he said was drawn up by Gentz, a ridiculous performance, he indulged the natural vulgarity of his mind in personal insults towards the emperor. "From Vienna," said he, "he went, to Schaerding, a position extremely well adapted for a sovereign who neither wishes to be in his capital to govern his dominions, nor in the field, where he is known to be merely an incumbrance and a dead weight. When he was informed of the result of the battle of Echmuhl, he judged it prudent to leave the banks of the Inn, and return into the interior of his dominions." The Austrians had magazines at Schaerding, and Hiller, with three corps, had taken up a position at Old Otling, to protect that place and Brannau, and keep up the communication with the Tyrol. Bessieres attacked him on the day of the battle of Ratisbon, but was repulsed. On the same day Massena was detached from Ratisbon to the same point. He passed Strauling and Passau, re-established the bridge over the Inn, which the Austrians had destroyed, and winning a passage which was feebly defended, took possession of Schaerding, where the Austrians had previously set fire to the magazines, and in consequence burnt half the town. Bessieres also crossed the Inn, and adApril 28. vanced to Burghausen, where he was joined by Lasnes the same day. Oudinot, with his corps, entered Ried on the 1st of May, where he found eight sets of military ovens, and 200,000 rations of flour: half as much was found at Wels. Buonaparte passed through Ried on the 2d, and reached Lambach the same evening, where the bridge, which had been destroy ed, was speedily restored. On the 3d Massena arrived at Lintz. The

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Archduke Lewis and Hiller were at this time before Traun, and being threatened in the rear by Lasnes, retreated to Ebersberg. There they had other enemies to encounter, for Bessieres and Oudinot had formed a junction with Mas- May 3. sena in that quarter.

The French came up with the Austrian rear-guard as they were crossing the bridge, pursued them, drove cannon, waggons, and some hundred men into the river, and made prisoners some three thousand men, who had been left to defend the town. Claparede, who commanded the advanced guard, continuing the pursuit, halted when he found the enemy occupying a strong position. Bessieres passed the bridge with the cavalry, of which he had the command, and Massena ordered the main body of the army to support them. The archduke and Hiller, now on the point of being attacked by superior numbers, set fire to the town. It was built of wood, and the flames spread in all directions; they reached the bridge also, aud Claparede was cut off from the support of the main body. The Austrians attempted to profit by this advantage, but with little effect; continued disasters seem to have disheartened them, and their efforts must have been feeble or ill directed to have proved so unsuccessful; for Claparede is said, with only four pieces of cannon and 7000 men, to have withstood 30,000 men for three hours, and three times to have repulsed them with the bayonet. Allowing for French exaggeration, it is beyond a doubt that his situation was extremely perilous, and that the Austrians, if they had acted well, must have destroyed his whole corps. News of his danger was communicated to Buonaparte, who immediately dis

patched the divisions of Nansoutz and Molitor to his assistance, but they did not arrive till after the action was over. After three hours the fire was so far got under that a passage was opened, and Claparede was reinforced both with horse and foot. The Austrians retreated with the utmost rapidity. They lost 7500 prisoners; 800 of their troops were burnt in the castle their whole loss is estimated at 12,000. They reached Enns that night, burnt the bridge there, and continued their retreat, or rather their flight, on the road to Vienna. The French say that 300 of Claparede's corps were killed, and 700 wounded; the Austrian account makes their own loss 4000, that of the enemy 3000.

Buonaparte slept at Enns on the 4th, and employed the next day in re-establishing the bridge. Lasnes,

who crossed at Steyer, arrived at Molck on the 6th, and found in the cellars of the abbey there several thousand bottles of wine, which were served out to the army: great magazines of every kind had been found since the passage of the Inn. Prince Lewis and Hiller were at this time at St Polten. Two-thirds of the remains of their army crossed the Danube at Crems, and were pursued to Mantein, where they obtained a respite by breaking the bridge; the other third made for Vienna. On the 8th Buonaparte's head-quarters were at St Polten. On the 10th, at nine in the morning, he appeared, with the corps of Marshal Lasnes, before Vienna,-at the same hour, on the same day, and exactly one month after the Austrians had commenced their deplorable compaign, by crossing the river Inn.

FORTY years ago, Vienna was considered to be well fortified, having a rampart, twelve strong bastions, ten ravelins, deep and wide square ditch es, and outworks of proportionate strength. Maria Theresa was advised by her son to dismantle it: "I am an old woman," that great empress used to say, "and I almost remember when this city was besieged by the Turks; unless the capital had then been capable of withstanding a blockade till it was relieved by John Sobieski, the Ottoman hordes would have ravaged our hereditary dominions, and overrun the empire. Twice I have myself seen this capital almost the frontier of my dominions. Let Joseph act as he will when I am dead, but while I live Vienna shall not be dismantled."

The older works are said to have been built with the money obtained from England as the ransom of Richard Cœur de Lion, so villainously made prisoner. Those which existed at this time, were supposed to be kept up only for the sake of keeping the city itself in subjection, at a time when all fear of the Turks was past, and Austria had no apprehensions from any European power. The cir

cumference was about four miles, for it was the work of an hour to walk round the ramparts. By the enume. ration of 1796, there were found to be 1397 houses within the walls; the suburbs at the same time contained 5102. The markets and shops were in the city. The whole population is estimated at 270,000. Between the suburbs and the walls, a space had been left all round of five or six hundred paces, that the works might command an open range; this interval gave great advantage to a besieging army. Intrenchments had been thrown up to cover the suburbs. An old inscription on one of the towers said, "Happy is that city which, amid the tranquillity of peace, holds itself in readiness for war :-God's protection and the courage of the emperor and the people defend the walls of Vienna." Alas, the age was over in which Vienna could boast the courage either of its prince or its inhabitants!

