586 
A VISIT TO ASPERN AND WAGRAM. 
which has witnessed more murderous slaughter than perhaps any other 
ground in Europe. 
About a mile away, straight along the road in front of us, where 
the homesteads and low houses break the monotonous horizon, we may 
catch a glimpse of Essling. The spire to the left showing through the 
haze above the low buildings crouching under it is Breitenlee, the 
ragged trees to the south mark the Lobau and the course of the 
Danube, while the heights we may be able to dimly distinguish to 
the north-west are those of the Bisamberg. The haze and fog which 
usually hangs on such flat alluvial soil in the neighbourhood of a great 
river will scarcely allow us to distinguish the plateau of Wagram, 
which juts out into the plain away to our left front, nor will the trees 
between let us get a view of Enzersdorf, which is just beyond Essling, 
and lies before us somewhat to the right. Eighty-two years ago 
these names, now strange and unfamiliar, were in everybody’s mouth. 
Anxious eyes from the steeples and towers of Vienna were straining 
to catch a glimpse of the neighbourhood about us, and tried to learn 
from the progress of the lines of smoke how the battle for their country’s 
freedom fared. Yet at the present day comparatively few are familiar 
with these classic names. No memorials but that of the lion mark the 
scene of so much courage and devotion, and even the graves of the 
heroes of 1809 have disappeared. It is worth our while, nevertheless, 
to walk over the ground, and try and recall something of the battle 
commemorated as one of the most glorious in their annals by the 
Austrians by the name of Aspern, and as Essling recalling to the 
French one of the stoutest resistances their own or any other army 
ever offered to such an onset as they faced. 
When the campaign of Eckmiihl and the subsequent occupation of 
Vienna had given the world one more startling proof of what the genius 
of Napoleon could accomplish in spite of the opening blunders of 
Berthier, Europe waited spell-bound for the next news from the shores 
of the great river we are now beside. During the week which followed 
the capture of the capital, the conqueror occupied himself in reviewing 
his troops, distributing honours and rewards, and in making good the 
casualties his army had suffered in their recent actions. In spite of all 
that had been accomplished during the previous month, and the heavy 
losses which their victories had cost them, the troops immediately round 
him, that is to say, the corps of Massena and Lannes, the Imperial 
Guard, and the Cavalry under Bessieres, could still muster 80,000 
strong on parade, and were in the best of spirits, firmer than ever in 
their confidence in the “little corporal,” and looking forward to further 
triumphs under his leadership. 
Eugene was hurrying from his vice-royalty to join his adopted 
father’s force, and would bring 40,000 men with him, while the long 
lino of communications, which stretched away to France behind the 
army, were secured by Davout at St. Polten, and Bernadotte further 
still to the rear. Everybody felt that a man of Napoleon’s energy 
with so formidable an engine of destruction at his command would not 
long remain quiescent, nor tamely allow its safety to be menaced by 
such a force as the enemy still retained intact. For, on the opposite 
