[NAPOLEON VIEWING THE FLIGHT OF THE PRUSSIANS.] THE Consequences of Bonaparte's successes against Austria, in the campaign terminated by the battle of Austerlitz, were particularly unfortunate for the kingdom of Naples. A treaty of neutrality between France and that country had been concluded at Paris on the 21st of September, 1805, by which the Neapolitan court engaged to remain neutral in the war between France and the allied powers. But scarcely had six weeks elapsed after the ratification of this treaty, when a body of English and Russian forces were permitted to be landed at Naples and its vicinity. This violation of the treaty so irritated the French emperor, that on the morning after the signature of the peace of Presburg, Bonaparte issued a proclamation from his head-quarters at Vienna, in which he declared, "that the NeapoliVOL. I. tan dynasty had ceased to reign." This kingdom was immediately invaded, and conquered, of which Bonaparte's brother Joseph was created king. Having subdued the Austrians, beat the Russians, and cajoled the Prussian monarch with illusive promises, Napoleon proceeded in his career of aggrandizement without interruption. He established a new confederation of German princes, at the head of which he placed himself, by the title of conservator; compelled Francis to relinquish his title of emperor of Germany; raised the duke of Wirtemburg, and the electors of Saxony and Bavaria to the regal dignity, and converted the republic of Holland into a monarchy, under his brother Louis. The vacillating politics of Prussia, in 1805, had disappointed the hopes of all, 2 B who wished to see a check imposed on the ambition and usurpations of France. At the commencement of the campaign in that year, Frederick William had manifested a disposition to join Austria and Russia, and an army of about 250,000 | men were on the point of entering the field against the French. The Prussian court, however, became appalled when it beheld the surrender of general Mack's army, and the advance of Buonaparte to Vienna. From the want of due circumspection, or suspicious jealousies of the powers who at different times coalesced against France, the latter power always anticipated their designs, and rendered their union inefficient. Thus on every occasion, before they could be brought to act in concert, their plans were anticipated, and they were beat in detail. cabinet. Both parties now conceived themselves ready for the conflict; and so confident was Prussia in her own strength, that on the 29th of September, just before the commencement of hostilities, she appears to have declined the offer of reinforcements made by other powers. The French army had advanced in three divisions; the right, consisting of the corps of marshals Ney and Soult, with a division of Bavarian troops, proceeded by the route of Amberg and Nuremberg, to unite at Bayreuth, in Franconia, in their advance upon Hof, on the southern confines of Saxony; the centre, composed of the reserve, under the grand duke of Berg, with the corps of the prince de Ponte Corvo (Bernadotte) and marshal Davoust, and the imperial guards, marched by Bamberg, towards Culmbach, in Franconia, and by way of Saalberg, to Gerra, in Saxony; the left, consisting of the troops of marshals Lannes and Augereau, took their route for Schweinfurth, towards Coburg, and advanced to Saalfeld, in Saxony. The veteran Prussian army, having its right under general Blucher, its centre under the duke of Brunswick, and its France had puchased the acquiescence of Prussia by a promise of Hanover, which was actually surrendered to her. But in his continental arrangements, Buonaparte paid so little regard to the Prussian monarch, that the latter, irritated by repeated insults, determined to appeal to arms. On this occasion, the temerity of the Prussian cabinet was as distinguish-left commanded by prince Hohenlohe, able as its previous imbecility and want of firmness. Austria was completely crippled, and the Russian troops were within her own distant frontiers. As war, however, was determined upon, the Prussians vigorously prepared to enter the lists against the overwhelming power of France single-handed. had taken a very strong position along the north of Frankfort, on the Mayne. The campaign opened on the 9th of October, with the battle of Schleitz, seven miles to the north-west of Fulda. Here the three Prussian regiments sustained, with great firmness, one of the most spirited charges of the enemy's cavalry; but the The preparations of Prussia were met efforts of the French were finally sucwith equal vigour on the part of the em- cessful, and the Prussians were obliged peror of France, who was never behind to retreat, with a loss of seven hundred his enemies in vigilance and activity. On men killed, wounded, and prisoners; and the 24th of September, 1806, Napoleon five hundred waggons, containing military quitted his capital to join the armies, in- stores, fell into the hands of the victors. fusing energy as he passed into the various On the 10th the left wing of the French parts of the service, and settling arrange- army, under marshal Lannes, was equally ments, adapted to all the details of that successful at Saalfeld. After a tremencomplicated and formidable machine, dous cannonade, continued without inwhose operations he was about to direct. termission for upwards of two hours, the In the mean time discussions were still Prussian cavalry were cut off by the continued, and even so late as the 5th of French hussars, and their infantry, being October, when both monarchs were at the unable to effect an orderly retreat, were head-quarters of their respective troops, some of them obliged to take shelter in a dispatch was delivered from the Prus- the adjoining woods, while others were sian out-posts to the French army, which involved inextricably in a marshy ground, still afforded an