CHAPTER XVIII.

1809.

Demands for contingents from some of the small States of Germany--

M. Metternich--Position of Russia with respect to France--Union of

Austria and Russia--Return of the English to Spain--Soult King of

Portugal, and Murat successor to the Emperor--First levy of the

landwehr in Austria--Agents of the Hamburg 'Correspondent'--

Declaration of Prince Charles--Napoleon's march to Germany--His

proclamation--Bernadotte's departure for the army--Napoleon's

dislike of Bernadotte--Prince Charles' plan of campaign--The English

at Cuxhaven--Fruitlessness of the plots of England--Napoleon

wounded--Napoleon's prediction realised--Major Schill--Hamburg

threatened and saved--Schill in Lübeck--His death, and destruction

of his band--Schill imitated by the Duke of Brunswick-Oels--

Departure of the English from Cuxhaven.

Bonaparte, the foundations of whose Empire were his sword and his.

victories, and who was anxiously looking forward to the time when the

sovereigns of Continental Europe should be his juniors, applied for

contingents of troops from the States to which I was accredited. The

Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was to furnish a regiment of 1800 men,

and the other little States, such as Oldenburg and Mecklenburg-Strelitz,

were to furnish regiments of less amount. All Europe was required to

rise in arms to second the gigantic projects of the new sovereign.

This demand for contingents, and the positive way in which the Emperor

insisted upon them, gave rise to an immense correspondence, which,

however, was unattended by any result. The notes and orders remained in

the portfolios, and the contingents stayed at home.

M. Metternich, whose talent has since been so conspicuously displayed,

had been for upwards of a year Ambassador from Austria to Paris. Even

then he excelled in the art of guiding men's minds, and of turning

to the advantage of his policy his external graces and the favour he

acquired in the drawing-room. His father, a clever man, brought up in

the old diplomatic school of Thugut and Kaunitz, had early accustomed

him to the task of making other Governments believe, by means of agents,

what might lead them into error and tend to the advantage of his own

Government. His manoeuvres tended to make Austria assume a discontented

and haughty tone; and wishing, as she said, to secure her independence,

she publicly declared her intention of protecting herself against any

enterprise similar to those of which she had so often been the victim.

This language, encouraged by the complete evacuation of Germany, and the

war in Spain, the unfortunate issue of which was generally foreseen, was

used--in time of peace between the two empires, and when France was not

threatening war to Austria.

--[Metternich arrived in Paris as Ambassador on 4th August 1806,

after Austria had been vanquished at Austerlitz. It does not seem

probable, either from his views or his correspondence, that he

advised the rash attempt of Austria to attack Napoleon by herself;

compare Metternich tome 1. p. 69, on the mistake of Prussia in 1805

and 1806; see also tome ii. p. 221, "To provoke a war with France

would be madness" (1st July 1808). On the other hand, the tone of

his correspondence in 1808 seams calculated to make Austria believe

that war was inevitable, and that her forces, "so inferior to those

of France before the insurrection in Spain, will at least be equal

to them immediately after that event" (tome ii. p. 808). What is

curious is that Metternich's conduct towards Napoleon while

Ambassador had led even such men as Duke Dalberg to believe that he

was really so well disposed towards Napoleon as to serve his cause

more than that of Austria.

M. Metternich, who had instructions from his Court, gave no satisfactory

explanation of those circumstances to Napoleon, who immediately raised a

conscription, and brought soldiers from Spain into Germany.

It was necessary, also, to come to an understanding with Russia, who,

being engaged with her war in Finland and Turkey, appeared desirous

neither to enter into alliance with Austria nor to afford her support.

What, in fact, was the Emperor Alexander's situation with respect to

France? He had signed a treaty of peace at Tilsit which he felt had been

forced upon him, and he knew that time alone would render it possible

for him to take part in a contest which it was evident would again be

renewed either with Prussia or Austria.

Every person of common sense must have perceived that Austria, in taking

up arms, reckoned, if not on the assistance, at least on the neutrality

of Russia. Russia was then engaged with two enemies, the Swedes and the

Turks, over whom she hoped to triumph. She therefore rejoiced to see

France again engage in a struggle with Austria, and there was no doubt

that she would take advantage of any chances favourable to the latter

power to join her in opposing the encroachments of France. I never could

conceive how, under those circumstances, Napoleon could be so blind as

to expect assistance from Russia in his quarrel with Austria. He must,

indeed, have been greatly deceived as to the footing on which the two

Courts stood with reference to each other--their friendly footing and

their mutual agreement to oppose the overgrowing ambition of their

common enemy.

