Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume III. Walter Scott

greatest difficulty, that, rallying the remains of their routed forces around them, and retiring in the best manner they could, the Emperors effected their personal retreat. Only the devoted bravery of the Russians, and the loyalty of the Austrian cavalry, who charged repeatedly to protect the retrograde movement, could have rendered it possible, since the sole passage to the rear lay along a causeway, extending between two lakes. The retreat was, however, accomplished, and the Emperors escaped without sustaining the loss in the pursuit which might have been expected. But in the battle, at least twenty thousand men had remained, killed, wounded, and prisoners; and forty standards, with a great proportion of the hostile artillery, were the trophies of Napoleon, whose army had thus amply redeemed their pledge. It was, however, at a high rate that they had purchased the promised bouquet. Their own ranks had lost probably five thousand men, though the bulletin diminishes the numbers to two thousand five hundred.162

      The Austrian Emperor considered his last hope of successful opposition to Napoleon as extinguished by this defeat, and conceived, therefore, that he had nothing remaining save to throw himself upon the discretion of the victor. There, were, indeed some, who accused his councils of pusillanimity. It was said, that the levies of Prince Charles in Hungary, and of Prince Ferdinand in Bohemia, were in great forwardness – that the Emperors had still a considerable army under their own command – and that Prussia, already sufficiently disposed for war, would certainly not permit Austria to be totally overwhelmed. But it ought to be considered, on the other hand, that the new levies, however useful in a partisan war, could not be expected to redeem the loss of such a battle as Austerlitz – that they were watched by French troops, which, though inferior in number, were greatly more formidable in discipline – and that, as for Prussia, it was scarce rational to expect that she would interfere by arms, to save, in the hour of distress, those to whom she had given no assistance, when such would probably have been decisive of the contest, and that in favour of the allies.

      CONVENTION WITH PRUSSIA.

      The influence of the victory on the Prussian councils was indeed soon made evident; for Count Haugwitz, who had been dismissed to Vienna till the battle should take place, now returned to Buonaparte's headquarters, having changed the original message of defiance of which he was the bearer, into a handsome compliment to Napoleon upon his victory. The answer of Napoleon intimated his full sense of the duplicity of Prussia. – "This," he said, "is a compliment designed for others, but Fortune has transferred the address to me."163 It was, however, still necessary to conciliate a power which had a hundred and fifty thousand men in the field; and a private treaty with Haugwitz assigned the Electorate of Hanover to Prussia, in exchange for Anspach, or rather as the price of her neutrality at this important crisis.164 Thus all hopes of Prussian interference being over, the Emperor Francis must be held justified in yielding to necessity, and endeavouring to secure the best terms which could be yet obtained, by submitting at discretion. His ally, Alexander, refused indeed to be concerned in a negotiation, which in the circumstances could not fail to be humiliating.

      A personal interview took place betwixt the Emperor of Austria and Napoleon, to whose camp Francis resorted almost in the guise of a suppliant. The defeated prince is represented as having thrown the blame of the war upon the English. "They are a set of merchants," he said, "who would set the continent on fire, in order to secure to themselves the commerce of the world." The argument was not very logical, but the good prince in whose mouth it is placed, is not to be condemned for holding at such a moment the language which might please the victor. When Buonaparte welcomed him to his military hut, and said it was the only palace he had inhabited for nearly two months, the Austrian answered with a smile, "You have turned your residence, then, to such good account, that you ought to be content with it."

      The Emperor of Austria, having satisfied himself that he would be admitted to terms of greater or less severity, next stipulated for that which Alexander had disdained to request in his own person – the unmolested retreat of the Russians to their own country. – "The Russian army is surrounded," said Napoleon; "not a man can escape me. But I wish to oblige their Emperor, and will stop the march of my columns, if your Majesty promises me that these Russians shall evacuate Germany and the Austrian and Prussian parts of Poland." – "It is the purpose of the Emperor Alexander to do so."165

      The arrangement was communicated by Savary to the Russian Emperor, who acquiesced in the proposal to return with his army to Russia by regular marches.166 No other engagement was required of Alexander than his word; and the respectful manner in which he is mentioned in the bulletins, indicates Buonaparte's desire to cultivate a good understanding with this powerful and spirited young monarch. On the other hand, Napoleon has not failed to place in the Czar's mouth such compliments to himself as the following: – "Tell your master," said he to Savary, "that he did miracles yesterday – that this bloody day has augmented my respect for him – He is the predestined of Heaven – it will take a hundred years ere my army equals that of France." Savary is then stated to have found Alexander, despite of his reverse of fortune, a man of heart and head. He entered into details of the battle.

      "You were inferior to us on the whole," he said, "yet we found you superior on every point of action."

      "That," replied Savary, "arises from warlike experience, the fruit of sixteen years of glory. This is the fortieth battle which the Emperor has fought."

      "He is a great soldier," said Alexander; "I do not pretend to compare myself with him – this is the first time I have been under fire. But it is enough. I came hither to the assistance of the Emperor of Austria – he has no farther occasion for my services – I return to my capital."

