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for being settled at the peace of Tilsit: while expeditions from Great-Britain were sent out into every quarter of the world.

The great affairs of nations fall naturally into two classes, according to the physical divisions of the year into Summer and Autumn; and Winter and Spring: the former division, the season of action in the field; the latter, that of deliberation and debate in the councils of states, and sovereign princes. In the year 1807, two campaigns were to be described, and an account given of the business and debates of two sessions of the British parliament.The first campaign was terminated by the long cessation of arms, at least of field-operations, which succeeded to the horrible battle of Eylau: the second, that which was opened in the beginning of June, and terminated in the armistice that followed the decisive battle of Friedland. To trace, if possible, among scenes so various, such relations and dependences as might help to weave them into some kind of narrative, more interesting than an assemblage of facts arranged in the mere order of time, was a task neither easy, nor to be performed in haste, or without waiting a little for the developement of time. And the advantages we have derived from this economy, which we hope will appear manifest in the History of Europe, will also, we trust, apologize for the late publication of the present volume.

Such an apology for tardy publication, may not probably, according to present appearances, occur soon again. The Continent of Europe, notwithstanding the glorious efforts of Austria and many parts of Spain, appears to be sinking fast into a state of degradation, and the servility, monotony, and barbarism of a military government.-But wherever Liberty, carrying in her train all that gives grace, dignity, and value to life, takes up her abode, it will be our business to attend her: without however being inattentive to the situation, character, and fate, of the unfortunate nations she may leave behind.

London, 18th of October, 1809.

THE

THE

ANNUAL REGISTER,

For the YEAR 1807.

THE

HISTORY

OF

EUROPE.

CHAP. I.

General Aspect of Europe. Resources of the opposite Belligerent Powers-and Views. Fragility of Confederations.-Generat Maxims and Measures of Buonaparte.-Position and Strength of the French and Russian Armies. - Military Force remaining to the King of Prussia after the Battles of Jena and Pultusk. The general Plans of the opposite Armies.-Battles of MohringenBergfried-Deppen-Hoff-and Fylau.-Retreat of the French on the Vistula-and of the Russians behind the Pregel.

AT

T the commencement of 1807, every eye was fixed on the coasts of the Baltic. It was here that the destinies of Europe were to be decided, as they had been in former periods, on those of the Mediterranean. The genius and the resources of the north were brought into conflict with those of the south. A mighty contest was to be decided by arms between Alexander empe. VOL. XLIX,

ror of Russia, and the king of Prussia on the one part, and, on the other, Buonaparte emperor of France, and king of Italy. The latter derived support from the nations whom he had subdued or intimidated,---Italy, Spain, Holland, and a great part of Germany: the former depended on the aid of Sweden, and the cordial and vigorous co-operation of Great Britain. There

B.

There was anotherally more powerful than either of the two just mentioned, on which the Russians might, and no doubt did reckon, namely, a rigorous climate to which they themselves were inured, but which might prove fatal to soldiers from France, Spain, and Italy. The enemy too, in proportion as he should advance into Poland, or beyond it, would be drawn into difficulties and dangers on the line of his operations, in territories, with the nature or ground of which he could not be well acquainted, and farther and farther removed from supplies and reinforcements. The Russians, on the contrary, would receive reinforcements and stores both by land and sea from Russia, Sweden, and England. The young and heroic king of Sweden, emulating his ancestor the great Gustavus Adolphus, with the aid both of a subsidy, and troops from England, might march an army through the Lower Saxony, from Dantzig and Colberg, as far as Hamburgh. This ariny, augmented in its progress by insurgents, in* Hesse, Hanover, and the Prussian dominions, might pass the Elbe, and establish a war in the centre of Germany; where if he should be able to maintain himself for any length of time, he might

reasonably expect to be joined by the Austrians. --Such, it may be presumed, were the considerations that encouraged and determined the court of St. Petersburg to un. dertake and to persevere in the war with France. The battle of Pultusk, though bloody and obstinately contested, was indecisive: and it must be admitted that if the nations, on whose favour and co-operation the Russians depended, had understood and pursued their respective, as well as their common interest, and harmoniously joined in one well.concerted plan of action, their design might not have proved abortive.

It is, however, not physical, but moral force that governs the world : bold conception, a just discrimination between difficulty and impossibility, profound combination, unity of design, promptitude and rapidity of action. It was not physical force, but sublime genius and an ascendancy over the minds of men, that gave energy and success to the measures of Alexander of Macedon, Hannibal, and Julius Cæsar. All great results spring from small, + and, at first, imperceptible origins; one constant impulsion, constantly and uniformly accelerating. In confe. derations there is generally something that misgives; something false and hollow. It is seldom even possible for the confederating parties to form, as emergencies arise, a concert of wills in time, and seldomer still that they submit without re. serve to the will of one dictator. The fragility of confederations had been proved by three coalitions against the ruler of France, and the issue of a fourth was now to be added to the number.

* In consequence of the exactions of the French, there had broken out in the territory of flesse, a very considerable insurrection of about 10,000 men consisting principally of disbanded soldiers and peasants. Those among them who had served as non-commissioned officers, were appointed officers. They then armed themselves by seizing all the muskets, swords, and pieces of artillery they could lay their hands on. The insurrection had begun to extend itself to Hanover and Saxony, when this honest effervescence of German indignation was calmed by the prudent and paternal remonstrances of the prince of Hesse.

