German spirit-The Campaign-Armistice-The Battle of Vittoria-Battle of Dresden-Death of Moreau-Battle of Leipzig-Napoleon's retreat-Wellington on the Pyrenees-San Sebastian-The British army in France-Battles of Wellington and Soult-Napoleon prepares for a campaign in France--Battles with Blücher and Schwarzenberg-Paris capitulated to the Allies-Toulouse-Abdication of Napoleon-Peace of Paris-Public joy in EnglandThe Allied Sovereigns-Wellington thanked by Parliament-The Speaker's harangue.

THERE is a description of the state of public feeling in Germany at the beginning of 1813, which shows how the continent was awakening from its torpor. The writer was a Professor in the University of Breslau: "The 29th bulletin had appeared: every artful expression in it seemed to endeavour vainly to conceal the news of a total defeat. The vision of a wonderful agitated future rose in every mind with all its hopes and terrors: it was breathed out at first in tones scarcely audible; even those who had believed that unbridled ambition would find its check in the land which it had desolated, could not realize the horrible destruction of a victorious army,an army which had for fifteen years, with growing might, excited first the admiration, then the terror, and, lastly, the paralysed dismay of all the continental nations, and which had at length been overtaken by a fearful judgment, more wonderful than its conquests. But the strange event was there; reports no longer to be doubted crowded in upon us,-the distant voice

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approached,—the portentous words sounded clearer and clearer,—and at last the loud call to rise was shouted through the land. Then did the flood of feeling burst from hearts where it had been long pent up,-fuller and freer did it flow; then the long-hidden love to king and country flamed brightly out, and the dullest minds were animated by the wild enthusiasm. Every one looked for a tremendous crisis, but the moment was not yet come for action, and while resting in breathless expectation, thousands and thousands became every hour stronger still to meet it." *

The passionate impulses of the people of Prussia were powerful enough to make their sovereign resolve to endure no longer his state of ignominious vassalage. He first made a proposal to Napoleon, with the consent of Alexander, whom he met at Breslau, that the French should evacuate Dantzic, and all the Prussian fortresses on the Oder, and retire behind the Elbe into Saxony. The Russian army should in that case remain behind the Vistula. Napoleon contemptuously spurned the proposition. Frederick-William and Alexander then concluded an alliance, offensive and defensive. Austria decided to remain neutral. Hostilities immediately began. The French quitted Berlin and Dresden. The old spirit of Germany, the spirit of Arminius, which eighteen centuries before had driven the Roman legions. beyond the Rhine, had again awakened. Secret Societies had cherished this spirit, and now it no longer needed to be secret. The Preacher called upon his Congregation to arm; the Professor told his Class that they must now learn to fight. At nightfall in every city bands of young Germans shouted forth the songs of Arndt; and every student and every apprentice could join in the chorus of "Was ist der Deutschen Vaterland." In the meantime, France, weeping for her children, still crouched at the feet of her

master.

The Senate were now called upon to place at the disposal of the emperor half a million of conscripts. He took the field in the middle of April. He could reckon upon collecting 250,000 troops before Russia and Prussia could concentrate an equal force. But of his forces four-fifths were young soldiers; the other fifth were Germans. He left Erfurt to march upon Leipzig. On the 2nd of May he fought the battle of Lützen, and defeated the combined Russian and Prussian army. His victory gave him possession of Leipzig and of Dresden. On the 20th and 21st of May the two armies renewed the struggle at Bautzen. The slaughter on each side was nearly equal. The Allies retreated; but Napoleon did not attempt to follow up the success which he had achieved at a prodigious loss, which told him that such days as Austerlitz and Jena were not likely to recur. An armistice was agreed upon, to extend from the 5th of June to the 22nd of July. Bonaparte spent this period at Berlin, throwing dust into the eyes of politicians, by pretending to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Talma and Mademoiselle Georges and Mademoiselle Mars were ordered to come from Paris to amuse the emperor. The armistice was agreed to be prolonged to the 10th of August, during which time a conference was to be held to discuss terms of pacification. The negotiations of the Russian, Prussian, and French plenipotentiaries were to commence on the 29th of July at Prague.

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BATTLE OF VITTORIA.

