1806

BOOK IV sand infantry, principally guards and grenadiers, six regiments of cavalry, and sixty-four pieces CHAP. II. of harnessed artillery. In his attempt, however, to reach this place, he was anticipated by the arrival at Templon of the Duke of Berg, who, not doubting that the prince would, in consequence of this failure, bend his course to Prentzlow, without a moment's loss of time set off for that place, and, by a well-concerted attack, overthrew, in its suburbs, the cavalry, infantry, and artillery of the prince, and forced him, with great loss, to withdraw within the town, where he was immediately summoned. The gates being speedily burst open by the enemy, and no chance of effectual opposition to the attack remaining, the prince engaged in a treaty of capitulation, and the same day defiled his whole army before the grand duke, as prisoners of

war.

1

The retreat and resistance of the gallant General Blucher are deserving of particular mention. His intention, after the defeat at Jena, was to gain the Oder, to effect a junction with the army of Prince Hohenlohe, and by affording employment to different divisions of the French troops, to allow time for the supply of some important fortresses, and for the junction of the Russian and Prussian troops. The reserve of the army, which, under the Prince of Wurtemberg, had suffered very materially at Halle, was confided to him on the 24th of October, and appears afterwards to have met with a corps under the Duke of Weimar and the hereditary Duke of Brunswick. It consisted of ten thousand five hundred men. After various attempts to join Prince Hohenlohe, in which his little army had several times separated, although they rejoined after a variety of difficulties, they were obliged to fight against very superior numbers, but often inflicting in these contests more injury than they experienced, he received the mortifying intelligence that the prince had capitulated. General Blucher had now no other alternative but either to take the direction to Hamburg or Lübeck, or to fight the next day, as the Duke, of Berg was on his left flank, Marshal Soult on his right, and Bernadotte on his front, each of whose divisions was more than double the number of his own. His march to Lubeck was accordingly resolved upon. But here, to his unutterable regret and indignation, treachery combined against him, and afforded aid to the French troops, who soon filled the town. Here a contest took place, which in fierceness and horror has rarely been exceeded. The squares, streets, and even churches, were scenes of the most bloody conflict and carnage; war triumphed in this unfortunate place, in its full ravage; and the Prussian troops at length, obliged to yield to the superior forces of the

enemy, withdrew from the town. In this extremity, suffering from want of ammunition, with reduced strength, and reduced numbers, effectual resistance seemed absolutely impossible. After three weeks constant retreat, in which, from the incessant fatigue of marching five or six German miles a day, with only the most miserable means of subsistence, fifty or sixty men being frequently obliged to be left behind, but notwithstanding which, the whole corps had displayed a fidelity and courage which could never be exceeded, he felt it his duty, at the moment the French were about to attack him, to yield to a capitulation. The conviction of having discharged his duty might well support him under this disaster, and he may be considered as having derived more glory from his well-conducted retreat, than has attached in many cases to the most decided and important successes.

The

Marshal Davoust had, on the 18th of October, taken possession of Leipzig, where immediate notice was given to the merchants and bankers, that all English property would be seized in this grand entrepôt of British merchandise; and all persons were enjoined within twenty-four hours to send in a declaration regarding all such property in their possession, of whatever description; the non-compliance with this mandate to be punished by the summary process of military tribunals. Having ordered a bridge to be thrown over the Elbe at this place, Davoust proceeded to Wittenburg, and gained by surprise the bridges of that town, after which he moved forward to Berlin, which he entered at the head of his troops on the 25th, followed on the succeeding day by the corps of Marshal Augereau. On the 24th, Bonaparte arrived at Potsdam; where he visited the palace, and the tomb of the great Frederick. sword of that distinguished warrior, the ribbon of the black eagle, the colours taken by him in the seven years war, and the scarf which he used during that critical period of his vicissitude and glory, excited particular regard and emotion, and Napoleon, seizing these trophies, exclaimed with transport, "Twenty millions shall not purchase them. I will present them to my old soldiers, and the Hotel of Invalids at Paris shall be their future depository." Within three days after his arrival at Potsdam, he made his public entry into Berlin, attended by his principal generals, and his foot guards. Various ambassadors from the powers with which he was at peace were here presented to him at the palace. He afterwards received the deputies from the Lutheran and Reformed churches, mostly the descendants of the refugee French protestants,' driven from their country by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, to whom he promised the continued enjoyment of their privileges and worship.

