Galicia by the Russian forces, had not | blessings. The Archduke Ferdinand,

only made no dispositions to support the grand-duchy with external aid, but had retained the Saxons under Bernadotte for immediate support to the Grand Army on the Bohemian frontier; so that Poniatowsky found him. self, with not more than twelve thousand disposable troops, exposed in front of Warsaw to the attack of nearly triple that number of enemies. That renowned leader, however, who to an ardent love of his country united the most profound hatred of the strangers by whom it had been despoiled, and military talents of no ordinary kind, matured in the best school, that of misfortune, resolved to stand firm with this inconsiderable body; and, without invoking or trusting to the aid of the Russians, more hateful as allies than the Austrians as enemies, to rely on their own valour alone for the defence of the capital. He drew up his little army at Razyn with considerable skill, and for four hours opposed a gallant resistance to the enemy; but the contest was too unequal, between thirty thousand regular soldiers and twelve thousand men in great part recently levied; and he was at length obliged to retire with the loss of five hundred killed, a thousand wounded, and four pieces of cannon. Warsaw was now uncovered; and as Poniatowsky found himself unable to man the extensive works which had been begun for its defence, he was compelled, with bitter regret, to sign a capitulation, in virtue of which he was permitted to evacuate the capital, which two days afterwards was occupied by the Austrian troops.

with the view of paying a compliment to the inhabitants, sent a message to the Countess Stanislaus Potocka, a Polish lady of high rank, that he would visit her in the course of the evening. He expected to meet all the chief nobility in her saloons, but he found them deserted. The countess received him alone. The direction of the march of Poniatowsky was conceived with considerable skill, and had a powerful influence upon the fate of the campaign, for the Austrians had calculated upon his retiring to Saxony, and abandoning the grand-duchy to its fate; whereas the continuance of the Polish troops in the centre of that country both evinced a determination to defend it to the last extremity, and kept alive the spirit of the inhabitants by the assurance which it held out that they would not be deserted. The first care of Poniatowsky was to put the important fortresses of Modlin and Sierock in a respectable posture of defence; and having done so, he boldly, by the directions of Napoleon, left the enemy in possession of the capital and threefourths of the territory of the grandduchy, and threw himself upon the right bank of the Vistula, remounting that stream towards Galicia, whither Prince Gallitzin, at the head of twenty thousand auxiliary Russians, was slowly bending his steps. Meanwhile the Archduke Ferdinand more rapidly descended the left bank, and in the middle of May appeared before Thorn. In the course of this movement, Poniatowsky obtained intelligence that an Austrian division had crossed over to the right 60. Accompanied by the senate, au- bank of the Vistula, and lay unsupthorities, and principal inhabitants of ported at Ostrowck in front of Gora. Warsaw, Poniatowsky retired to the Rapidly concentrating a superior force, right bank of the Vistula, and took up he suddenly attacked the enemy, routa position between Modlin and Sierock, ed them, and made fifteen hundred on the Bug. The capital presented a prisoners. Thus the opposing armies mournful appearance on the entrance mutually passed and crossed each of the Imperialists; and in the melan- other: Poniatowsky, relying on the choly countenances of the citizens support of the Russians, menaced Gamight be seen how deep-seated was the licia and the Austrian provinces; while national feeling, which, notwithstand- the Austrians penetrated to the Lower ing all the political insanity of the Vistula, raised the standard of insurpeople which had subverted their inde-rection in the old Prussian provinces, pendence, still longed for that first of and threatened Dantzic itself.