[1813.

It was on the 3rd of July that a London Extraordinary Gazette appeared, containing a Despatch to earl Bathurst from the marquis of Wellington, dated the 22nd of June, telling of a great event in plain and unboastful words. It told how the French, commanded by Joseph Bonaparte, having marshal Jourdan as the major-general of the army, had on the night of the 19th taken up a position in front of Vittoria. Wellington described the position, which he reconnoitered on the 20th, "with a view to the attack to be made on the following morning, if they should still remain in it." They did remain ; and the Allied army did make the attack on the 21st of June. This was the result: "I am happy to inform your lordship, that the Allied army under my command gained a complete victory; having driven them from all their positions, having taken from them 151 pieces of cannon, 415 waggons of ammunition, all their baggage, provisions, cattle, treasure, &c., and a considerable number of prisoners." Rapid were the operations which led to this event.

Towards the end of the month of May the rains had ceased; the roads which had been broken up became practicable for the march of troops; and seventy thousand British and Portuguese, and twenty thousand Spaniards, commenced their march towards Spain. Wellington had no longer to lament over the sluggishness and mistakes of Spanish generals. The Cortes had conferred upon him the entire command of the Spanish forces. He was Commander-in-chief of all the armies in the Peninsula. There was jealousy amongst the Spanish generals that their separate commands, which had been so calamitous, were superseded by the power of one capable man. He was about greatly to dare. Usually so undemonstrative, he gave vent to the hopes that his plan of a campaign would be successful-that he would never again have to seek in retreat the defences of Torres Vedras: "Strong of heart and strong of hand his veterans marched to the encounter, the glories of twelve victories playing about their bayonets, and he, their leader, so proudly confident, that in crossing the stream which marks the frontier of Spain he rose in his stirrups, and waving his hand, cried out, Adieu Portugal." On the 3rd of June the French retired to Burgos; on the 12th they abandoned the fortress which had cost such a sacrifice of English life. On the 13th the Allied army passed the Ebro. Wellington had now a base for his operations, which rendered an open communication with Portugal no longer necessary. An English fleet was at Santander, and in that city the commissariat established a depôt, and there were military hospitals formed. On the 18th in the evening it was known in the French camp that the Allies had passed the Ebro; and in the night their army undertook a forced march to retire, and there was alarm and confusion in their ranks. On the 21st the great victory was gained. The battle of Vittoria dissipated the doubts and overcame the reluctance of Austria to join the Coalition. It broke up the Congress at Prague, where the negotiators were disposed to treat with Napoleon. It prepared the great day of Leipzig, upon which depended the deliverance of Germany and the fall of the French emperor.

On the 18th of July Soult arrived in Spain to take the command of the French army. On the 25th he attacked the British right at Roncesvalles. From that day to the 31st there was a series of conflicts between the two

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armies, which are known as "The Battles of the Pyrenees." On the last morning of July the French armies were in full retreat to France by the various passes of the mountains.

On the 14th of June Great Britain had become a party to the treaty concluded between Russia and Prussia. She had promised assistance in this great struggle; but no aid could have been more effectual than that which she was rendering in the Peninsula. The Allies at Prague had offered terms to Napoleon which he hesitated to accept till the 10th of August had arrived, and the term of the armistice was out. Then came war, in as tremendous a form as the art of destruction ever assumed. On the 24th, 25th, and 27th

of August three battles were fought about Dresden, in which the French had the advantage. General Moreau had been invited to come from America to take part against his old rival. In his first battle, in the presence of Bonaparte, he came to his end. Sir Robert Wilson has recorded this event: *

"As the emperor, general Moreau, lord Cathcart, myself, and suite were passing on the right of the centre in the wake of a French battery which still played, a ball came and struck something about us. For a few seconds no effect was seen or heard, but then general Moreau cried 'Oh!' and I perceived him, for I was next on his left, struggling and endeavouring to dismount. I immediately said, 'Sire, general Moreau is wounded.' And almost at the instant I saw him throw himself from his horse, with one leg shattered, and the inside of the left knee all mangled. His horse, which had stood firm till the general fell, now staggered, and threw himself down close to his master. The violent struggles of the horse alarmed general Moreau, who said, 'Keep the horse down;' but the horse died before any one could get near him. Moreau then lifted himself up a little, looked at his legs, and said, 'C'est passé avec moi! mon affaire est faite. The emperor, on riding away, ordered him to be carried off the field. Some Cossacks lifted him on

their pikes, and removed him to the nearest village. The operation of amputating both legs was performed by the emperor's surgeon, Wiley. Moreau bore it as a soldier, and during the whole day kept a cheerful serenity that proved the possession of extraordinary powers of mind."