Twelve hundred of the principal inhabitants were intrusted with the guardianship of the city; and to the management of eight of the highest reputation and consequence, was committed the superintendence of the police. The presence of the French scarcely discomposed the ordinary routine of business; and by the vigilance of the burghers, and the strict discipline of the army, the utmost tranquillity was secured. Berlin, at the time of its occupation, notwithstanding previous removals, abounded with military stores of every description, which the precipitate approach of the enemy, "the rapidity of whose march, outstripped that of their renown," had prevented them from removing. The supreme provisional government of the conquered country of Prussia was divided into four departments-Berlin, Custin, Stettin, and Magdeburg, and committed to the direction of General Clarke.

During the time in which the Emperor Napoleon was enjoying himself in comparative leisure and full tranquillity in the palace of Berlin, admiring the novelty of the scene, and the trophies of military greatness; the King of Prussia was experiencing all the horrors of exile, and the alarms natural to the loss of a kingdom, for the recovery of which he had reason to fear that he must be more indebted to the moderation of the conqueror, than to any remaining resources of his own. In the course of a few days his army had been completely dissipated and ruined. The army of Westphalia, under General Blucher; the left division, under Prince Hohenlohe; the reserve, under the Prince of Wurtemburg; and the army under his own immediate inspection; had comprehended a mass of military power which he had represented to his imagination as almost irresistible: yet nearly all had now disappeared. Of one hundred and fifty thousand men, comprehended in these divisions, a large proportion had been destroyed, wounded, or made captive, in the fatal contest of Jena. Of the rest, various corps, after wandering amidst inextricable difficulties, and exhibiting an enterprise and perseverance worthy of a better fate, had been obliged to surrender to the superior force of the enemy, while others, as if struck with consternation, and imagining themselves to be assailed by an enemy of more than mortal powers, yielded up, in succession, positions of the first importance, and capable of longcontinued defence. The fortresses appeared as if incapable of affording resistance to the enemy, or protection to their own garrisons. armies, the garrisons, and the magazines, were lost to the Monarch of Prussia, with such rapidity of successive disaster, that he might

The

CHAP. II.

1806

doubt at certain moments the reality of his BOOK IV. humiliation, and the testimony of his own senses. After the battle of Jena, his majesty retreated to Custin, but the approach of the enemy speedily produced the necessity of his further removal, and Koningsburg became the place of his residence, and the rallying point for the wreck of the Prussian forces. Here, the last regiments of the Prussian monarchy, amounting to about fifty thousand men, collected around Frederick William, and awaited the accession of reinforcements, and the arrival of whatever assistance might be afforded by the Emperor of Russia.

Bonaparte, well aware that the Elector of Saxony had been forced into the service of Prussia, dismissed six thousand of his troops on their parole immediately after the battle of Jena. The Elector of Hesse was, on the contrary, deprived of his dominions; as was also the Duke of Brunswick, because he had encouraged a war "which he ought to have used his influence to prevent." Mecklenburg was also taken possession of by the French; but its destiny was postponed, and left subject to be regulated by the conduct of Russia. Hanover was occupied by a detachment under the command of General Mortier. The siege of Hameln was intrusted to General Savary, who found a con-ference as efficacious as a grand assault. The desperate situation of the Prussian monarchy afforded no prospect of advantage from the protraction of a siege on the part of the commandant, who, under the influence of this persuasion, consented to sign a capitulation, by which this important fortress, with a garrison of nine thousand men, abundance of military stores, and provisions for six months, were delivered to the French general, whose troops amounted to only three regiments. In Hanover, the order and discipline of the French troops were strikingly observable; and a few days were sufficient to complete the conquest of that electorate. Fulda and Cassel were at the same time occupied by other corps of the French troops, and a perfect communication was opened and maintained with the grand army. The next object to be accomplished, and which was no sooner ordered than it was effected, was to take possession of Hamburg; and the transactions at this place, where all British merchandise and other property was placed under sequestration, flowed from a system of policy explained by a decree of the French Emperor, published at Berlin towards the close of the month of November. This edict, which afterwards became so memorable under the designation of the BERLIN DECREe, was introduced by a declaration, stating, that England had violated the laws of nations in

