HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



211 



CHAP. XII. 



Protracted inaction of the opposite Armies. — Observations on the Conduct 

 of the Archduke Charles.-- Insurrections in the North of Germani/. — 

 Vicissitudes of War in Poland and Saxony — and in Italy. — Cvncentra- 

 tion of the French Forces.—Preparations on the part of the Archduke 

 for Defence — and on that of Buonaparte for an Attack. — Battle of 

 IVagram. — Armistice.— Peace. 



IN proportion to the general con- 

 sternation excited not only in 

 Germany but throughout Europe, 

 France itself perhaps not excepted, 

 was the joy and exultation at the 

 result of the two battles on the 

 Danube, of Aspern and Essling. 

 The invincible, it was said, was at 

 last vanquished ; the tide of for- 

 tune has turned; Germany is 

 saved ; Europe breathes ; the 

 world is revived ! There was a 

 general expectation that the re- 

 pulse of Buonaparte to his island 

 would be quickly followed by fur- 

 ther disasters, and that the glori- 

 ous achievements of the Auslrians 

 would immediately be followed up 

 by farther successes. But day 

 elapsed after day, and week after 

 week. No intelligence of any fur- 

 ther operation on one side or other : 

 an unequivocal sign that both par- 

 ties were excessively weakened 

 and exhausted. But while the 

 archduke Charles contented him- 

 self with recruiting his army by 

 new levies, as well as some garri- 

 sons in Moravia and Bohemia, and 

 strengthening his position on the 

 left bank of the Danube by new 

 works and entrenchments, Buona- 

 parte was allowed for the space of 

 six weeks to restore the spirits, 

 and to reinforce his army by troops 

 called from different quarters, and 

 to make every other preparation 



for crossing the Danube; and 

 with a greater force, and greater 

 wisdom or skill too derived from 

 the experience of the two former 

 battles, to attack the Austrians. 



On the morrow after the battle 

 of Essling, when general Hiller 

 was advancing against the French 

 in the isle of Lobau with 60 pieces 

 of heavy cannon, colonel Smolla, 

 the particular favourite of the 

 archduke, came up at full gallop, 

 with orders to the general to desist 

 from his enterprise, as his imperial 

 highness did not think it worth 

 while to waste his troops, or even 

 ammunition, for the possession of 

 the isle of Lobau. He was no 

 doubt aware of the desperate re- 

 sistance that would be made in so 

 perilous a situation by such a 

 general as Buonaparte. It was 

 said by some, that the archduke, 

 by crossing the Danube, might 

 have cut off" the retreat of the 

 French from the island. But if 

 the archduke had ventured on this 

 enterprise, he would have placed 

 himself between Buonaparte and 

 the numerous corps that were ad- 

 vancing rapidly to his assistance. 

 There were some other animadver- 

 sions on the conduct of the arch- 

 duke that appear to have been 

 better founded, or at least much 

 more plausible. The first move- 

 ments of his highness, it was said, 



P2 in 



