The National Register.
London, England, 1809-11-19 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

NOV. 19.

104 to 114—State, 'iliac no Diet cart be of longer duration
Ilion three months, except business shall require it. No man,
while a member of the Diet, can be accused, or deprived of his
liberty, for his actions or expressions in his respective state, un-
less the particular state to which he belong shall demand it. No
Officer of the Crown must influence, by his authority, in the
41ection of a Member of the Diet, &c.

SUBSTANCE OF THE STATEMENT OF THE TYROL

DEPUTIES.

The county of Tyrol and the seven principalities of Voral-
berg have, for a series of centuries, constituted an hereditary
portion of the Imperial House of Austria. The people inha-
biting these countries distinguished themselves in every war
by such umiaunted valour, that the Emperors successively con-
ferred upon them very considerable privileges. During the
seventeelita and last centuries, when the Swedes, French, and
Bavarians made such rapid advances in the German Empire,
these provinces al ways revised the enemy with considerable
loss. In the year 1703, particularly, when the Bavarian army
had penetrated into the Tyrol, it was so ill received; that scarce-
ly a few remained to attend their Elector back. The attach-
ment of the Tyrolese and Voralbergers to their Emperors was
always firm ; for they governed them with signal and paternal
mildness, faithfully preserving their privileges. Thus, though
lint blessed 'either with a delicious climate, or a fertile soil,
these pastoral nations, not aware of their poverty, led a very
contented and happy life in their cottages, until the war of the
French Revolution broke out. The vallies were inhabited by
thousands of persons, who, before that period, had never seen a
soldier ; but thenceforward whole armies traversed their coup
try, some proceeding to the interior of Germany, and others to
Italy. The poor inhabitants furnished them gratuitously with
provisions and all sorts of necessaries, and thereby put them-
selves to great ineonvenieace. Still, they not only refrained
from murmurs, but evinced their loyalty by the erection of a
corps of Tyrol and Varalbeeg ehasseurs called " the Tyrol
Fieldyagers," all of them volunteers and natives ; who, in ad-
dition to their pay, were allo wed by their country 9 creutzers each
man daily. It is to be observed, that the male population in
those mountains is, from its eighth year, trained to the use of
the gun, by hunting, as well as firing at targets. Such superior
marksmen, as this ancient practise makes them, must, it may
easily be supposed, prove a great addition to any army. In
fact, they have ever uncommonly 'signalized themselves in all
Austrian wars. Yet they could not stem the current of disaster
which overwhelmed the arms of their government, and in 1794
the enemy approached their frontiers.
The Emperor now sununoned his brave and beloved Tyrol or
Voratberg subjects, reminding them of their ancient fame for
sharp-shooting. But they had anticipated the summons by or-
ganizing, of their own accord, a levy eri masse. Tbey hastened
to the defence of the frontiers, and thus preserved their coun-
tries free from Invasion.

In 1798, the enemy again attempted to make inroads from
Italy, Switzerland, the Orisons, and Swabia. He only suc-
ceeded on the side of the Orisons, where the passes were hut
weakly guarded, as the main force had been Oispatched towards
Swabia and Italy, where the enemy, likewise, was strongest.—
Still the invaders kept only four days possession of the Ptiutsch-
g!in, when they were vig,orously driven back upon the Grisons
;110 Engadine, thnugh, in their retreat, they pillaged and burnt
the to of Mats and Glurens. •

War having again broke out in 1799, their frontiers were also
menaced. The inhabitants immedidtely repaired thither to
guard them, and in 1500, when Marshal Mamma had crossed
the Rhine, near Felelkirk, iu the Voralberg, with a very supe-
rior and victorious force, he was there, as well-as near the al-
most impregnable mountain-fortress of St. Luciensteig, so com-
pletely defeated, as to lose several thousand in killed and
prisoners, besides a great quantity of field-pieces and ammuni-
tion. They also dispossessed him of the (;risons, and pursued
him, in company with other troops, as far as Zurich.
After a few years quiet, the flames of war rekindled more
furiously than ever in ISOI. The inhabitants of the Tyrol and
Voralberg were at once attacked on every side, so as to be ren-
dered dubious w hither to carry relief first. Notwithstanding, the
enemy was valorously checked at every point, and suffered,
especially on the banks of the Scharnitz, a dreadful discomfiture.
‘hifot tunately their individual bravery coald not retreive the ge-

