horting them to take up arms in this sacred war, telling them that they knew the fate of the French grand army, which had been entirely destroyed on the plains of Russia, and assuring them that powerful armies were hastening to their support. "May disgrace overtake every one," said he, "who in these eventful times, when the struggle is for the greatest blessings of the human race, can sit with his arms folded." The people were invited to raise a volunteer corps in Hamburgh, Lubec, and Bremen, to bear the name of "The Hanseatic Legion," and form a part of the army of the north of Germany.

A small detachment of veterans sent by Colonel Hamilton to Cuxhaven, marched to Bremerlee to occupy the battery at that place, and to afford support to the insurgent peasantry. The enemy, however, collected a force of five or six thousand men at Bremen, and a detachment of about seven hundred of them marched rapidly upon Bremerlee, dispersed the peasants, and forced the bridge, which was bravely defended by a party of the 1st veteran battalion. The enemy then attacked the battery where the remainder of the veterans, and a body of peasants, were stationed. These people capitulated in the hope of saving their lives. The French spared six or seven of the British veterans, but treacherously massacred every one of the peasants; they pillaged the town and returned hastily to Bremen.

The King of Prussia, meanwhile, was busily employed in extending over the continent a spirit of insurrection against the French. He perceived the advantages which had resulted from the animating addresses of the Emperor Alexander, and he embraced every opportunity of profiting by the same expedient. On the 6th of April, he issued from Breslaw, a proclamation to the inhabitants of the German provin

ces belonging to Prussia, which were ceded by the treaty of Tilsit. "It was neither," said the king, "by my choice nor your fault, that you, my beloved and faithful subjects, were torn from my paternal heart. The force of events brought on the peace of Tilsit, by which we were separated. But even that convention, like all others since made with France, was broken by our enemies; they themselves have, by their infidelity, released us from our connection with them; and God, by the victories of our powerful allies, has prepared the liberation of Germany. Neither are you, from the moment when my faithful people flew to arms for me, for themselves, and for you, any longer bound by that compulsive oath which connected you with your new ruler. To you, I therefore speak in the same language as I did to my beloved people, concerning the causes and objects of the present war. You have now again the same claim to my affection, and I to your obedience.— Again joined to my people, you will share the same danger, but you will likewise partake of the same reward, and of equal glory. I depend upon your attachment; our native country relies on your strength. Join your youths to my warriors who have lately renewed the glory of the Prussian arms. Seize your swords, and form your insurrectional levy according to the example of your noble brethren, whom with just pride I call my subjects. When you shall have fought with us for our common country, when by your exertions you shall have assisted in establishing its independence, and proved that you are worthy of your ancestors, and of the Prussian name, then will futurity heal the wounds inflicted by times past, and we shall find the happiness that has been lost to us in the conviction of a faithful attachment, and in the undisturbed enjoyment of liberty and peace."

According to the dispositions made by General Wittgenstein on the left bank of the Elbe, the three flying corps under the command of Generals Dornberg, Tchernicheff, and Tettenborne, were ordered to precede the army, and to pass the Elbe between Hamburgh and Magdeburgh. While preparations were making for the passage of the river, the French army concentrated in the vicinity of Magde. burgh, and strengthened itself by reinforcements from the troops round Dresden and Leipzig. Its left wing consisted of three considerable corps, encamped near Luberitz and Stendal; and the whole army was under the command of Marshals Davoust and Victor.-General Dornberg arrived first at Havelberg, and afterwards crossed the Elbe at the village of Guitjobel, opposite to Werlen. The enemy, four or five thousand strong, approached from Arneberg, and obliged the Russian corps to quit the town of Werlen, and re-cross the Elbe. The Russians lost in this affair one officer and 18 dragoons, who had remained too long at Werlen.

The corps of General Tchernicheff in the meantime arrived at Havelberg, and a council of war was held concern ing the future operations. General Tchernicheff, in consequence, first passed the Elbe with his corps, and took possession of Seehausen and Lichterfield, to secure the passage of the corps of Dornberg. The necessary dispositions, however, were scarcely made, when Major Count Puschkin, who was posted with a regiment of cossacks at Lichterfield, was attacked by three battalions of French infantry and 200 cavalry, with two pieces of artillery. This officer succeeded in keeping the enemy employed, until a regiment of cavalry of the division of the Baron Pahlen came to his support. This regiment attacked the enemy, drove him back to Werlen, and made two officers

