The National Register. — London, England, 1809-07-23 00:00:00

JULY 21. VIE NATIONAL REGISTER: practicable) to overt the incoaveniencies Which had already pearl I/ proved fatal to the army, and sueceedin the course of t tso or _three days in protecting these new bridges from the machines of the enemy. flu the other side the Emperor was tranquil. Works were raised elm works in the Island of Loban ; and several bridg..s on piles, mod several rows of stucratioes, were fixed at the saute place. This situation of the French army, placed between these two great difficulties, had not escaped the enemy. JLe was aware that his army, too numerous and un weildv, 'multi be expo , ed to certain destruction if he acted on the offensives but, at the same time, he believed that it was lin, possible to dislodge him from the central position in which he covered Bohemia, Moravia, and a part of Hungary. It is true that this position Mil not cover Vienna, and that the French were in possession of this Capital. But this possession was, in a cer tain de7ree, disputed, since the Austrians remained masters of one bank of the Danube, and prevented the arrival of the articles most indispensable to the subsistence of so great a city. These were the reasons of hope and fear, and the subject of conversa tion in the t wo armies. On the Ist of July, at four o'clock of the morninT. the Emperor removed his head-quarters to the Island Lobau, which had been already named by the engineers, the Island Napoleon. A small island to which had been elven the name of the Duke of Montebello, and which bore upon Enzersdorf, had been furnished with ten mortars and twenty IS-pounders. Another island, called Island Espagne, had been supplied with six pieces of battering cannon (12-pounders), and four mortars. Vetoer:, these two islands, a battery had been raised, equal io force t'. that of the island of Montebello. and in like mannerleeoring upon Enzersderf. 'These sixty-two pieces of batterine artillery had the same object, were in two hours to ersirov the little town of Enzersdorf, drive away the enemy, need demolish the w orks. On the right, the island of• Alexander, se lilt four inortaes, two ten pounders, and twelve six-pounders (battering cannon) were to bear upon the plain and protect the operations of the bridges. On the 2d th e Aidesde-Camp of the Duke de Itivoli passed over to the Mill Island with 501 Voltigeurs, and took possession of it, This island was also furnished vs ith caption. It was joined to the Continent, on the left side, by a small bridge. In the front a little frehe was raised, and this redoubt lvag called Petit. In the evening the redoubts of Essliog ap peared to be jealous of these wor:ts; nut doubting t ient they vs ere a first battery, formed to act againt themselves, they fired upon them with great activity. This wits precisely the intectiou in having seized this island. The attention of the ea . emy was to be drawn to this point, in order to coweal from him ills operations really proposed. PASSAGE ACROSS THE ARM OF THE DANUBE TO THE ISLAND LOBAU. - On the 4th, at ten in the evening, General Oudinot caused 15GO Voltigeurs to he-embarked on the great arm-of the Danube, commanded by General Conroux. Colonel Baste, wj:li ten gun boats, convoed them, and disembarked them beyond the little arm of the Island Lobo°, in the Danube. The batteries of the enemy were soon silenced, and he was driven from the wood to the village of Aluhlenten. At eleven in the evening the batteries raised against Enzersdorf received orders to begin their firing. The howitzers set this unfortunate little town on fire, and in less than half an hour the enemies batteries had ceased to operate. The Chief of Battalion Dessales, Director of. the Bridges, and Engineer of the Marine, bad prepared in the Island Alexander,-a bridge of 80 toises, ofa single piece, and five great ferry-boats. Colonel Sainte Croix, Aide-de-tamp of the Duke de ILivoli. embarked in barges with 2500 race., and landed ou the left bank. The bridge of a single piece, the first of the kind which has hitherto been made, was. fixed in less than live minutes, and the infantry passed over it with great rapidity.— Capt. Bazelle fixed a bridge of boats in an hohr and a half.— Capt. Payerimofi'e formed a bridge of rafts in two hours. Thus, at two o'clock of the morning, the artily had four bridges, and had deboucked 'on the left 1500 toises below Enzer•tli,rf, pro tected by the batteries, and the right upon %Tilton. The corps of the Duke de Rivoli formed the left'; that of Count Outlitioe, the centre; and that of.the Duke of Atterstadt, the right ; the corps of the Prince del'onte-Corvo, the Viseroy, and the Duke of Ragusa, the guard ; and the cuirassiers formed time second line, and the bodies of reserve. Utter darkness, a violent storm, and rain, which fell in torrents, rendered this night as frightful as it was propitious to the French army, and was about to be glori ou‘ to it, Oa the 5044 day-break, every one perceived the project of 409 . - the Emperor, vsho was then ‘v ci his army, arranged sii °eats of battle at the extremity of the enemy's left, having turned all his entrenched camps, having. rendered his works useless, and thus obliging the Austrians to abandon their possessions, and come and oiler him battle on the spot that was convenient to him.