"Well, I would rather have the cross," and the worthy grenadier could not be moved from that point. It took much explaining to make him understand that the title of Knight of the Empire carried with it the Legion of Honor. He was not appeased on this point until the Emperor had fastened the decoration on his breast, and he seemed to think a great deal more of this than of his annuity of 1200 francs.
It was by familiarities of this kind that the Emperor made the soldiers adore him, but as Marbot again well says, it was a means that was only available to a commander whom frequent victories had made illustrious; any other general would have impaired his reputation by it.
Napoleon now sent an aide-de-camp to Lannes urging him to expedite the taking of Ratisbon. This intrepid marshal had directed all his artillery against a projecting house which rose above the wall surrounding the town. The house was knocked down and the ruins fell into the ditch. Still there were two fortified positions to take. Ladders were procured and placed at the critical points by the grenadiers, but every time one of them appeared he was instantly brought down by the well-aimed balls of the Austrian sharpshooters. After some men had been thus struck, the rest appeared to hang back. Thereupon Lannes advanced, covered with decorations, seized one of the ladders and cried out: "You shall see that your marshal, for all he is a marshal, has not ceased to be a grenadier!" Two aides-de-camp sprang forward and snatched the ladder out of his hands, and the grenadiers followed them, took the ladders, and, notwithstanding the continued fire of the sharpshooters, made the crossing in safety, followed by hundreds of others in an instant.
The walls being scaled, the town was soon in the hands of the French, who rushed along the blazing streets taking prisoners in all directions. Suddenly they were stopped with a cry of terror uttered by the Austrians; "Take care, we shall all be blown up!" shouted an officer. There were some barrels of powder left in the street which were in danger of being fired by the shots exchanged on either side. The belligerents stopped with one accord and joined hands in removing the barrels to a place of safety. The Austrians then withdrew and left the town to the French troops.
After the taking of Ratisbon Napoleon issued an address to his soldiers complimenting them highly on their valor. "You have justified my expectations," he said. "You have made up for numbers by your courage; you have gloriously marked the difference which exists between the soldiers of Cæsar and the armies of Xerxes. In a few days we have triumphed in the three battles of Tann, Abensberg and Eckmuhl, and the affairs of Peising, Landshut and Ratisbon. One hundred pieces of cannon, fifty thousand prisoners, three equipages, three thousand baggage wagons, all the funds of the regiments, are the results of the rapidity of your marches, and of your courage.... Before a month we shall be in Vienna!"
Thus in five days, in spite of inferiority of numbers and of the unfavorable manner in which his lieutenants had distributed an inferior force; by the sole energy of his genius, did Napoleon triumph over the main force of his opponent. The Emperor reviewed his army on the 24th, distributing rewards of all sorts with a lavish hand. Upon Davoust he bestowed the title of Duke of Eckmuhl.
On May 3rd a body of 30,000 Austrians remaining from the army of Landshut, fell back upon Ebersberg, where Massena engaged in a stubborn battle, General Claparéde being obliged to defend himself for three hours with but 7,000 men against 30,000 Austrians. Reinforcements at last arrived and the enemy retired in disorder upon the Ens, where they burned the bridge so as to protect their flight in the direction of Vienna. The battle cost the Austrians 12,000 men, of whom 7,500 were prisoners. The field of carnage was hideous, and the town of Ebersberg was so wrapped in flames that the wounded could not be withdrawn. To prevent the fire from reaching the bridge it had been necessary to cut off the approach at either end, so that communication was interrupted for several hours between the troops who had crossed the river and those coming to their aid. Napoleon had galloped up on hearing the cannonade, and though inured to all the horrors of war, is said to have been greatly shocked at the sight he beheld.
Passing before the ruins of the castle of Dirnstein, on an eminence beyond the Molck, and in the direction of Vienna, whither he was going, Napoleon said to Marshal Lannes, who was at his side: "Look! Behold the prison of Richard Coeur de Lion. Like us, he went to Syria and Palestine. Coeur de Lion, my brave Lannes, was not braver than thou. He was more fortunate than I at St. Jean d'Acre. The Duke of Austria sold him to an emperor of Germany who had him imprisoned there. That was in the barbarous ages. How different to our own civilization! You have seen how I treat the Emperor of Austria, whom I could have taken prisoner. Ah! well! I shall treat him again in the same manner. It is not my wish, but that of the age!"
From Molck the headquarters of the Emperor were transferred to St. Polten and two days later, at 9 o'clock in the morning, Napoleon was at Vienna, which he desired to take forthwith, but to take without destroying if possible.
Meeting with resistance in entering the city, the inhabitants having prepared for a vigorous defense, Napoleon began to play with his heavy batteries upon the city. The bombardment soon convinced them that it was hopeless to resist, and Vienna surrendered May 12th after suffering severely. In a few hours eighteen hundred shells had fallen in the city. The streets were narrow, the houses high, and the population crowded within the narrow fortifications, were terrified and infuriated at the sight of the damage caused by the shells which started fires in every direction. Who would have said to the Viennese, who were then hurling all manner of imprecations at Napoleon, the author of all their woes, that ten months later they would be singing the praise of this detested Emperor, and would be voluntarily setting French flags in their windows as symbols of friendship?
All the royal family had fled except the young Archduchess Marie Louise, who was detained in the palace, suffering from small-pox. When Napoleon heard she was sequestered there he ordered that no battery should be directed to that part of the town in which lay she who was destined to be his bride within less than a year! At this time Napoleon himself would no doubt have laughed heartily had he been told that in that palace was a woman who was to succeed Josephine in his struggle for a dynasty, to be Empress of the French, and later, to bear him the long wished for son and heir.
