gaged; and the promise also of great and speedy assistance from his court.

The conquest of Dantzick was an event of too great importance, not to be made the subject of great exultation in France, by the wretched myrmidons of the tyrant, who was depopulating the nation by his conscriptions, and exhausting its financial resources by the immense expence attending the projects of his unlimited ambition. To smother the feelings arising from the oppression of the conscriptions, the utmost display of pomp and splendor was exhibited at Paris. To divert the public attention, Bonaparte paid a visit to Dantzick, in which city he arrived on May SO, attended by the whole of his staff and Talleyrand; when General Rapp was appointed governor, and Lefebre was created Duke of Dantzick.

On June 5, a grand attack was made upon the French army by the allies: the Russians suffered severely in this action, their General, with eleven hundred men were killed, a great many were wounded, and a number taken prisoners.

The following day, Marshal Soult and General Marchant, were attacked by the allies, who again sustained a great loss. General Kamenskoy was also defeated, and Bonaparte, who commanded in person, led his army on to Gutstadt. Part of the Russian army, consisting of ten thousand cavalry, and fifteen thousand infantry, posted itself at Glottaw, with an intent to impede the progress of the French; but they were drove from all their positions, and the French entered Gutstadt sword in hand. The whole of the Russian army was now assembled at Heilsberg, and were actually blocked up in their camp ; in consequence of this, a number of severely contested actions took place, in which the Russians lost an immense number of men, and Heilsberg was obliged to surrender to the French on the 12th of June, in which place they found a great number of magazines, with several thousand quintals of corn, and a great quantity of provisions.

On June the 14th, the Russian army advanced towards Friedland; and now existing circumstances plainly indi cated the near approach of a tremendous battle. Marshal Lasnes commanded the centre of the French army; and General Mortier had the command of the left, and

Marshal Ney of the right division; the reserve was commanded by General Victor. General Beningsen drew up his army in fine order, and in an admirable position. The battle was commenced by Napoleon, who made a fierce attack on the town of Friedland, in which he was supported by General Marchant. The Russians chiefly directed their operations against Marshal Ney, by whom they were repelled with the point of the bayonet; and numbers of them were precipitated into the river Alla. Marshal Ney's division now approached the raveline which encircled the town of Friedland, and were instantly attacked by the Russian Generals; and such was the impressions they first made, that the French began to give way; but rallying, they retaliated the assault, and the Russians were finally defeated with great slaughter; Friedland was taken by storm; and victory was now decidedly in favor of the French. The number of Russian soldiers who were slain was numerous; without crediting the exaggerated statement of the fallacious bulletin published on this occasion by the French, it evidently amounted to many thousands: also eighty pieces of ordnance, and many standards were taken. The defeated army retreated towards Koningsberg, passed the river Peleg, and advanced towards the Niemin. At Pepelken they were joined by a body of Prussians, under General Lestocq; and another detachment, of Russians, under General Kaminskoy. Wichlaw and Koningsberg were both taken by the French: at the latter place there were six thousand quintals of corn, and twenty thousand wounded Russians and Prussians; as also a large quantity of ammunition shipped from England, including one hundred and sixty thousand muskets.

It is impossible to reflect on the immense defeats sustained by the allies in this campaign without astonishment, mixed with deep regret. We feel at a loss to what to impute so continued a series of disastrous events; there was apparently no want of courage, for the Russians fought like men with lions' hearts; they, in not a few instances, braved death in the most intrepid manner: neither did there appear any symptoms of disaffection in the Russian Generals, they demonstrated a zealous attachment to the cause in which they were engaged. The unfortunate disasters of this campaign must, therefore, be attributed to the rapid movements, the prompt exer

tions, and the eagle-eyed adroitness of the French commanders, who acted upon a new system of military tactics; while the allies uniformly acted upon the old system.

CHAP. XVII.

Treaty of Tilsit. Conference between the King of Sweden and Marshal Brune. Affairs of the Ottoman Empire.

