196

TERMINATION OF FRENCH POWER IN HISPANIOLA. [A.D.

having a lunette in front of it, and connected by a covered way, named Le Bouillé, and it was armed with 120 cannon and mortars. The fort was completely invested, and six batteries raised against it, on the 19th. Five additional batteries were at the same time commenced on the side of Morne Sourier, which were nearly finished by the 22nd. Captain Brenton, who was present, made this characteristic remark upon these siege proceedings: "There is something indescribably animating in seeing British seamen in these operations. The novelty of acting on shore, and the hopes of coming into action, give a buoyancy to their spirits which carries them to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. 100 sailors, attached by their canvas belts to a 24-pounder, is one of the most amusing and exhilarating sights. On this occasion, when M. de Villaret was told how the sailors were dragging the cannon up the heights, having become pretty well experienced in British nautical life, exclaimed: Ah! c'en est fait de nous.""

The garrison kept up their fire with much spirit for a short time, but the British artillery was so well served, that most of the fort guns were quickly dismounted, and soon a great explosion announced that a magazine had been fired by the shells. The defenders were now compelled to take shelter in the casemates, and the Governor accordingly sent out a flag of truce on the 23rd, but the terms demanded being deemed inadmissible, the bombardment recommenced, and was continued till the morning of the 24th, when the Governor again raised a flag and accepted the capitulation. The army had not a single casualty in the siege; but the navy, who had undertaken the entire duty, lost 6 killed and 19 wounded. The French admitted the loss of 200 men.

After the capture of Martinique, the British land and sea forces steered for Les Saintes, where a squadron of three French ships of the line and two frigates had anchored for refuge. LieutenantGeneral Maitland immediately disembarked and took possession of the islands. Sir A. Cochrane, with the fleet, watched the three outlets by which the enemy could escape, but nevertheless, on the 14th of April, they put to sea, and at daylight were seen flying under a crowd of sail, with the "Pompée," Captain Fahie, in close pursuit. The chase, in which the "Latona" and "Castor" joined, was kept up with great spirit till the 16th, when, on the morning of the 17th, "Le D'Hautpoul," Captain Armand Le Duc, surrendered. The others escaped for the time, but were afterwards captured.

In San Domingo the French still held the city, the capital of the Spanish portion of the island. Accordingly, Vice-Admiral Rowley and Lieutenant General Carmichael were despatched from Jamaica in the early days of June, with about 1,400 men to drive them out, and on the 28th they landed at Polingur, and sat down before the city. General Barquier immediately proposed an armistice, which was refused, and everything was got in readiness for an assault; but a capitulation was signed on the 6th of July, when 1,200 French troops laid down their arms as prisoners of war. Thus terminated

1809.]

ABOLITION OF THE AULIC COUNCIL.

197

the existence of the French power in Hispaniola; and, now that Cuba and the other Spanish settlements in the Antilles were in alliance with Great Britain, she became mistress of every colony and possession in the Caribbean sea, the French flag was absolutely excluded from the West Indies.

13. WAR IN GERMANY.

Napoleon left Valladolid on the 17th of January, and riding on horseback as far as Bayonne, entered France on the 9th, and immediately proceeded post to Paris, where he arrived at the Tuileries like an apparition, in the night of the 22nd. He had received from Vienna, Munich, Dresden and Milan, the most convincing proofs that Austria had determined on war against him. During the winter, measures evidently indicating such an intention had been adopted by the Court of Vienna, such as opening the harbour of Trieste to the English flag, the appearance of articles hostile to the French emperor in the German journals, the knowledge of the existence of secret diplomatic relations with England, and the purchase there of considerable supplies of arms. At the same time, notwithstanding these straws in the wind, the Austrian Cabinet was undecided on the course they might finally adopt, and the prime minister, Count Stadion, was, on the question of war, in opposition to the Archduke Charles, on whom all hopes of success must depend, and who was inclined to peace. The difficulties of finance were readily got over by the offer of subsidies from England, and the difficulties attending the French invasion of Spain seemed to render the opportunity favourable for the Empire to recover its military character and its rank and influence in Europe. These considerations at length overcame the cautious foresight and prudence of the Archduke, and war was resolved upon, after much hesitation.

The preparations made by Austria, in anticipation of the war, were immense: the troops of the line amounted on paper to 271,040 infantry, 29,078 cavalry, and 776 guns, which were to take the field on the Danube, in Italy, in Galicia, and on the confines of Poland. In addition to this, 150,000 men of the landwehr were mobilized. German enthusiasm was roused through the means of the secret society called Tugend-bund; and the nationality of the Tyrol was animated to revenge on Napoleon the transfer of their allegiance from the House of Austria to Bavaria.

