LV. successively routed every battalion but two in his army; CHAP. and we have the authority of the French historians for the assertion that, if they had been at all supported by 1809. the Austrians and Dutch,* they must have gained a glorious victory. So clearly is this superiority of the English in land, not less than on sea battles, established by the unbroken events of five centuries, that it is admitted by the ablest and most impassioned French historians, whose rancour against this country is most inveterate, though they profess themselves unable to give any account of it.t 72. French as But in other respects the superiority of the enemy was manifest, and all the good effects of achieved victory were And of the liable to be lost by the English army, from the due discipline and docility in the troops, or from ness and inexperience on the part of the officers. them in a fair field in front of the enemy, and both would want of yet in the remiss- of a cam Place paign. other duties "Les Anglais s'avancèrent sans que rien étonnât leur audace. Comme le terrain se resserrait, leurs bataillons furent obligés de se rapprocher; et ainsi se forma naturellement cette redoubtable colonne dont le Duc de Cumberland apprécia toute la puissance. En effet elle marchat en lançant la mort de toutes ses faces. Rien ne pouvait entamer cette terrible masse. Les régiments Français venaient inutilement se heurter contre elle et périr. Le premier corps abordé par les Anglais fut le régiment des Gardes Françaises. Avant que le feu commençât, un officier Anglais sort des rangs, ôte son chapeau, et dit -Messieurs les Français, tirez.' Un officier s'avance aussitôt, et repond-'Les Français ne tirent pas les premiers : nous réponderons.' Les Anglais font feu, et avec tant de précision que la première ligne des Gardes tomba. Cette courtoisie intempestive coûta la vie à dix-huit officiers. Cependant la colonne avançait toujours lentement, mais avec une inébranlable fermeté. Elle avait dépassé, de trois cents toises, le front de l'armée Française. La bataille paraissait perdue, et les personnes qui entouraient le Roi parlaient déjà de la nécessité de sa retraite. Tout était perdu, si le Roi eût quitté le champ de bataille. Quatre pièces de canon, tenues en réserve pour sa sûreté, sont amenées et mises en batterie à quarante pas de la colonne Anglaise. Elles tirent à mitraille à coups précipités : des vides immenses se creusent dans cette masse compacte; toute la cavalerie de la Maison-du-Roi va s'élancer. Le Dauphin tire son épée et s'écrie, 'Marchons, Français ! Où est, donc, l'honneur de la France?' La cavalerie pénètre de toute part dans les intervalles que le canon à ouverts. Le fer aide le feu dans cette œuvre de destruction, et bientôt cette terrible colonne, qui faisait trembler les plus intrépides, n'est plus qu'un composé des debris qui flottent dans la plaine, et cherchent enfin leur salut dans la fuite." DE TOCQUEVILLE, Histoire de Louis XV., i. 526, 527. Such were the exploits of England in the only pitched battle since that of Hastings which they have lost in Europe. MICHELET, Histoire de France, iv. 137. LV. 1809. CHAP. honourably discharge their duty but expose them to the fatigues of a campaign; subject them to the frozen snow or the dripping bivouac; require them to recede before the enemy, and bear the galling reproaches of a pursuer or ally, in expectation of the time when the proper season for action should arrive, and it was evident that they had still much to learn in the military art. Above all, intoxication, the inherent national vice, too often loosened the bonds of discipline, and exposed the army to the most serious disasters. These disorders explain the calamities of Sir John Moore's retreat, and go far to excuse his gloomy presentiments as to the ultimate issue of the campaign. In sobriety, durable activity, perseverance under fatigue, care of their horses, versatility of talent, and cheerfulness in disaster, the French were evidently and painfully the superiors of their undaunted rivals; the British army could never, in the same time and with the same order, have made Napoleon's march from Madrid to Astorga. Such were the different excellences of the two armies who were destined, in six successive campaigns, to emulate each other's virtues, and shun each other's defects; and such the aspect of the war when Great Britain, throwing off the unworthy timidity of former years, first descended as a principal into the fight, and Wellington, alternately the Fabius and Marcellus of the contest, prepared, in the fields rendered illustrious by a former Scipio, the triumphs of a second Zama. CHAPTER LVI. CAMPAIGN OF ABENSBERG, LANDSHUT, AND ECHMÜHL. LVI. 1. the aristo democratic Europe. As the history of Europe, during the eventful years CHAP. which succeeded the French Revolution, contains, in the domestic transactions of every state possessing the 1808. shadow even of free institutions, a perpetual recurrence Influence of of the strife between the aristocratic and democratic cractic and principles; so the military annals of the same period illustrate the effect of these opposite powers on the course tending of external events, and the issue of warlike operations. parties in In