and sixty men prisoners.-Generals Dornberg and Tehernicheff were informed that General Morand with a corps of upwards of 3000 infantry, 11 cannon, and 300 cavalry, was pressing forward by the way of Jottstadt to Luneberg, to punish the inhabitants of that town for having dared to take up arms. The Generals resolved to hasten to Luneberg to protect the brave inhabitants from the fate which threatened them. As the troops had lately made a forced march of ten German (forty English) miles in 24 hours, they could not be brought up until the 2d of April, in the morning, 12 hours after the entry of the French into Luneberg. The Russians were informed that on this very forenoon several executions were to take place in the city, and that a number of victims were again to attest the cruelty of the enemies of Germany. They therefore determined instantly to attack the town. Scarcely had two of the corps approached it on the right bank of the Elmenau, within the distance of two cannon shot, and drawn themselves up in order of battle, under cover of the bushes and hedges, when Baron Pahlen, with great skill, commenced the attack on the other side, and met with complete success. The enemy advanced against him with two battalions of infantry and three pieces of artillery, and attempted to cut him off from the road to Bienenbuttel. The parties encountered at this place, and charged each other briskly. The enemy, who was ignorant of the strength of the Russian and Prussian corps, and imagined that he had only to act against a few cossacks, was surprised.-At the same time General Dornberg, at the head of a Prussian battalion of infantry, rushed on the enemy's battalion, and drove it along the bridge close under the town, on the right bank of the Elmenau. The assailants found the gates, the walls, and even the houses in the

town defended by the enemy's infantry; the situation of the place was favourable for making a vigorous resist ance, and here an obstinate and bloody engagement ensued. Russians and Prussians vyed with each other in noble emulation; and the artillery, which was not more than one hundred paces distant from the enemy, made great havoc among the French in the streets of the town. At length the Prussians succeeded, after the battle had raged with the greatest obstinacy at the entrance of the town for more than two hours, in possessing themselves of one of the gates. This success forced the enemy to quit the town, which he did in such haste, that one of his battalions was separated. A brisk fire of infantry was maintain ed; the battalion which had been cut off, when discovered by the Russian yagers, made a charge with the bayonet; but this was the last effort of the enemy. A heavy fire of grapeshot convinced them that there was no possibility of escape, and they laid down their arms.The trophies of this day were nine pieces of artillery, 100 officers, and 2200 privates, prisoners. The zeal, assiduity, and judgment, evinced by the generals in this trial of the combined Russian and Prussian troops on the left bank of the Elbe, reflected the greatest honour on them. This was the first affair of any importance which the allies had with the enemy upon German ground.

The King of Saxony, after quitting his capital, followed the retreating French army, and repaired to a place of security in Franconia: his troops, however, did not imitate the example. They separated from the French, and shut themselves up in Torgau, where they concluded a treaty of neutrality, which but for inauspicious events might soon have been converted into an honourable league. The allied forces proceeded almost without opposition

through Saxony, and although treated by the sovereign as hostile, by the people they were every where hailed as deliverers. The entrance of the Russians into Leipzig revived the drooping spirits of the people. The allies immediately advanced, crossed the Saale at different points, occupied Gotha and Weimar, and began to penetrate through the forest of Thuringia.

Buonaparte in his former campaigns had generally succeeded in obtaining the most accurate information of the designs of the enemy opposed to him. The French were, however, at this period, kept in the utmost ignorance of the movements of their adversaries, while the allies contrived to obtain a correct knowledge of their plans. Thus it happened to the enemy in an attempt which he made to recover Berlin. While Beauharnois, ignorant that Witgenstein was near him, flattered himself that he should march on unimpeded to the Prussian capital, the latter took the most skilful measures to sur round and attack him with his whole force. For this purpose he collected the corps of D'York and Berg at Zenlist and Leitzkau, on the great southern road from Magdeburgh to Dessau, while he stationed those of Borstel and Bulow at Nedlitz and Yiesar, to the northward of Magdeburgh. It was arranged that the whole army should move forward simultaneously from the opposite points and join in the attack; this plan succeeded. The French, who had the advantage of the ground, resisted with bravery; but they were successively driven, by the separate detachments of the allies, from the posi tions which they endeavoured to maintain at three different villages, and after having two regiments of cavalry cut to pieces, they owed the preservation of their remaining force only to the darkness of the night. Thus favoured, they retired at all points; they did not even attempt to maintain the de

files, but retreated to Magdeburgh, which was afterwards closely blockaded. Thus had the French already been twice defeated by the united Russian and Prussian forces; their first attempts on each side of the Elbe were frustrated. The victories of Luneberg and Mockern were hailed as omens of the success of the campaign.