That Marie had no such thoughts or inclinations can readily be guessed from the fact of the present campaign in which her father, the Emperor, was battling for his Empire. The Emperor Francis had left his capital on April 8th, 1809, leaving there his wife and children, but all of whom departed, except Marie, on May 5th. From Vienna Marie wrote frequently to her father. A rumor had reached the capital that the battle of Eckmuhl had been a brilliant victory for the Austrians, and the young Archduchess wrote to her father on April 25th: "We have heard with delight that Napoleon was present at the great battle which the French lost. May he lose his head as well! There are a great many prophecies about his speedy end, and people say that the Apocalypse applies to him. They maintain that he is going to die this year at Cologne, in an inn called the 'Red Crawfish.' I do not attach much importance to these prophecies, but how glad should I be to see them come true!"
On May 13th the capitulation of the Austrian capital was signed, and Napoleon's army again entered Vienna, the Emperor taking up his old quarters at the imperial palace of Schoenbrunn. He said to his soldiers: "The people of Vienna, according to the expression of the deputation, wearied, deserted, widowed, shall be the object of your regards. I take the inhabitants under my special protection. As for the turbulent and ill-disposed, I will make a severe example of them. Let us be kind towards the poor peasants, towards these good people, who have so many claims upon our esteem. Let us not be vain of all our successes; but look upon them as a proof of that divine justice which punishes ingratitude and perjury."
The Austrian army, in abandoning the capital of the Empire, had not renounced the war, although in thirty-three days Napoleon had, with one stroke of his sword, cut in two the mass of their armies, and with a second burst open the gates of Vienna. He was now firmly established in that capital, and master of the main resources of the monarchy; but his work was far from being done, either in Austria or in Germany. A great difficulty remained to be overcome,—that of crossing a vast river in the face of the enemy, and to give battle with the river behind him. This difficulty Napoleon had been unable to prevent, and it resulted inevitably from the nature of things. On leaving Ratisbon he had been obliged to take the route which was shortest, thus keeping the two main divisions of the Austrian army separated from each other. He was consequently obliged to march along the right bank of the Danube, abandoning the left to the Austrians, but securing to himself exclusively the means of crossing from the one to the other.
The Archduke Charles was soon tempted to quit the fastness of Bohemia, and try once more the fortune of a battle. Having re-established the order, and recruited the numbers of his army to 100,000 men, he was soon posted on the banks of the Danube. Opposite were the French, and the river being greatly swollen, and all the bridges destroyed, the two armies seemed separated by an impassable barrier. Napoleon determined to pass it and after an unsuccessful attempt at Nussdorff, met with better fortune at Ebersdorff, where the river is broad and intersected by a number of low and woody islands, the largest of which bears the name of Lobau. Here Massena had thrown several bridges over the arms of the Danube.
On these islands Napoleon established the greater part of his army on May 19th, and on the following day made good his passage by means of a bridge of boats to the left bank of the Danube, where he took possession of the villages of Asperne and Essling, with so little show of opposition that it became evident that the Archduke wished the inevitable battle to take place with the river between his enemy and Vienna.
On the 21st, at daybreak, the Archduke appeared on a rising ground, separated from the French position by an extensive plain. His whole force was divided into five heavy columns and protected by not less than two hundred pieces of artillery. The battle began at 4 o'clock in the afternoon with a furious assault on the village of Asperne, which was taken and retaken several times, and remained at nightfall in the occupation partly of the French and partly of the assailants, who had established themselves in the church and churchyard. Essling sustained three attacks also, but there the French remained in complete possession. At one time Lannes, who defended this point, was so hard pressed, that he must have given way had not Napoleon relieved him, and obtained him a breathing spell by a well-timed and terrific charge of cavalry under Bessieres, which fell upon their centre.
Night finally interrupted the action, the Austrians exulting in their partial success; and Napoleon surprised that he should not have been wholly victorious. On either side the carnage had been terrible, and the pathways of the villages were literally choked with the dead.
Just as Napoleon was about to retire for a few hours' rest he was interrupted by a violent altercation between two of his chief lieutenants, Bessieres and Lannes, the former of whom complained of the language used by the latter, his inferior in rank, in giving a necessary order for a charge of cuirassiers and chasseurs, then under the orders of Marshal Bessieres himself. Massena, who was on the spot, was obliged to interfere between these gallant men, who after having braved for a whole day the cross-fire of 300 pieces of cannon, were ready to draw their swords for the sake of their offended pride. Napoleon allayed their quarrel, which was to be terminated next day by the enemy in the saddest way for themselves and for the army.
Next morning the battle recommenced at 4 o'clock with equal fury, the French recovering Asperne; but the Austrian right wing renewed its assaults on that point, and in such numbers that Napoleon guessed that their centre and left had been weakened for the purpose of strengthening their right. Believing this he instantly moved such masses upon the Austrian centre that the Archduke's line was shaken, and for a moment it seemed as if the victory of the French was secure. In fact it was extremely doubtful if the Austrian centre could withstand the mass of 20,000 infantry and 6,000 horse which Lannes had thrown upon it.
The Archduke Charles now hastened to the spot to prevent the catastrophe that threatened his centre, and in this critical moment discharged at once the duties of a general and a common soldier. He brought up reserves, replaced the gaps which had been made in his line by the furious onslaught of the French, and while awaiting the execution of these orders, seized a standard and himself led the grenadiers to the charge, while his bravest officers were struck down by his side. Lannes, who also headed his soldiers in person, seeing the Austrian infantry disordered, let loose upon them Bessieres and his own cuirassiers, who, charging Hohenzollern's corps, broke several squares and took prisoners, cannon and flags.