A very important change had taken place in the direction of the Austrian army. The Aulic Council had been abolished, and the Archduke Charles was appointed both generalissimo and war minister; in fact, supreme in military affairs. His two principal advisers were General Meyer and General Grünn: for some time these two could not agree as to the plan of the campaign. The original idea was to invade at once Franconia, Lombardy, Warsaw, and the Tyrol, in order to help the numerous ardent spirits and malcontents, on whom the Cabinet of Vienna had reason to calculate for aid in these movements. The disposable force was divided into

198

EXTRAORDINARY RESOURCES OF NAPOLEON.

[A.D.

nine corps, besides two in reserve. Of these, six comprised the army under the immediate command of the Archduke Charles, which might number 120,000 present with the standards. The 1st under Count Bellegarde, the 2nd under Count Kollowrath, the 3rd under Prince Hohenzollern, the 4th under Prince Rosenberg, the 5th under the Archduke Louis, the 6th under General Hiller; besides which there was the German reserve under Kienmayer, and the Hungarian reserve of Jellalich. Two, numbering 47,000 men, were placed under the direction of the Archduke John, to serve on the side of Italy, the Archduke Ferdinand commanding one corps, numbering 35,400 men, and 100 guns, which was to defend the Galician frontier. Besides these, the landwehr were under arms in Carinthia, Carniola, and Italy, and an organised insurrection of the Tyrol was under the direction of the Marquis Chastellan, who commanded the 8th corps, and the 9th under Giulay. Amongst these independent bodies were divided and distributed 518 pieces of artillery. At length, the plan was resolved upon to pour with the greatest force across the Bavarian frontier, maintaining an army of reserve in Bohemia, while the insurgents from the side of the Tyrol should at the same time assist to overwhelm that new-born monarchy. The corps of Bellegarde and Kollowrath assembled upon the Bohemian frontier early in April, ready to march upon Bayreuth and Ratisbon, while the corps of Hohenzollern, Rosenberg, the Archduke Louis, and Prince Lichtenstein were collected behind the Iser, ready to pour across that river into the kingdom of Bavaria. Kienmayer, with the reserve, was posted behind the Enns. The Archduke John's army was at the same time despatched from the neighbourhood of Tarvis to be ready to pour into Italy, having its left wing in Croatia to face the French army, under Marmont, which still held Dalmatia.

The combinations of Napoleon, which regarded as well the Peninsula as Germany, were made with his usual extraordinary activity. While he was yet in Spain, his untiring mind comprehended the most wonderful details of military organisation, and after his arrival at Paris, his personal energy inspired every department with fresh life and vigour. It was necessary to provide additional troops, and he therefore raised the annual contribution from the population from 80,000 to 100,000 men; but these conscripts required to be rendered fit for the ranks in the shortest period of time. The regiments were each raised to five battalions, and sent off to the army of the Rhine or retained under his own observation at Versailles, in order to expedite their drill. His forethought had already established great haras, or depôts for breeding horses, which could supply considerable numbers of those required for his cavalry, but it was necessary to obtain a stronger class of animals for his artillery, and these he now directed to be purchased in Alsace and elsewhere. The necessity of obtaining a good description of noncommissioned officers, a class so important, as every military man knows, for the efficiency of regimental organisation, occasioned him great anxiety, and called forth all the resources of his genius. He

1809.7

IMMENSE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.

199

had recourse to the Lycées or private schools to obtain well-educated military youths of 16 or 17 years of age, and ordered 300 to be provided by that of St. Cyr. Fouché, as Minister of Police, was desired to search out the young men of the families of emigrés who lived retired at their country seats, "pour soustraire aux efforts que faisait la génération présente pour la gloire et le grandeur de la génération future," and he was directed to intimate, on every hesitation at compliance, "que tel est mon bon plaisir." Nor was any consideration deemed too trifling, or omitted by this imperial soldier, for the full equipment of his army. He looked himself to the exertions of his engineers, and commanded that they should see to the proper armament of all the strong places in Italy, and to the completion of the most urgent new works. He even condescended to ordering them to supply additional spades, picks, and shovels for field-works. All these vast measures required great financial outlays: now the Customs duties had been seriously diminished by the decrees of Milan and Berlin, and these could not hope to improve, but, on the contrary, to diminish more and more. He could only, therefore, rely for any increase of means on direct taxation. It was at this time that he ferreted out a blot in the habits of the ReceiversGeneral, whom he called upon to pay into the Treasury the amount of the imposts as soon as they were received, and thus he got immediate possession of funds that had been habitually left in their hands for months. He also appears to have instituted a sort of Exchequer bill arrangement, by which he could still further advance for immediate use the anticipation of the direct taxes. By extraordinary exertions of vigilance, inquiry, and genius, he thus collected, without borrowing of the capitalists, money sufficient to carry his vast army forward into the rich valleys of the Danube, the Po, and the Vistula, where his experience told him he should find ample resources to maintain it.

