They again seized all the passes, which they blocked up with huge masses of rock, which they cut out and rolled down from the mountains. The Saxon division, under General Deroi, consisting of 6000 men, were ordered first to advance. They were not opposed at first; till having got a considerable way into the country, they were assailed from the mountains with large stones and showers of bullets; which made great havock among the enemy. A strong body of Tyrolese having assem bled in their rear, the Saxons found it not only impossible to advance farther, but saw their retreat almost cut off. This, however, they attempted, but only about 1500 of their whole body escaped, leaving behind their cannon, baggage and carriages, all of which were destroyed. The Bavarian corps suffered in the same proportion ;-and even the main body of 24,000 French, under Lefebvre, after some desperate efforts to bring the Tyrolese to a general action, were compelled to retreat to Inspruck, having nearly expended their ammuni tion and provisions. The following particulars of Lefebvre's expedition against the Tyrol, in August last, were communicated by a Saxon Major, who escaped from the destruction of those terrible days: "We had penetrated to Inspruck with out great resistance; and although much was every where talked of the Tyrolese stationed upon and round the Brenner, we gave little credit to it, thinking the rebels to have been dispersed by a short cannonade, and already considering ourselves as conquerors. Our entrance into the passes of the Brenner was only opposed by small corps, which continued falling back, after an obstinate though short resistance. mong others, I perceived a man, full 80 years old, posted against the side of a rock, and sending death amongst our ranks with every shot. Upon the Bayarians descending from behind to make him prisoner, he shouted aloud, Hurrah! struck the first man to the ground with a ball, siezed hold of the second, and, with the ejaculation, in God's name! precipitated himself with him into the abyss below. A Marching onwards, we heard resound from the summit of a high rock, Stephen! shall I chop it off yet to which a loud nay reverberated from the opposite side. This was told to the Duke of Dantzic, who, notwithstanding, ordered us to advance; at the same time he prudently withdrew from the centre to the rear. The van, consisting of 4000 Bavarians, had just stormed a deep ravine, when we again heard hallooed over our heads, Hans! for the most holy Trinity! Our terror was completed by the reply that immediately followed-In the name of the holy Trinity! Cut all loose a-" bove! and, ere a minute had elapsed, were thousands of my comrades in arms crushed, buried, and overwhelmed, by an incre dible heap of broken rocks, stones, and trees, hurled down upon us. All of us were pertified. Every one fled that could; but a shower of balls from the Tyrolese, who now rushed from the surrounding mountains, in immense numbers, and among them boys and girls of ten and twelve years of age, killed or wounded a great many of us. It was not till we had got these fatal mountains six leagues behind us, that we were reassembled by the Duke, and formed into six columns. Soon after the Tyrolese appeared, headed by Hofer, the innkeeper. After a short address from him, they gave a general fire, flung their rifles aside, and rushed upon our bayonets, with only their clenched fists. Nothing could withstand their impetuosity. They darted at our feet, threw or pulled us down, strangled us, wrenched the arms from our hands; and, like enraged lions, killed allFrench, Bavarians, and Saxons, that did not cry for quarter! By doing so, I, with 300 men, was spared, and set at liberty. "When all lay dead around, and the victory was completed, the Tyrolese, as if moved by one impulse, fell upon their knees, and poured forth the emotions of their hearts in prayer, under the canopy of Hea ven; a scene so awfully solemn, that it will joined in the devotion, and never in my life ever be present to my remembrance. I did I pray more fervently." The Tyrolese have sent two deputies to London, to solicit some pecuniary assistance, to enable them to subsist through the winter, their country having been totally exhausted of every thing necessary for the support of man or beast. They have published the following affecting state in their retreat, they pillaged and burnt the towns of Mals and Glurens. War having again broke out in 1799, their frontiers were again menaced. The inhabitants immediately repaired thither to guard them, and, in, 1800, when Marshal Massena had crossed the Rhine near Feldkirk, in the Voralberg, with a very superior and victorious force, he was there, as well as near the almost impregnable mountain-fortress of St Luciensteig, so completely defeated, as to lose several thousands in tity of field-pieces and ammunition. They also dispossessed him of the Grisons, and pursued, him, in company with other troops, as far as Zurich. advances in the German empire, those provinces always repulsed 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 scarcely a few remained to attend their elector back. The attachment of the Tyroleans and Voralbergers to their Emperors was always firm; for they governed them with signal and paternal mildmess, faithfully preserving their privileges. Thus, though not blessed either with a delicious climate, or a fertile soil, these pas-Filled and prisoners, besides a great quantoral 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 valleys were inhabited by thousands of persons who, before