Success now seemed certain, and Lannes sent a staff officer to acquaint Napoleon of his progress and asked him to cover his rear whilst he was advancing in the plain and leaving so large a space between him and Essling. The officer found Napoleon watching the grand spectacle of which he was the director. He did not express anything like the satisfaction he might have been expected to feel at such a communication. The fact was, an unfortunate accident had occurred. At this critical moment the bridge connecting the island of Lobau was being wholly swept away by means of fire-ships sent down the river by the Austrians. Napoleon at once perceived that if he wished to preserve his communication with the right of the Danube, where his reserve still lay, he must instantly fall back on Lobau. The want of troops, however, was not the first consequence of the rupture of the bridge, for the 60,000 already passed over were enough to beat the Austrians. What was most to be regretted was the want of ammunition, a prodigious quantity of which had already been consumed, and of which there would soon be a scarcity.
Napoleon therefore resolved upon a painful sacrifice in order not to expose himself to risks which prudence forbade him to brave. Having formed this resolution, in an instant he ordered the staff officer to return to Lannes as fast as possible and tell him to suspend the movement and fall back gradually on the Essling and Asperne line. He was also to recommend the marshal to be sparing of ammunition.
On receiving this order Lannes and Bessieres were compelled, to their deep regret, to halt in the midst of the vast plain of Marchfield. No sooner did the French troops commence their backward movement than the Austrians recovered their order and zeal, charged in turn, and finally made themselves masters of Asperne.
Essling, where Massena commanded, held firm, and under the protection of that village and numerous batteries erected near it, Napoleon succeeded in withdrawing his whole force during the night. The Commander had sent earlier in the day to inquire of Massena if he could rely on the possession of Asperne; for as long as it and Essling remained, the safe retreat of the army was insured. The staff officer who took the message found Massena on a heap of rubbish, harassed with fatigue, with blood-shot eyes, but with unabated energy of spirit.
On receiving the message he stood up and replied with extraordinary emphasis: "Go tell the Emperor I will hold out two hours,—twenty-four—so long as it is necessary for the safety of the army!"
It was during this exciting retreat that a dreadful calamity befell the army. Whilst Lannes was galloping in front of the line from one corps to another, encouraging the soldiers by his voice and example, an officer who was alarmed at seeing him exposed to so much danger, entreated him to dismount for greater safety. He followed the advice, though it was far from his habit to be careful of his life. At that instant he was struck by a cannon ball that shattered both his knees. Bessieres and an aide raised him up, and found him bathed in blood and almost senseless. Bessieres, with whom he had quarreled on the preceding day, pressed his weak hand. He was laid on a cuirassier's cloak and carried to a little bridge where an ambulance was stationed. The news soon spread through the army and filled it with sorrow. The surgeon declared his wounds to be mortal.
In his frenzy the brave marshal called for Napoleon, his friend. The latter observed a group advancing, supporting Lannes on a bier formed of crossed fire-locks and some branches of oak. Twelve old grenadiers, covered with blood and dust, bore this illustrious warrior along. As soon as the Emperor saw it was the Duke of Montebello he hastened to meet him. The grenadiers stopped, and Napoleon, throwing himself upon his old companion-in-arms, who had fainted from the loss of blood, in a voice scarcely articulate, said, several times, "Lannes, my friend, do you know me? It is the Emperor, it is Bonaparte, your friend."
At these words Lannes opened his eyes, till then closed, collected his spirits, and made some attempts to speak; but, being unable, he could only lift his dying arms to pass them round the neck of Napoleon. The fear of exhausting the little life still remaining in the marshal determined the Emperor to leave him.
Sometime later Napoleon visited his wounded friend and conversed with him briefly. "My noble marshal," said the Emperor, "It is all over." "What!" cried the dying man, "can't you save me?" He died in delirium some days later in the arms of his chief, who wept over him as he had done at the death of Desaix at Marengo. The French soldiery delighted to call him the "Roland of the Camp," and Napoleon said, "It was impossible to be more brave than Lannes." No man could inspire his troops with more confidence than could this brave soldier who had been the companion of the fortunes and glory of Napoleon from the very beginning of his public career.
Napoleon had charged Lannes to maintain Essling at all hazards and he valiantly fulfilled his task. At length, at nine at night, the sanguinary conflict ceased; the French preserving the position they had occupied in the morning, and the Austrians bivouacking where they were. Both sides sustained an equal loss, from fifteen to twenty thousand men having been killed, or wounded, on both sides. Among the Austrians were four field-marshals, eight generals and six hundred and sixty-three officers killed or wounded.
On the morning of the 23rd of May the French were cooped up in Lobau and the adjacent islands,—Asperne and Essling—the whole left bank of the river, remaining in the possession of the Austrians. On either side a victory was claimed. In the eyes of Europe it was a check for Napoleon, accustomed to crush his enemy, to have been unable at this time to drive the Austrians from their position.
The situation of the French Emperor was imminently hazardous; he was separated from Davoust and his reserves, and, had the enemy either attacked him in the islands, or passed the river higher up and so overwhelmed Davoust and relieved Vienna, the results might have been fatal. But the Archduke's loss in these two days had been very great; and, in place of risking an offensive movement, he contented himself with strengthening the position of Asperne and Essling, and awaiting quietly the moment when his enemy should choose to attempt once more the passage to the left bank, and the reoccupation of these stubbornly contested villages.