61. An event occurred in the course | after all, I must make war on Alexof this expedition of the Archduke Fer- ander." dinand's light troops across the Vistula, 62. Conversing at Ebersdorf on this attended in the end with more impor- subject with Savary, who was in a petant consequences than any other in culiar manner admitted to his inmost the Polish campaign. In pursuing the thoughts, from having been formerly Austrians on the right bank of the ambassador at St Petersburg, he said, river, a courier was taken by the Poles "I was perfectly in the right not to with despatches from the Russian trust to such allies. What worse could general Gortschakoff, who lay with his | have happened if I had not made peace division at Brzesc, to the Archduke, in with the Russians? What have I which he congratulated him on his vic- gained by their alliance? It is more tory at Razyn and capture of Warsaw, than probable that they would have expressed hopes for his ulterior suc- declared openly against me, if a remcess, and breathed a wish that he might nant of regard to the faith of treaties soon join his arms to the Austrian had not prevented them. We must eagles. This letter was immediately not deceive ourselves; they have all forwarded to Napoleon, who received fixed a rendezvous on my tomb; but it at Schönbrunn in the end of May. they have not courage openly to set He was highly indignant at the disco- out thither. That the Emperor Alexvery, and transmitted the letter with- ander should not come to my assistout delay to St Petersburg, accom-ance is conceivable; but that he should panied by a peremptory demand for an explanation. The Russian cabinet hastened to make every reparation in their power: Gortschakoff's letter was disavowed, and he himself recalled from his command; while CHERNICHEFF, the aide-de-camp to Alexander, who was the military chargé d'affaires for the Czar at the headquarters of the French Emperor, exerted all his skill to remove the unfavourable impression produced by this unlucky discovery. Napoleon, who, after the battle of Aspern, had no need of another powerful enemy on his hands, feigned to be sa-poleon to Caulaincourt at this period tisfied, and the approach of the Russian troops to the theatre of war, soon after, caused the affair to be hushed up. He had wished that the Russians should have marched on Dresden to overawe Prussia; but to this the Czar would not consent, and Napoleon was obliged to feign consent to their advance into Galicia. Alexander accompanied this with a proposal that, in the event of the allied armies proving successful, Galicia should be ceded to Russia; but to this Napoleon would not accede. The two potentates were already irrevocably alienated. The impression made on Napoleon's mind was never effaced: he saw that the ascendant of Tilsit was at an end, and frequently repeated to those in his immediate confidence, "I see that,

permit Warsaw to be taken, in presence almost of his army, is indeed hardly credible: it is plain that I can no longer reckon on an alliance in that quarter. Perhaps he thinks he does me a great favour by not declaring war: by my faith! if I had entertained any doubt on that subject before engaging in the affairs of Spain, I should have cared very little for the part which he took. And yet, after all, they will probably say that I am wanting to my engagements, and cannot remain at peace." The instructions of Na

accordingly were, to appear satisfied, to make no complaint, but to regard all his former instructions as annulled.*

63. The most important political event, however, which flowed from the battle of Aspern was the commence

M. de Champagny to the Duke of Vicenza, "The Emperor's feelings are hurt,' said in a despatch of the 2d June: that is the reason why he does not write to the Emperor Alexander. He cannot express a confidence which he does not feel: he says nothing and does not complain. Forty thousand men in the Duchy of Warsaw would have been a real service. Look upon your old instructions as cancelled. Seem satisfied, but do not commit yourself. From the very circumstance that the Emperor no longer be lieves in the Russian alliance, it is desirable delusion.""-M. DE CHAMPAGNY to the DUC DE that the rest of Europe should share his former VICENCE, June 2, 1809; BIGNON, Viii. 247.

ment of a secret negotiation between | intelligence which would secure for Austria and Prussia, which, though him, on the first signal of hostilities, from the tardiness of England unsuc- Magdeburg and several other imporcessful at that juncture, was not with- tant fortresses; and strongly supportout its effect in future times, and show-ed the justice of Count Stadion's opined that the ancient jealousies which ion, so clearly expressed in his deshad wrought such wonders for French patch, that the fate of Prussia was supremacy were fast giving way under inseparably wound up with that of the pressure of common danger. Even Austria, and that the two monarchies before that great event, a vague corre- must stand or fall together. spondence had been kept up between the two courts; and in consequence of distant overtures transmitted, first through the Count de Goltz, and subsequently through the Prince of Orange, Colonel Steigenstesch had been sent by the cabinet of Vienna to Königsberg, where the King of Prussia then was, with a letter from the Emperor of Austria, in which he earnestly invited that monarch to declare openly for the common cause, and enter upon a concerted plan of military operations. Early in June the Emperor of Austria, in reply to a letter of the King of Prussia, wrote to the cabinet of Berlin, announcing that "the bearer was authorised to regulate the proportions of the forces to be employed on both sides, and the other arrangements not less salutary than indispensable for the security of the two states, in conformity with the overtures made by Count de Goltz." The proposals of Colonel Steigenstesch were, that as the war in which they were now engaged was of such a kind as was likely to decide for ever the fate of the respective monarchies, they should become bound to support each other with their whole forces; that the general direction of the campaign should be intrusted to the Imperial generalissimo; that they should mutually engage not to enter into a separate negotiation; and that the peace to be ultimately concluded should embrace not only their own, but the interests of the adjoining states. These propositions were warmly supported by Scharnhorst and Blucher, and the whole war or patriotic party in the Prussian dominions. The former offered in a fortnight's time to have fifty, in a month a hundred and twenty thousand, disciplined soldiers under arms: he assured the King of secret

