CHAP. XVII. Austria declares war. Napoleon heads his army in Germany. Battle of Landshut and Eckmuhl. Ratisbon taken. Napoleon enters Vienna. Hostilities in Italy, Hungary, Poland, the north of Germany and the Tyrol. Great conflict at Aspern. Both armies reinforced. Decisive BATTLE OF WAGRAM, in which the Austrians are completely defeated. Armistice concluded. NAPOLEON had foreseen that Austria, hardly dissembling her aversion to the "continental system," and openly refusing to acknowledge Joseph as king of Spain, would avail herself of the insurrection of that country, necessarily followed by the march of a great French army across the Pyrenees, as affording a favorable opportunity for once more taking arms, in the hope of recovering what she had lost in the campaign of Austerlitz. His minister, Talleyrand, had, during his absence, made every effort to conciliate the Emperor Francis; but the warlike preparations throughout the Austrian dominions proceeded with increasing vigor-and Napoleon received such intelligence ere he witnessed the retreat of Moore, that he immediately countermanded the march of such of his troops as had not yet reached the Pyrenees,-wrote (from Valladolid) to the princes of the Rhenish league, ordering them to hold their contingents in readiness-and travelled to Paris with extraordinary haste.He reached his capital on the 22d of January; renewed the negotiations with Vienna; and, in the mean time, recruited and concentrated his armies on the German side-thus adjourning the completion of the Spanish conquest. On the 6th of April, Austria declared war; and on the 9th, the Archduke Charles, generalissimo of armies, which were recruited at this period, to the amount of 550,000 men, crossed the Inn at the head of six corps, each consisting of 30,000; while the Arch-duke John marched with two other divisions towards Italy, by the way of Carinthia; and the Arch-duke Ferdinand assumed the command of a 9th corps in Galicia, to make head against Russia, in case that power should be forced or tempted by Napoleon to take part in the struggle. Napoleon having so great an army in Spain, could not hope to oppose numbers such as these to the Austrians; but he trusted to the rapid combinations which had so often enabled him to battle the same enemy; and the instant that he heard Bavaria was invaded by the Arch-duke Charles, he proceeded, without guards, without equipage, accompanied solely by the faithful Josephine, to Frankfort, and thence to Strasburg. He assumed the command on the 13th, and immediately formed the plan of his campaign. He found the two wings of his army, the one under Massena, the other under Davoust, at such a distance from the centre that, if the Austrians had seized the opportunity, the consequences might have been fatal. On the 17th of April, he commanded Davoust and Massena to march simultaneously towards a position in front, and then pushed forward the centre, in person, to the same point. The Arch-duke Lewis, who commanded two Austrian divisions in advance, was thus hemmed in unexpectedly by three armies, moving at once from three different points; defeated and driven back, at Abensberg, on the 20th; and utterly routed at Landshut, on the 21st. Here the Arch-duke lost 9000 men, thirty guns and all his stores. On the 22d of April, after this fortunate commencement of the campaign, Buonaparte directed his whole force, scientifically arranged into different divisions, and moving by different routes, on the principal army of the Arch-duke Charles, which, during these misfortunes, he had concentrated at Eckmuhl. The battle is said to have been one of the most splendid which the art of war could display. An hundred thousand men and upwards were dispossessed of all their positions by the combined attack of their scientific enemy, the divisions appearing on the field, each in its due place and order, as regularly as the movements of the various pieces in a game of chess. All the Austrian wounded, great part of their artillery, fifteen stand of colors and twenty thousand prisoners, remained in the power of the French. retreat was attended with corresponding loss; and Austria again baffled in her hopes of re-acquiring her influence in Germany, was once more reduced to combat for her existence amongst nations. The On the subsequent day, the Austrians made some attempt to protect the retreat of their army, by defending Ratisbon. A partial breach in the ancient walls was hastily effected, but for some time the French who advanced to the storm, were destroyed by the musketry of the defenders. There was at length difficulty in finding volunteers to renew the attack, when the impetuous Lasnes, by whom they were commanded, seized a ladder, and rushed forward to fix it himself against the walls. "I will show you," he exclaimed, "that your general is still a grenadier." The example prevailed, the wall was surrounded, and the combat was continued or renewed in the streets of the town, which was speedily on fire. A body of French, rushing to charge a body of Austrians, which still occupied one end of a burning street, were interrupted by some waggons belonging to the enemy's train."They are tumbrils of powder," cried the Austrian commanding, to the French; "if the flames reach them, both sides perish." The combat ceased, and the two parties joined in averting a calamity which must have been fatal to both, and finally saved the ammunition from the flames. At length the Austrians were driven out of Ratisbon, leaving much cannon, baggage and prisoners, in the hands of the enemy. In the middle of this last melee, Buonaparte, who was speaking with his adjutant, Duroc, observing the affair at some distance, was struck on the foot by a spent musket-ball, which occasioned a severe contusion. "That must have been a Tyrolese," said the Emperor, coolly, "who has aimed at me from such a distance. These fellows fire with wonderful precision." Those around remonstrated with him for exposing his person; to which he answered, "What can I do? I must needs see how matters go on." The soldiers crowded about him in alarm at the report of his wound; but he would hardly allow it to be dressed, so eager was he to get on horseback and put an end to the solicitude of his army, by showing himself publicly among the troops. Thus within five days-the space, and almost the very days of the month, which Buonaparte had assigned for settling the affairs of Germany,-the original aspect of the war was entirely changed; and Austria, who had engaged in it with the proud hope of reviving her original influence in Europe, was now to continue her struggle for the doubtful chance of securing her existence. At no period in his momentous career, did the genius of Napoleon appear more completely to prostrate all opposition; at no time did the talents of a single individual exercise such an influence on the fate of the universe. The forces which he had in the field had been not only unequal to those of the enemy, but they were in a military point of view, ill-placed and imperfectly combined. Napoleon arrived alone, found himself under all these disadvantages, and we repeat, by his almost unassisted genius, came in |