the results of military operations, not less than the consequences of social convulsion, we perceive the influence of the same antagonist principles: the long-continued successes of the one, not less than the persevering firmness of the other, illustrate the action of those great contending powers which in every age have divided between them the government of mankind. France, buoyant with the energy, and radiant with the enthusiasm of a revolution, was for long triumphant; but the fever of passion is transient, the suggestions of interest are permanent in their effects; and in the vehement exertions which the democratic principle there made, externally and internally, to achieve success, the foundation was necessarily laid for disappointment and change within, exhaustion and ultimate disaster without. Austria, less powerfully agitated in the outset, was directed by principles calculated to be more uniform in their operation, LVI. 1808. CHAP. and more effective in the end. Recurring to the aid of popular enthusiasm only when driven to it by necessity, and guided throughout by aristocratic foresight, she did not so soon wear out the mighty fire which shakes the world. Like a skilful combatant, she gave ground and yielded, till the strength of her antagonist had exhausted itself by exertion; and thus succeeded at last, not only in appearing with undiminished strength on the theatre of combat, but rousing round her standard the still unexhausted vigour of popular excitation. 2. cabinet since Pressburg. Since the gallant but unsuccessful attempt made by Policy of the Imperial government in 1805, the cabinet of Vienna the Imperial had adhered with cautious prudence to a system of neutrathe peace of lity. Even the extraordinary temptation afforded by the disasters of the Polish campaign, and the opportunity, then arising, of striking a decisive blow when the forces of the East and the West were engaged in doubtful hostility on the banks of the Alle, had not been able to rouse it to immediate exertion. Austria armed, indeed, and assumed a menacing attitude, but not a sword was drawn. And the impolitic secession of England from the theatre of Continental strife at that period, joined to the rapid termination of the contest by the disaster of Friedland, put an entire stop to any projects of hostility which a decided victory in that quarter by the Muscovite arms, or even the transfer of the war into the interior of Russia, might probably have induced them to entertain. But during this interval the government was not idle. Under the able guidance of the Archduke Charles, the war department assumed an extraordinary degree of activity; the vast chasms which the campaigns of Ulm and Austerlitz had occasioned in the ranks were filled up by voluntary recruiting, or the prisoners who at length were restored by the French government; and, with a patriotism and wisdom worthy of the highest admiration, the treasury, at the very time when the state was overburdened with the enormous contribution of four millions sterling, LVI. 1808. imposed by the victorious French troops, purchased from CHAP. their retiring armies the greater part of the immense park of two thousand pieces of cannon, which they were removing from the arsenal of Vienna. During the whole of 1806 and 1807, the efforts of the war department were incessant to restore, without any ostentatious display, the horses of the cavalry and artillery, and replenish the arsenals and magazines, which had been nearly emptied by the consumption or spoliation of the last campaign. But the attention of the Archduke was, in an especial manner, drawn to the remodelling of the infantry, the real basis of all powerful military establishments. The French organisation into corps d'armée, under the command of marshals, and divisions under them of generals, each with a certain proportion of cavalry and artillery, so as to render it a little army complete in itself—that admirable system, which Napoleon had adopted from the ancient conquerors of the world-was introduced into the Ante, ch. Imperial service.1 At the same time the younger and 55. more ardent officers, with the Archduke John at their head, eagerly supported still more energetic steps; formed plans of national defence and internal communication; Guerre de warmly recommended the adoption of measures calculated 1809, 36, to rouse the national enthusiasm in the public defence; Fer and already contemplated those heroic sacrifices in the Fieldzug in jahre event of another invasion, which afterwards, under 1809, 8. Wellington in Portugal, and Alexander in Russia, led to 84, 85. such memorable results.2 1 xxxix. § 2 Pelet, i. 37. Der Erzherzog Thiers, x. decree for tion of the It was the presence of the Grand Army of France, two 3. hundred thousand strong, in the north and west of Important Germany, which long overawed the Imperial government, the forma and prevented the adoption of any steps which could give Landwehr. umbrage to Napoleon. But with the transfer of a large June 1808. part of that immense force to the Peninsula, after the breaking out of the war there, this oppressive load was materially diminished. The able statesman who directed the Imperial councils, immediately perceived that |