AMIDST the fury of the war which raged tremendously throughout Europe, Britain enjoyed profound security. The private property, and public peace of her inhabitants were preserved. Guarded on every side; at a distance from every danger; like a family in the enjoyment of every domestic happiness and felicity within, while the tempest raged without, they truly tasted the pleasures resulting from peace and serenity. They were strangers to those scenes of horror displayed on the theatre of war, so strikingly developed by a late writer, in the following language: Cities demolished with fire and sword; multitudes weltering in blood; virgins perishing in the embrace of ruffians; parishes, villages, and churches turned into an heap of ruins; the most fruitful plains turned into scenes of slaughter; no cattle in the field; no flock in the fold; no herd in the stall; no inhabitants in the city; no child to the parent, nor no parent to the child; no husband to the wife; no money to the rich; no clothes to the delicate; the miserable not even suffered to bewail their misery; infants howling for bread, and death creeping in at windows; death pursuing in all shapes, overtaking those that fly, and finding those that are hid."+

The ministry of which Mr. Fox had been an active member had been dissolved. A rash and precipitate attempt had been made to emancipate the Roman Catho

Y

fics; when his Majesty was pleased to express his disapprobation of this measure, and a new administration was formed, at the head of which was the Right Honorable Spencer Perceval, who was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, and many friends of Mr. Pitt joined this gentleman. The new ministers were resolved to carry on the war with renewed energy, and supplies were voted by parliament for that purpose.

On June 19, 1807, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Tilsit. The Russians had been pursued after the decisive battle of Friedland, by the Duke of Berg; they had crossed the Niemen, and burned the bridge of Tilsit. On the day on which the Emperor of France entered that place, a proposal was made by the Russian, General for an armistice, which was agreed upon, and by which it was settled, that hostilities should be suspended, and not renewed without one month's previous notice on each side; it was also agreed, that plenipotentiaries should be immediately appointed for entering upon a discussion of preliminaries for peace; and that there should be also an exchange of prisoners. The boundary assigned during the armistice between the French and Russian armies, was from the middle of the Niemen, where it falls into the sea, to Grodno; and from thence to the confines of Russia, between the Narew and the Bug.

No sooner had this armistice been concluded, but an interview took place between the Emperor Alexander and Napoleon, on June 25, on a raft contrived on purpose, on the river Niemen. The two sovereigns landed and embraced each other. The troops of the beforementioned hostile powers were now busily employed in reciprocal acts of kindness. These events naturally paved the way for a definitive treaty of peace between Russia, Prussia, and France, which was signed at Tilsit, on June 7, 1807. By this peace the greater part of PrussiaPoland was taken from the King of Prussia, and transferred to the King of Saxony, and was formed into a Duchy under his iminediate sovereignty, under the title of "The Duchy of Warsaw." A new constitution was framed for this new partition of Poland, in which there was an absurd and bombast declaration of securing to the

The late administration was designated, "All the Talents."

people the free enjoyment of their rights and privileges; all this was under the immediate guidance and direction of Bonaparte, who gave his royal sanction and approba tion to it, as Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine. The city of Dantzick was restored to its former independence, although it had been mercilessly pillaged, and its trade annihilated; and the King of Prussia, and the King of Saxony, were to guarantee its security. By this treaty it was also stipulated, that the navigation of the Vistula should be free from any duties, imposts, or tolls, exacted either by the city of Dantzick, the King of Prussia, or the King of Saxony. To establish a free commu nication between the Saxon territories, and the new Duchy of Warsaw, Frederick William was bound to consent that a military road should be made through the states of his dominions; and for the establishment of a boundary between Russia and the Duchy of Warsaw, a portion of territory appertaining to the King of Prussia, was united to the empire of Russia. This portion of the Prussian dominions, thus torn away from its sovereign, embraced a population of two hundred thousand persons. The Dukes of Oldenburg,† Mecklenburgh, and Saxe Cobourg, were to be fully reinstated in their former dominions; but the ports in the former Duchy were to be exclusively in possession of the French, until a definitive treaty of peace should be entered into between England and France; and it was politely notified that such an event would be accelerated by the mediation of the Emperor Alexander. It was also stipulated in the treaty of Tilsit, that all the Prussian ports should be shut against England, whilst the latter remained at war with France, The Emperor Alexander also engaged to recognise the three brothers of Bonaparte in their new regal capacities, as the Kings of Holland (Louis), Naples (Joseph), and Westphalia (Jerome); to acknowledge the confederation of the Rhine; and to be at peace with those powers which were in alliance with France.

Thus was the royal house of Brandenburgh once more compelled to bend his neck to the yoke of the despot of Europe; to be despoiled of near five millions of his subjects, and nearly half the amount of his revenues. The

+ The DUKE OF OLDENBURG married the Emperor Alexander's

sister.