after Jena. Spain had proved to be what he had foreseen, a political cancer. Most of the old veterans of the Italian wars had perished. The ardor of the conscripts who succeeded them was indeed equal in prosperous war; but the army of Wagram and Essling was no longer that of Austerlitz. Bernadotte spoke out this alarming truth to Napoleon after Essling, and it had not been forgiven. There was some fighting still at Znaim, on the road to Brunn and Austerlitz. But an armistice was concluded about the middle of July. Napoleon took up his quarters at Schoenbrunn, an imperial palace near Vienna, where he was at hand to control the course of the negotiation that ensued. Events were multiplying all around. The French emperor's decree against the pope had been met not with submission, but with excommunication; and the pontiff had been in consequence carried off from Rome by force to Savona. This violent measure turned the balance of Catholic opinion completely against him, although he had, perhaps, not approved of the conduct of his general. The pope made the resistance that became his station, and assumed the character of a suffering martyr. Miracles were said to be worked by his voice. "Thus the year 1809," says Norvins, "seemed to belong more to the middle ages than to the 19th century. It presented nothing but war, violence, excommunication, miracles, peasant insurrections, captivity, and treason. The oppression of the strong, the rebellion of the weak, was the scene presented once more by Europe." There had been some fighting in Westphalia, against insurgents. The gallant Schill had fallen. Hofer, more successful in the Tyrol, beat back the French under Lefebvre, and refused to acknowledge the armistice. Towards Warsaw, Austria had had the better of Napoleon's allies, the Poles under Poniatowski. An expedition from England, under lord Chatham, at the same time sailed to the Scheldt; but, instead of boldly aiming at Antwerp, it began with Walcheren and Flushing, and turned every way to the triumph of Napoleon. One circumstance connected with it nevertheless stirred his temper. Fouché had summoned the national guard of the northern departments to defend Antwerp. He gav the command to Bernadotte, but lately dismissed from the army at Vienna. In an address to his new army, the latter, an awkward courtier, bade it show that "the presence of the emperor was not indispensable to victory." The first act of Napoleon on learning this, was to dismiss Bernadotte from nis command; and Fouché shared his friend's disgrace. 1809. BATTLE OF TALAVERA. 239 After the embarkation of Moore's army at Corunna in January, Soult had overrun Gallicia. He then received orders to enter Portugal. He obeyed, forced a passage through the northern provinces, and took Oporto by storm on the last day of March. Towards the end of April Sir Arthur Wellesley had returned to Portugal, and assumed the command. His first care was to expel Soult from Oporto, which he effected in May, driving that general back into Spain. He then marched by the Tagus towards Madrid, hoping, by the aid of the Spanish, to overwhelm the army covering Madrid. Cuesta, the Spanish commander, was an impracticable churl; and to co-operate with him required even more management and skill than to fight the enemy. Wellesley, however, so managed, that the French actually beat Cuesta into line with him; and the Spanish troops thus forced into co-operation, the united armies fought the French at Talavera. Each side was about 50,000 strong, all French and veterans in the one camp; whereas in the other there were but 20,000 British, the Spanish under Cuesta making out the complement. These were posted on the right, touching the Tagus and the town of Talavera. In continuation of their line to the left, extended the British, crowning hills, of which the highest was that on the extreme left. The French were commanded by Victor, but with the experience of marshal Jourdan and the authority of king Joseph to aid him. On the evening of the 27th of July, there was an attack; but on the morrow the battle took place, consisting of a general attack by the French in columns upon the whole British line. It was stubborn fighting. The British had the advantage of position and defence, the disadvantage in numbers, the Spanish being utterly inefficient. At one moment the French were nearly successful, owing to a rash charge of the guards out of the line, and their consequent rout. A disposition of the English general remedied the blunder; the battle was restored, and gained; the French on all sides were repulsed. Yet the victory of Talavera proved rather a moral than a material advantage; Sir Arthur Wellesley, unable to contend with the French armies combined, being obliged to fall back upon Portugal. Conferences for peace continued between Napoleon at Schoenbrunn, and the Austrian court then established in Hungary. There was no submissiveness on the part of the conquered. The power of Napoleon was in fact shaken. His army was no longer invincible. The day of Essling counterbalanced that of Marengo, and the emperor Francis felt, that whatever might be the aspect cf the present, the future was 'nore threatening for his foe than for him. Napoleon made |
