AUSTERLITZ AUSTRALASIA. 



HIS 



suffered the most, as it had to force its way over the 

 frozen ponds at Kobelnitz and Satschau, and over a 

 narrow dike. According to the French account, 

 several thousand of the allied troops were drowned 

 in these ponds, when Napoleon ordered the ice to be 

 broken with shot. At that crisis, lieutenant-general 

 Przybyszewsky, with 113 officers and 6000 men, was 

 forced to lay down his arms. According to Koutou 

 soff's report, the Russians lost 12,000 men. The 

 French made their own loss about 4500 men. The 

 number of the allies taken prisoners about 20,000 

 men, and that of the cannons taken, which, for 

 the most part, were stuck fast in the morasses, 

 rather more than 150. The Austrians lost 5922 in 

 -iilled, wounded, and prisoners. The battle, it is 

 said, would have been won by the Russians, if they 

 had fought either before the 1st of December, and 

 consequently before Beniadotte and Davoust had re- 

 enforced the French army, or after the 15th ; for an 

 army of 80,000 men was approaching from the Hun- 

 garian frontier, towards Vienna and the Danube, led 

 by the archdukes Charles and John, who had joined 

 their forces near Windisch-Feistritz, in Styria, Nov. 

 27, while Massena remained at his post on the Ison- 

 zo. Troops were also levied in Hungary, and, in 

 addition to this, a body of Russians, 12,000 strong, 

 under the command of general Bennigsen, had in- 

 vaded Upper Silesia, December 3, and prepared the 

 people of Bohemia to rise in a body ; and, in conse- 

 quence of the treaty of Potsdam, Nov. 3, by which 

 the king of Prussia joined the Russian alliance, an 

 army of 180,000 men Prussians, Saxons, and Hes- 

 sians stood ready, in case Napoleon should refuse, 

 on the 15th of December, the mediation of Prussia, 

 according to the treaty of Luneville, to invade 

 France, and to break through Napoleon's lines upon 

 the Danube ; while an army of 80,000 men Prussi- 

 ans, Russians (under Tolstoi), Swedes, Hanoverians, 

 and British in Upper Germany, threatened the 

 frontiers of the Netherlands. In Italy, too, the 

 landing of the British and Russians might effect an 

 important diversion. In spite of all these resources, 

 Austria asked for peace. December 3, prince John 

 von Liechtenstein appeared at Napoleon's head- 

 quarters, and, on the 4th, the emperor Francis him- 

 self had a two hour's interview with him at the 

 French outposts, not far from the village of Nasedlo- 

 wicz, near a mill at Saroschutz, where the two 

 monarchs made a truce, and laid the foundation of a 

 peace. Napoleon's adjutant, general Savary, accom- 

 panied the German emperor back to his head- quarters, 

 to learn whether Alexander would accede to the 

 treaty. The Russian accounts say that the emperor 

 would not allow him to come into his presence ; but 

 the French bulletins give a circumstantial account of 

 his audience, which is also mentioned by the Austrian 

 general von Stutterheim, the author of Malcri- 

 uux pottr servir a I' Hist, de la Bataille iVAustcr- 

 litz (180G, with notes by a French officer, said to 

 have been dictated by Napoleon). Prince lier- 

 thier and prince von Liechtenstein concluded, on the 

 6th, a truce, according to the terms of which the 

 French army was to hold the Austrian circle, Venice, 

 a part of Bohemia and Moravia, and Presburg ; the 

 Russian army was to evacuate the territories of the 

 emperor of Austria ; no levy-was to be made in Bo- 

 hemia or Hungary, and no foreign army was to enter 

 the states of the house of Austria. On the 7th, 

 Napoleon imposed upon the countries held by his 

 troops a tax of a hundred millions of francs. Alex- 

 ander, according to the wishes of the emperor of 

 Austria, drew off his army, though he would not 

 accede to the treaty, but placed his troops in Silesia 

 nnd Lower Saxony, at the disposal of the king of 

 Prussia. March 4, 1806, his troops in Dalmatia 



took possession of Cattaro (q. v.), which had been 

 given up by Austria to France. The truce of A. 

