cavalry, with 750 pieces of cannon. During the night several bridges, which had been secretly prepared, were thrown over to the northern bank at a point where they were not looked for, and by six o clock the following morning the whole body had passed over. In the after noon the French made a vehement attack upon the Austrians, but were repulsed with great slaughter. Early on the morning of the 6th the Austrians began the attack. Their numbers were then about 115,000 infantry and 25,000 cavalry; but they were in hourly expectation of the arrival of an additional body of 30,000 under the Arch duke John, which was known to be not far off. The battle was contested with the utmost determination and bravery on both sides. The Austrian right wing succeeded in over throwing and putting to flight the left wing of the enemy. On the other wing the contest was long and doubtful; but two divisions of troops having at length succeeded in turn ing the extreme flank of the Austrians, the latter, after a gallant defence, were compelled to abandon their position. In these circumstances, Napoleon collected all his dispos able forces and brought them to bear upon the centre of the Austrians, which was their weak point, the archduke having thrown his strength chiefly into the two wings. After repeated charges, which were repulsed with great bravery, the French succeeded in forcing their line, and the archduke, despairing of maintaining his position, ordered a retreat, which was effected in good order and with little loss. The French were so exhausted that they displayed little vigour in the pursuit, and neither guns nor prisoners were taken. The Archduke John came up in the afternoon, but too late to be of any service. Had he made his appearance sooner there can be no doubt that the result would have been different. As it was, the Austrians suc ceeded in making a most gallant stand against a greater number of the best troops of France, led by Napoleon and some of his greatest generals. This battle of Wagram was one of the greatest and most obstinately contested fights in the whole war, and is perhaps the most glorious in the annals of Austria. The loss on both sides was immense, amounting to about 25,000 on each, including killed and wounded. The Archduke Charles retreated towards Bohemia without any serious molestation from the enemy. A battle was fought at Znaim (llth July) be tween the Austrians and a French army under Massena which was following them, but before it was decided news of an armistice arrived. This was followed by the peace of Vienna (14th October). " The campaign of Aspern and Wagram," says Sir A. Alison, " is the most glorious in the Austrian annals, one of the most memorable examples of patriotic resistance recorded in the history of the world. . . . Other empires have almost invariably succumbed upon the capture of the capital. . . . Austria is the only state recorded in history which (without the aid of a rigor ous climate like Moscow) fought two desperate battles in defence of its independence after its capital had fallen." (History of Europe. ) By the peace of Vienna Austria was compelled to cede Salzburg, Berchtesgaden, the Innviertel, and the Hausruckviertel, to Bavaria ; portions of Galicia to Russia and the grand duke of Warsaw ; and Carniola, Trieste, the greater part of Croatia, Istria, the circle of Villach, &c., to Italy In all she lost about 42,000 square miles of territory and 3,500.000 inhabitants, to gether with more than 11,000,000 florins of revenue. The emperor also agreed to reduce his army to not more than 150,000 men; and a war contribution of 3,400,000 was imposed on the provinces occupied by the French troops. Before leaving the Austrian capital Napoleon caused the fortifications to be blown up. Soon after this Napoleon obtained a divorce from his wife Josephine, and offered his hand to Maria Louisa, daughter of the emperor of Austria, and was accepted. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp at Vienna on the llth March 1810. In 1812 Austria was obliged to enter into an alliance with France against Russia, and to furnish an auxiliary force of 30,000 men for the invasion of the latter country. The disastrous result of that expedi tion to the invaders showed Germany that the fortunate moment had now arrived for regaining her independence. Prussia was the first to form an alliance with Russia, and 1813. declared war against France (17th March 1813). Great efforts were made to induce Austria to join this alliance, but without success. She directed her attention to raising her military strength, and making other preparations to enable her to take an important part in the coming struggle, on the one side or the other. After the defeat of the allies at Liitzen and Bautzen, and the conclusion of an armistice at Pleswitz, Austria came forward as a mediator, with the view of effecting a peace between the parties, and not with out the view, also, of gaining some material advantage for herself. In fact, she now held in her hand the balance between the contending parties. Her army of 150,000 or 200,000, which she had collected in Bohemia, would bring victory to whatever side she joined. Metternich, who at that period had the direction of the cabinet of Vienna, was too clear-headed not to perceive the advantages of the position, and he determined to avail himself of them, in order if possible to restore to Austria her lost possessions. He had openly avowed, that if Napoleon would accede to the terms which he proposed Austria would throw her whole 200,000 men into the scale in his favour. At first it seemed doubtful to which side she would attach herself; but it would appear that the allies had reason to believe that she was favourable to them, and that Napoleon had also reason for suspecting the strength of her attachment to him. It is evident that she would have more to expect from the allies than from Napoleon, but at the same time it was doubtful how far she would be influenced by the existing matri monial alliance. While things were in this doubtful state news arrived of the battle of Vitoria, by which the death blow was given to the power of France in the Peninsula, and after this there was little hope of peace on either side. Austria, whatever her previous intentions, doubtless now felt that there was little to be gained from attaching her self to a sinking empire and a falling cause, and she agreed, in the event of Napoleon not accepting the terms proposed, to join the allies. They could have had little hope that the terms would be accepted ; they included the cession to Austria of all the Illyrian provinces, with Trieste, the re instatement of Prussia in her ancient possessions, with a frontier on the Elbe, and the dissolution of the grand duchy of Warsaw, to be divided between Russia, Austria, and Prussia. These terms not being acceded to, both parties prepared for war. Austria agreed to furnish 200,000 to the allied forces, stipulating in return that she should be restored to the condition in which she was in 1803, or, at any rate, at the peace of Presburg. By gigantic efforts Napoleon was able to raise, his army to 400,000 men, of whom nearly 350,000 were effective, and he resolved to make Dresden the pivot on which all his operations should turn. To oppose him the allies mus tered about 400,000 men, so that the two forces were pretty nearly equal. Of the latter, a grand army of 220,000 men, chiefly Austrians, under Prince Schwarzenberg, was sta tioned in Bohemia; Bliicher, with 95,000 men, w r as to protect Silesia ; while Bernadotte, the crown prince of Sweden, who had joined the allies with 28,000 troops, was to protect Berlin and Brandenburg with an army of 90,000. Napoleon resolved to march with the main body of his troops into Silesia against Bliicher, having despatched.au army of 80,000 men under Oudinot against Berlin, and