— The great problem 'was thus resolved, and without passing the Danube on other poiuts—w ithout receiviagiuty protection from the works he had raised, he forced the enemy to fight three quarters of a league from his redoubts. From - that monieut the greatest and happiest results were presaged. At eight in the morning, the batteries Is hick had played upon Enzersdorf had produced such an effect, that the enemy was obliged . to let that tosyn be occupied h 5 no mote than four bat talions. The Duke of Rivoli dispatched his first Aid-de-cisiap, Sainte Croix, against it, who did not meet Isith a great roll-t -ango, and took pi isoners all who remained in it. Count Onsituot surrrounfied the Castle of Sachseti;;atin which. the enemy had fortified. forced 900 men who defended it to capitulate, and took lt pieces of cannon. The Emperor then caused the Whole sway to spread itself along the immense plain of Enzersdorf. BATTLE OF ENZERSDORF. In the meanwhile, the enemy, confounded in all his projects, gradually recovered from his astonishment,and endeavoured to regain some advantages in this new field of battle. f'or this purpose he detached several columns of iulantry, a considerable number of piece 6 of artillery, and all his cavalry, as well of the line as the new levies, in order to attempt to out•flanl: the right of tie French army. In consequence, he occupied the vile loge of Itittzendorf. The Emperor ordered t3etieral Ondinot to carry tits% village, to the right of which he sew. the Doke of Auerstii;it, in order to proceed to the head-quarters of Prince (.2 harle, giiing always from the right to the left. From noon till nine in Ow evening, the French 9,rmies ma' nceuvrea Lai this immense plain. All the villages were occupied * and when the French had . reached the heights of the entrenched camps of the enemy, they till of their o'. n accord, and as if-1 y enchant alert. The Duke de Rivoli caused them to be occupied without resistance. It was`thus we seized the works of 4'ssling at:d Gros-Aspern, and the labour of forty days was of no use to the enemy. He made some resistance in the viliage of itasch doll*, which the Prince de Punic Corvo caused to be attacked and carried by the Saxons. The enemy was every where over- W helmed by the superiority of our fire. This field oe battle was covered with his remains. BATTLE OF WAGRAIII. Strongly stlanqed Py the progress of the French army, on& the great successes which it obtaisoit, with scarcely any effort, the enemy put all his troops in motion, and at stv in the evening he occupied the following position right from Si iidelau to (:erasdorf, his centre from Gerasdorf to Wu‘rai s. and his left from Ilingrani to Neusiedel. The Frepch army had its left at Gros-Aspern, its centre at Rasclidorf, and its right at Glenzin dot f. In this position the day was nearly at a close, and we had neces-..atiky to - expect a great battle oil the mortar w ; but this was to he avoided, and the position of the enemy to be intersected, so as to prevent him- from forming dill) plan, by taking pos:Ale sioni in the night, of the village of Wagram. lit this ease his line, already of HI) immense leligth, being Anldeill. assuiled and exposed to the chances of combat, the ditterent k. ties of his army would he dispersed 'without order or diaction, mid we should succeed at an easy rate, and without any belit.US eirgage ment, The attack on NVogram took place, and our troops took possession of the village ; hut a coluinn df Saxons and a column of French mistook each other, in the dark, for enemies, and this operation failed. We then prepared for the Battle of Wagram. It appears that the dispositions of the French and the Aus-. trian Generals were inverted. The Emperor passed the night is accumulating his (times towards his centre, where he was in per son, within cannon-shot of Wagrani. With this view; the Doke de Rivoli moved upon the left of Aderklau, leaving at Aspern n single division with orders for it to fall back, in case of necessity, upon the ,Isle of Lobau. The Doke of Auerstadt received orders to leave unoccupied the village'of Grostahollen that night, to approach the centre. The Austrian Geoer4l, on the contrary, weakened his ceutre to secure and augment bis extrenfilies, u Melt he still further'extended. On the 6th, at day-break, the Prince de Poute Coro occupied the Left, having the Duke of Rivoli in a second line. The t iceroy connect- - ed him with the centre, where the corps of Count Oudi. not, that of the Duke of Ragusa, those of the Imperial Guards, and the divisions of Cuirassidrs, formed seven or eight lines.