opening for amicable ad- where they were driven to the painful alterjustment. Within a few days after, how-native of surrendering themselves prisonever, a declaration, stating the grounds of ers of war. In this engagement prince the war, was published by the Prussian | Louis of Prussia, brother of Frederick William, was killed by marshal de Logis, Gotha, and marshal Soult was proceeding of the 10th regiment of the French hus-on the strait road from Naumberg to Jena. sars, with whom he was engaged in per- In the afternoon of the 13th, Buonaparte sonal combat. The merits of this young arrived at Jena, and from an elevated prince rendered his death a great public flat near the place, reconnoitred the pocalamity, and aggravated the other losses sition of the enemy. The importance of of this unfortunate battle, from which the this elevation for the play of the artillery French derived two thousand prisoners, was so great, that, notwithstanding the and thirty pieces of cannon, while six extreme difficulty, and indeed seeming hundred of the Prussian troops were left impossibility of its accomplishment, the dead upon the field. This inauspicious herculean labour was at length surmountopening of the campaign excited no slighted, and before morning the artillery was sensation at the head-quarters of the actually planted upon the eminence. Prussian army, the main body of which found itself placed, on the 12th, in a situation of considerable danger. and resources. The object of Buonaparte had been to repeat the operation of the preceding campaign, and to interpose himself between the army of the enemy and their depôts The main body of the Prussian army occupied Eysenach, Gotha, Erfurt, and Weimar, and it was the intention of the duke of Brunswick, to whom the chief command was confided, to have commenced hostilities, by bearing down with his right wing upon Frankfort, with his centre on Wurtzburg, and his left wing on Bamberg. The arrangements for the execution of this plan had been prepared with great minuteness, and several columns had been pushed on to Cassel and other places, to act upon the offensive; but the French army had by this ume unexpectedly turned the extremity of the Prussian right wing, and obtained possession of the eastern bank of Saal, occupying, within a very short period, Saalberg, Schleitz, and Gerra. Alarmed by these movements, the arrangements of the Prussian army were immediately changed. The detachments which had been precipitately urged forward, were recalled; and the head-quarters were removed through Weimar to Auerstadt, in the vicinity of Jena, while general Ruchel occupied the position of Weimar. Such were the arrangements made by the Prussians previously to the 13th, in anticipation of the ensuing decisive struggle. On the same day, the grand duke of Berg and marshal Davoust were with their corps at Naumberg, to which place the prince of Ponte Corvo was in full march: marshal Lannes proceeded to Jena, whither the emperor Napoleon was also advancing, while his head-quarters were at Gerra. Marshal Ney was at The night of the 13th was sublimely interesting. The sentinels were almost close to each other; and the lights of the two armies were within half a cannon shot, in one case illuminating the atmosphere through an extent of front of six hours march, and in the other concentrated to a comparatively small point. On both sides all was watchfulness and motion. The divisions of Ney and Soult were occupied the whole night in marching, and at break of day all the French troops were under arms. Suchet's division formed the right; the imperial guards occupied the summit of a height; and each of these corps had their artillery in the small spaces between them. The morning was obscured by a fog, which continued to prevail for two hours, during which Buonaparte rode along the line, cautioning his officers to exhibit order and compactness against the Prussian cavalry, and reminding them of the similarity of the situation of the Prussian army to that of the Austrians in the preceding year, at Ulm, when they were driven from their magazines, and compelled to surrender. The light troops began the action, by dislodging the Prussians from an apparently inaccessible position on the highway between Jena and Weimar; and the success of this operation enabled the French troops to stretch out without restraint on the plain, where they now formed in order of battle. An army of fifty thousand men had been detached by the Prussians from their left wing, to cover the defiles of Naumburg, and to possess themselves of the passes of Koesen, in which they were anticipated by marshal Davoust. The two other armies, one of which amounted to eighty thousand men, placed themselves in front of the French army, which now opened out from the level height of Jena. At this across the fields at the head of his regiment of cavalry. From the spot where Napoleon stood, he saw the flight of the Prussians, and his cavalry taking them by thousands. Night was approaching; and here, as at Austerlitz, the emperor rode round the field of battle. He often alighted from his horse to give a little brandy to the wounded; and several times he was observed to put his hand to the breast of a soldier to ascertain whether his heart beat, because, in consequence of having seen some slight appearance of colour on his cheeks, he supposed he might not be dead. If he found a greater number of dead on one part of the field than another, he looked at the buttons to ascertain the number of the regiment, and it was his custom, at the first review in which he saw the regiment, to ask questions as to the manner in which it attacked, or had been attacked, in order to discover the cause of the loss he had observed. While making the tour of the field of battle, he was seen two or three times to discover, in the manner just mentioned, men who were still