64. On this occasion, the cupidity and exorbitant demands of the Prussian cabinet again marred the prospect of a European alliance, and prolonged for four years longer the chains and misery of their country. Still clinging to the idea that victory must be clearly pronounced before they declared themselves, and that they might turn to some good account the dangers and distresses of Austria, the Prussian government replied, that they had every disposition to assist the cabinet of Vienna, but that they were in want alike of arms, ammunition, and money; that they could not take a part in the contest till the views of Russia in regard to it were known; and that they must have the guarantee of a treaty for the intentions of Austria, in the event of success, before they took a place by her side. To the envoy of the Imperial government, however, it was insinuated that "a great stroke would determine the irresolution of the cabinet of Berlin;" but that, in that event, they would expect not merely the restoration of all the Prussian provinces of Poland, but also Austria's share in the partition, Anspach, Baireuth, a part of Saxony, and various lesser provinces, ceded at different times to France or other powers. It was, of course, beyond Colonel Steigenstesch's powers to accede to such extravagant demands: they were referred, with the proposal for a separate treaty, to the cabinet of Vienna; and meanwhile the negotiation, notwithstanding all the care of those engaged in it, to a certain degree transpired. A joint requisition was made by the ministers of France and Russia for a communication of the proposals of Austria; and although this inconvenient demand was eluded at the moment, Steigenstesch was obliged to

quit Berlin, and before diplomatic re- | nel: fame had magnified to a hundred lations could be established in any thousand armed men and forty sail of other channel, of which the King of the line the forces to be employed on Prussia still held out the prospect, the the occasion; the Scheldt, the Elbe, battle of Wagram had taken place, and the Seine itself, were alternately asAustria, beset on all sides, and unsup- signed as the probable destination of ported by any Continental power, was this gigantic armament; and Napodriven to a separate accommodation. leon, with all his resources, was too clear-sighted not to perceive that he might ere long be overmatched by the strength of a more formidable confederacy than he had yet encountered; that the English standards would soon rouse the might of northern Germany into mortal hostility; and that a second reverse on the shores of the Danube would at once dissolve his splendid dominion, and bring the forces of Europe in appalling strength to the banks of the Rhine.

65. Affairs wore a menacing aspect for the interests of Napoleon in more distant parts of his vast dominions. England, seeming to rise in vigour and resources as the contest advanced, was making her giant strength be felt in more than one quarter of Europe. Wellington had again landed in Portugal; the consternation produced by the Corunna retreat had passed away; and Soult, defeated on the banks of the Douro, had with difficulty escaped from the north of Lusitania by the sacrifice of all his artillery and baggage. The Spanish armies were again assembling in the south of Castile; large forces were collecting in the plains of La Mancha; and everything indicated that, ere long, a formidable demonstration against the Spanish capital would be made by the united English and Peninsular forces. A considerable expedition was preparing in the harbours of Sicily to transport a large body of English and Sicilian troops into the south of Italy, where it was well known their presence would speedily produce a general insurrection. This was the more to be dreaded, notwithstanding the well-known imbecility of the Italians in military operations, that the recent annexation of the whole Ecclesiastical States to the French empire had aroused, as might have been expected, the most vehement hostility on the part of the Roman See and its numerous adherents in the Italian states. At the same time General Miollis, the French governor of Rome, had so small a force at his command that it would be compelled, in all probability, to yield to the first summons of the Anglo-Sicilian forces. Lastly, the English, not content with their exertions in other quarters, were, it was well known, preparing an expedition of unprecedented magnitude in the harbours of the Chan