The English, who had been compelled to quit Spain, now returned there.

They landed in Portugal, which might be almost regarded as their own

colony, and marched against Marshal Soult, who left Spain to meet them.

Any other man than Soult would perhaps have been embarrassed by the

obstacles which he had to surmount. A great deal has been said about

his wish to make himself King of Portugal. Bernadotte told me, when he

passed through Hamburg, that the matter had been the subject of much

conversation at headquarters after the battle of Wagram. Bernadotte

placed no faith in the report, and I am pretty sure that Napoleon also

disbelieved it. However, this matter is still involved in the obscurity

from which it will only be drawn when some person acquainted with the

intrigue shall give a full explanation of it.

Since I have, with reference to Soult, touched upon the subject of

his supposed ambition, I will mention here what I know of Murat's

expectation of succeeding the Emperor. When Romanzow returned from his

useless mission of mediation to London the Emperor proceeded to Bayonne.

Bernadotte, who had an agent in Paris whom he paid highly, told me one

day that he had received a despatch informing him that Murat entertained

the idea of one day succeeding the Emperor. Sycophants, expecting to

derive advantage from it, encouraged Murat in this chimerical hope. I

know not whether Napoleon was acquainted with this circumstance, nor

what he said of it, but Bernadotte spoke of it to me as a certain fact.

It would, however, have been very wrong to attach great importance to an

expression which, perhaps, escaped Murat in a moment of ardour, for his

natural temperament sometimes betrayed him into acts of imprudence, the

result of which, with a man like Napoleon, was always to be dreaded.

It was in the midst of the operations of the Spanish war, which Napoleon

directed in person, that he learned Austria had for the first time

raised the landwehr. I obtained some very curious documents respecting

the armaments of Austria from the Editor of the Hamburg 'Correspondent'.

This paper, the circulation of which amounted to not less than 60,000,

paid considerable sums to persons in different parts of Europe who were

able and willing to furnish the current news. The Correspondent paid

6000 francs a year to a clerk in the war department at Vienna, and it

was this clerk who supplied the intelligence that Austria was preparing

for war, and that orders had been issued in all directions to collect

and put in motion all the resources of that powerful monarchy. I

communicated these particulars to the French Government, and suggested

the necessity of increased vigilance and measures of defence. Preceding

aggressions, especially that of 1805, were not to be forgotten. Similar

information probably reached the French Government from many quarters.

Be that as it may, the Emperor consigned the military operations in

Spain to his generals, and departed for Paris, where he arrived at the

end of January 1809. He had been in Spain only since the beginning of

November 1808,' and his presence there had again rendered our banners

victorious. But though the insurgent troops were beaten the inhabitants

showed themselves more and more unfavourable to Joseph's cause; and it

did not appear very probable that he could ever seat himself tranquilly

on the throne of Madrid.

--[The successes obtained by Napoleon during his stay of about three

months in Spain were certainly very great, and mainly resulted from

his own masterly genius and lightning-like rapidity. The Spanish

armies, as yet unsupported by British troops, were defeated at

Gomenal, Espinosa, Reynosa, Tudela, and at the pass of the Somo

sierra Mountains, and at an early hour of the morning of the 4th

December Madrid surrendered. On the 20th of December Bonaparte

marched with far superior forces against the unfortunate Sir John

Moore, who had been sent to advance into Spain both by the wrong

route and at a wrong time. On the 29th, from the heights of

Benevento, his eyes were delighted by seeing the English in full

retreat. But a blow struck him from another quarter, and leaving

Soult to follow up Moore he took the road to Paris.]--

The Emperor Francis, notwithstanding his counsellors, hesitated about

taking the first step; but at length, yielding to the solicitations of

England and the secret intrigues of Russia, and, above all, seduced by

the subsidies of Great Britain, Austria declared hostilities, not at

first against France, but against her allies of the Confederation of

the Rhine. On the 9th of April Prince Charles, who was appointed

commander-in-chief of the Austrian troops, addressed a note to the

commander-in-chief of the French army in Bavaria, apprising him of the

declaration of war.

