rogant treatment of an humiliated nation; and on the other, to point out instances of the vacillating policy of Prussia, and her breach of engagements. But circumstances were entirely chang ed; and when did a vanquished power decline a favourable opportunity for recovering its consequence, and annulling forced concessions? Further, a prospect was now opened of liberating all Germany from the yoke imposed upon it by unjust and insatiable ambition; and this was a cause which, independently of private interest, might kindle a flame in every breast susceptible of generous emotions. The king of Saxony, as the storm rolled nearer to him, took the alarm, and on Feb. 23rd, issued a proclamation from Dresden, in which he announced his intention to withdraw from that capital, and retire to another part of his kingdom; at the same time expressing his confidence in the powerful aid of his great ally, and advising his subjects to maintain a peaceable and orderly conduct during the present emergency, The French, who for a time ap peared to intend making a stand at Berlin, now finding every thing hostile to them in the Prussian territory, quitted that city in the night of March 3rd, and the Russians entered it as friends on the following morning. On the 11th, Count Witgenstein made his public entry amidst general acclamations. General Morand, who had kept possession of Swedish Pomerania with a body of 2,500 men, now thought it advisable to follow the grand French army, which was retreating upon the Elbe. He began his march, joined by the cus

tom-house officers who had been posted in that province, and attended with a train of 18 pieces of artillery, and on March 15th he reached Mollen. At Bergedorf he was met by the 11th military French division, and the custom-house officers from Hamburg, and he made a feint of marching to that city, but a body of Danish troops, stationed on the border to preserve their neutrality, prevented his advance in that direction. Colonel Baron Von Tettenborne,commanding a corps of Witgenstein's division, sent some Cossacks to harass Morand at Bergedorf, who, finding his position untenable, proceeded to Eschenburg. He there em. barked his troops in boats on the Elbe, and escaped, with the loss of part of his artillery. Tettenborne entered Hamburg on March 18th, amidst the most lively expressions of joy from the citizens, and the ancient government of that celebrated seat of commerce restored. The baron published addresses to the inhabitants of the left bank of the Lower Elbe, and the city of Lubeck, exhort ing them to take up arms in the sacred cause of their country; and he announced a plan for the raising of a volunteer corps in Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, to bear the name of the Hanseatic legion. Col. Hamilton, the British commander at Heligoland, having learned the evacuation of Cuxhaven by the French, sent a small force which took possession of the batteries of that place, and the castle of Ritzenbuttle, the burghers surrendering them to the disposal of his Britannic Majesty, The people on the Weser then rose in considerable numbers, aud took

was

the strong battery and works at Bremer-lee; on the intelligence of which event, a party of veterans was sent from Cuxhaven to support the insurgent peasantry. The French, however, collecting a force at Bremen, marched a detachment to Bremer-lee, which dispersed a part of the peasants, and beat off the veterans who defended the bridge. They then attacked the battery at which the rest of the veterans and peasants were posted. The latter capitulated in the hope of saving their lives, but they were all put to the sword. General Witgenstein, having been placed at the head of the Prussian troops, made dispositions for crossing the Elbe in different parts; to frustrate which, the French concentrated their force in the vicinity of Magdeburg, and strengthened themselves by draughts from Dresden and Leipsic. Their left wing was encamped near Gardeleben; and the whole army was under the orders of marshals Davoust and Victor. General Dornberg, having arrived at Havelberg, crossed the Elbe with his corps opposite to Werben, on March 26th, but a French detachment sent a gainst him obliged him to recross the river, with a trifling loss. General Tchernicheff, arriving next at Havelberg, passed the Elbe at the Sandkruge, and took posses sion of Seehausen and Lichterfeld. An advanced regiment of Cossacks was attacked at the latter place by a French corps of infantry and cavalry, but was able to support itself till another regiment of cavalry came to its assistance; and both together drove back the enemy to Werben. Dornberg now repassed the river lower down at Lentzen;