Napoleon availed himself of this pause with his usual skill. That he had been checked was true, and that the news would be heard with enthusiasm, he well knew. It was necessary, therefore, to regain the fame which had surrounded the beginning of the campaign, and he made every preparation for another decisive battle. Some weeks elapsed ere he ventured to assume the offensive.
On the 4th of July, 1809, Napoleon at last re-established his communication with the right bank, and arranged the means of passing to the left at a point where the Archduke had made hardly any preparation for receiving him. On the 5th of July, at 10 o'clock at night, the French began to cross from the islands in the Danube to the left bank. Gunboats prepared for the purpose silenced some of the Austrian batteries; others were avoided by passing the river out of reach of their fire on bridges that had been secretly erected by the French. When Napoleon had a river to be crossed he began the operation by suddenly conveying some determined men to the opposite side in boats. These proceeded to disarm or kill the enemy's advanced posts, and to fix the moorings to which the boats were to be attached that were to carry the bridge. The army then passed over as quickly as possible.
The first of these operations was the most difficult in presence of an enemy so numerous and so well prepared as were the Austrians. To facilitate it, Napoleon had large flat boats constructed, capable of carrying 300 men each, and having a moving gunwale to protect the men from musketry, which on being let down, would serve instead of planks for landing. Every corps was provided with five of these flat-boats, which made an advance guard of 1500 men carried over at once, and the enemy, not knowing exactly where the crossing would be made, could not confront the French with advanced posts in sufficient numbers to prevent their landing.
The Austrians having rashly calculated that Asperne and Essling must needs be the object of the next contest, as of the preceding, they were taken almost unawares by Napoleon's appearance in another quarter. They changed their line on the instant and occupied a position, the centre and key of which was the little town of Wagram. Here, on the 6th of July, the final and decisive battle was to be fought. Adding together the troops of Massena, Oudinot, Davoust, Bernadotte, Prince Eugene, Macdonald, Marmont, de Wrede and the Guard, there appeared to be 150,000 men; of whom 26,000 were cavalry and 12,000 artillerymen serving 550 guns; an enormous force, such as Napoleon had never yet mustered on a field of battle, and according to some authorities, such a host as had never been brought into action by any leader. Besides this vast force Napoleon had with him the invincible Massena, who was then suffering from a fall from his horse, but who was capable of mastering all physical sufferings on a day of battle; the stubborn Davoust, the impetuous Oudinot, the intrepid Macdonald, and a multitude of others who were ready to purchase the triumph of the French arms with their blood. The heroic Lannes was the only one missing. Fate had forbidden him to witness a victory to which he had powerfully contributed by his conduct in this campaign.
When the day dawned on the banks of the river, about 4 o'clock in the morning, a most imposing spectacle presented itself to both armies. The sun glistened on thousands of bayonets and helmets, and seventy thousand men were already in line of battle on the enemy's side of the river capable of making a good fight with the Archduke's forces. Seeing Napoleon ride along the front of the lines his soldiers raised their shakos on their bayonets and cried: "Vive l'Empereur!" The ground covered by the two armies was about two leagues in extent. The troops nearest were about 1200 fathoms from the city of Vienna, so that the towers, steeples, and tops of the highest houses, were covered by the numerous population, thus become spectators of the terrible contest then preparing.
The Archduke had extended his line over too wide a space, and his former error enabled Napoleon to at once see an opportunity to ruin him by his old device of pouring the full shock of his strength on the centre. In fact, so apparently weak was the position of the Austrians at this time that the Emperor, in his bulletin of the engagement sent to Paris, had this to say: "This disposition of the army appeared so absurd that some snare was dreaded, and the Emperor hesitated some time before ordering the easy dispositions which he had to make in order to annul those of the enemy, and render them fatal to him." At sunrise the cannonade commenced upon the two lines. Napoleon, perceiving that the Prince of Rosemberg was moving upon Marshal Davoust, repaired in person to the right wing, which he reinforced with the cuirassiers under General Arrighe, and caused twelve pieces of light artillery to advance upon the flank of the enemy's columns. After an obstinate engagement of two hours' duration, Davoust succeeded in repulsing his adversary as far as Neusiedel.
While the French army thus signalized itself by success in the beginning of the day, the battle was carried along the rest of the line with great determination. The fire of musketry and cannon was now general on that vast front of nearly three leagues, along which 300,000 men and 1100 pieces of cannon were arrayed against each other. It was a principle of Napoleon's that by concentrating on one point the action of certain special arms that grand effects were to be produced, and therefore it was that he bestowed an immense amount of artillery on the Guard and had kept under his hand a reserve of fourteen regiments of cuirassiers.
The Emperor now ordered that the whole of the artillery of the Guard, together with all that could be spared by the several corps, advance at a gallop. Just then General de Wrede arrived on the ground with twenty-five pieces of excellent artillery, and solicited the honor of taking part in the decisive movement, to which Napoleon consented. He then sent for General Macdonald, his design being to shake the Austrian centre with 100 guns, and then pierce it with Macdonald's bayonets and Nansouty's sabres. These orders were obeyed on the instant.
While awaiting the carrying out of these movements, impatient for the arrival of Macdonald and Lauriston, Napoleon rode about the field on his Persian horse of dazzling whiteness, giving orders to his aides constantly. The cannonading had by this time acquired the frequency of musket-firing, and everybody shuddered at the thought of seeing the man, on whose life so many destinies depended, struck by one of those blind messengers of death. The hundred guns were now ranged in line and instantly began the most tremendous slaughter ever known to those who witnessed it. Napoleon observed with his glass the effect of that formidable battery, saw the enemy's artillery dismounted, and was satisfied with the correctness of his own conceptions. But artillery was not sufficient to break the Austrian centre; bayonets, too, were requisite.