A courier carried the news of this declaration to Strasburg with the

utmost expedition, from whence it was transmitted by telegraph to

Paris. The Emperor, surprised but not disconcerted by this intelligence,

received it at St. Cloud on the 11th of April, and two hours after he

was on the road to Germany. The complexity of affairs in which he was

then involved seemed to give a new impulse to his activity. When he

reached the army neither his troops nor his Guard had been able to come

up, and under those circumstances he placed himself at the head of the

Bavarian troops, and, as it were, adopted the soldiers of Maximilian.

Six days after his departure from Paris the army of Prince Charles,

which had passed the Inn, was threatened. The Emperor's headquarters

were at Donauwerth, and from thence he addressed to his soldiers one

of those energetic and concise proclamations which made them perform so

many prodigies, and which was soon circulated in every language by the

public journals. This complication of events could not but be fatal to

Europe and France, whatever might be its result, but it presented an

opportunity favourable to the development of the Emperor's genius. Like

his favourite poet Ossian, who loved best to touch his lyre midst the

howlings of the tempest, Napoleon required political tempests for the

display of his abilities.

During the campaign of 1809, and particularly at its commencement,

Napoleon's course was even more rapid than it had been in the campaign

of 1805. Every courier who arrived at Hamburg brought us news, or rather

prodigies. As soon as the Emperor was informed of the attack made by the

Austrians upon Bavaria orders were despatched to all the generals having

troops under their command to proceed with all speed to the theatre of

the war. The Prince of Ponte-Corvo was summoned to join the Grand Army

with the Saxon troops under his command and for the time he resigned the

government of the Hanse Towns. Colonel Damas succeeded him at Hamburg

during that period, but merely as commandant of the fortress; and he

never gave rise to any murmur or complaint. Bernadotte was not satisfied

with his situation, and indeed the Emperor, who was never much

disposed to bring him forward, because he could not forgive him for his

opposition on the 18th Brumaire, always appointed him to posts in

which but little glory was to be acquired, and placed as few troops as

possible under his command.

It required all the promptitude of the Emperor's march upon Vienna to

defeat the plots which were brewing against his government, for in the

event of his arms being unsuccessful, the blow was ready to be struck.

The English force in the north of Germany amounted to about 10,000 men:

The Archduke Charles had formed the project of concentrating in the

middle of Germany a large body of troops, consisting of the corps of

General Am Eude, of General Radizwowitz, and of the English, with whom

were to be joined the people who were expected to revolt. The English

would have wished the Austrian troops to advance a little farther. The

English agent made some representations on this subject to Stadion,

the Austrian Minister; but the Archduke preferred making a diversion

to committing the safety of the monarchy by departing from his present

inactivity and risking the passage of the Danube, in the face of an

enemy who never suffered himself to be surprised, and who had calculated

every possible event: In concerting his plan the Archduke expected that

the Czar would either detach a strong force to assist his allies, or

that he would abandon them to their own defence. In the first case the

Archduke would have had a great superiority, and in the second, all was

prepared in Hesse and in Hanover to rise on the approach of the Austrian

and English armies.

At the commencement of July the English advanced upon Cuxhaven with a

dozen small ships of war. They landed 400 or 600 sailors and about 50

marines, and planted a standard on one of the outworks. The day after

this landing at Cuxhaven the English, who were in Denmark evacuated

Copenhagen, after destroying a battery which they had erected there.

All the schemes of England were fruitless on the Continent, for with

the Emperor's new system of war, which consisted in making a push on

the capitals, he soon obtained negotiations for peace. He was master of

Vienna before England had even organised the expedition to which I have

just alluded. He left Paris on the 11th of April, was at Donauwerth on

the 17th, and on the 23d he was master of Ratisbon. In the engagement

which preceded his entrance into that town Napoleon received a slight

wound in the heel. He nevertheless remained on the field of battle.

It was also between Donauwerth and Ratisbon that Davoust, by a bold

manoeuvre, gained and merited the title of Prince of Eckmuhl.

--[The great battle of Eckmuhl, where 100,000 Austrians were driven

from all their positions, was fought on the 22d of April.-Editor of

1836 edition.]--

At this period fortune was not only bent on favouring Napoleon's

arms, but she seemed to take pleasure in realising even his boasting

predictions; for the French troops entered Vienna within a month after

a proclamation issued by Napoleon at Ratisbon, in which he said he would

be master of the Austrian capital in that time.