BOOK IV. considering every individual belonging to a hostile state as an actual enemy, whether found on CHAP. II. board vessels of merchandise, or engaged other wise in the tranquil occupations of commercial 1806 agents, or as members of commercial factories. She had moreover extended her right of blockade beyond all reasonable limits-to places before which she had not a single ship of war, and even to whole coasts and kingdoms, where, with all her naval superiority, it was impossible for her actually to maintain it. This monstrous abuse of the right of blockade, as it was styled by the French Emperor, had no other object but to impede the communication between nations, and to aggrandize the commerce and industry of England by the ruin of the commerce and industry of the continent. All those who dealt in English commodities upon the continent, might, therefore, be justly regarded, whether intentionally or not, as seconding those views, and rendering themselves her accomplices. And that, as it was a right, conferred by the laws of nature and of nations, to oppose to an enemy the weapons he employs against his adversary; it was therefore decreed, that till the English government should abandon this system, the British isles should be placed in a state of blockade, and all commerce and correspondence with her interdicted.

The idea of blockading the British islands was at first treated as the phantom of a disordered imagination, but the ridicule cast upon the project was speedily removed by illustrative facts. In all the countries under the direct power and influence of France, British property, and the persons of British citizens, were divested of all security, and recognized as fair subjects of sequestration and imprisonment. The means of continental communication were extremely impaired; and the grand entrepôt of English commodities was completely cut off. The strictest orders were circulated through Holland, Switzerland, and all the other tributary governments of the French empire, to enforce these regulations, so as to effect, if possible, the utter exclusion of British intercourse with their dominions; and it was found, that although the French were inclosed by the British squadrons in their own ports, which they could quit only by the aid of storms and darkness, the idea of blockading the British isles was not altogether frivolous and illusory. Founded, as the system of commercial intercourse was, on the very basis of reciprocal wants and advantages, the British nation found that they were contending with an enemy whose grand object was to impair their resources, to harass their credit, to produce that failure of revenue which would operate most powerfully in support of his views of policy and vengeance; and for the accomplishment of which, the incon

venience attached to Europe, and even to France herself, from the influence of the "continental system," would be cheerfully endured. The suspension of the regular course of payments from abroad soon proved fatal to many mercantile houses of distinction; while others, who had enjoyed the good fortune, in anticipation of these events, to dispose of their property, and settle their accounts abroad, but whose warehouses at home were crowded with merchandise, for which they could now obtain no market, were in a state little less to be deplored. The West India merchants, so large a portion of whose importations had found their way through long established channels to the continent, from which they were now excluded, particularly suffered from this cause: and the columns of the London Gazette, no longer adorned with the records of victory, were swelled with the names of those who had recently imagined themselves in a state of comparative opulence, but who were doomed to fall into decay under the weight of this unmarketable and depreciated merchandise.

Immediately after the battle of Jena, the King of Prussia made applications to Bonaparte for an armistice, and though this request was refused, he was encouraged to send a plenipotentiary to the head-quarters of the French army, charged with instructions to negociate a peace. Lucchesini, the Prussian negociator, arrived at Berlin on the 22d of October, and found that Duroc was named by the French Emperor to discuss with him the terms of the proposed treaty. The situation of his Prussian Majesty became every day more desperate by the capture of his armies, and the surrender of his fortresses, and a very short time was sufficient to shew, that no terms of peace short of unconditional surrender were to be obtained from the conqueror. An armistice was next proposed, and concluded on the 16th of November, but on terms so disadvantageous to Prussia, that the king refused to ratify the act of his minister, preferring rather to try still further the fortune of war, with the aid and under the banners of his Russian ally. Every exertion was made to give effect to this last effort, and considering the facility with which the slightest promise of favourable change is caught at by the unfortunate, it could not appear surprising that the approach of the Russian armies, and the expectation of a general rising among the Silesians, to whom the king addressed an energetic proclamation, should have inspired a hope of ultimate success, which was in reality the cause of the determination not to ratify the armistice,