that period, had never been a soldier; but thenceforward whole armies traversed their country, some proceeding to the interior of Germany, and others going to Italy. The poor inhabitants furnished them gratuitously with provisions and all sorts of Fecessaries, and thereby put themselves to great inconvenience. Still, they not only refrained from murmurs, but evinced their loyalty by the erection of a corps of Tyrol and Voralberg chasseurs, called the Tyrol Fieldyagers, all of them volunteers and natives; who, in addition to their pay, were allowed by their country mine 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 marks-men, as this ancient practice 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 summoned his brave and beloved Tyrol and Voralberg subjects, reminding them of their ancient fame for sharp-shooting. But they had anticipated the summons by organizing, of their own accord, a levy en masse. They hastened to the defence of the frontiers, and thus preserved their countries from invasion. In 1798, the enemy again attempted to make inroads from Italy, Switzerland, the Grisons, and Suabia. He only succeeded on the side of the Grisons, where the passes were but weakly guarded, as the main force had been dispatched towards Suabia and Italy, where the enemy likewise was strongest. Still the invaders kept only four days possession of the Psintschgau, when they were vigorously driven back u pon the Grisons and the Engadine, though, After a few months quiet, the flames of war kindled more furiously than ever in 1801. The inhabitants of the Tyrol and Voralberg were at once attacked on every side, so as to be rendered dubious whither 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; unfortunately their individual bravery could not retrieve the general cause. By the terms of the armistice entered into after the disastrous battle of Hohenlinden, the Tyrol and Voralberg 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 pittance, were now obliged to maintain a body of French troops, in addition to a corps of Austrians. The savage foreigners were destitute of every thing, and all their wants were to be supplied. This dreadful calamity lasted three months, a calamity which the ever unsubdued Tyrolese and Voralbergers imagined themselves to have little deserved by their firm attachment to their Emperors. Bonaparte's insatiable ambition having stirred up war once more in 1805, he ordered the Tyrolese and Voralbergers to be attacked in every point.-Marshal Ney, on the banks of the Scharnitz, repeated his attack thrice. He was driven back with immense slaughter. The same fate was shared by the Bavarian Generals Deroy and Siebbein, who made a vigorous assault upon Kufstein and the pass of Straub. These efforts, however, were unable to counterpoise the disastrous surrender of Ulm by General Mack, and the calamitons issue of the engagement of Austerlitz; in consequence of which, Bonaparte, 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 describe the feelings of the honest Tyroleans and Voralbergers on the receipt of this melancholy intelligence. Ever since 1794, when the revolutionary 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 calamity 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 the day, as to suppose that Bonaparte could be bound by any engagement? Faithful only to his usual treachery, he no sooner had the invincible Tyrolese and Voralbergers in his grasp, than he imposed upon them contributions of every kind, without remitting a single creutzer; and having taken this barbarous revenge, he surrendered them to his recently created King of Bavaria. This prince, in his turn, made a point of impoverishing and oppressing his new acquisitions. Not satisfied with raising heavy contributions, he overthrew their ancient constitution, which they had preserved for a series of ages, abolished the representative states, in order to obstruct the way to all popular remonstrances, and seized the provincial, pupillary, and credit funds. He moreover confiscated all ecclesiastical property, abolished the prelacies and convents, and sold all public buildings, to replenish his empty coffers. What proved more 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 new exactions and taxes, that were levied with the utmost rigour. Coin had become uncommonly scarce, and the Bavarian government enhanced the embarrassment a rising from this circumstance, by depreciating the Austrian bank, bills, which were still in circulation, 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 1 yrol and Voralberg, by calling them after the principal rivers, and incorporating them with her own dominions. These excessive hardships lasted three years. Petitions and complaints were not only rejected, but, by an express law, absolutely prohibited. Their When, therefore, in the beginning of the current year, it appeared certain that a new contest between Austria and France was inevitable, the intelligence was greeted by the poor Tyroleans and Voralbergers, as the rising sun is hailed by the shepherd, Scarcely had they received the news of the actual movements of the two hostile ar mies, before they rose in a mass. outset was brilliant beyond expectation. The troops of the enemy sent against them consisted of 27,000 men, whom they resolutely attacked at all points.Their victory was complete; those of the enemy who escaped with their lives being either wounded or taken prisoners. Among the latter were two generals; the sharpshooters took, besides, a quantity of cannon, ammunition, arms, and several stand of colours. This