If she needed a concrete illustration she could point to the Tyrolese. Since the treaty of Presburg their chains had chafed their limbs to the raw; at this very moment they were again in open rebellion. The administrative reforms introduced by Maximilian of Bavaria were in reality most salutary; his determined stand against priestly domination over the Tyrolese people proved in the end their salvation. But the evils of feudalism were always least among mountaineers, and relations of patriarchal tenderness existed between the aristocracy and the peasantry. The devotion of both classes to their institutions, their habits, their clothes, their customs, their local names, was intense. They had no mind to see the name of their country disappear forever, to lose their pleasant, easy-fitting institutions, or to submit to the conscription and join in the great leveling movement which compelled them to serve in the ranks as ordinary soldiers. With their local assemblies they meant to keep their military exclusiveness as scouts, skirmishers, and sharp-shooters, in all of which lines they excelled. The more enlightened citizens of the towns were well pleased with Bavarian rule, but the impulsive, ignorant, and superstitious peasantry were the glad instruments of Austrian emissaries. When they learned that war was inevitable and would soon be formally declared, they at once rose, seized Innsbruck, and held it against the Bavarian troops. When an Austrian garrison marched in, their reception was enthusiastic. This was in the middle of April; simultaneously the Archduke John defeated Prince Eugene in Italy and drove him back upon the Adige, while Ferdinand overpowered all resistance in Poland, and on the twentieth occupied Warsaw. Such successes were intoxicating; the great general had, it seemed, been caught napping at last, and the advantage of a successful opening appeared to be with his enemy. CHAPTER XV THE FIFTH WAR WITH AUSTRIA--ECKMUeHL[30] [Footnote 30: See Saski: Campagne de 1809, Lejeune, Memoires du general. Fournier: Oesterreich nach dem Frieden von Wien. Beer: Zehn Jahre oesterreichischer Politik (1801-10).] Strategic Preliminaries -- Final Orders -- The Defensive Plan of Austria -- Berthier's Failure -- Napoleon's Arrival at Donauwoerth -- The Height of Napoleon's Ability -- The Austrian Advance -- The First Collision -- Concentration of Napoleon's Army -- The Austrians Divided -- The Austrians at Eckmuehl -- The Battle -- Charles's Retreat -- The Five Days' Fight -- Its Results -- Charles at the Bisamberg -- Napoleon at Vienna -- The German Risings Demoralized -- Discrimination of the People -- Napoleon's Unsuccessful Appeal to Hungary -- Pius VII Loses his Secular Power -- Napoleon's Activity -- Charles's Sluggishness -- Plans of Both Generals -- Napoleon on the Lobau.