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posted on a chain of heights connected with the range of mountains separating Lusatia from Bohemia, which bounded them on their left, whilst their right terminated in a flat and woody country; that the enemy's first attack was directed on their flanks, but soon became general; that the line of the allies resisted in every other part, but the right flank, under the command of Barclay de Tolly, being urged by a very superior force, was obliged to change its position; and though supported by Blucher, Kleist, and D'Yorck, and recover ing part of its ground, was at length so much outflanked by the enemy, that at five in the evening the allied army found it necessary to retreat. The loss of the French during these two days, is stated by themselves at 11 or 12,000 men in killed and wounded, and the duke of Friuli (Duroc) was among the former. The allies also claimed the capture of 3,000 French prisoners and 12 pieces of cannon, and asserted that the enemy had no trophies of war to show on their parts. It is almost needless to say that the French statements gave a very different view of these results. The general event however was, that the allies continued retreating, but in good order, and intent upon taking every opportunity to check the impetuosity of their advancing foe. A brilliant action in which the Prussian cavalry under Blucher defeated, on the 26th, a French division of infantry marching from Haynau, under general Maison, is mentioned with distinction in the dispatches of sir Charles Stewart, the British resident with the allied army. The different French corps,

however, gradually advanced with no effectual opposition through Silesia towards the Oder, and Napoleon established his head-quarters on the 31st at Neumarkt, not far from Breslau, which capital was entered by Lauriston on June 1st.

During the course of these occurrences, important transactions were taking place in the north of Europe. Sweden, which, under the dictates of a cautious policy, though obviously liberating herself from all the restrictions imposed by her connections with France, had hitherto only asserted an independent neutrality, was induced by the turn which affairs had taken, openly to join the cause of the allies. Of this resolution she gave a public declaration by forming, in March, a treaty of alliance and subsidy with the court of Great Britain. Its terms will be found in the State Papers, and have also been already mentioned as a subject of debate in parliament. It will be sufficient here to notice that they refer to engagements already subsisting between the courts of Stockholm and Petersburg, and that they bind Sweden to employ a force of not less than 30,000 men, under the command of the Crown Prince, in a direct operation against the common enemy upon the continent, in conjunction with the Russian troops. They also stipulate the union of Norway with the kingdom of Sweden, as the result of a co-operation of the three powers. From the time of the signature of this treaty, the preparations of the Swedes to fulfil their part of the conditions were carried on with vigour; and though their accession

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

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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 com mand of his whole em moved at day-br of the allies in chen and Hea tails of t

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prince, whose plans would not allow him to divide his forces, and who was now, through the failure of the negociations between the allies and Denmark, become a declared enemy of that kingdom, found himself under the necessity of recalling these troops. The protection of Hamburg was therefore abandoned; and on May 30th, general Tettenborne with all the military, evacuated it, and 5,000 Danes with 1,500 French, under the command of general Bruyere, made their entry unopposed. A patriotic citizen, Mr. Von Hess, addressed the Burgher guard, of which he had been appointed commander, in a last order of the day, conceived in terms worthy of a noble mind feeling the misfortunes of his native country, and yielding to present circumstances, without despairing for the future. "The events of the war (says he) call the Russian army to more decisive successes. A dark concatenation of impenetrable misunderstandings compels the sons of the north, who were destined to our assistance, to witness our fate, if not with indifference, at least without doing any thing to avert it." In conclusion, he requests his fellow-citizens to reserve to other times that ardent feeling of hatred to the despotism which again threatens their desolated town, and to remove their persons to places where they may await the moment of the overthrow of tyranny. The loss of Hamburg was severely felt by the allies both in a military and a commercial view; and it seems difficult to justify, if not the final desertion of its defence, at least some of the previous measures which only added to its calamities.