memorable battle was fought on the 10th and 11th of April last. The merit of it belonged solely to the valorous inhabitants of the Tyrol and Voralberg; for the regular Austrian army, hastening to their relief, did not join them before the 13th of April; it was received by the conquerors with drums beating and colours flying, while shoots of joy, and "Long live our beloved emperor Francis!" rent the air. Those who know the mildness of Bonaparte's temper will be able to conceive an idea of the impression which this news made upon him. He instantly directed Marshal Lefebvre, supported by the Ba varian generals Wreden, Deroy, and Sibbein, at the head of 24,000 men, to march against the Tyrolese by the way of Salzburg. General Rusca, with 8,000 men, was ordered to advance from Italy, while General Ferron approached from Carinthia, and General Marmont from Bavaria and Suabia, with from 6 to 7,000 troops more. This was certainly a formidable force, which would have conquered, and even annihilated, any other two nations of equal numbers. The conflict, indeed, was ob stinate and terrible; but the enemies were defeated, all but Lefebvre, whose force was too large, and whose devastations and cruelties were such as to spread terror everywhere. He burnt towns and villages, and gave quarter to no one. The aged were suspended from trees, and then shot. The pregnant women were even ript up, and their breasts cut off, while their embryos were crammed down their throats, to put an end to the shrieks and moanings of the wretched victims. If a Tyrolese or Voralberger, bearing arms, had the misforture 食い to fall into their hands, they immediately tore out his tongue. The children were cut down without mercy, and most frequently carried about transfixed with bay unets. A`number of these innocents happening to return from school, were met with and driven by these monsters into some barns, and burnt alive. Lefebvre and his cannibals, imagined to be able to intimidate the Tyrolese and Voralbergers by such cruelties, but they had the very opposite effect. The Tyrolese sharpshooters now resembled bloodthirsty lions; they rushed upon Lefebvre, and totally defeated him. Thousands of the enemy were slain, and the general, accompanied only by a few remnants of his great force, sought safety in an ignominious flight directed towards Vienna. The result of this complete victory was, that the Tyrol and Voralberg, being now free from their invaders, served as an asyJum to those Austrian prisoners who had been taken by the French at Ratisbon, Aspern, and Esslingen, and who found little difficulty in making their escape. About ten thousand profited by this opportunity; they were nearly naked, and the expence of clothing and arming them anew proved no small burthen to their hospitable friends. Another advantage of this victory displayed itself in the superior courage with which it inspired the conquerors. They now sallied forth beyond their frontiers to seek the enemy. In Bavaria, they advan ced as far as Munich, the capital city. In Suabia, they took Kempten, pushing on beyond Memmingen and Ulm. In Italy, they proceeded to within a few miles of Verona, and some corps overran Carinthia and Salzburg, then already in the power of the enemy, so as to become to a great degree masters of those countries. Notwithstanding these successes, the conquerors were guilty of no cruelties or acts of oppression-Not a single house was pils laged by them, not a barn laid in ashes. No peasant was ever taken prisoner or insulted. The wounded enemies were particularly taken care of. It was the usual practice to carry them on shoulders into some house. The Tyrolese and Voralbergers acted throughout from an honourable ambition, to shame their cruel enemies, and convince them of the superior humanity of poor German mountaineers. Neither France nor any of her allies can adduce a single instance of their prisoners having been ill treated either in the Tyrol or Voralberg, though the prisoners from either country were tortured, murdered, or ill used by the French. All these glorious achievements, how ever, could not arrest the progress of the enemy in other quarters. In fine, an armistice was again concluded. The corps of Austrian troops left in the Tyrol, and consisting for the most part of the abovementioned refugees, was suddenly recalled, and carried away all the ordnance and am munition which the Tyrolese had taken. Thus the latter found themselves compelled to abandon their conquests, and satisfy themselves with guarding their own frontiers. Lefebvre, Rusca, Ferron, and other Generals, penetrated once more as far as inspruck, the capital of the Tyrol, repeating their former devastations and cruelties. But the indignation excited by the re-appearance of those inhuman chiefs was such, that the very women, whose business had hitherto been confined to conveying the prisoners to places of safety, assembled in numbers, and put to death 640 of the enemy near Landeck; and though the whole force of the enemy amounted to about thirty thousand, they were attacked by the Tyrolese and Voralbergers, who had risen en masse, with such irresistible fury, that those who saved themselves by flight were pursued to a great distance, so as to be unable, during the space of 24 hours, to allay their thirst with a draught of water. It was in vain that Bonaparte, on hearing this new disaster of his arms, detached Marshals Macdonald and Bessieres, with picked troops, against the Tyrolese. They were routed, and obliged to return. From the concurring accounts in the Dutch, German and French