The intrepid Macdonald now advanced at the head of his corps under a deluge of fire, leaving the ground covered at every step with his dead and wounded, still closing the ranks without wavering, and communicating his own gallant bearing to his soldiers. "What a brave man!" Napoleon exclaimed several times, as he saw him thus march under the shower of grape and bullets. The Archduke's centre, shaken by the fire of a hundred pieces of ordinance, retreats, as does also his right. Davoust now shakes the Austrian left wing, and as he does so Napoleon exclaims: "The battle is won!",—and so it was. Lauriston, with a hundred pieces of cannon, and Macdonald at the head of a chosen division, charged the Austrians in the centre and broke through it. The victory was for the French once more.
At length the Austrian army fell into disorder, their centre was driven back two or three miles out of the line; cries of alarm were heard, the right wing gave way and the left soon followed. The rout was now complete. At the close of the battle there remained 20,000 prisoners, besides all the artillery and baggage in the hands of the French. Napoleon showed all his courage and talents on this day, and was ever in the hottest of the action, though the appearance of his retinue drew on him showers of grape by which he was repeatedly endangered. From early morning, he was occupied in galloping through the different lines, encouraging the troops by his presence and persuasive eloquence; many being killed by the balls that flew about him. It was observed that the enemy's fire was particularly directed against the Emperor; in consequence of which Napoleon was obliged to change his surtout three times. The aides-de-camp and officers of the staff were also given to understand that they should keep more at a distance, and the regiments were instructed not to salute the Emperor with acclamations at the moment he was passing.
On the following morning, after surveying the field of battle, Napoleon went to place himself in the midst of his troops who were about to pursue the retreating enemy. He walked round the bivouacs without either hat or sword, his hands being crossed behind him, and as he talked with the soldiers of his Guard his manner and countenance expressed the utmost satisfaction and confidence. On passing Macdonald, with whom he had lost favor, and who had not followed the fortunes of the Emperor for some years, Napoleon stopped and held out his hand, saying: "Shake hands, Macdonald; no more animosity between us, we must henceforth be friends; and, as a pledge of my sincerity, I will send you your marshal's staff, which you so gloriously earned in yesterday's battle." The general, pressing the Emperor's hand affectionately, exclaimed: "Ah, sire; with us it is henceforth for life and for death." The act was heightened by the grace and good will with which it was performed. The same rank was granted a few days after to General Oudinot and the Duke of Ragusa (Marmont), for their eminent services.
After the battle Napoleon recognized among the dead a colonel who had displeased him. He stopped and looked at the mangled body for a moment and then said, "I regret not having told him before the battle that I had forgotten everything."
The Archduke fled in great confusion as far as Znaim in Moravia, abandoning, as trophies of his defeat, ten standards, forty pieces of cannon, nearly 18,000 prisoners, nine thousand wounded, and a great quantity of equipage.
The loss of the French, while much less than that of the enemy, was 6,000 wounded and 2,600 killed. Marshal Bessieres was among the former. The French army had to lament the loss of the valiant LaSalle, one of the first generals of light cavalry. His death was greatly regretted both by the Emperor and the army. He was considered the best light cavalry officer for outpost duty and had the surest eye. He could take in a whole district in a moment, and seldom made a mistake, so that his reports on the enemy's position were clear and precise. He was a handsome man of bright wit, an excellent horseman and brave to the point of rashness. He first attracted the notice of General Bonaparte at the battle of Rivoli when he galloped down a descent to which the fleeing Austrians had resorted to escape, and took some thousand prisoners under the eyes of General Bonaparte and the army. From that time LaSalle was in high favor with Napoleon who promoted him rapidly and took him to Egypt where he made him colonel. He distinguished himself at Austerlitz and in Prussia.
The Imperial Council perceived that further resistance was useless and an armistice was agreed to at Znaim. Napoleon, on returning to Vienna, continued occupied until October. For the third time he found himself master of the destinies of the House of Lorraine, which he had accused of ingratitude and perjury before Europe and in the face of history; for the third time this conqueror, so violent in his menaces, so overwhelming in his reproaches, eagerly received the proposals of those who had provoked the war, whose hopes had been overthrown, and whose resources were destroyed on the day of Wagram. The results of the battle, without being as extraordinary as those of Austerlitz, Jena or Friedland, were great nevertheless.
The announcement of the armistice with Austria put an end, in effect, to all hostile demonstrations on the Continent, except in the Peninsula, and Germany in apparent tranquility awaited the result of the negotiations of Vienna.
A few days after Napoleon had returned to Schoenbrunn from Moravia he narrowly escaped the dagger of a young man who rushed upon him at a grand review of the Imperial Guard, and while in the midst of all his staff. Berthier and Rapp threw themselves upon the would-be assassin and disarmed him at the moment when his knife was about to enter the Emperor's body.
Napoleon demanded to know what motive had actuated the assassin. "What injury," said he, "have I done to you?"
"To me personally, none," answered the youth, "but you are the oppressor of my country; the tyrant of the world; and to have put you to death would have been the highest glory of a man of honor."
The youth, a son of a clergyman of Erfurt named Staaps, was condemned to death. It is said Napoleon wished to pardon Staaps, whose frankness and courage had struck him, and in whom, besides, he saw but a blind instrument of the passions incited by the monarchy; but his orders arrived too late. The young German met his death with the greatest coolness, exclaiming: "Hail, Liberty! Germany forever! Death to the tyrant!"
