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

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 two 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 the 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