CHAP. LVIII. 1809. sense of duty, the precepts of religion, all concurred to rouse a disposition to resistance. The selfish mourned over the visible decrease of their substance under the withering contributions of Napoleon; the generous, over the degradation of their country and the slavery of the human race. Every where the Tugendbund was in activity: Hesse-Cassel, Hanover, and Westphalia, in an especial manner, were agitated, from the enormous weight of the burdens imposed on their inhabitants by the French government. Twenty thousand disbanded soldiers were scattered over the former dominions of England in the German empire, ready at the first signal to compose an army; as many ardent and discontented spirits existed in Cassel and Westphalia, awaiting only the first success of the Austrian arms to declare openly in their behalf. From the Thuringian forest to the banks of the Vistula, from the Bohemian mountains to the shores of the Baltic, the threads of a vast association existed, held together by the sacred bond of patriotism, its members vowed to devote themselves to their fatherland. Though the court of Berlin did not venture openly to fan the flame, yet in secret 1 Hard. x. they could not but wish for its success; and several of the Pel. iii. 10; most energetic members of the cabinet awaited only the 13. Ann. advance of the Austrian banners to urge Frederick William 212, 213. to join the great confederacy for European freedom.1 325, 326. Reg. 1809, break on the approach of Grand Army. It was chiefly with a view to give support and consistency to this enthusiastic spirit that the grand Austrian 51. army, in the opening of the campaign, advanced towards Its first outBayreuth and Franconia; and it was in consequence of the unfortunate abandonment of that design, and the the Austrian return of great part of these troops, when already on the borders of Franconia, to the banks of the Inn, that the early disasters of the campaign, as already noticed, were incurred.* Two of the Archduke's corps were far advanced towards the Rhine, and could not be recalled in time to share in the battles of Abensberg and Echmuhl; while the concentrated masses of Napoleon were thrown upon the Imperial army, weakened in the centre by the advance of the van in one direction, and the retreat of the rear in another. But this early irruption of the Austrians towards Franconia and Saxony excited a pro * Ante, Chap. Ivi. § 20. LVIII. 1809. April 3. April 23. CHAP. digious sensation in the adjoining provinces under the immediate control of the French authorities; and early in April, a spark kindled the flame on the banks of the Elbe. Katt, a Prussian officer, had the honour of first raising the standard of independence in the north of Germany; but the effort was premature, and having failed in an attempt upon Magdeburg, he was compelled, by the active pursuit of the Westphalian horse, to take refuge in the Prussian states. The next outbreak took place three weeks after, when Dornberg, the colonel of a regiment of Westphalian horse, was commanded by King Jerome to march against a body of insurgents. Conceiving himself discovered, he left his colours and put himself at their head. Evincing, in these critical circumstances, a spirit worthy of his family, though far beyond his ordinary character, Jerome assembled his guards, two thousand strong, and assuring them that he confided in their honour, and threw himself upon their support, succeeded in attaching even the most disaffected, by the bond of military honour, to his cause. Eble, the minister at war, and Rewbell, governor of Cassel, displayed the greatest vigour and firmness of character; and, by their energetic measures, saved the kingdom when on the verge of destruction, and prevented a general insurrection breaking out in the north of Germany. Dornberg, at the head of several thousand insurgents, marched upon the capital; but having been encountered near its gates by a part of the garrison, whom he was unable to bring to a parley, his undisciplined followers were dispersed by a few discharges of cannon, and he himself fled with a few followers to the Hartz mountains. His papers were seized 1 Pel. iii. 14, at Homberg, and among them were some that compro19. Hard. x. mised several persons in the service of other powers, particularly SCHILL, at that time a colonel in the Prussian army.1 326. Jom. iii. 232. 52. Enterprise and early success of Schill. This enthusiastic officer, an ardent member of the Tugendbund, and heart and soul devoted to his fatherland, was the first Prussian officer who had entered Berlin at the head of a native force after its evacuation by the French troops; and the impression made upon his mind by the universal transports which prevailed on that occasion had never been effaced. His intentions were fixed; СНАР. LVIII. 1809. but the ardour of his disposition was tempered by a rare prudence, and but for the accidental discovery of his name among the papers of Dornberg, his enterprise would in all probability have been delayed till the period for its successful prosecution had arrived. Almost every day he led his regiment out of Berlin, in full marching order, to reviews, marches, and mock-fights, which so completely imposed upon the ministers of Russia, France, and Westphalia, that, with all their vigilance, they never suspected him of being engaged in any sinister design; while his engaging manners and martial qualities rendered him the idol of the soldiers under his command. Denounced, at length, by the King of Westphalia to the King of Prussia, who was then at Konigsberg, he was summoned by the latter to the royal presence to give an account of his conduct. Perceiving now that he was discovered, he boldly April 29. threw off the mask; marched at the head of six hundred men out of Berlin, under pretence of going to manœuvre, and at once erected the standard against France. He was speedily reinforced by three hundred more, who joined him during the night; the whole inhabitants of the capital applauded his conduct; and such was the excitement in the garrison, that it was with the utmost difficulty they were prevented from proceeding in a body to his standard. The cabinet of Berlin, whatever may have been their secret wishes, were too much overawed by the influence of Napoleon, and the intelligence recently received of his astonishing victories in Bavaria, to sanction this hazardous proceeding. Schill was indicted for disobedience of orders, and 1 Hard. x. outlawed for non-appearance; and Lestocq, Tauenzein, Pel. iii. 17, and Scharnhorst, who were known to be at the head of 23. Jom. iii. the war party, sent in their resignation. The two former Thib. vii. 274. were brought to trial, but acquitted, there being no evidence to connect them with Schill's enterprise.1 327, 328. 