is stated that he wishes to place himself near his army; and of course, whether he wishes it or not, he will be in the centre of a scene in which, doubtless, every political engine will now be in full play. Lieut.-General Sir Charles Stewart to George DEAR JACKSON, Jackson, Esq. Imp. Head-quarters, Reichenbach, I lose not a moment in informing you that the head-quarters changed yesterday to this place, where I hope you will join as soon as convenient, You will have, like the rest of us, very indifferent accommodation; but in case of the worst, I have kept a little country house near Obergrödetz which is at your disposal. You will know ere this from De Witt the terms of the armistice, and its duration till the 26th of July. Breslau and Neumarck are declared neutral, and the enemy retires behind the Katsbach. On all other points, as I shall see you so soon, I will not now dwell. I suppose it will create some sensation throughout Europe. Believe me, &c. &c., CHARLES STEWART, Lieut.-General. But 6th.-I suppose it will create some surprise. great pains are taken to impress upon every one that the august personages who have agreed to the suspension of hostilities, have been actuated by no desponding view of their political affairs or military interests. And there are, no doubt, reasons for considering that an armistice, at this moment, though useful to France may be of equal service to the Allies. The chief inducement, however, to agree to it has, of course, been a desire to conciliate the Austrian Cabinet; which has certainly most strenuously favoured, and invariably supported the negotiations which have been just brought to a conclusion. 7th. The young princes left the town early yesterday morning, to join the King at Reichenbach. I was not then aware of the prolongation of the armis tice, but as their carriage passed me and I saluted them, one of them leant forward, and said, "ne partez vous pas aujourd'hui, Monsieur Jackson ?" A wave of the hand was all the reply I could give, as they were driving at a brisk pace; but presently after, meeting Kircheisen, he explained both their question and their early journey, by the information that the armistice was prolonged for six weeks. When I called on the minister, Altenstein, he denied all knowledge of it, but told me there were most favourable accounts from Hamburg and of what was passing at Copenhagen. That a Danish ambassador who had passed through Berlin on his way to Bonaparte, had been followed by a courier, and was suddenly recalled. No further news arriving from head-quarters, I translated the extract from the "Moniteur" of the 24th to send over to Sir Charles, and I am rather anxious to see if Bonaparte's idea of a general congress takes; for supposing England were to send an ambassador to make the experiment, I should like nothing better than to be the Secretary of embassy. This mission has disappointed the expectations with which I set out; but perhaps I was a little too sanguine. The personnel is as pleasant as one could desire, but business is transacted rather en amateur than according to the habits of the school I have been trained in. We are slightly grandiloquent in our reports; and a certain degree of frothiness, and a desire to faire effet, which is rather amusing at times, but a little out of place-especially with these solid-pated old German ministers-pervades our discussions, and often weakens arguments, which require plainness of speech to enforce them, rather than commonplace flowers of rhetoric. I sat talking over the present state of affairs till near midnight with Sir F. d'Ivernois, when Sir Charles's letter arrived per estafette. I heard also of General Hope's mission with Thornton, to Copenhagen. This morning at eleven we left Neisse, and reached this place before nine. I passed the evening with Sir Charles, Ompteda, and Niebuhr, who gave me very different intelligence respecting Denmark from that of M. d'Altenstein-Mr. Disbrowe, who left England on the 21st to join our mission, having just brought the news that the Danes had taken possession of Hamburg in the name of the French, and that a French General commanded their troops. Colonel Brown, Mr. Perceval, and two or three others were about leaving for Stralsund, which caused a good deal of writing, and I did not get to bed until four. As Sir Charles proposes to set out for Stralsund in a few days, he says, and as generally we have a short respite from the vagabond sort of life most of us lately have led-march one day, halt the next-he took advantage of it to give a grand dinner yesterday evening, the 9th. Count Stadion, Alopeus, Löwenhjelm, General Miloradowitch, Count Wrangel, the King of Prussia's aide-de-camp, Prince Radzivill, Niebuhr, and some two or three others less known to me, were there. It was, however, as dull and flat an affair as I ever assisted at. They all seemed afraid of opening their mouths on the present state of affairs; and as these formed probably the chief subject of their thoughts, the general conversation was very forced and constrained. It was, in fact, a failure; the whole thing a bore; though the dinner was good, and Sir Charles made a gallant effort to infuse a little of his own spirit and dash into the business, and to carry off a few toasts with éclat. We separated early, and I went off to drink tea with Sir Robert Wilson. "Somehow or other," he said, " we used to be merrier at Memel; though old Hutchinson ne valait pas Sir Charles, and the aspect of things was darker even then than now-for now we do see a streak of daylight. But then, we had the queen, all gentleness and beauty, to pay our adorations to, with good old Countess Voss and one or two younger ones to fall in love with and to please. Here, our only solace is to write letters to our absent divinities." VOL. II. K 12th. We had a messenger from London and Stralsund, but no letters; indeed, very few arrive for anybody. They have such a habit here of opening letters, and now, that a closer inspection is made of them than usual, correspondence is very uncertain. All, however, share in the general anxiety that is felt to know what effect the actual conclusion of the armistice will have in England. Hardenberg keeps out of the way as much as he possibly can, and the King, perhaps more from his love of retirement than from any other motive, shuts himself up at his country-quarters, which are about a German mile distant. I went out there this morning to pay a visit to Count Wrangel, and after dinner took a long ride with him in the neighbourhood. The country about here is beautiful; Reichenbach lying in a very lovely valley bounded by mountains at a few miles distance, and presenting at every turn the most charming points de vue. 14th.-General Hope and Thornton have returned, the Danes refusing to let them disembark. They report a declaration of Bernadotte, on the Danes occupying Hamburg. Sir Charles gave yesterday a great ministerial dinner, at which a lady was present; the first I have seen at head-quarters since we left Dresden, and lost the pleasant society we frequented in that then lively town. This evening the Chancellor gave his ministerial dinner, which was not signalized by the appearance of any of the fair sex, but by the signing of the Treaty of subsidy, etc. And, by a strange coincidence, the |