and the two generals took a position to secure themselves from an attack. They were here informed that the French general Morand, with a strong corps, was pushing on to Luneburg, in order to punish the inhabitants of that town for having taken up arms, and with the aid of a small party of Cossacks, driven away a squadron of French cavalry. Resolving to protect these brave people, they hastened to Luneburg, but were unable to reach it till the morning of April 2nd, when the French had been in possession of the town twelve hours. They learned that on this very morning several executions of the insurgents were to take place, which determined them to make an immediate assault. This was conducted with so much bravery and skill that, after a long and sanguinary contest, a complete victory was obtained by the united Russians and Prussians, who now for the first time fought together on the left bank of the Elbe; and upwards of 100 officers, and 2,200 privates and nine pieces of cannon remained in the hands of the victors: General Morand was killed. The viceroy of Italy having about this time formed a plan of pushing from Magdeburg to Berlin, it was discovered by Witgenstein, who attacked him on two sides at Mockern, and obliged him to fall back to Magdeburg, after the loss of two regiments of cavalry

The allied force at this period of the campaign was thus distributed. The Russians, whom sickness and fatigue had reduced much below their expected numbers, were divided into three armies, under the generals Witgenstein, Tschitschagoff, and Winzingrode, prince

Kutusoff being the commander in chief. Witgenstein's main force had crossed the Elbe, in order to drive back the French towards the Maine. One of his corps had entered Lubeck, and others were posted on the Elbe, near Boitzenburg. Of Tschitschagoff's army, a part lay near Thorn, and another part, under Platoff, was employed in the siege of Dantzic. Part of Wintzingrode's army was near Custrin and Lansberg: another part occupied the old town of Dresden on the right bank of the Elbe; whilst a third corps had crossed that river at Schandau, for the purpose of turning Davoust. Russian reinforcements were also on the Vistula, The Prussian force was thus distributed: general Blucher had removed from Silesia into Saxony. D'Yorck was at Berlin with the main army. Detach ments occupied Hamburg and Rostock, and another invested Stettin. A Swedish force was at Stralsund; and the Crown Prince was expected to commence his campaign with 50,000 men. On April 16th, the garrison of Thorn, consisting of 4.000 men, chiefly Bavarians and Poles, surrendered to the Russian commander, count Langeron, with 200 pieces of cannon. The Russian troops thus set free joined the force lying before Dantzic. Spandau also capitulated to the Russians on the 18th of the month.

It is now proper to take a view of what was passing in France, where the presence of the emperor, unimpaired in confidence or activity, and in his boastful language assuming the merit of victory in the midst of the dreadful reverses he had experienced, silenced all

discontent, and disposed the nation to every further sacrifice that his absolute will might demand. By a senatus-consultum, adopted on Jan. 11th, 350,000 men were placed at the disposal of government; and nothing could be more loyal and, submissive than the address of the conservative senate in presenting the decree for this additional force to their master. In the same month, several conferences being held between Napoleon and the pope at Fontainebleau, a concordat was signed by them on Jan. 25th, for terminating the subsisting differences relative to the church (See State Papers). On this occasion the pope and the empress made and returned visits to each other. As a preparative for the emperor's departure to the army, a plan for a regency was framed and adopted, Feb. 5th, by which the empress was declared regent during his absence, or in case of his death. A flattering exposé of the state of the French empire was published, in which its population was stated at 42,700,000 souls, as taken from an accurate census, and was said to have augmented nearly one-tenth within twenty-four years. A long detail was given of the marine administration, and a prospect was confidently held out of an annual increase of the navy which the maritime superiority of England could not prevent. At length, having by extraordinary exertions revived the spirit, and called forth the vast resources, of his empire, Napoleon set out for the army on April 15th, and arrived at Mentz on the 20th, The French army, formidable in number and appointment, consisted of twelve corps, besides the

imperial guards. The viceroy of Italy, Eugene Beauharnois, was appointed second in command, and Berthier, chief of the staff. The several corps were placed under generals and marshals, long known in the service. Such was the mighty force with which the ruler of the fate of France moved to another, and, as was generally thought, a concluding campaign.

