The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0004/00049.txt

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$Title{Life Of Napoleon Bonaparte And Life Of Josephine
Chapter XVI}
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$Author{Tarbell, Ida M.}
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$Subject{napoleon
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austrians
danube
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talleyrand
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$Date{1906}
$Log{See Napoleon At Wagram*0004901.scf
}
Title:       Life Of Napoleon Bonaparte And Life Of Josephine
Book:        Life Of Napoleon Bonaparte
Author:      Tarbell, Ida M.
Date:        1906

Chapter XVI

Talleyrand's Treachery - The Campaign Of 1809 - Wagram

     Two unscrupulous and crafty men, both of singular ability, caused the
interior trouble which called Napoleon from Spain.  These men were Talleyrand
and Fouche.  The latter we saw during the Consulate as Minister of Police.
Since, he had been once dismissed because of his knavery, and restored,
largely for the same quality.  His cunning was too valuable to dispense with.
The former, Talleyrand, made Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1799, had handled
his negotiations with the extraordinary skill for which he was famous, until,
in 1807, Napoleon's mistrust of his duplicity, and Talleyrand's own dislike
for the details of his position, led to the portfolio being taken from him,
and he being made Vice-Grand-Elector.  He evidently expected, in accepting
this change, to remain as influential as ever with Napoleon.  The knowledge
that the emperor was dispensing with his services made him resentful, and his
devotion to the imperial cause fluctuated according to the attention he
received.

     Now, Napoleon's course in Spain had been undertaken at the advice of
Talleyrand, largely, and he had repeated constantly, in the early
negotiations, that France ought not to allow a Bourbon to remain enthroned at
her borders.  Yet, as the affair went on, he began slyly to talk against the
enterprise.  At Erfurt, where Napoleon had been impolitic enough to take him,
he initiated himself into Alexander's good graces, and prevented Napoleon's
policy towards Austria being carried out.  When Napoleon returned to Spain,
Talleyrand and Fouche, who up to this time had been enemies, became friendly,
and even appeared in public, arm in arm. If Talleyrand and Fouche had made up,
said the Parisians, there was mischief brewing.

     Napoleon was not long in knowing of their reconciliation.  He learned
more, that the two crafty plotters had written Murat that in the event of
"something happening," that is, of Napoleon's death or overthrow, they should
organize a movement to call him to the head of affairs; that, accordingly, he
must hold himself ready.

     Napoleon returned to Paris immediately, removed Talleyrand from his
position at court, and, at a gathering of high officials, treated him to one
of those violent harangues with which he was accustomed to flay those whom he
would disgrace and dismiss.

          "You are a thief, a coward, a man without honor; you do not believe
     in God; you have all your life been a traitor to your duties; you have
     deceived and betrayed everybody; nothing is sacred to you; you would sell
     your own father.  I have loaded you down with gifts, and there is nothing
     you would not undertake against me.  For the past ten months you have been
     shameless enough, because you supposed, rightly or wrongly, that my
     affairs in Spain were going astray, to say to all who would listen to you
     that you always blamed my undertakings there; whereas it was you yourself
     who first put it into my head, and who persistently urged it.  And that
     man, that unfortunate [he meant the Duc d'Enghien], by whom was I advised
     of the place of his residence?  Who drove me to deal cruelly with him?
     What, then, are you aiming at?  What do you wish for?  What do you hope?
     Do you dare to say?  You deserve that I should smash you like a wine-
     glass.  I can do it, but I despise you too much to take the trouble."

     All of this was undoubtedly true, but, after having publicly said it,
there was but one safe course for Napoleon - to put Talleyrand where he could
no longer continue his plotting.  He made the mistake, however, of leaving him
at large.

     The disturbance of the Continental peace came from Austria. Encouraged by
Napoleon's absence in Spain, and the withdrawal of troops from Germany, and
urged by England to attempt to again repair her losses, Austria had hastily
armed herself, hoping to be able to reach the Rhine before Napoleon could
collect his forces and meet her.  At this moment Napoleon could command about
the same number of troops as the Austrians, but they were scattered in all
directions, while the enemy's were already consolidated.  The question became,
then, whether he could get his troops together before the Austrians attacked.
From every direction he hurried them across France and Germany towards
Ratisbonne.  On the 12th of April he heard in Paris that the Austrians had
crossed the Inn.  On the 17th the emperor was in his headquarters at
Donauworth, his army well in hand. "Neither in ancient or modern times," says
Jomini, "will one find anything which equals in celerity and admirable
precision the opening of this campaign."

     In the next ten days a series of combats broke the Austrian army, drove
the Archduke Charles, with his main force, north of the Danube, and opened the
road to Vienna to the French.  On the 12th of May, one month from the day he
left Paris, Napoleon wrote from Schonbrunn, "We are masters of Vienna." The
city had been evacuated.

     Napoleon lay on the right bank of the Danube; the Austrian army under the
Archduke Charles was coming towards the city by the left bank; it was to be a
hand-to-hand struggle under the walls of Vienna.  The emperor was uncertain of
the archduke's plans, but he was determined that he should not have a chance
to reenforce his army.  The battle must be fought at once, and he prepared to
go across the river to attack him.  The place of crossing he chose was south
of Vienna, where the large island Lobau divides the stream.  Bridges had to
built for the passage, and it was with the greatest difficulty that the work
was accomplished, for the river was high and the current swift, and anchors
and boats were scarce.  Again and again the boats broke apart.  Nevertheless,
about thirty thousand of the French got over, and took possession of the
villages of Aspern and Essling, where they were attacked on May 21st by some
eighty thousand Austrians.

     The battle which followed lasted all day, and the French sustained
themselves heroically.  That night reenforcements were gotten over, so that
the next day some fifty-five thousand men were on the French side. Napoleon
fought with the greatest obstinacy, hoping that another division would soon
succeed in getting over, and would enable him to overcome the superior numbers
of the Austrians.  Already the battle was becoming a hand-to-hand fight, when
the terrible news came that the bridge over the Danube had gone down.  The
Austrians had sent floating down the swollen river great mills, fire-boats,
and masses of timber fastened together in such a way as to become
battering-rams of frightful power when carried by the rapid stream.  All hope
of aid was gone, and, as the news spread, the army resigned itself to perish
sword in hand.  The carnage which followed was horrible.  Towards evening one
of the bravest of the French marshals, Lannes, was fatally wounded.  It seemed
as if fortune had determined on the loss of the French, and Napoleon decided
to retreat to the island of Lobau, where he felt sure that he could maintain
his position, and secure supplies from the army on the right bank, until he
had time to build bridges and unite his forces.

     Communications were soon established with the right bank, but the isle of
Lobau was not deserted; it was used, in fact, as a camp for the next few
weeks, while Napoleon was sending to Italy, to France, and to Germany, for new
troops.  A heavy reenforcement came to him from Italy wi