The length to which the negotiations with Austria were protracted excited much wonder, but Napoleon, who was occupied incessantly with his ministers and generals, and seldom showed himself in public, had other business on hand besides his treaty with the Emperor Francis. His long-standing quarrel with the Pope now reached its crisis, growing out of the Concordat, involving affairs in Spain and Portugal, and finally by a refusal of the pontiff to acquiesce in the Berlin and Milan decrees against England's commerce. On the 17th of May Napoleon had issued from Vienna his final decree declaring the temporal sovereignty of the Pope to be wholly at an end, incorporating Rome with the French Empire, and declaring it to be his second city, settling a handsome pension on the holy father in his spiritual capacity, and appointing a committee of administration for the civil government of Rome. The Pope replied with a bull of excommunication against Napoleon which finally resulted in the removal of His Holiness to Fontainebleau where he continued a prisoner, though treated personally with respect and magnificence, during more than three years.
The treaty with Austria was at last signed at Schoenbrunn on the 14th of October, Austria giving up territory to the amount of 45,000 square miles, with a population of four millions, and depriving her of her last seaport. Yet, when compared with the signal triumphs of the campaign at Wagram, the terms on which the conqueror signed the peace were universally looked upon as remarkable for moderation. Napoleon afterwards expressed himself as highly culpable in having left Austria too powerful after the affair at Wagram, using the following words on that occasion: "The day after the battle I ought to have published in the order of the day that I would ratify no treaty with Austria, until after a previous separation of the crown of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia; to be placed on three different heads."
Napoleon quitted Vienna on the 16th of October, and was congratulated by the public bodies of Paris at Fontainebleau on the 14th of November as "the greatest of heroes, who never achieved victories but for the happiness of the world." When he reappeared at the palace at Fontainebleau on Oct. 26th 1809, crowned with the victory of Wagram, there was one to whom dark forebodings came—Josephine felt that her fate was sealed. In fact, as a modern writer has said, the immediate result of Wagram was the divorce from the Empress.
The first public intimation of a measure which had for a considerable period occupied Napoleon's thoughts came from the Emperor himself when he said, in an imperial speech in which he described the events of the past year, and the state of France: "I and my house will ever be found ready to sacrifice everything, even our own dearest ties and feelings, to the welfare of the French people."
Long before Napoleon assumed the imperial title his hopes of offspring from the union with Josephine were at an end, but the Empress lived for a time in hope that the Emperor would be content to adopt her son Eugene. Louis Bonaparte married Hortense Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine, and an infant son became so much the favorite of Napoleon that the Empress, as well as others, come to regard this boy as the heir of France. But the child died early and the Emperor then began to direct his thoughts towards the best means of dissolving his marriage with Josephine, in order that he might form an alliance with some daughter of Russia, or other imperial family. The Emperor Alexander was approached on this subject, and informed that one of his sisters, the Grand Duchess Anne, would be acceptable, but the Empress-mother hesitated, and this being taken by Napoleon as a refusal, he sought the hand of the Archduchess Marie Louise, daughter of the Emperor Francis of Austria.
On the 15th of December, 1809, the Emperor summoned his council and announced to them, that at the expense of all his personal feelings, he, devoted wholly to the welfare of the State, had resolved to separate himself from his most dear consort. "Arrived at the age of forty years" he said, "I may conceive the hope of living sufficiently long to elevate, in my mind and after my ideas, the children with which it shall please Providence to bless me. God knows how much this resolution has cost my heart; * * * I should also add, that, far from ever having to complain, I have on the contrary, only had cause to laud the attachment and tenderness of my beloved wife. She has adorned fifteen years of my life. The recollection thereof will always remain graven on my heart."
Josephine then appeared among them, and not without tears, expressed her acquiescence in the decree. "I believe I acknowledge all these sentiments," she said, "by consenting to the dissolution of a marriage which, at present, is an obstacle to the welfare of France, which deprives it of being one day governed by the descendants of a great man, so evidently raised by Providence to efface the ills of a terrible revolution, and re-establish the altar, the throne, and social order."
The council, after addressing the Emperor and Empress on the nobleness of their mutual sacrifice, accepted and ratified the dissolution of marriage. The title of Empress was preserved to Josephine for life and a pension of two million francs, to which Napoleon afterwards added a third million from his privy purse. She then retired from the Tuileries, residing thenceforth mostly at Malmaison, and in the course of a few weeks Austria was called upon for her daughter.
Having given her hand at Vienna on the 11th of March, 1810, to Berthier, who had the honor to represent the person of the Emperor, the young Archduchess set out for France on the 13th.
On the 28th, as her carriage was proceeding towards Soissons, Napoleon rode up to it, in a plain dress, altogether unattended, and introduced himself to his proxy bride. She had never seen his person till then, and it is said her first exclamation was, "Your Majesty's pictures have not done you justice."
They spent the evening at the chateau of Compiegne and a religious marriage was celebrated on the 1st of April at St. Cloud amidst every circumstance of splendor; the next day they made their entry into the capital. Napoleon in his exile said that "the Spanish ulcer" and the Austrian match were the two main causes of his ruin;—and they both contributed to it largely, although by no means equally. The Exile's own opinion was that the error lay, not in seeking a bride of imperial birth, but in choosing her at Vienna. Had he persisted in his demands, the Czar, he doubted not, would have granted him his sister; the proud dreams of Tilsit would have been realized, and Paris and St. Petersburg become the only two capitals of Europe. Possibly, then, he would not have had occasion to say that he "set his foot upon an abyss of roses" when he married Marie.
