CHAPTER I.

1809.


The year 1809 had come; but the war against France, so intensely
longed for by all Austria, had not yet broken out, and the people
and the army were vainly waiting for the war-cry of their sovereign,
the Emperor Francis. It is true, not a few great things bad been
accomplished in the course of the past year: Austria had armed,
organized the militia, strengthened her fortresses, and filled her
magazines; but the emperor still hesitated to take the last and most
decisive step by crowning his military preparations with a formal
declaration of war.

No one looked for this declaration of war more intensely than the
emperor's second brother, the Archduke John, a young man of scarcely
twenty-seven. He had been the soul of all the preparations which,
since the summer of 1808, had been made throughout Austria; he had
conceived the plan of organizing the militia and the reserves; and
had drawn up the proclamation of the 12th of May, 1808, by which all
able-bodied Austrians were called upon to take up arms. But this
exhausted his powers; he could organize the army, but could not say
to it, "Take the field against the enemy!" The emperor alone could
utter this word, and he was silent.

"And he will be silent until the favorable moment has passed,"
sighed the Archduke John, when, on returning from a very long
interview with the emperor, he was alone with his friend, General
Nugent, in his cabinet.