papers, which are copied into the daily prints of London, it is placed beyond all doubt that the Tyrolese and Voralbergers persevere in their obstinate resistance to the French and their allies. They are, indeed, now free, but at the expence of very uncommon sacrifices. Numbers of them mourn their fathers, brothers, not slain in battle, but, for the most part, murdered in the most inhuman inanner. Four towns and twenty-six flourishing vil lages are reduced to heaps of ashes, not to mention the destruction of a large number of detached cottages. These calamities are felt more sensibly in a climate which is very far from being mild. The mountains of the Tyrol and Voralberg have, ever since the beginning of October, been covered with snow and ice. The inhabitants, though accustomed to subsist upon the hardest fare, can, after so many devastations, pillages, conflagrations, and hardships of every kind, scarcely get wherewithal to satisfy the cravings of nature. Multitudes at this mement are happy in being allowed some little corner in a crowd ed barn, stable, or hut. In spite of all these sufferings, they are fully determined never to listen to any accommodation with Bonaparte, or consent to be again governed by the iron sceptre of Bavaria. This determination, though it may appear rash, can be satisfactorily accounted for, from the above stated cruel. ties, exactions, and oppressions. All, to a man, trained to the most skilful use of the rifle; inured to the inclemencies of the seasons; defended by huge mountains, acces sible to none but themselves; surrounded in every direction by, and allied to mountaineers that are animated with the same love of independence; reared up and happy in poverty; religious; virtuous from habit; utter strangers to luxury; preferring their barren mountains to the most fruitful soils; and above all, remembering the horrible outrages committed by the order of Bonaparte, to whom they have to oppose one hundred and fifty thousand sharpshootters, in a country where no regular armies can act, and where they, and they alone, know the paths to procure supplies, if they have but the means to purchase them Such a hardy, stubborn, and athletic race of men, are very formidable enemies. Such they have certainly proved to France; and no peace which their beloved prince may have been compelled to enter into will induce them to become a party to it. They are firmly resolved either to conquer or die. D. SCHOENECHER. London, November 13, 1809. 1 EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND. The Expedition to Holland (of which the official accounts have been given in our Magazines for August and September) has terminated, but without the success that was expected. The delay that was necessary for the reduction of Flushing, in order to ensure the complete possession of the island of Walcheren, gave time for the French to assemble a very strong force on both banks of the Scheldt, and to fortify Antwerp, Lillo, &c. in such a manner, as to render it extremely hazardous for the comparatively small force which remained of the British army for such a service, to make any attempt upon them. Add to this, a most dreadful mortality had broken out early among our troops, occasioned chiefly by the use of the bad water in the island. A considerable number both of officers and men had died. No prospect remain. ing, therefore, of any future operations December 1809. being of any service to the country, Lord Chatham thought it proper and prudent to evacuate South Beveland, in the beginning of September. In the course of that month, several divisions of the army, with the Commander in Chief and most of the General Officers, together with a great part of the fleet, returned to England. About 14,000 men were left in Walcheren, under the command of Lieut. General Don, andTM Major Generals Earl of Dalhousie, Montresor and Dyott. About the beginning of October, we are told, that near one half of this force were sick, and unfit for duty. It seems to have been long a matter of doubt, and of serious consideration with the British government, whether it was prudent or expedient to retain possession of this island during the winter. From the circumstance of some additional regiments, with several companies of artillery, having been sent out, together with the erection of strong and extensive batteries all round Flushing, particularly to the sea, it was generally imagined that it was to be kept. We understand, however, that General Don has expressed his sentiments to Government on the necessity of its im mediate evacuation ;-arising, no doubt, from the increase of the number of sick, -from their slow recovery in such a damp unwholesome climate,-from the great difficulty in obtaining. at such a stormy season of the year, and through such a dangerous navigation, the necessary supplies of provisions for the army, all of which must come from England ;-and lastly, from the small national advantage that would accrue to Great Britain, when compared with the enormous expence attending its possession. Government therefore determined at last upon its evacuation; and the necessary orders having been sent out, the troops were withdrawn from Middleburgh, and other places on the island, and the whole concentrated at Flushing; from whence they began to embark on the 25th of November. The great basin of Flushing, which held the whole French fleet previous to the arrival of the English, has been destroyed, and mines were laid under the dock gates to blow them up as soon as the final evacuation of the place was completed. SPAIN. |