Had he married a daughter of France, or even an imperial princess of Russia, he could have done so without the sacrifice of the prestige of the nobility, and even the divinity of the people he had so gloriously contended for; but when it was announced that he had contracted an alliance with the House of Hapsburg,—that hated race against whom and whose principles he had fought a hundred battles, they were convinced that no good would come of it—and they were right.
The war, meanwhile, continued without interruption in the Peninsula; whither, but for his marriage Napoleon would certainly have repaired in person, after the peace of Schoenbrunn left him at ease. So illy was that Spanish campaign conducted during Napoleon's absence that not an inch of soil could be counted by the French beyond their outposts. Their troops were continually harassed and thinned by the indomitable guerrillas who acted singly or in bands as occasion offered.
The Emperor's marriage was speedily followed on the 20th of April, 1811, by the birth of a son and heir whom Napoleon announced to the waiting courtiers in these words: "It is a King of Rome!" The happy event, announced to the populace by the firing of one hundred and one guns, was received with many demonstrations of loyal enthusiasm. Even Josephine joined in expressing her satisfaction at the event which seemed to portend so much for the founding of a Napoleonic dynasty which the Emperor now saw possible by direct lineage.
When the Emperor of Russia was informed of Napoleon's approaching nuptials with the Austrian princess his first exclamation was, "Then the next thing will be to drive us back into our forests." In truth the conferences at Erfurt had but skinned over a wound which nothing could have cured but a total alteration of Napoleon's policy. The Russian nation suffered so much from the continental system that the Czar soon found himself compelled to relax the decrees drawn up at Tilsit in the spirit of those previously declared at Berlin and Milan. Certain harbors were opened partially for the admission of colonial produce and the export of native productions; and there ensued a series of indignant reclamations on the part of Napoleon, and haughty evasions on that of the Czar, which, ere long, satisfied all near observers that Russia would not be slow to avail herself of any favorable opportunity of once more appealing to arms.
During the summer of 1811 the relations of Russia and France were becoming every day more dubious and when towards the close of it the Emperor of Austria published a rescript granting a free passage through his territories to the troops of his son-in-law, England, ever watchful of her great enemy, perceived clearly that France was about to have an ally. Alexander had long since ceased to regard the friendship of the great man as a blessing of heaven. Of the solemn cordiality of Tilsit, and the more recent meeting at Erfurt, there remained in the soul of the Czar naught but the displeasure and resentment arising from extinct affection and deceived hopes.
From the moment in which the Russian government began to reclaim seriously against certain parts of his conduct, Napoleon increased by degrees his military force in the north of Germany, and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and advanced considerable bodies of troops nearer and nearer to the Czar's Polish frontier. These preparations were met by similar movements on the other side; yet, during many months, the hope of terminating the differences by negotiations was not abandoned. The regulations of the Continental System were especially objected to by Russia, and the Czar having lent his ear to the representations of the English cabinet, asked that they be dispensed with as he declared he could no longer submit to see the commerce of an independent Empire trammeled for the purpose of serving the policy of a foreign power.
Napoleon admitted that it might be necessary to modify the system complained of, and expressed his belief that it would be found possible to devise some middle course by which the commercial interests of France and Russia might be reconciled. A very considerable relaxation in the enforcement of the Berlin code was at last effected, and a license system arranged which admitted Alexander to a share in the pecuniary advantages. Had there been no cause of quarrel between these powers except what appeared on the face of their negotiations, it is hardly to be doubted but a new treaty might have been effected. The Czar, however, from the hour of Marie Louise's marriage, felt a conviction that the diminution of the Russian power in the north of Europe would form the next great object of Napoleon's ambition. The Czar therefore assured himself that if war must come, there could be no question as to the policy of bringing it on before Austria had entirely recovered from the effects of the campaign of Wagram, and, above all, while the Peninsula continued to occupy 200,000 of Napoleon's troops.
As concerned the Spanish armies, it might still be said that King Joseph was in military possession of all but some fragments of his kingdom. The English had been victorious in Portugal and the French troops in Spain lost more lives in this incessant struggle, wherein no glory could be achieved, than in any similar period spent in any regular campaign; and Joseph, while the question of peace or war with Russia was yet undecided, became so weary of his situation, that he earnestly entreated Napoleon to place the crown of Spain on some other head. Such were the circumstances under which the eventful year of 1812 began.
Most persuasive appeals were made to Napoleon by his ministers to refrain from entering into a campaign of aggression against Russia. To Fouché, minister of police, Napoleon is reported to have said, in reply, "Is it my fault that the height of power which I have attained compels me to ascend to the dictatorship of the world? My destiny is not yet accomplished,—the picture exists as yet only in outline. There must be one code, one court of appeal, and one coinage for all Europe. The states of Europe must be melted into one nation, and Paris be its capital."
In the arguments used by Napoleon's advisers at this time they attempted to show him, among other things, the great extent of Alexander's resources,—his 400,000 regulars, and 50,000 Cossacks, already known to be in arms—and the enormous population on which he had the means of drawing for recruits; the enthusiastic national feeling of the Muscovites; the distance of their country; the severity of their climate; the opportunity which a war would afford to England of urging her successes in Spain; and the chance of Germany rising in insurrection in case of any reverses.
With the greater part of the population of France, and especially with the army, the threatened war was exceedingly popular. Russia, the most extensive Empire in Europe, it was fondly imagined, was on the point of falling before the power of the Great Nation; and England would then be left to struggle, unaided, for mastery with France. It was deemed a certain pledge of victory, since the Emperor himself was to lead his veteran legions to the new scene of triumph.
