♦Rapid advance of the Turks upon Vienna.♦ The Emperor could scarcely realize the peril in which he stood. He reckoned that his frontier fortresses would detain the Turks for at least two campaigns. Fortunately Sobieski, by means of a letter which his Cossack spies intercepted[83] in Bulgaria, was enabled to assure him that Vienna would be the first point of attack. This intelligence was soon put beyond a doubt. The Duke of Lorraine, general of the Imperial forces, who with scarcely 30,000 men was covering Upper Hungary, was compelled to retreat. The whole Turkish army continued to advance by forced marches, leaving the fortresses in their rear; and Lorraine had barely time to throw 8,000 infantry into Vienna and retreat beyond the Danube, before 50,000 Tartars, the advanced guard of Mustapha, appeared at the gates (July 9). Leopold had profited by Sobieski’s warning to demolish the extensive suburbs where the nobility resided, but the city was wholly unprepared for defence. ♦Panic at Vienna.♦ The night before Lorraine’s arrival the Emperor himself with his court fled precipitately to Linz, and thence to Passau. The peasants of the southern plain were flocking into the city by hundreds, while many of the citizens followed the Emperor in his flight. ♦Measures for defence.♦ It was left to Lorraine, with the governor, the intrepid Count Stahremberg, to concert measures of resistance. The fortifications were hastily repaired, and the counterscarp protected by thick palisades, but it was doubtful whether they could stand an assault, owing to the neglect of a long security. A body of 5,000 citizens was formed to assist the garrison, which did not amount to 14,000 men. A week later (July 14) the Grand Vizier occupied the plain, and opened the trenches before the city. ♦Terror of Europe.♦ Meanwhile all Europe, and especially Italy, was seized with consternation at the rapid march of the Turks. The plans of the King of France, who had advanced his army to the Rhine, were somewhat disconcerted. Finding himself pointed at as the cause of the invasion of Christendom,[84] he made a show of magnanimity, and suspended his threatened blow. It is even said that he offered the Emperor a contingent of 80,000 men, which was rejected with becoming scorn; but the statement seems improbable.