      Accordingly, he commenced his march towards Russia, in pursuance of the terms agreed upon. The Russian arms had been unfortunate; but the behaviour of their youthful Emperor, and the marked deference shown towards him by Buonaparte, made a most favourable impression upon Europe at large.167

      ARMISTICE WITH AUSTRIA.

      Dec. 6.

      The Austrian monarch, left to his fate, obtained from Buonaparte an armistice168– a small part of the price was imposed in the shape of a military contribution of a hundred millions of francs, to be raised in the territories occupied by the French armies. The cessation of hostilities was to endure while Talleyrand on the one side, and Prince John of Lichtenstein on the other, adjusted the terms of a general pacification. Buonaparte failed not to propitiate the Austrian negotiator by the most extravagant praises in his bulletins, and has represented the Emperor of Austria as asking, "Why, possessing men of such distinguished talent, should the affairs of my cabinet be committed to knaves and fools?" Of this question we can only say, that if really asked by Francis, which we doubt, he was himself the only person by whom it could have been answered.

      The compliments to the Prince John of Lichtenstein, were intended to propitiate the public in favour of the treaty of peace, negotiated by a man of such talents. Some of his countrymen, on the other hand, accused him of selfish precipitation in the treaty, for the purpose of removing the scene of war from the neighbourhood of his own family estates. But what could the wisdom of the ablest negotiator, or the firmness of the most stubborn patriot have availed, when France was to dictate terms, and Austria to receive them. The treaties of Campo Formio and Luneville, though granted to Austria by Napoleon in the hour of victory, were highly advantageous compared to that of Presburgh, which was signed on the 26th of December, 1805, about a fortnight after the battle of Austerlitz.169 By this negotiation, Francis ceded to Bavaria the oldest possession of his house, the mountains of Tyrol and of the Vorarlberg, filled with the best, bravest, and most attached of his subjects, and which, by their geographical situation, had hitherto given Austria influence at once in Germany and Italy. Venice, Austria's most recent possession, and which had not been very honourably obtained, was also yielded up, and added to the kingdom of Italy.170 She was again reduced to the solitary seaport of Trieste, in the Adriatic.

      By

162

Jomini, tom. ii., p. 180-191; Savary, tom. ii., p. 133. Thirtieth Bulletin of the Grand Army. On the field of battle, Napoleon issued the following proclamation: —

"Headquarters, Dec. 2, 10 o'clock at night.

"Soldiers of the Grand Army! Even at this hour, before this great day shall pass away and be lost in the ocean of eternity, your Emperor must address you, and express how much he is satisfied with the conduct of all those who have had the good fortune to combat in this memorable battle. Soldiers! you are the first warriors in the world! The recollection of this exploit and of your deeds, will be eternal! thousands of ages hereafter, so long as the events of the universe continue to be related, will record, that a Russian army, of seventy-six thousand men, hired by the gold of England, was annihilated by you on the plains of Olmutz. – The miserable remains of that army, upon which the commercial spirit of a despicable nation had placed its expiring hope, are in flight, hastening to make known to the savage inhabitants of the north what the French are capable of performing; they will, likewise, tell them, that, after having destroyed the Austrian army, at Ulm, you told Vienna – 'That army is no more!' To Petersburgh you shall also say – 'The Emperor Alexander has no longer an army.'"

163

Thirty-Fourth Bulletin of the Grand Army; Savary, tom. ii., p. 148.

164

"The battle of Austerlitz took place on the 2d December, and on the 15th, Prussia, by the convention of Vienna, renounced the treaty of Potsdam and the oath of the tomb; she yielded Wesel, Bareuth, and Neuchatel to France; who, in return, consented to Frederic William's taking possession of Hanover, and uniting that country to his dominions." – Napoleon, Montholon, tom. ii., p. 242.

165

Thirty-First Bulletin of the Grand Army.

166

"The Emperors seemed to be both in excellent humour; they laughed, which seemed to us all to be a good omen: accordingly, in an hour or two, the sovereigns parted with a mutual embrace. We followed Napoleon, who rode his horse at a foot-pace, musing on what he meant to do. He called me, and said, 'Run after the Emperor of Austria: tell him that I have desired you to go and wait at his headquarters for the adhesion of the Emperor of Russia to what has just been concluded between us. When you are in possession of this adhesion, proceed to the corps d'armée of Marshal Davoust, stop his movement, and tell him what has passed.'" – Savary, tom. ii., p. 140.

167

"I could not help feeling a certain timidity on finding myself in Alexander's presence; he awed me by the majesty and nobleness of his look. Nature had done much for him; and it would have been difficult to find a model so perfect and so graceful; he was then twenty-six years old. He was already somewhat hard of hearing with the left ear, and he turned the right to hear what was said to him. He spoke in broken sentences; he laid great stress upon his finals, so that the discourse was never long. For the rest, he spoke the French language in all its purity, and always used its elegant academic expression. As there was no affectation in his language, it was easy to judge that this was one of the results of an excellent education." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 115.

168

See Annual Register, vol. xlvii., p. 666.

169

For a copy of the treaty, see Annual Register, vol. xlvii., p. 668.

170

"After leaving Vienna, Napoleon, on his way to Munich, passed through Passau, where he met General Lauriston, who was returning from Cadiz; he sent him as governor to Venice." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 155.