Cardinal Fesch, uncle of the Emperor, appealed to him on other grounds. The Cardinal had been greatly affected by the treatment of the Pope, and he contemplated this new war with dread,—as likely to bring down the vengeance of heaven upon the head of one who had dared to trample on its vice-regent. Napoleon led the Cardinal to the window, opened it, and pointing upwards, said, "Do you see yonder star?"
"No Sire," replied the Cardinal. "But I see it," answered Napoleon; and the churchman was dismissed.
Trusting to this star,—his "Star of Destiny" in which he yet firmly believed,—he was far from being awed when in April, 1812, Russia declared war against France. It was an indefensible violation of the treaty of Tilsit, but it showed Napoleon that Europe was determined to crush him, and he rallied the forces of his Empire for a more terrible conflict than he had yet been summoned to.
Not satisfied with disposing everything for war in the bosom of the Empire, Napoleon, who wished to march into Russia at the head of his vast army of Europe, busied himself in forming and cementing, externally, powerful allies. Two treaties were concluded to this effect; the one with Prussia and the other with Austria on the 24th of February and 14th of March, 1812.
Alexander's minister was ordered in the beginning of April to demand the withdrawal of the northern troops, together with the evacuation of the fortress in Pomerania, in case the French government still entertained a wish to negotiate. Napoleon replied that he was not accustomed to regulate the distribution of his forces by the suggestions of a foreign power. The ambassador then demanded his passports and quitted Paris.
The Emperor of France was confident, and seems to have entertained no doubt of his success in the coming campaign. "The war" he said, "is a wise measure, called for by the true interests of France and the general welfare. The great power I have already attained compels me to assume an universal dictatorship. My views are not ambitions. I desire to obtain no further acquisition; and reserve to myself only the glory of doing good, and the blessings of posterity."
Leaving Paris with the Empress on the 9th of May, 1812, on his way to join the Grand Army then forming on the Polish frontier, the imperial pair were accompanied by a continual triumph. Not merely in France but throughout Germany the ringing of bells, music and the most enthusiastic greetings awaited them wherever they appeared. On May 16th, the Emperor arrived at Dresden where the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of Prussia, Naples, Wirtemberg, and Westphalia and almost every German sovereign of inferior rank had been invited to meet him. He had sent to request the Czar also to appear in this brilliant assemblage, as a last chance of an amicable arrangement, but the messenger could not obtain admission to Alexander's presence.
Marie Louise was now sent back to France and the Russian campaign began. Marshal Ney, with one great division of the army, had already passed the Vistula; Junot, with another, occupied both sides of the Oder. The Czar was known to be at Wilna, collecting the forces of his immense Empire and entrusting the general arrangements of the approaching campaign to Marshal Barclay de Tolly, an officer who had been born and educated in Germany. The season was advancing and it was time that the question of peace or war should be forced to a decision.
Napoleon, before leaving the gay court of Dresden, where he was hailed as "the king of kings," dispatched Count de Narbonne to the Emperor Alexander to make a fresh attempt at negotiation in order to spare the shedding of more blood. On his return Narbonne stated that "he had found the Russians neither depressed nor boasting; that the result of all the replies of the Czar was, that they preferred war to a disgraceful peace; that they would take special care not to risk a battle with an adversary so formidable; and, finally, that they were determined to make every sacrifice to protract the war, and drive back the invader."
Napoleon arrived at Dantzic on the 7th of June, and during the fortnight which ensued, it was known that the final communications between him and Alexander were taking place. On the 22nd the French Emperor broke silence in a bulletin in which he said: "Soldiers, Russia is dragged on by her fate; her destiny must be accomplished. Let us march; let us cross the Niemen, let us carry war into her territories. Our second campaign of Poland will be as glorious as the first; but our second peace shall carry with it its own guarantee. It shall put an end forever to that haughty influence which Russia has exercised for fifty years over the affairs of Europe."
The Czar announced the termination of the negotiations by stating the innumerable efforts to obtain peace and concluded in these words: "Soldiers, you fight for your religion, your liberty and your native land. Your Emperor is amongst you; and God is the enemy of the aggressor."
Napoleon reviewed the greater part of his troops on the battlefield of Friedland, and having assured them of still more splendid victories over the same enemy, issued his final orders to the chief officers of his army. The disposition of his forces when the campaign commenced was as follows:—The left wing, commanded by Macdonald, and amounting to 30,000 men, had orders to march through Courland, with the view, if possible, of outflanking the Russian right, and gaining the possession of sea coast in the direction of Riga. The right wing, composed almost wholly of Austrians, 30,000 in number, and commanded by Schwartzenberg, was stationed on the Volhynian frontier. Between these moved the various corps forming the grand central army under the general superintendence of Napoleon himself, viz., those of Davoust, Ney, Jerome Bonaparte, Eugene Beauharnais, Prince Poniatowski, Junot and Victor; and in numbers amounting to 250,000 men. The communication of the centre and the left was maintained by the corps of Oudinot, and those of the centre and the extreme right by the corps of Regnier, who had with him the Saxon auxiliaries and the Polish legion of Dombrowski. The chief command of the whole cavalry of the host was assigned to Murat who was in person at the headquarters of the Emperor, having immediately under his order three divisions of horse—those of Grouchy, Montbrun and Nantousy. Augereau, with his division was to remain in the north of Germany to watch over Berlin and protect the communications with France. Napoleon's base of operations, as will be seen by the map, extended over full one hundred leagues, and the heads of his various columns were so distributed that the Russians could not guess whether St. Petersburg or Moscow formed the main object of his march.