† Natura in minimis maxima.---Pliny. The kingdoms of the earth are in this respect like the kingdom of heaven, i. e. of Jesus Christ: "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Mark xii, 31-8.

Buonaparte, sensible of the disadvantages of being placed at so great a distance from France, as the countries between the Vistula and the Niemen, was in the first place, and above all things, attentive to the means of conveyance, or what in the French armies is called the Ambulance. On the great roads between the Rhine and the Vistula, hundreds and thousands of carriages were every where to be seen, going or returning from Thorn and Warsaw. Travellers unacquainted with the state of public affairs in Germany and Poland, might have supposed that the continued motion on the highways was occasioned by a flourishing internal commerce. From the countries that lay at his mercy, Buonaparte drew provisions, and forage, and even additions to his military force, while, at the same time, one body of troops after another continued to march for his support from the frontier of France. Buonaparte was also, in a very particular manner, attentive to the commissary department. The different corps and divisions of his army were sure to find bread, at least, in abundance, and, as much as possible, every comfort required by a rigorous climate. Being intimately acquainted with the interests and views of the courts of Europe, and the individual characters of favourites

and ministers, he endeavoured, if he could not at once induce them to acquiesce in his plans, at least to occupy, and distract their minds, and by an appearance of negotiation, to sow the seeds of mutual discord between the powers confederated, or that might be inclined to confederate against him. At the same time that he was busily employed in forming the confederation of the Rhine, that is, in the extension of his own power, and preparing for the extension of his conquests, he amused Russia and England with a negotiation for peace, which he professed to have always uppermost in his mind and heart, but which he really contemplated not as an end, but a means: the means of renewing war with greater advantage. He laboured by all means, to detach the king of Sweden from the cause of his allies, by professions of goodwill, respect, and admiration, and even by dismemberments in his favour, of Prussia and Denmark. He roused the Turks to war against Russia, and entered into a negotiation for an alliance offensive and defensive with the emperor of Persia. Ambassa. dors were seen in his camp from Ispahan and Constantinople. Whether he really harboured the extravagant design of sending a French army through Persia to Hindostan, or no, may reasonably be doubted: but an embassy from Persia to the emperor of France, had an imposing air of widely ex. tended and formidable influence, and might have an effect in any fu. ture negotiation for peace, on the councils of Russia and England.

On every occasion when a happy stage-effect might be produced, he was careful to produce it., Eighty. four pieces of cannon taken from the Russian

B2

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Russian generals Kamenskoy, Bennigsen, and Buxhoevden, in the battles of Czarnowo, Nasielsk, Pultusk, and Golymin, were ranged before the palace of the republic of Warsaw. And that the effect which the sight of so grand a triumph was fitted to produce might be the greater, it was observed, "That they were the very same that the Russians drew along the streets of that city with so much ostentation, when lately they marched through them to meet the French." In order to heighten the exultation, it was stated, " that 5,000 prisoners had been sent to France, that 2,000 had escaped in the first moments of confusion, and 1,500 entered among the Polish troops. Thus had the battles with the Russians cost them a great part of their artillery, all their baggage, and from 25,000 to 30,000 men, killed, wounded, or priso. ners." It is well known that gazettes are strongly inclined to magnify advantages gained on one side, and exaggerate losses sustained on the other. This is deemed good policy: and so, no doubt, it is, when the statements do not altogether exceed the bounds of probability. But this bias, at the period now spoken of, had been carried to a pitch of extravagance, on the side of the Russian as well as the French generals, altogether uuprecedented.

That the French accounts were more to be depended on in general than the Russian, was clear from the evidence of facts. But that their successes, obtained not without an obstinate and bloody contest, and thousands on thousands killed on the part of the Russians, were at tended in so many instances with such trifling losses on that of the French, as is stated by them, is

altogether incredible, and beyond all doubt intended only for the eyes or ears of the young conscripts. They were called to the field of glory, which was represented as dangerous only to their enemies.

Buonaparte, at the same time, inflamed the military ardour of his troops, and the whole French nation, with whose character he was thoroughly acquainted, through their characteristical vanity and love of distinction. Though naturally of a reserved, saturnine, and sullen humour, he would now and then, in meetings with his principal officers, and others, assume a familiar talkative humour, and make many sarcastic observations on the character and conduct of his enemies. He indulged in many gasconades, magnifying the prowess of Frenchinen, and the power and resources of France, beyond all measure or moderation. The same tone of exultation, braggadocio, and confidence, appeared in all his gazettes or manifestoes which were called bulletins : the object of all which was not only to keep up and exalt the courage of the French, but to strike awe and terror into other nations. Though by birth an Italian, he acted to the life the part of a real and true born Frenchman, and always identified his own personal interests and glory with those of France. To the French he represented his power and influence as established in the entire submission or friendly disposition and attachment, though in truth it was in the weakness and folly of almost all the nations on the continent; and to those nations, again, he represented his throne as firmly established in the confidence, love, and admiration of the French. He played off France against the world,

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