Napoleon had achieved at Dresden the last of his great victories. That triumph was followed within a very few days by signal reverses sustained by his marshals. On the 26th of August, Blücher routed Macdonald in the battle of the Katzbach, where the French lost 25,000 men. This battle was fought in a tremendous storm of rain. The river had overflowed, and the two armies contended in the rapid stream and on the inundated banks. The muskets would not go off; and consequently it was an affair of bayonets, in which the heavy Germans had the advantage over the nimble French. On the 30th of August, Vandamme, who had been sent by Napoleon in pursuit of the army which had retired from Dresden, was totally defeated, and was taken prisoner. Bernadotte, who had joined the campaign, and now headed Swedes, Prussians, and Russians, won the victory of Gross-Beeren on the 23rd of August; drove back Oudinot, and saved Berlin. Again Bernadotte was successful against Ney in the battle of Dennewitz on the 6th

* "Private Journal," vol. ii. p. 97.

BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.

[1813.

of September. These defeats had materially weakened the large French armies that had marched into Germany in April. They were still more weakened by sickness and by starvation. They had exhausted the resources of Saxony, and men and horses were without food.

On the 8th of October, the king of Bavaria, surrounded by Russians and Prussians, was compelled to join the Allies. Napoleon saw that these reverses were not transitory misfortunes that could easily be retrieved. When he heard of the defeat of Vandamme, he exclaimed:-"This is war :-high in the morning, low at night." The morning had now little sunshine. He determined to fight his way to the Rhine, though all Germany was rising against him. To Leipzig he directed his march. He arrived in its neighbourhood on the 15th of October. The Russians and Prussians were advancing to the same point. On the 16th he was attacked at the village of Wachau, near Leipzig. The action was not decisive; but for Napoleon not to win triumphantly was in itself defeat. On that day Bernadotte had not come up. There was a doubt at the Prussian head-quarters whether the Crown Prince of Sweden would be staunch. The amateur soldier, Professor Steffens, was sent to search for him after the battle of the 16th had begun. "It was not till night," he says, "that I made him out at Landsberg, in miserable quarters, surrounded by Swedish officers. He lay on a mattress spread on the floor of a desolate, nearly empty room. The dark Gascon face, with the prominent nose and the relaxing chin, was sharply relieved against the white bed-clothes and the laced night-cap." Steffens explained the object of his mission. Bernadotte promised to march directly, and he kept his promise. On the 17th there was a pause. Napoleon had been secretly making propositions for an armistice. His father-in-law and Alexander returned no answer. walls of Leipzig. The great issue must be tried under the

At nine o'clock in the morning of the 19th, this tremendous conflict began. One of the Prussian generals called it "Nation's Battle"-(Völkerschlacht). The struggle lasted till night. It was decisive of the fortunes of Napoleon. An important incident of that day has been strikingly told :-" We discerned a large body of cavalry advance from the enemy's lines in perfect order. There were no troops immediately near the point they advanced upon, and we waited quietly for their coming up; no doubt Blücher was advised of their intentions. They proved to be the Saxon cavalry, who had left the enemy and come over to us. They stood looking resolved, but, as I thought, humbled before us. The commander came forward and approached Blücher, who received him with dignity. The Saxon officer stated that they had long waited for the moment when they might free themselves from the compulsion of bearing arms against their countrymen; it had come at length. Yet they craved one indulgence; they wished not to fight in that battle. Their unhappy king was in Leipzig, in a house in the great market-place, which would soon be in our power. Blücher addressed them shortly, but very kindly, granted their request, and appointed them a position behind the army.'

The morning of the 19th had not dawned when the French were marching

* "Memoirs of Steffens."