66. The impression produced over the Continent by the battle of Aspern was immense. It dissipated in a great degree the charm of Napoleon's invincibility; and, more even than the dubious carnage of Eylau, diffused a general hope that the miseries of foreign domination were approaching their termination, and that a second victory over the remains of the French army, now shut up in the island of Lobau, would at once restore freedom to an injured world. While the English nation abandoned themselves to transports of joy at the prospects which were thus dawning upon Europe, active endeavours were made by Austria to turn to the best account the extraordinary prosperous change which had taken place in their fortunes. Not discouraged. by the failure of former attempts to rouse the north of Germany, the Duke of Brunswick-Oels again advanced from Zittau, at the head of his gallant band of volunteers, towards Westphalia: while a considerable body of Imperial landwehr from Bohemia, under General Amende, invaded Saxony; and another, under Radivojivich, five thousand strong, overran Franconia and penetrated to Baireuth. The forces remaining in that kingdom, the bulk of which had been drawn under Bernadotte to the banks of the Danube,

* See Chaps. LX. and LXI. where the events. here alluded to are narrated.

were in no condition to oppose this | pation has arrived: none more favourirruption; and the royal family, flying able can ever be desired."-"Aspern," from their dominions, took refuge in said General Radivojivich, who had France. Dresden and Leipsic were penetrated into Franconia, and occuoccupied by the Austrian troops; pied Baireuth with five thousand men Baireuth and Bamberg fell into their from Egra, in Bohemia-" Aspern has hands; the insurrection spread over destroyed the invincibility of Napoall Franconia and Suabia; symptoms leon! Arm yourselves for the cause of of disaffection were breaking out in liberty, of justice, of Austria, to deliSaxony and Westphalia; and a chain ver Europe and the human race."of Austrian posts, extending from the "You combat," said Noditz, one of the Elbe, by Nuremberg and Stockach, to chiefs of the Tugendbund, to the Prusthe mountains of the Tyrol, entirely sians of Baireuth, "in order to restore cut of the communication between your country to your beloved King." France and the Grand Army. Mean- The Duke of Brunswick's volunteers while the most energetic appeals were wore a light-blue uniform, with a made everywhere by the Austrian com- death's head and cross-bones on their manders to the people of their own and cloaks, to indicate the mortal hostility all the adjoining countries, to take up in which they were engaged, from arms; while Napoleon, weakened by a whence they acquired the name of the disastrous battle on the banks of the Death's Head Hussars. The officers Danube, could maintain himself only were distinguished from the privates, by a concentration of all his forces in a corps where all were respectable, under the walls of Vienna. only by a small cross on their arms. The Duke himself was as simply dressed as any of his followers: he shared their fare-slept beside them on the ground-underwent their fatigues. These martial qualities, joined to the ascendant of a noble figure and unconquerable intrepidity, so won the hearts of his followers, that they disdained to desert him even in the wreck of the fortunes of Germany, after the battle of Wagram; followed his standard with dauntless confidence across all Westphalia and Hanover, embarked in safety for England, and lived, as will appear in the sequel, to flesh their swords in the best blood of France on the field of Waterloo.

67. "Germans!" said the Duke of Brunswick, "will you continue to combat Germans? Will you, whose mothers, wives, and sisters have been outraged by the French, shed your blood in their defence? It is your brothers who now invoke you-come to break your fetters -to avenge the liberty of Germany! To arms, then, Hessians, Prussians, Brunswickers, Hanoverians! all who bear the honourable name of Germans, unite for the deliverance of your fatherland, to wipe away_its shame and avenge its wrongs. Rise to deliver your country from a disgraceful yoke, under which it has so long groaned. The day of its emanci

CHAPTER LIX.

CAMPAIGN OF WAGRAM.

1. BOTH the military and political | ditional defeat, would expose him to position of Napoleon was now full of peril; and it was obvious to all the world, that a single false step, one ad

certain ruin. But it was precisely in such circumstances that his genius shone forth with the brightest lustre,