233, 234. Meanwhile Schill, having collected about twelve hundred men, presented himself before Wittemberg, where 53. there was known to be a considerable magazine of arms Fails in his and ammunition; but he was refused admittance by the attempt on Magdeburg, governor. He next moved towards Magdeburg, which at and retires to that period was garrisoned only by two companies of French, and three of Westphalian voltigeurs. Had he Stralsund. CHAP. 1809. May 7. succeeded in gaining possession of that important fortress, all the north of Germany would have been in a blaze; for it contained five hundred pieces of cannon, and a hundred and twenty thousand stand of arms, besides ammunition in proportion. The news of so vast an acquisition would speedily have brought thirty thousand men to his standards, whom its impregnable ramparts would have given the means of disciplining in security. It is the more to be regretted that he did not attempt a coup-de-main against it, as the urban guards would speedily have given him the means of defending its walls, and numerous partisans within the town were already prepared to favour his entrance. Ignorant, however, of these propitious circumstances, he turned aside upon the first appearance of resistance, at the distance of a mile from the glacis, and retired to Domitz on the other side of the Elbe; having by an equally unfortunate accident diverged from the Hartz mountains, where he might have united with the remains of Dornberg's corps, which had taken refuge in their fastnesses; and together they would have formed a body of disciplined men, adequate to the encounter of the whole forces of Westphalia, which at that period contained hardly two thousand regular soldiers. His unfortunate direction, however, down the Elbe, deluded by the hope of obtaining succour from the English cruisers on the coast, led him far away from all assisMay 25. tance; and at length being pursued, though slowly, and 1 Pel. iii. 23, at a respectful distance, by a considerable body of Dutch 234. Hard. x. and Westphalian troops, he threw himself into Stralsund, of which he gained possession without much resistance, the greater part of the garrison having joined his standard.1 31. Jom. iii. 330, 331. Ann. Reg. 1809, 213. there. 54. He was now at length within a renowned fortress, abundantly stored with provisions, and communicating His prospects with the sea; the isle of Rugen seemed to offer a secure asylum in case of disaster; and he had the good fortune, the day after his arrival, to capture a convoy of seven hundred barrels of powder on its road to Denmark. But the defences of the fortress had been almost entirely dismantled by order of Napoleon: only twenty rusty guns were mounted on the ramparts; the palisades were levelled with the ground; and the ditches, half choked CHAP. LVIII. 1809. up by luxuriant vegetation, presented hardly any obstacle to an enemy. Still Schill had considerable means of resistance at his disposal: his troops had swelled to two thousand infantry, and twelve squadrons of cavalry; two companies had been formed of students from the universities, armed as yet only with pikes; and the landwehr of Pomerania, five thousand strong, might be expected to augment his forces, if he could hold out for a few days, in order to give them time to assemble. Where, where was England then? A single brig, with her pendant, would have inspired such spirit into the garrison as would have rendered them invincible; three thousand men, and a few frigates, would have rendered Stralsund the base of an insurrection which would speedily have spread over the whole of northern Germany, determined the irresolution of Prussia, thrown eighty thousand men on Napoleon's line of communication, and driven him to a disastrous retreat from Aspern to the Rhine. But the English government, as usual, insensible to the value of time in war, had made no preparation to turn to good account this universal demonstration in their favour in the north of Germany; and, as with the Vendéans at Granville in 1793,* her forces did not appear on the theatre till the standards of their allies had sunk in the conflict. In vain all eyes were turned towards the ocean; in vain every steeple was crowded with gazers, anxiously survey- Hard. x. 330. ing with telescopes the distant main: not a friendly sail Jom. iii. 234. appeared, not a pendant of England brought hope and consolation to the besieged.1 1 Pel. iii. 34. 55. Deprived of the hope for succour, on which he had mainly relied in directing his steps to the sea-coast, Schill did all that prudence and energy could effect to His defeat strengthen his position. Palisades were hastily erected; and death. the vicinity of the gates was armed; barricades were thrown up behind the breaches and in the streets, and the external defences put in some sort of order. But, before his preparations could be completed, the hand of fate was upon him. The French authorities, now every where thoroughly alive to the dangers of this insurrection, made the most vigorous efforts to crush it in the bud: troops marched from all sides to the neighbourhood of Stralsund ; * Ante, chap. xii. § 88. |