The advanced guard of the Russian army, under General Benningsen, amounting to four thousand men, had at length crossed the Vistula, and arrived at Warsaw, on the 13th of November, from whence they pushed on by forced marches

to the river Drzura. Their reconnoitring parties however, on advancing along the road towards Thorn and the Wartha, soon ascertained the great superiority and the rapid march of the enemy, on which General Benningsen speedily retired across the Vistula, and entirely destroyed the bridge over that river, with a view to impede the enemy in his pursuit. About the end of the month of November, the first division of the French army arrived at Warsaw, and one of their first objects was to substitute a bridge for that which the Russians had destroyed. From the eastern bank of the Vistula a corps of Marshal Davoust's division pushed on towards the Bug, where they strengthened their position by a tête du pont, and afterwards proceeded to the village of Pomikow. The general-in-chief of the Russian army, Kamenskoi, having at length arrived at the camp, seemed to consider the honour of the army as tarnished by the retrograde movements of General Benningsen, and in order to counteract the impression made by this retreat, he ordered his troops to advance, and to fix their head-quarters at Pultusk, on the Narew, at a distance of thirty miles from Warsaw. No Sooner was Bonaparte acquainted with the first indications of this disposition in the Russian general for offensive operations, than he quitted Posen for Warsaw; but previously to his departure, he published a proclamation, addressed to his soldiers, which may be considered as a summary of the Prussian campaign.* Marshal Ney had been for some time in possession of Thorn, from whence he united the different corps of his division at Gallup. Marshal Bessieres, with the second corps of the reserved cavalry, proceeded from Thorn to Biezun, which route was also pursued by Marshal Bernadotte, while Marshal Soult passed the Vistula opposite Plock, and Marshal Augereau, by indefatigable exertions, established a bridge over the Narew. These operations were succeeded by the battles of Maziesk and Lopackzin, fought on the 24th of December, in which the Russians lost sixteen

"SOLDIERS!

hundred men, and twenty-five pieces of cannon. BOOK IV. In the mean time a Prussian corps, consisting of six thousand infantry, and one thousand CHAP. II. cavalry, sustained a signal defeat at Scoldaw, 1806 by a corps of French troops under Marshal Ney; while Marshal Bessieres routed another detachment of Prussian troops, breaking their line, and driving them into the morasses, near the village of Carmeden. These successes were only preliminary to a battle of more importance, fought on the 26th of December, in the vicinity of Pultusk, and which closed the military operations of the year. In the morning of that day Marshal Lannes arrived opposite to Pultusk, where the whole corps of General Benningsen had assembled during the night. About ten o'clock the next morning the attack was commenced by the French, and received by the Russians with great firmness. The battle was fought with great obstinacy, and with various vicissitude, but at length French tactics triumphed over Russian courage, and General Benningsen, on whom the chief command of the Russian army had now devolved, was compelled to retreat. In the mean time, General Buxhoevden had assembled the different corps of his army at Golymin, to which place they were closely pursued by Davoust, who took up his position in an adjoining wood. About noon Augereau arrived, and took the Russians in flank, while another French corps deprived them of a point of support, derived from a neighbouring village, and at three o'clock the division of General Hendelet formed in line, and advanced against the Russians. The fire was conducted with great animation, and notwithstanding several impetuous and successful charges made by the cavalry of the Duke of Berg, the contest continued till eleven o'clock at night; when the Russian commander, finding himself unable any longer to resist the shock, ordered a retreat to Ostrolenka. General Buxhoevden was now placed in a situation of extreme danger, and had not the unfavourable

"Imperial Head-quarters at Posen, Dec. 2, 1806.

"NAPOLEON."