Four days before the appearance of the French, the Archduke Maximilian arrived to take the command of the city. He had collected ten battalions of militia, and as many of regular troops, amounting together

to 15,000, and he ordered registers to be opened for inscribing the names of those who were willing to defend the capital. Buonaparte affirms that only thirty persons delivered in their names, all the rest refused with indignation; and then he praises the people of Vienna for their good sense. The Austrians, with far greater probability, say that a great number enrolled themselves. After the capitulation it is not unlikely that the list was destroyed, lest those whose names appeared there should be fixed upon to pay heavier contributions. Be this as it may, the French bulletin affords sufficient proof of the hostile disposition of the people. General Couroux traversed the suburbs without opposition, but when General Tharreau appeared upon the esplanade before the walls, he was received by a discharge of cannon and musketry, which slightly wounded him. Buonaparte had now taken up his head-quarters at Schoenbrunn, the favourite palace of the emperor, of which he had once before made himself master; from hence he sent a summons to the archduke, telling him, that if he ventured to defend the city longer, it should be reduced by a bombardment in six-and-thirty hours. The officer who entered the city with the flag of truce was maltreated, and even wounded, by the mob; this outrage is said in the bulletin, (forgetful of its former assertion, that only thirty persons had enrolled themselves for the defence of Vienna,) to have been committed by some butchers and a few hundred satellites of the archduke. It is added, that the archduke himself ordered the fellow who had wounded the French officer to be mounted on the officer's horse, and led through the city in triumph surrounded by the

militia. The archduke is represented as a hot-headed presumptuous young man, who declared that he would bury himself under the ruins of the city, and distributed all the arms which were in the arsenal among the rabble. He is said also to have ordered bombs and howitzers to be fired upon the suburbs, when none but the inhabitants could be injured; and the bulletins asserted, that, in consequence of his determination to prolong a hopeless resistance, those who were for surrendering attacked his partisans, and Vienna presented the dreadful spectacle of an intestine war. So much of this is palpably false, that it may well be doubted whether there is the slightest foundation in truth for any part; nor would it be here repeated, but as another specimen of the official falsehoods circulated by the French government, and of the mean malignity with which Buonaparte, in the true spirit of a savage, reviles all who resist him.

General Andreossy, who had been made governor of Vienna on its former capture, was reappointed to that station. He established in each of the eight districts or wards into which the suburbs are divided, a municipality, a national guard, and a committee of provisions, and he ordered a deputation to wait upon the Empe ror of France, to represent to him the state of the city, and solicit his generosity. Buonaparte replied, by assuring them of his protection, and reproaching the Emperor Francis for what he styled his inhuman conduct in delivering up his capital to all the calamities of war. "That emperor," he said, " instead of being the king and father of his subjects, had evinced himself their enemy and tyrant. Nevertheless, Vienna should be treated with the same indulgence and fa

vour which it had experienced in 1805." Berthier then, by his orders, wrote a second letter to the archduke, requesting him to respect the flag of truce, to consider the lives of the citizens, and to hold out no longer. He warned him also against continuing to fire upon the suburbs, saying, that if a single one of the inhabitants perished by the Austrian arms, such an act of frenzy, such a crime against the people, would for ever break the bonds which attach subjects to their sovereign. This summons was carried by the deputies, and the answer returned was a double fire from the ramparts.

Upon this Buonaparte proceeded with Massena's corps to the arm of the Danube, which separates the city from the Prater, an island which is the fashionable summer promenade of Vienna. Two companies of voltigeurs were ordered to occupy a small position on the bank: by them and by the fire of 15 pieces of artillery, a battalion of grenadiers which defended the passage were dispersed. The French cavalry swam the river, and seized boats from the opposite side: with these a bridge was constructed, and a battery of twenty mortars was erected at the distance of only 200 yards from the city. The bombard. ment began at nine on the evening of It was directed by Andreossy, and the people imputed it to his skill, that the only houses which were destroyed belonged to those persons who had been the most active promoters of the war. The utmost consternation now prevailed in the city; universal lamentations and cries were heard in all quarters, and the archduke himself partook of the general alarm, for he perceived that it was the intention of the enemy to cross the river, and cut off his retreat.

At midnight, he sent two battalions to retake the position which covered the French while making their bridge. They advanced in close column, but the position was too strongly defended; they were repulsed, and Maximilian then giving up all hopes of farther resistance, made his escape while it was yet practicable over the bridge of Tabor, which was then demolished to prevent the passage of the enemy.

The command devolved upon Ge. neral O'Reilly, for the archduke left the city in such haste that he did not transfer it to any person. At day-break, the new governor hung out a flag of surrender, and a deputa tion, composed of the archbishop and all the chief persons of the state, waited upon Buonaparte at Schoenbrunn, to accept such terms of capitulation as he might be pleased to grant. The garrison were allowed to march out with the honours of war, they were then to become prisoners of war. The inhabitants were to be protected in their property and privileges, rights and liberties, and in the free exercise of their professions and religion; the military pensions to continue to be paid, the military academy and institution for the edu cation of children of both sexes to be maintained in their existing footing under Buonaparte's protection; the military chests, magazines, and property of the magistrates of Vienna, of the states of Lower Austria, and of the hospitals, to be preserved inviolate.

On the following day, the French took possession May 13. of the city. Upon this occasion, Buonaparte addressed another proclamation to his army. "Sol. diers," said he, "a month after the enemy passed the Inn, on the same