218 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



being renewed, were delivered up to 

 them; and by one article it was ex- 

 pressly stipulated that the Austri- 

 ans were not to afford any succour 

 or assistance to the inhabitants of 

 the Tyrol and Voralberg. 



For three years, that is from the 

 battle of Austerlitz and the con- 

 sequent peace of Presburgh, the 

 Tyrolese had groaned under the 

 yoke of Bavaria, heavier indeed 

 than that of Austria had ever 

 been, but heavier still to the imagi- 

 nation, and more odious, in as 

 much as it was Bavarian and not 

 Austrian. The certain and imme- 

 diate prospect of a war between 

 France and Austria presented an 

 opportunity of throwing off the de- 

 tested chains, and of retrieving 

 the fortune and establishing the 

 authority of their ancient and be- 

 loved sovereign.* It is very re- 

 markable that it is in mountainous 

 and poor countries, and among the 

 poorer classes of inhabitants in 

 richer countries, that the amor 

 patricB is usually most conspicuous, 

 and shines forth with the greatest 

 lustre. The great, though national 

 independence and identity should 

 be lost, and the dignity of their 

 families obliterated by amalgama- 

 tion with many millions of strangers, 

 find consolation in being still, or 

 becoming distinguished citizens of 

 the great republic of luxury and 

 corruption, spread over the face of 

 the whole world. 



The Tyrolese, on the rupture 

 between France and Austria, start- 

 ed, as if animated by one soul, si- 

 multaneously into arms, advanced, 

 met, and defeated their enemies, 

 though -27,000 strong. A still 



greater force was sent against thetn 

 under marshal Le Febvre, con- 

 sisting of French, Bavarian, and 

 Saxon troops. As this corps was too 

 powerful for them, they impeded the 

 progress of the French, and de- 

 stroyed great numbers of them 

 as they passed, or rather attempted 

 to pass, through the gorges, by 

 occupying these or the tops of the 

 mountains. Thousands of indi- 

 viduals, old and young, perched 

 on the projections, or concealed im 

 the clifts of the rocks, took aim, 

 and fired at individuals, chiefly 

 officers, of the French. Others 

 were employed in detaching and 

 precipitating masses from impend- 

 ing rocks on the French columns 

 as they advanced below. Tryol be- 

 came the asylum and resort of all 

 the partizans of Austria. The 

 Tyrolese pushed into Bavaria and 

 Swabia; they threatened Munich, 

 they took Kempten, and advanced 

 beyond Ulm. In Italy they pene- 

 trated to Bassano, within a few miles 

 of Verona. Carinthia and the 

 duchy of Saltzburg were for a 

 time subdued by their arms. It 

 must have been the bitterest pill 

 that the Austrian princes had to 

 swallow in the armistice, to give 

 up so brave, so attached and so 

 glorious a people. — With the sim- 

 plicity and frankness of a people 

 retaining all their primitive simpli- 

 city of manners, they sent deputies 

 to the emperor Francis II. to com- 

 plain of his desertion of them, 

 after, through his general Jella- 

 cheik, he had encouraged them to 

 resist the enemy. It was not I, re- 

 plied the unhappy and confounded 

 monarch, that concluded the ar- 

 mistice; 



* The house of Austria was distinguished among the continental powers, and 

 particularly those of Gennanj, forthe moderationanaclemency of itsgoveniment 



