Worlds Best Histories - France, vol 7 | Page 7

to him on April 24; "every day's delay is extremely
disastrous to us." On April 26, Moreau passed the Rhine at Strasburg,
at Brisach, and at Basle, thus deceiving General Kray, who defended
the defiles of the Black Forest, whilst the different divisions of the
French army reascended and repassed the Rhine, in order to cross it
afresh without difficulty at Schaffhausen. The Austrians had not yet
collected their forces, dispersed by the unlooked-for movement they
found themselves obliged to execute; the French corps were themselves
dispersed when the battle commenced, on May 3, at Engen. After a
furious struggle at several points, General Moreau achieved a splendid
victory; two days later the same fortune crowned the battle of
Moesskirch; the loss on both sides was great. The action was not well
combined; Marshal Kray at first fell back behind the Danube; by the
advice of his council of war he decided to defend the magazines at
Biberach. He repassed the river, and offered battle to the corps of
Gouvion St. Cyr, then hampered with Moreau, bearing his direction
with difficulty. The positions occupied by the Austrians were
everywhere attacked at once; their troops, already demoralized by
several defeats, retired in disorder. Kray fell back on Ulm, where an
entrenched camp was ready for him. General Moreau was compelled to

weaken his army by detaching a corps of 1800 men, necessary for the
operations of the First Consul. He attempted without success a
movement intended to turn the flank of General Kray, and resolved to
blockade him in his positions, and wait for the result of the manoeuvres
of Bonaparte. On the 27th May he wrote to Bonaparte, "We await with
impatience the announcement of your success. M. de Kray and I are
groping about here--he to keep his army round Ulm, I to make him quit
the post. It would have been dangerous, especially for you, if I had
carried the war to the left bank of the Danube. Our present position has
forced the Prince of Reuss to remove himself to the passes of the Tyrol,
to the sources of the Lech and the Iller; thus he is no longer dangerous
for you. If M. de Kray comes towards me, I shall still retreat as far as
Meiningen; there I shall join General Lecourbe, and we shall fight. If M.
de Kray marches upon Augsburg, I shall do the same; he will quit his
support at Ulm, and then we shall see what will have to be done to
cover your movements. We should find more advantages in carrying on
the war upon the left bank of the Danube, and making Wurtemberg and
Franconia contribute to it; but that would not suit you, as the enemy
would be able to send detachments down into Italy whilst leaving us to
ravage the provinces of the Empire.
"Give me, I pray you, some news of yourself, and command me in
every possible service I can render you."
All was thus prepared in Germany and Italy for the success of that
campaign of the First Consul of which the enemy were still ignorant.
Always deceived by the fictitious concentrations carried on at Dijon,
the Austrians saw without disquietude the departure of Bonaparte, who
left Paris, as it was said, for a few days, in order to pass in review the
army of reserve. The French public shared the same illusion; the
preparations eagerly pushed forward by the First Consul, remained
secret. He set out at the last moment, leaving with regret, and not
without uneasiness, his government scarcely established, and new
institutions not yet in working order. "Keep firmly together," said he to
Cambacérès and Lebrun; "if an emergency occurs, don't be alarmed at
it. I will return like a thunderbolt, to crush those who are audacious
enough to raise a hand against the government." He had in advance, by

the powerful conceptions of his genius arranged the whole plan of
operations, and divined the movements of his enemies. Bending over
his maps, and designating with his finger the positions of the different
corps, he muttered in a low voice, "This poor M. de Mélas will pass by
Turin, he will fall back upon Alessandria. I shall pass the Po, and come
up with him again on the road of Placenza, in the plains of the Scrivia;
and I shall beat him there, and then there." The Tribunate expressed
their desire that the First Consul might return soon, "conqueror and
pacificator." An article of the Constitution forbade him to take the
command of the armies; Berthier received the title of general-in-chief.
The First Consul passed in review the army of conscripts and invalids
assembled at Dijon. On May 13, he combined the active forces at
Geneva; the troops coming from Germany under the