But while he was thus marching from triumph to triumph the people of

Hamburg and the neighbouring countries had a neighbour who did not leave

them altogether without inquietude. The famous Prussian partisan, Major

Schill, after pursuing his system of plunder in Westphalia, came

and threw himself into Mecklenburg, whence, I understood, it was his

intention to surprise Hamburg. At the head of 600 well-mounted hussars

and between 1500 and 2000 infantry badly armed, he took possession of

the little fort of Domitz, in Mecklenburg, on the 15th of May, from

whence he despatched parties who levied contributions on both banks of

the Elbe. Schill inspired terror wherever he went. On the 19th of May a

detachment of 30 men belonging to Schill's corps entered Wismar. It

was commanded by Count Moleke, who had formerly been in the Prussian

service, and who had retired to his estate in Mecklenburg, where the

Duke had kindly given him an appointment. Forgetting his duty to his

benefactor, he sent to summon the Duke to surrender Stralsund.

Alarmed at the progress of the partisan Schill, the Duke of Mecklenburg

and his Court quitted Ludwigsburg, their regular residence, and retired

to Doberan, on the seacoast. On quitting Mecklenburg Schill advanced to

Bergdorf, four leagues from Hamburg. The alarm then increased in that

city. A few of the inhabitants talked of making a compromise with Schill

and sending him money to get him away. But the firmness of the majority

imposed silence on this timid council. I consulted with the commandant

of the town, and we determined to adopt measures of precaution. The

custom-house chest, in which there was more than a million of gold,

was sent to Holstein under a strong escort. At the same time I sent to

Schill a clever spy, who gave him a most alarming account of the means

of defence which Hamburg possessed. Schill accordingly gave up his

designs on that city, and leaving it on his left, entered Lübeck, which

was undefended.

Meanwhile Lieutenant-General Gratien, who had left Berlin by order

of the Prince de Neufchatel, with 2500 Dutch and 3000 Swedish troops,

actively pursued Schill, and tranquillity was soon restored throughout

all the neighbouring country, which had been greatly agitated by his

bold enterprise. Schill, after wandering for some days on the shores of

the Baltic, was overtaken by General Gratien at Stralsund, whence he was

about to embark for Sweden. He made a desperate defence, and was killed

after a conflict of two hours. His band was destroyed. Three hundred of

his hussars and 200 infantry, who had effected their escape, asked leave

to return to Prussia, and they were conducted to the Prussian general

commanding a neighbouring town. A war of plunder like that carried on by

Schill could not be honourably acknowledged by a power having, any

claim to respect. Yet the English Government sent Schill a colonel's

commission, and the full uniform of his new rank, with the assurance

that all his troops should thenceforth be paid by England.

Schill soon had an imitator of exalted rank. In August 1809 the Duke

of Brunswick-OEls sought the dangerous honour of succeeding that famous

partisan. At the head of at most 2000 men he for some days disturbed the

left bank of the Elbe, and on the 5th entered Bremen. On his approach

the French Vice-Consul retired to Osterhulz. One of the Duke's officers

presented himself at the hones of the Vice-Consul and demanded 200

Louis. The agent of the Vice-Consul, alarmed at the threat of the

place being given up to pillage, capitulated with the officer, and with

considerable difficulty got rid of him at the sacrifice of 80 Louis, for

which a receipt was presented to him in the name of the Duke. The Duke,

who now went by the name of "the new Schill," did not remain long in

Bremen.

Wishing to repair with all possible speed to Holland he left Bremen on

the evening of the 6th, and proceeded to Dehnenhorst, where his advanced

guard had already arrived. The Westphalian troops, commanded by Rewbell,

entered Bremen on the 7th, and not finding the Duke of Brunswick,

immediately marched in pursuit of him. The Danish troops, who occupied

Cuxhaven, received orders to proceed to Bremerlehe, to favour the

operations of the Westphalians and the Dutch. Meanwhile the English

approached Cuxhaven, where they landed 3000 or 4000 men. The persons in

charge of the custom-house establishment, and the few sailors who

were in Cuxhaven, fell back upon Hamburg. The Duke of Brunswick, still

pursued crossed Germany from the frontiers of Bohemia to Elsfleth, a

little port on the left bank of the Weser, where he arrived on the 7th,

being one day in advance of his pursuers. He immediately took possession

of all the transports at Elsfleth, and embarked for Heligoland.

The landing which the English effected at Cuxhaven while the Danes, who

garrisoned that port, were occupied in pursuing the Duke of Brunswick,

was attended by no result. After the escape of the Duke the Danes

returned to their post which the English immediately evacuated.