FRANCE. 
_ Mistery. such a dilapidated state, and there was so little energy 
Re cither in it eouncils or people, that the 09 ration of 
Spain was of little benefit to the furtherance of his views, 
against Britain. The dethronement of the 
ing of , and the accession of Joseph Bonaparte, 
ee ore Seontie As . The oe he 
1 to persuade to resign hi ne in 
favour of his son Ferdinaid! and to entice Ferdinand 
into France, and to surrender his claims to him,—the 
insurrection of the Spaniards,—their answered calls to 
Britain for assistance,—the battles that were fought be- 
tween pares She French,—the retreat of Sir John 
r M 
} pe Hecht Beck. seid lige aaa 
selves, in the intermediate period, to the operations 
: in the other parts of Europe, and the inter- 
The same system of concealment and resenta~ 
tion which Bonaparte had practised all his re- 
verses, he extended to the affairs of In 1808, 
his reverses, and the enthusiasm as well as the extent 
of the opposition to him in the Peninsula, were well 
: ee ean nt Che Bester clactoeste of Magence, 
Emperor seems to have entered into the views of 
nteibu 
contributions, 
to one third, were paid up. 
649 
Though Austria had been long preparing for the’re. History, 
newal of hostilities with France, yet She cad not issue 
a formal rein a war till the 6th a Avci 1809. 
At this peri e had an army consisti nine Corps, state of 
each Se ts consisting of 30,000 men? te first six were x armies, 
under the immediate orders .of the Archduke Charles; A. D. 1809; 
the seventh was under the Archduke John in Poland. 
Besides these, there were two corps of reserve, one of 
20,000 men commanded by Prince John of Lichten- 
stein ; the other of 10,000, under General Kinmayer ; 
and about 25,000 partizans in the Tyrol, Carinthia, and of 
and on the confines of Bohemia. The French were not those of 
inferior in respect to numbers, and they orrapeed thie France. 
following positions ; a corps entirely of French at Ra- 
tisbon, under Marshal Davoust; another under Mas« 
sena at Ulm; and a third under Oudinot at Augs- 
burg: three divisions of Bavarians were posted at 
Munich, Landshut, and Strasburg: the Saxons were 
e under the walls of Dresden; and the Poles 
near Warsaw. - 
As soon as Bonaparte learnt that the Austrians had 
crossed the Inn, he left Paris on the 13th of April; on 
the 17th he arrived at Donawert, where he fixed his 
head quarters ; on Oe A ee Sern Se AS the 
French began to unite, At Ingolstadt o! 
was unfolded ; Wo? pourra sd wage tp 
Austrians, whose line was extended from Neustadt 
to Landshut; to break the line, and come between 
the Archduke Charles and the corps commanded by 
his brother, In uences of the successes of the 
French, particularly at Eckmuhl, the Archduke was 
forced to cross the Danube at Ratisbon, in order to 
form a junction with General Bellegarde, who had been 
employed in Neihng the French in check, on the fron- 
tier of Bohemia. ° Archduke finding he could not 
defend Ratisbon, was obliged to continue his retreat ; 
and Bonaparte, followin course of the Danube, ad- 
vanced rapidly towards Vienna ; on the 10th of May, Bonaparte 
he appeared before this city, which, after some show of °**'s Vi- 
resistance, he entered. In the mean time, the Arch. “"* 
duke Charles, having learnt the fate of Vienna, moved 
down on the left bank of the Danube, for the pi 
of watching the motions of the French ; and fixed his 
head quarters, on the 16th of May, at Ebersdorf. Bo- 
naparte immediately formed the design of attacki 
him here, and for this purpose m along the sou 
bank of the river, till he reached the distance of about 
six miles from Vienna, at which place its breadth and 
rapidity are broken by two islands. At this point 
he resolved to cross it. As the French advan 
the 
Archduke retreated, and the right wing of the former 
was posted near the v of ing, while the left 
was su the vi of Aspern. Here on the 
21st and 22d two dreadful and sanguinary battles were 
fought: the battle of the 21st was terminated only by Battles of 
the darkness of the night, at which time the F =, tae 
were driven from Aspern, but still retained Essling. 
On the morning ofthe 22d they regained Aspern; but 
by 60 attacks, the Austrians succeeded in driving 
from it and Essling. In the night between 
the 22d and 23d, they retreated from the bank of s 
po ravine tas up a position on one of the 
In the mean time, the war was ing in Italy, Operations 
_ where the Archduke John, and the Viceroy Eugene in Italy. 
Beauharnois 
» were opposed to each other. At first the 
Archduke was successful; Padua and Vicenza were 
taken, the Adige crossed, and Venice threatened ; but 
the Viceroy having been reinforced, retook Padua and 
4 N 
