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THE PEOPLE OF VIENNA.

reached Villach, and was instructed to join the emperor in Vienna. Colbert was sent to watch the roads from Hungary, and reported to Lannes "that people well informed assure us that the Hungarians will remain at home." Lauriston and Bruyère seem to have cleared the country in the foothills to the south of Vienna, and Vandamme was to do the same at Mariazell. On May 19 the emperor wrote Davout to send some cavalry to the aid of Vandamme, who was opposing the passage of the enemy near Mauthausen, that he might have to march thither with his divisions, and was to hold himself in readiness. This was the futile attempt of Kollowrath to break the French communications near Linz.

There was issued a

PROCLAMATION TO THE ARMY.

IMPERIAL QUARTERS AT SCHÖNBRUNN, May 13, 1809. Soldiers! a month after the enemy passed the Inn, on the same day, at the same hour, we entered Vienna. Its landwehr, its levies in mass, its ramparts, created by the powerless rage of the princes of the House of Lorraine, could not look you in the face. The princes of this House have abandoned their capital, not like soldiers of honor who cede to circumstances and to the reverses of war, but like perjurers who are pursued by their own remorse. In fleeing from Vienna, their adieux to its inhabitants were murder and arson. Like Medea, they murdered their children with their own hands.

Soldiers the people of Vienna,

deserted, abandoned, widowed,

will be the object of your regard. I take all the inhabitants under my special protection. As to turbulent and bad men, I will make of them an exemplary justice.

Soldiers! be good to the poor peasants, and for this good people which has so much right to our esteem, let us conserve no pride in our success. Let us see in it a proof of that divine justice which punishes the ingrate and the perjurer.

The old disciplinary troubles were ever present, as is testified by the following:

CANTONING THE MEN.

249

ORDER OF THE DAY.

IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS, SCHÖNBRUNN, May 14, 1809.

The emperor sees with pain the disorders which are being committed in the rear of the army. They become such that they must arrest all his attention. Bad men are seeking to dishonor the army, and instead of being present with their flags and before the enemy, they remain in the rear, where they commit all kinds of excesses and even crimes.

Mobile columns of one hundred and fifty men are then created to scour up the stragglers, and military commissions to try these misdemeanors.

"Every straggler who under pretext of fatigue shall have left his corps to commit pillage shall be arrested, judged by military commission and executed at an hour's notice."

The order of May 14 is interesting as a picture of the usual method of cantoning the men:

"Art. 1. The troops will be fed in their lodging according to the ancient usage established in Germany; the officer at the table with his host, as has been ordered in preceding campaigns. The sub-officers and soldiers will receive, in addition to their rations of bread (of seven hectogrammes and a half, or twenty-four ounces): at breakfast, soup and a sixteenth of a pint of brandy; at dinner, soup, ten ounces of meat, vegetables and a half-pot of beer or wine; at supper, vegetables and a half-pot of beer or wine.

"Thus the ration of the soldier will be composed of twenty-four ounces of munition bread, four ounces of soft bread, sixteen ounces of meat, two ounces of rice or four ounces of dry vegetables, a sixteenth of a pint of brandy, and a pint of beer or a bottle of wine, according to the country.

"Art. 2. Messieurs the general officers will see to the carrying out of the above prescribed regimen, and will punish those who break the present order, whenever the local authorities shall report the breach.

"Art. 3. The inhabitants will furnish to the French troops eatables and drinkables of good quality. . . . The emperor recommends to his

...

250

TO WEAKEN THE ENEMY.

faithful soldiers the greatest regard for the subjects of the States of the Confederation."

The French soldier had little cause to complain of his

rations.

Napoleon used every means to weaken his enemy. On May 15 a proclamation was issued to the Hungarians inciting them to rise:

66

Hungarians, the moment has come to recover your independence. I offer you peace, the integrity of your territory, of your liberty and of your constitution, such as they have existed. I ask nothing of you. I desire only to see you a nation free and independent. . . . You have national customs, a national language. You boast an illustrious and ancient origin. Take back again your existence as a nation. Have a king of your choice who reigns only by your wish, who lives among you. . . Hungarians! This is what is asked by all Europe, which is looking upon you. This is what I also ask. . . . Let me know your resolve."

The following items may be interesting:

.

It was expected of French officers that they should act with discretion as well as courage. A certain major had scouted beyond authorized limits and fallen into an ambuscade. On May 15 Napoleon wrote Davout: "I have read with much pain the report of Major This man is a fool, to whom must not be given the command of an expedition in chief. His expeditions have no common sense. It is by thus playing with the lives of men that one loses the confidence of soldiers."

Even Napoleon had difficulty in having his instructions obeyed. On May 19 he wrote Berthier: 'My Cousin, give the most formal order to Kellermann to shunt aside nothing for the corps in Hanau, all that is destined for the army, neither troops, nor artillery, nor military equipage. If he does not execute this order rigorously, I shall be obliged to take from him the command of this corps."

From Braunau, May 1, Napoleon wrote Fouché : "I can see only with pain that the journals print French proclamations taken from German translations, so that what they say is not French. .. They ought to wait and not make me talk like a translator."

To Josephine, Enns, May 6, he wrote: "Mon amie, I have received your letter. The ball that touched me did not wound me. It scarcely

WORKS FOR LIBRARY.

251

razed the tendon Achilles. My health is very good, you were wrong to be worried about it. My affairs here go very well."

A letter to Barbier, the Imperial Librarian in Paris, dated May 14, states that the emperor finds his library badly organized, and orders a number of other works, including the Bible, the Iliad, Tasso, the Æneid, Milton and Gibbon.

ESSLING OR ASPARN. MAY 21-22, 1809.

CHARLES remained at the Bisamberg watching the French and waiting to hear from Kollowrath at Linz. On May 20 the bridges across Lobau were completed, and Molitor was thrown over from the island to the north bank. The first thing to do was to fortify the villages of Asparn and Essling, which stood like redoubts in front of the crossing; but this was not done. By evening of May 20 Molitor and Boudet were across, and after noon on May 21 Charles attacked in five columns. Asparn and Essling went lost, and had to be retaken at a great sacrifice, which would not have occurred if the villages had been prepared for defense. The Austrians outnumbered the French, for difficulty with the bridges prevented troops getting over rapidly, and Lannes and Massena had a task in maintaining themselves. The fighting lasted all day. During the night more men were got across, but still the Austrians remained superior, and at 2 A. M., May 22, Charles again attacked. The fighting was desperate, but the bridges being patched up, Napoleon believed he could get over Davout's corps, and, perceiving a weak spot in the Austrian centre, he proposed to thrust a column under Lannes through it. Lannes started at 7 A. M., but the bridges again broke, Davout could not get over, and the French army was in the utmost peril. The French had to hold their own the rest of the day, so as to retire at night, and this at exceptional loss they did, Asparn and Essling being fought for with the utmost tenacity. Lannes was mortally wounded. Napoleon called together some marshals, and all were for retreat to the south of the Danube. This Napoleon showed them was a weakness, and all he did was to retire into the island of Lobau, to begin preparations for another crossing. The battle of Essling or Asparn was one of the most bloody in French annals.

As in 1805, Napoleon had taken up his headquarters at Schönbrunn castle, and on the 19th he went to Kaiser Ebersdorf to watch proceedings. In the previous night there had been thrown over to Lobau-"the big island," Napoleon calls it- -a force of eight hundred of Molitor's riflemen, who drove off the Austrian outposts that Charles had left there;