155 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



troops, and tlic military duty per- 

 formed by the inhaliitanti. 



Murat, who couimanded the ad- 

 vanced guard, ninrched through the 

 city without halting, and passed the 

 bridge over the Danube without re- 

 sistance. There was indeed a corps 

 of Austrians stationed, under prince 

 Aucrssberg, at the bridge, for the 

 purpose of destroying it in rase of 

 necessity, and their preparations 

 were maJc for so doing. Murat, 

 aware of this circumstance, rode up 

 in full spoed to this ofllcer, as- 

 sured him, on his word of honour, 

 that an armistice had been con- 

 cluded, an i, by this artifice, he pre- 

 Tailed upon his credulity so far as 

 to prevent the destruction of the 

 bridge, which might have consider- 

 ably retarded the advance of the 

 French army into i\?oravia. 



On the 14th, the divisions of mar- 

 shal Soult and Ddvoust passed the 

 river, treading in the footsteps of 

 ]\lurat ; part of the latter corps, 

 however, was detnclied down the 

 Danube, towards Presburgh, in 

 Hungary. On this day, likewise, 

 Bonaparte made bis entry into 

 Vienna, and he employed a gr?at 

 portion of the ensuing night in 

 visiting his outposts, bej-ond the 

 Danube. Bonaparte then retired 

 to the Imperial palace of S'hoen- 

 brun, which he had chosen for his 

 residence. 



The French found, at Vienna, an 

 immense quantity of military stores 

 of all kinds, auimun tion in great 

 abundance, and a vast number of 

 pieces of artillery, of various sorts. 

 The number of muskets, found in 

 the arsenal, was likewise very consi- 

 derable, 15,000 of which Bonaparte 

 presented to the elector of Bavaria, 

 and he likewise caused to be restor- 

 ed to that prince the artillery ta- 



ken, on former occasions, from the 

 electorate; great requisitions ofcloth, 

 and wine, were also made for ihe 

 supply of the army. On this day Bo- 

 naparte received a deputation ot the 

 citizens, and told them, that they 

 might assure the people of \'ienna 

 of his protedtibn. 



On the 15th, Bonaparte having 

 appointed general Clarke governor 

 of upper and lower Austria, passed 

 through Vienna, to join the army, 

 which was now advancing into Mo- 

 ravia, to meet the Russians. We 

 have already mentioned, that the 

 Ilussians, which had been driven 

 back from Brannau, to St Poltcn, 

 crossed the Danube at Krems ; on 

 the 9th, they were met on the left 

 bank of the river bvMortier's corps, 

 consisting of rbout six thousand 

 men ; on the 10th, in the vicinity of 

 Diernstein, the Russians were at- 

 tacked, and forced to retire from 

 Weiskirchen to Stein. 



Thj Rnsjians, in their turn, at- 

 tacked the French, the next morn- 

 ing early. They were much su- 

 perior in force to their opponents, 

 being about 20,000 strong. They 

 met, however, a firm opposition 

 from the French, who repulsed 

 them, after repeated attempts. But 

 the Russian general had calculated 

 on another manoeuvre, and had de- 

 tached two columns, by a difficult 

 pass, to turn the enemy. This plan 

 partly succeeded ; Mortier was 

 obliged to cut his way through the 

 Russian lines,whichwas accomplished 

 with great difficulty and consider- 

 able loss ; besides a great number 

 of killed and wounded, two thou- 

 sand were made prisoners. In this 

 affair, general Mortier was severely 

 wounded. The loss on the side of 

 the Russians was not unimportant, 

 but none more to be regretted than 



the 