The march of the different.divisions of the French was directed so as to form a junction near Jena, and upon the Saale. Marshal Ney, who took the lead on the left, arrived in front of Erfurt on April 21st, and the intermediate corps were rapidly closing in. The allied armies of Russians and Prussians had for some time been concentrating in the neighbourhood of Leipsic. The death of the veteran chief, Kutusoff, on his march, had transferred the supreme command to Witgenstein, whose head-quarters were at Doelisch, to the north of Leipsic, whilst those of the Prussian general Blucher were at Altenburg, to the south of that city. The French commanders successively crossed the Saale with greater or less opposition, whilst the Russian and Prussian forces formed an union between Leipzic and Altenburg. Napoleon joined his troops, and took the command; and the emperor of Russia and king of Prussia animated their respective armies by their personal presence. On April 30th, Witgenstein having received intelligence which convinced him that it was the intention of the French to make a junction between that part of the army which was under the command of the viceroy, and the main body, sent general Wintzing

rode's corps from Leipzic on the road to Weissenfels to make a reconnoissance. This corps came to action on May 1st, by which it was ascertained that the enemy's chief force was in the vicinity of Weissenfels and Lutzen, whilst the viceroy's position appeared to be between Leipzic and Halle. Witgenstein therefore resolved to prevent the enemy's operations by making a previous attack upon his principal force, and with that view marched in the night between the 1st and 2nd of May to the defile of the Elster, in the vicinity of Pegau. At day-break the allied army had passed the defile, and were drawn up on the left bank of the Elster. The enemy's main body was extended beyond Weissenfels, with its centre at the village of Gross Groschen, and reaching to Lutzen, the plain of which was the scene of the famous battle in which the great Gustavus lost his life. About noon, Blucher with the vanguard moved to the attack of the French, posted in Gross Groschen, which village he carried by storm after an obstinate defence. The battle soon became general along the line. The villages in front were several times taken and retaken, and the action continued with great carnage till near seven in the evening. The result was, that the allies kept possession of the field, and that after the following day had passed without fighting, the French retreated, and Napoleon established his head quarters at Querfurt.

The losses on each side are so differently stated, that they cannot be spoken of with any certainty. The allies acknowledged only about 10,000 killed and wounded, and had not a single

cannon taken, whilst they made prize of ten pieces of the enemy. The principal loss fell on the Prussians, and among other staff officers, the prince of Hesse-Homburg was killed. The French returned their loss at the same number, and that of their opponents at double or triple. From the superiority of the French artillery, it is probable that the allies were the greatest sufferers. But whatever were the events on the field, it cannot be doubted, from the consequences, that the engagement was the most severely felt by the allied army, which made little opposition to the advance of the French to the Elbe, which river they crossed at Dresden, and Meissen, on the 6th and 7th, and Napoleon took up his quarters at the former city on the 8th. The king of Saxony now joined his arms to those of the French emperor, in consequence of which, marshal Ney was admitted into Torgau. The French had already possessed themselves of Leipzic. Their troops continued to advance, and the main army of the allies to retire before them; and on the 12th and 15th, marshal Macdonald came in contact with the Russian rear-guard under Miloradovitch, and some actions of no great moment were brought on. In the meantime Ney and Lauriston crossed the Elbe at Torgau, with the intention of acting on the right of the allies. The latter, who had conducted their retreat in such good order as not to lose a single gun, took up their first position on the heights overhanging the Spree, with the centre of the front line behind Bautzen. On the 19th, Napoleon, having joined his main

an

army, consisting, it is said, of more than 100,000 men, with a numerous artillery, planned attack upon the allies in front, whilst the force under Ney, Lauriston, and Regnier, should move from their position to the north of Bautzen, and turn the right of the allies. Witgenstein, having penetrated into this latter design, determined to counteract it by a separate attack on the corps of those generals, which he entrusted to generals Barclay de Tolly and D'Yorck. They engaged with Lauriston and Ney on the 19th,_and a severe action is said, in the Russian account, to have terminated in favour of the allies. At least it is certain that it frustrated this part of the plan. The grand attack by the French main army commenced at four in the morning of May 20th. The passage of the Spree was forced by the corps of Oudinot, Macdonald, and Marmont, and a furious assault was made on the centre of the allies, commanded by Miloradovitch, which he resisted with great steadiness. At length, after seven hours hard fighting, the numbers and impetuosity of the French so far prevailed, that the allies were obliged to fall back to their second position, near Hochkirchen.

On the 21st, another very sanguinary conflict took place. Napoleon, in person, taking the command of his whole assembled forces, moved at day-break to the attack of the allies in advance of Wurtschen and Hochkirchen. The details of this engagement are not intelligible without plans. On the whole it appears that the allies, who are represented as much inferior in number, were strongly