Thus Napoleon took the field against Austria with nearly 360,000 men and 428 guns. Bernadotte, Davoust, Massena, Lannes, and Oudinot commanded in the grand army, with 132,527 infantry and 33,203 horses. While the Confederation of the Rhine sent contingents to the amount of 100,000 in Germans, 60,000 Italians were under Eugène in Italy, and 34,200 Poles under Poniatowski in Poland. Neither party appeared to precipitate the crisis. Austria still required time to complete her armaments and gather together her forces, while Napoleon had enough to do to concentrate his army, and was desirous not to unsheath the sword till he could be satisfied as to the probable policy of Russia in this crisis. He had long conversations with M. de Romanzoff, the Ambassador at Paris, and through him appealed to the Czar to co-operate openly with France, by sending an army to act against Galicia; but he was apprised that Prince Schwartzenberg had been despatched by the Emperor Francis to Alexander with adverse propositions, although Caulaincourt, the French Ambassador at St. Petersburg, assured him that they had been rejected. Subsequently, Alexander declared his intention of sending 50,000 men to the support of Poniatowski in Poland; but such a compromise

200

PROCLAMATION OF THE ARCHDUKE CHARLES.

[A.D.

evinced pretty clearly how little the Czar was disposed to join in the conflict, and Napoleon remarked, “ Aussi je compte plus sur moi que sur eux.”

The preparations for war and complications of diplomacy occupied the whole of February and March. But Napoleon did not relax his energies for an instant; he despatched Bernadotte to Dresden to take the command of the Saxon army, Davoust to Bamberg to take charge of the Würtemberg contingent; Massena assumed the command of the army on the Rhine, and Oudinot that of the force on the Danube, while Bessières was summoned to bring up the Imperial Guard by post from Burgos, in order to be ready to take the field with the Emperor. Towards the end of the month of March, when events had pretty well matured themselves, M. Daru was expedited to Germany to organise what the French happily term le matériel (which has no corresponding expression, I believe, in either English or German), the formation of magazines and hospitals, and under the head of transport to establish telegraphs and a service d'estafette between the theatre of war and Paris. Relays of post were also placed ready to convey the Emperor at the shortest notice direct to Augsburg or Würzburg. Marshal Berthier was sent, as MajorGeneral of the army, to the valley of the Danube to be ready for Napoleon's arrival to assume the supreme command, and with directions to concentrate the army immediately behind the Lech on the first symptoms of the enemy's offensive movements.

14. THREE AUSTRIAN ARMIES CROSS THE FRONTIER IN GERMANY, ITALY, AND THE TYROL.

On the 9th of April the Archduke Charles caused an intimation to be made to the General-in-Chief of the French army that, “in consequence of a declaration made by the Emperor Francis to the Emperor Napoleon, the army under his command would commence hostilities." Accordingly, on the morning of the 10th, the armies in Bohemia, Bavaria, and Italy were all set in motion, and 1,000 beacons were kindled over the rugged surface of the Tyrolean Alps. The Emperor of Austria established his quarters at Linz, and sent an aide-de-camp to apprise the King of Bavaria that he had given orders to his army to enter his kingdom; but, as the cause was the cause of Germany, His Imperial Majesty trusted that His Majesty would not be inconvenienced. For all answer, King Maximilian set off the same night to place himself behind the French army. The Archduke, at the head of his army, crossed the Inn at Braunau on the morning of the 10th; the remainder of the troops passed the river at Scharding and Mühlheim, or took the road to Munich by Wasserburg. The division on the extreme right marched straight on Passau, which surrendered at their summons. It was the 15th before the Austrian army were concentrated on the banks of the Iser, without having as yet seen an enemy, except some Bavarian patroles. On the 16th, General Radetzky, commanding the Austrian advanced guard, arrived at Landshut with a view to cross the Iser, and there found the Bavarians,

Gen