733

neral cause. By the term: of the armistice entered into after
the disastrous battle of Holtenlinden, the Tyrol and V oralberg,
countries that had constantly bid defiance to the victorious troops
of France, were surrendered as pledges ! It was then that the
real hardships of these poor mountaineers began. Their barren
countries, even before drained of their little pitiance, were now
obliged to maiutain a body of French troops, in addition to a
corps of Austrians. The savage foreigners were destitute of
every thing, and all their wants to be supplied. This dreadful
calamity lasted three months, a calamity w hick the ever un.
subdued Tyrolese and Voratbergers imagined to ha% e little de:.
served by their firm attachment to their Emperor:.
Buonaparte's insatiable ambition having stirred up war once •
more in 1805, he ordered the Tyrolese and Vorallwrgerb to be
attacked in every point. Marshal Ney, on the hanks of the
Scharnitz, repeated his attack thrice. Ile was dri‘en back
with immense slaughter. The same fate shared the Bavarian
Generals Deroy and Siebbein, who made a vigorous assault upon
Kufstein and the pass of St rub. _ _

These efforts, however, were unable to counterpoise the dis-
astrous surrender of Ulm by General Mack, and the calamitous
issue of the engagement of Austerlitz ; in consequence of w Lich,
Buonaparte, in the peace of Presburg, made the cession of the
Tyrol and Voralberg an express condition.
It is not in the power of language to describe the feelings of •
the honest Tyroleans and Voralbervrs at the receipt of this
melancholy intelligence. Ever since 1794, when the Revolu-
tionary war began, their brilliant victories had not been sullied
by any defeat. They were an heroic people in the literal sense
'of the word. Yet the reward of their loyalty was a fate which
usually falls to the lot of the dastardly. To render their cala-
mity more poignant, these indigent shepherds found themselves
involved in the immense debt of twenty millions of florins.
The Emperor of Austria did what he could to alleviate this
heavy misfortune; he stipulated, that the privileges of the
Tyrolese and Voralbergers should remain entire. But is there
any one so credulous, or so uninformed of the grand events of
:he day, as to suppose, that Buonaparte could be bound by tiny
engagements ? Faithful only to his usual treachery, keno sooner
had the invincible Tyrolese and Voralbergers in his grasp, than
he imposed upon them contributions of every kind. without re-
mitting a single creutzer; and having taken this barl.irous re-
venge, he surrendered them to his recently created King of
Bavaria.

This prince, in his turn, made a point of impoverishirn; •
andoppressing his new acquisitions. Not satisfied with 'Tieing
heavy contributions, he overthrew their ancient constitution,
which they had observed for a series of age•; abolishui the
representative States, in order to obstruct the way to all popu-
lar remonstraneeS„ and seized the provincial, papillary. and
credit-funds. He moreover confiscated all ecclessia,ticai pro-
perty, libolished the prelacies and convents, and sold all public
buildings to replenish his empty corers. What proved utore
painful to the inhabitants than all these oppressions. was the
disposal of the ancient and original castle of the Counts of the
Tyrol.
Every successive month was marked with a list of new exac-
tions and taxes, that were levied with the utmost rigour. Coin
had become uncommonly scarce, suet the Bavarian novernmeut
enhanced the embarrassment, arising from this circumstance, by
depreciating the Austrian bank-bills, which were still in circa-
cation, to one half of their nominal value. This operation
caused to the countries in question a fresh loss, amounting to at
least twenty millions of florins.
To crown all these oppressive measures, Bavaria had it
in contemplation to change the very names of the provinces of
Tyrol and Voralkerg, by calling them after the principal
rivers, and incorporating them with her own dominions.
These excessive hardships lasted three year,. Petitions and
complaints were riot only rejected, but by an express law abso-
lutely prohibited. •
When, therefore, in the beginning of the current yeur, it up— .
geared certain that .a new contest between Austria and Frame I
was inevitable, the intelligence was greeted by the poor Tyro-
leans and Voralbergers, as the rising 'on is :ailed by the siiep-
herd. Scarcely had they received the news of the actoal mo‘e-
silents of the two -hostile armies, before they rose in a mtts#.
Their outset was brilliant beyond expectation. The trqops of. •
the enemy sent against them conskted of 4Z1,001 men, whim,'
they resolutely attacked in all points. The victory was com-
plete; those of the enemy who escaped w ;heir lives being
either wounded or taken prisoners. Aiming the latter were
Generals; the sharpstooters took besides, a quantity of cianauet