 paralysed the strength of the Austrian monarchy, 

 and broke its former alliances, so that the Prussian 

 minister, count von Haugwitz (who had come to 

 Vienna, in November, that he might act as mediator 

 on the 15th Dec., but had been anticipated by Na- 

 poleon), finding, in the altered state of affairs, that 

 he must either declare open war against the French 

 emperor, or make an alliance with him, concluded, 

 Dec. 15, in opposition to his instructions, the treaty 

 by which Prussia exchanged the alliance of Russia, 

 for that of France. (See Lucchesini On the Confede- 

 ration of the Rhine, \. 348, and Scholl's Traites tie 

 Pah; viii. 27.) Austria afterwards subscribed, Dec. 

 26, the hard conditions of the peace of Presburg 

 (q. v.), by which she not only gave up a territory of 

 24,200 square miles, with 2,785,000 inhabitants, and 

 a revenue of 13,610,000 florins, but lost her alliance 

 with Switzerland and Italy, and her influence in the 

 German empire. Thus Napoleon's superiority was 

 established in Italy, the dependence of the princes 

 of Lower Germany upon France confirmed, and Prus- 

 sia drawn from its system of neutrality. 

 AUSTIN, St. See Augusiin. 



AUSTRAL OCEAN. See South Sea and Krusenslcm. 

 AUSTRALASIA, or AUSTRALIA, in modern geography ; 

 the fifth great division of the globe, so called from 

 its austral, or southern position. Sometimes the 

 name is applied only to those islands lying around 

 New Holland from long. 96 to 185 E., and lat. 3 

 N. to 50 S. ; but the more comprehensive sense of 

 the term embraces Polynesia, or those islands lying 

 north of New Holland and east of the Philippines, 

 from Ion. 170" to 230 1 E., and lat. 35" N. to 50 S. 

 Some geographers gave the name of Oceana to the 

 whole collection of the islands in the Pacific ocean ; 

 but the term Australia has prevailed. This portion 

 of the globe began to be discovered after America 

 and the South seas were known to the Europeans. 

 Magellan, who first undertook a voyage round the 

 world, had promised the Spanish monarch, into whose 

 service he entered when he left the Portuguese, that 

 he would arrive at the Moluccas by sailing west- 

 ward. On this voyage, he discovered, March 6, 

 1521, the Ladrones, or Mariana islands, a group 

 which constitutes a part of A. Magellan must, 

 therefore, be regarded as the first discoverer of this 

 portion of the globe, and opened the way for the 

 subsequent discoveries in this quarter. Three hun- 

 dred years elapsed before all the islands, which now 

 pass under the name of A ., were known to Europe- 

 ins. After Magellan, the Spanish navigators con- 

 tinued the process of discovery in this part of the 

 world, particularly Alvaro de Mendana, who, in the 

 last part of the 16th century, discovered the Solomon 

 islands and the Marquesas, and passed through the 

 Society and Friendly islands without seeing them. 

 Fernandez de Quiros, who had accompanied him on 

 his third voyage, took a southerly direction, and hit 

 upon the part of the South sea which contains the 

 most islands. He made known to the world the 

 Society islands and Terra del Espiritu Santo. In the 

 17th century, the Dutch began to explore this part 

 of the ocean, and, besides several small islands, dis- 

 covered the largest island of A., New Holland, 

 which received its name from them, although there 

 is some reason for supposing that it h;id been visilrd 

 by the Portuguese a hundred years earlier ; but iheit 

 discoveries seem to have been concealed by their 

 government, and afterwards forgotten. The coasts 

 of New Holland, e. g. Edel's Land, Nuyt'sLand, De 

 Witt's Land, retain the names of the Dutch disco- 

 verers. Tasman, a Dutchman, and Dampier, an 

 Englishman, continued the discoveries. In the mid- 



