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CHAP. XXXIX.

GEORGE III. (CONTINUED.)-1796.

State of military affairs-Reduction of La Vendée-Campaign under Moreau and Jourdan in Germany against the archduke Charles-Italian campaign of Napoleon, including the surrender of Corsica, and isle of Elba-War with Spain, &c.-Dutch attempt to retake the Cape of Good Hope frustrated-French expedition to the coast of Ireland-Capture of Sir Sidney Smith and captain Wright-Action of captain Trollope in the Glatton-Success of the French in Newfoundland-Quarrel between the French and American governments-Financial state of France, and distress consequent on it-Reduction of the national debt-Vain attempts of the French government against British commerce-Death of the empress of Russia and the king of Sardinia-Meeting of parliament, &c.-Discussion respecting peace-Mr. Pitt's plans for increasing the military power of the country-Land and sea forces-Supplies and loans, &c.-Vote of censure against the minister on account of German subsidy, rejected-Mission of lord Malmesbury to Paris -Negociation for peace fails-British manifesto- Discussion of it in parliament.

THE campaign of this year, when compared with those that preceded it, appears like a war of giants; so vast were its plans, so numerous the forces engaged, and so tremendous the issue of its conflicts. France had three objects in contemplation: an invasion of Germany; another of Italy; and the subjugation of La Vendée, which, by its connexion with the royalists and England, threw great embarrassments on all other military operations. Hostilities had raged in that unhappy district during the winter: early in the spring, however, the active and experienced Hoche was sent against the insurgents with an immense army; Charette was completely defeated, and his followers dispersed: an amnesty was then proclaimed, and such a plan of conciliation adopted, as ultimately restored tranquillity.

The archduke Charles of Austria, brother to the emperor, and a great military genius, headed the Austrian army: with

him was joined the veteran Wurmser, who at the age of eighty exhibited almost the activity of youth: 175,000 troops, of which 40,000 were the finest cavalry in Europe, defended the entrance of Germany, on the side of the Rhine; against whom Jourdan and Moreau were despatched with 150,000 men: the former approached the empire by the Upper Rhine, while the latter directed his course through Suabia.

The first successes of the French were brilliant: they drove all the Austrian corps back from the frontiers; deprived them of their magazines, cannon, and arms; and threatened the hereditary states. Within six weeks, the Austrians were reduced by a third of their original force; and the French armies covered the country from Stutgard to the lake of Constance, a line of 150 miles.

But the hour of retribution was at hand: by one of those singular changes of circumstances, which operate so powerfully in war, the French abandoned the principle of concentrating their attacks on separate portions of the opposing army; while the Austrians combined their forces, and impinged on the separated corps of the French. The fortune of the campaign was immediately reversed. The archduke, in his interesting Memoirs, tells us, that his purpose was, to retreat slowly, disputing every inch of ground without hazarding an engagement; until the two retiring armies came so near together, that he could fall with superior force on one or other of the adversaries. Continuing at the head of the army opposed to Moreau, until he had successively led it across the Neckar, and the difficult country intervening between that river and the Danube, he suddenly came on his antagonist at the passage of the river; and after a gallant action, in which he at one time turned the French right, and would have thrown the whole army into confusion, but for the firmness of their centre, he crossed the Danube, and placed his troops in safety.

Here the war paused; for the blow was to be struck in another quarter. Jourdan had pressed forward along the valley of the Maine, to turn the right of the Germans under Wartensleben that officer continued his retreat, slowly converging toward his position on the Danube, and followed by Jourdan with the eagerness of anticipated victory: but the time for teaching him a fatal lesson was come. On the twentieth of August, the archduke, leaving Latour with 35,000 men to defend Austria against Moreau, brought 28,000 into Wartensleben's lines: the united force amounted to nearly 63,000; that of the enemy scarcely reached 45,000; the attack

was made without delay, and began the most sanguinary and decisive campaign in the war.

Within two days of his arrival, the archduke gave orders to drive in the French advanced guard under Bernadotte, posted at the foot of the mountains: the struggle was severe; but in a few hours, the French were compelled to retire through the gorges in their rear. The archduke, with a vigor new to the national character, now turned to throw himself, with his victorious troops, on the main body under Jourdan: he found that general strongly posted; but the confidence of the Austrians in their commander was at its height: they rushed boldly through all difficulties; and the enemy made but a feeble resistance: their flank was turned; their centre was forced; and the desperate valor of Ney alone, in command of the rear guard, rescued the army from finding its grave in the memorable position of Amberg. All was now confusion in the French camp, and the only alternative was a speedy retreat. Those who have witnessed the march of armies, can alone conceive the wretchedness that now awaited the republicans through the long mountainous ranges from the Naab to the Maine: during six terrible days and nights, their army wound its slow way through the mountains, with the archduke thundering in its rear; and, on emerging at Wurtzburg, Jourdan made an effort to recover the honor of France, by waiting for the Austrian columns advancing from the ravines. The occasion was judiciously chosen; for the pursuers, rushing down from the mountains, were liable to be attacked in their disorder; while the French had time to choose their points of assault. But superior tactics were again combined with superior intrepidity: the archduke out-manœuvred Jourdan; and while the latter was preparing to commence an attack on what he thought a portion of the antagonist army, he suddenly found himself enveloped by the whole, and was assailed at once in front and flank. After endeavoring to restore the fortune of the day by a desperate charge of cavalry, which was utterly routed by the Austrian cuirassiers, Jourdan saw that his only chance of safety lay in a retreat: the order was given, and the infantry plunged into the recesses of the forest.