The Russian force was about this time divided into three armies-one under Wittgenstein, a second under Tchichagoff, and a third under Winzengerode;-Prince Kutusoff commanded the whole. Wittgenstein's main force had crossed the Elbe in order to drive the French back upon the Maine. One of the corps of this army under General Berkendoff had entered Lubec, and other corps were on the Elbe, near Boitzenburg. Part of Tchichagoff's army was in the vicinity of Thorn, while another division was employed under Platoff in the siege of Dantzic. Winzengerode's army was divided at Custrin, Lansberg, and Dresden; while another corps had passed the Elbe at Schandau, to turn Davoust. Russian reinforcements were on the Vistula.-The Prussian force was thus distributed : General Blucher had removed from Silesia into Saxony, and General D'York was at Berlin with the main army. Detachments had been sent to Hamburgh and Rostock, which were now occupied by Prussian corps; and another Prussian detachment had invested Stettin.-A Swedish force was at Stralsund; and it was expected that by the commencement of the campaign, the Crown Prince of Sweden would have the command of 50,000 men. The whole Russian force, with which it was expected the campaign would open, was most erroneously estimated at 220,000 the Prussian at 70,000, and the Swe dish and Pomeranian at 50,000; amounting in whole to 340,000 men. To these were added the force which

Hanover, Hesse, Brunswick, the Hanse Towns, and Saxony, were expected to furnish.

These magnificent expectations, however, were not realized. The Russian army which crossed the Vistula never amounted to 220,000; while the force brought to the Elbe by this power did not exceed 100,000 effective men. An unfortunate relaxation in the efforts of Russia had become manifest between the months of January and May; and the expectations so eagerly indulged, that the allies would have appeared on the Elbe with a force so preponderating, as to defeat any attempt of Buonaparte to maintain himself between that river and the Rhine, were wholly disappointed.

Buonaparte thus had leisure to assemble and organize a force which enabled him to resume the offensive, and to recover the support of the small auxiliary states. The Russians, it would seem, had determined in January, that the Vistula should bound the advance of their main force; and when circumstances produced a change in this determination, the arrangements for bringing forward the reinforcements and reserves were not in sufficient progress. The allies were now aware that the French were debouching from the Thuringian mountains, with a view to join Beauharnois, who, to favour this movement, proceeded from Magdeburgh towards the upper part of the Saale. The plan of the allies was formed on such knowledge,-for the expe rience gained at Jena was not thrown away upon them. They used every effort to prevent the junction of so vast a body of French forces. In conse quence of Beauharnois' retreat from Magdeburgh it became less practicable and less important to maintain his communications with Davoust; the latter, therefore, uniting with Sebastiani and Vaudamme, was at liberty to attempt

the great object of Buonaparte's wishes -to cut off the troops sent to organize insurrection in the neighbourhood of the Weser. In this, however, Davoust was in a great measure disappointed. General Dornberg, with that skill and activity which always marked his conduct, removed his troops to the right bank of the Elbe. Here they covered Hamburgh, against which Davoust continued to make a demonstration, though with very little effect, from the opposite bank of the river.

On the 16th of April, the garrison of Thorn, consisting of 400 Poles, 3500 Bavarians, and 90 Frenchmen, surrendered to the Russians under General Count Langeron. The trophies of this success were 200 pieces of cannon;-nearly the whole of the Bavarians and Poles afterwards enlisted under the patriotic standard. General Langeron's corps, amounting to 15,000 men, was now enabled to co-operate with the force employed before Dantzic.Spandau, situated on the river Spree, and not far distant from Berlin, capitulated to the Russians on the 18th of April; the garrison engaging not to serve against the allies during one year. -The fortress of Czentokaw surrendered on the 4th of May to a Russian force, commanded by Lieutenant-General Von Sacken, after the batteries had been opened two days.

The French armies were now placed in a critical situation. The main body of the active military force extended from Magdeburgh to the Saale, while the new levies, raised by the late conscription, were forming on the Maine. The advance of the allies tended to interrupt the communication between these two armies, and to compel the one, either to engage singly, or wholly to withdraw itself from Magdeburgh. The time was therefore come for the French corps, if possible, to unite and to act; and Buonaparte conceived them to be already in such a condition

as that, without risk, they might be brought into the field. The army on the Maine was therefore directed to move forward; and their leader left Paris, to place himself at the head of the united forces. His presence, it might seem, must have been more wanted, amid the difficulties under which the French army had laboured; but it suited that policy which he has always followed, to stand aloof till the completion of his preparations afforded a fair promise, that victory would soon follow his arrival.

The forces which Buonaparte had now assembled were very great, and considerably out-numbered those which his opponents had collected on the scene of action. With regard to the general conduct of the allies, although it be impossible to withhold a tribute of applause from it, there yet appear some points in the arrangements of the present campaign, which may afford room for criticism. The Russians, as already remarked, had set out upon the principle of not suffering their advance to be retarded by the fortresses which they might find in their route, but, leaving each of them watched by a detachment of troops, of proceeding with their main body to the Elbe and the Rhine. This measure, circumstanced as they were, seems to merit the highest approbation. They had thus, without sustaining any inconve nience, left behind them three successive chains, including some of the strongest fortressess in Europe. It seems evident, that the success of their plan depended upon the amount of the force which they might bring to the front of their line. If they maintained their ground there, the fortresses, deprived of succour, must sooner or later be compelled to submit; if, on the contrary, they were unable to hold their advanced position, the fortresses would soon be relieved, and the allies would lose the ground which they had