Although Napoleon had astonished, all Europe with the efforts he had been able to make after the destruction of his veteran armies in the Russian campaign, and by, his successes had retrieved in a great measure that, military re nown which he had been in danger of losing, yet he must have, been sensible that his advance from the Saale to the Oder was a series of hard-fought battles, in which his best troops were gradually melting. away; and that the further he proceeded, the more distant he. was from his supplies, whilst the allies were getting into the heart. of theirs. Additional conquests, could no longer form a part of his plan; and he was to consider how he should retain the advantages he had gained, and his predominance, in the system of Europe, against which he saw new confederacies rising. Encouraged, therefore, by the Austrian cabinet, which was now in a state of apparent neutrality, he transmitted to the emperor Alexander proposals for an armistice, preparatory to a congress for a general peace to be holden at Prague. A cessation of hostilities in consequence took place on the first of June, and the armistice was ratified on the 4th. Its articles minutely described the line of demarkation between the belligerent powers during the continuance of the armistice, and appointed a number of regulations with relation to the besieged towns, and other circumstances. The line on each side proceeded from the frontiers of Bohemia, on different tracks, to the Oder, and thence to the Elbe, down to its mouth, leaving a neutral territory between them, not to be occupied by the

troops on either side; and in this space Breslau was comprized. All Saxony, Dessau, and the small states surrounding the princes of the confederation of the Rhine, were left to be occupied by the French army; and all Prussia by the allied army; and the Prussian territories in Saxony were to be neutral. The term of the armistice was fixed to the 20th of July; and hostilities were not to recommence without six days' notice.

It may be interesting to record a proof, given at this period, of the confidence with which the French ruler looked forward to the security of his widely extended empire. From the field of battle of Wurtchen, he issued the following decree: "A monument shall be erected on Mount Cenis. Upon

the front, looking towards Paris, shall be inscribed the names of all our cantons of departments on this side the Alps. Upon the front, looking towards Milan, shall be inscribed the names of all our cantons of departments beyond the Alps, and of our kingdom of Italy. On the most conspicuous part of the monument shall be engraved the following inscription: The emperor Napoleon, upon the field of battle of Wurtchen, ordered the erection of this monument as a proof of his gratitude to his people of France and Italy; and to transmit to the most distant posterity the remembrance of that celebrated epoch, when, in three months, 1,200,000 men ran to arms to insure the integrity of the empire, and of his allies.'"

CHAPTER

CHAPTER XIII.

Armistice prolonged.-Congress at Prague.-Hostilities resumed.Austrian Declaration of War against France.-Crown-Prince of Sweden at the Head of the combined Army of the North of Germany.Advances to Berlin.-Interview of the Sovereigns at Prague.-Their Plans. Action between Blucher and the French on the Bober.-French driven back to Dresden.-Attack of the Allies on that City.-Their retreat into Bohemia.-Defeat of Vandamme.-Blucher's Defeat of Macdonald.-Silesia freed from the Enemy.-Crown-Prince's Advance.-Victory at Juterboch.-Davoust's Retreat from Mecklenburg. -Actions in Bohemia.—Allies assemble around Leipzic.-Cassel taken and retaken.-Bremen recovered.-Napoleon quits Dresden.—Alliance between Austria and Bavaria.-Blucher's Victory near Leipzic.Grand Attack upon Leipzic and its Capture.--Retreat of the French Army-Action with General Wrede at Hanau.-Napoleon arrives with his Army at Mentz.

URING the armistice Napoleon took up his residence chiefly at Dresden, where he employed himself in reviewing the reinforcements of troops that were frequently arriving from France, and in occasional visits to the fortified places in the vicinity, which were diligently strengthened, and put in the best possible state of defence. Negociations proceeded but slowly, and a convention was signed at Neumarkt for the prolongation of the armistice to the 10th of August. The members of the proposed congress assembled at Prague, who were, on the part of the French emperor, the count de Narbonne and Caulincourt; of the emperor of Russia, the privy-councillor D'Anstett; of the king of Prussia, baron Humbolt; of the emperor of Austria, the count Metternich. Meantime all

Germany resounded with preparations for the renewal of war. The king of Prussia published a decree for a levy en-masse in his dominions, for its internal defence, whilst its regular army should be employed in concert with that of the other allies. But it was to Austria that the public attention was chiefly directed, where the great augmentation of the forces, and the warlike measures of diffe rent kinds, announced designs of higher purpose than merely maintaining a posture of neutrality. Towards the end of July the troops of the line quitted Vienna, and the burgher guard performed duty in the city and suburbs. Levies were carried on through all the hereditary dominions; the arsenals were filled with artillery and ammunition, and an extensive enrolment or insurrection was organized in

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