From this time the only hope of the French general was in the rapidity of his march: it cost him immense sacrifices; for before he reached the banks of the Lahn, he lost 122 pieces of cannon, captured in the towns on his advance; and 143 of his own. There he gladly halted; and having been reinforced with 25,000 troops under Marceau, was forced to give battle to his

pursuers, was defeated, and saved only by the coming on of night. Having abandoned his position, he was pursued by the Austrian cavalry, who slaughtered his troops as they were straggling through the woods; and his retreat for three days was a perpetual battle, till he reached Altenburg, a position memorable by the fall of the gallant Marceau, in command of the rear guard. The routed army now lost all hope; and, flying to the Rhine, crossed that river at Bonn on the twentieth of September, totally dismantled, and incapable of moving during the rest of the campaign.

But the archduke was about to obtain another wreath of glory. During the retreat of Jourdan, Moreau's force, 70,000 of the finest troops of France, had penetrated into Bavaria, and was advancing to the very heart of Germany: the gallant prince received this intelligence at the moment when he was in sight of the French columns; and the prompt reply was,'Let him advance to the gates of Vienna, if he will: he is undone, if we beat Jourdan.' With these words he continued the pursuit; and having driven the last man of that army from the violated soil of his country, he turned to vindicate it from the insults of another foe still more formidable. Moreau's genius was that of caution; and the advance of Latour's light troops at Ulm was instantly adopted as the signal of a retreat through 200 miles of mountain and forest, from Bavaria to the Rhine; a retreat, which is still commemorated as one of the most consummate displays of generalship in military annals: it must, however, be confessed, that he had no slight advantages in a compact force of 70,000 men, untouched by disaster, and enjoying the abundance of an unspoiled country; against an army of 63,000, divided into four distinct corps, separated from each other by large tracts of country, and wearied with perpetual battle.

At Biberach, near the entrance of the Black Forest, Moreau made the first stand against his vigorous pursuer, Latour, who could bring no more than 24,000 men into the field. The French threw on him such a weight of numbers, that nothing but the most heroic resistance could have saved his army from destruction: the position was partially forced, and at nightfall the conflict ceased, with the loss of 4000 Austrians on the field, and 18 pieces of cannon. The French force now plunged into the Black Forest, in three divisions; the main body marching through the Vallée d'Enfer; while the left and right divisions, under Dessaix and Ferino, cleared the mountains of the enemy's light troops on its flanks. After sixteen days of deliberate

manœuvres in those perilous passes, he formed his lines in the valley of the Rhine; and he now appeared less a fugitive than a conqueror, when the presence of the archduke Charles suddenly changed the aspect of affairs. Determined to drive the last squadron of France across the Rhine, he collected all his strength, and threw himself on his foes, at the foot of Waldkirch height after a long resistance, the position was carried, and the whole French line driven into the forest behind the Elz. One battle more was to clear the territory: the French commander pitched his tent on the rocky ridge of Hohenblau, whence he could survey the forest he had passed, and the river, which was so soon to form his line of safety. The position was admirably chosen: with his left on the Rhine, his centre on a citadel of rocks, and his right embattled on precipices, he seemed almost beyond the reach of attack: but the Germans were in sight of the Rhine; a new spirit of patriotism had sprung up among them; and they saw their favorite general at their head. Rapidly forming into four columns, they climbed the precipices, burst through a shower of grape and musketry pouring from the heights, and with the bayonet plunged into the masses of their antagonists. The struggle was brief; the French gave way with terrible slaughter, and were chased from the heights: at the river side, they were suddenly saved from destruction by a storm of rain and wind, memorable for its tremendous violence. The battle was suspended amidst the roaring of the thunder, the bursts of the whirlwind, and a deluge of rain. Moreau crossed the river in the night, and interposed that barrier between himself and his conquerors.

The archduke now proposed to crush the French invasion of Italy by throwing an army across the Tyrol; but the evil genius of Austria, in her Aulic council, prevailed: he was ordered to assault Kehl, the chief fortress in the French possession on the right bank of the Rhine; and, perhaps, no operation of the kind was ever conducted on a larger scale: not fewer than 30,000 troops were appointed for its defence, with a large reserve in the Rhenish islands: the besieging troops under Latour were 40,000, with the archduke's army as a covering force. On the twenty-first of October the trenches were opened; and from that period there was a succession of sorties and encounters, of the fiercest kind, amidst the most inclement weather, which deluged the trenches with rain still the Austrians persevered, and the place capitulated on the ninth of January, after its defences had been crushed under the weight of an artillery, which poured into it 100,000 balls and 25,000

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