alive, and, on these occasions, he would give way to a joy which it is impossible to describe. crisis the mist which had hung over the combatants began to dissipate, and both armies beheld each other within the range of cannon shot. After the first action of the morning, by which the Prussians had been forced to quit their position, the village of Hollstedt became the point of attack, and the Prussians were in full motion to dislodge the French from this station, when marshal Lannes was ordered to its support. Marshal Soult attacked a wood on the right. The right wing of the Prussians made a movement against the left of the French, which marshal Augereau was ordered to oppose, and in less than an hour the action became general. Every manœuvre on both sides was performed with as much precision as if it had been executed upon the parade, while two hundred and fifty thousand men, and seven hundred pieces of artillery, scattered death in every direction, and exhibited one of the most affecting scenes ever displayed on the theatre of the world. After a struggle of nearly two hours, marshal Soult secured possession of the wood, from which he immediately moved forward, while, at the same instant, the division of the French cavalry in reserve, and two other divisions just arrived on the field of battle from the corps of marshal Ney, were, by order of Buonaparte, brought into action, and so much strengthened the French line, as to throw the Prussians into great disorder. By a striking effort of skill and bravery, this disorder was speedily retrieved, and the battle was resumed, and continued for almost an hour. At this crisis "there was room for a moment's doubt;" the fate of the day hung in awful suspense; but the reserve, under the duke of Berg, precipitated themselves into the midst of the fight, and threw the Prussian troops into extreme confusion. In vain did the cavalry and infantry form themselves into a square, the shock was irresistible, and the most dreadful charge completed their overthrow. On the right, marshal Davoust not only maintained his ground against the great body of Prussians sent to possess the defiles of Koesen, but, advancing into the plain, pursued them for three hours in their re-rounded, wheresoever he appeared, by the treat to Weimar. In this retreat, the confusion in the Prussian army was extreme, and the king, finding it necessary to quit the road, was obliged to retire At the conclusion of the battle, Napoleon was every moment annoyed by his troops shouting, "Long live the emperor." The imperial foot guards, enraged at not being allowed to press forward, while they saw every other corps in motion, several voices from among them vociferated "Forward !"—" What is that I hear?" said Napoleon; "it can come from none other than beardless boys, who wish to give orders independent of me; let them wait till they have commanded in thirty battles before they take upon themselves to advise me." In the heaviest of the fire, when the enemy had nearly lost all their generals, not a man of distinction, on the side of the French, was even wounded. Marshal Lannes was grazed by a musket ball on the breast, but escaped unhurt. Marshal Davoust had his hat and clothes shot through in several places with small bullets. The emperor was continually sur prince of Neufchatel, Marshal Bessieres; the grand master of the horse, Caulincourt; and also by his aides-de-camp, and equerry in waiting, who were all anxious to preserve the life of the emperor, | cipal wreck of the army, having under whose person they shielded by exposing him about sixteen thousand infantry, printheir own. cipally guards and grenadiers, six regiThe loss of the Prussians in this battlements of cavalry, and sixty-four pieces is estimated by the French at twenty of harnessed artillery. In his attempt, thousand killed, from thirty to forty thou- however, to reach this place, he was ansand prisoners, besides three hundred ticipated by the arrival at Templon of pieces of canuon, and immense magazines the duke of Berg, who, not doubting that of military stores and provisions; among the prince would, in consequence of this the prisoners were more than twenty gene- failure, bend his course to Prentzlow, rals; marshal Mollendorf was wounded, without a moment's delay set off for that and the duke of Brunswick and general place, and, by a well-concerted attack, Ruchel were killed. The French acknow- overthrew, in its suburbs, the cavalry, ledged a loss on their part of from four infantry, and artillery of the prince, and to five thousand men; the victory, how- forced him, with great loss, to withdraw ever, was complete, and the battle of Jena within the town, where he was immedecided the fate of the campaign. diately 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. The duke of Berg, who, in his operations, had so frequently proved himself worthy of his great preceptor in the art of war, on the 15th of October invested Erfurth, and on the following day, that fine citadel, to which general Mollendorf had retreated, was surrendered, with fourteen thousand men, into the hands of the enemy. The blockade of Magdeburg, which, being supposed perfectly out of danger, had been made a depôt for the most valuable effects from Munster, Cassel, and East Friesland, amounting to a very great accumulation, was entered on the 20th, under the orders of the same commander, while he proceeded towards Spandau, only three miles from Berlin. The garrison of this place surrendered on the 24th, and on the 8th of November, Magdeburg itself, with twenty-two thousand prisoners, was yielded up to the enemy, presenting a singular instance of the effect of that alarm which had been excited by the success of the French forces, and the influence of which pervaded the most numerous garrisons and the strongest fortifications. Another effect of this complete dismay was the capture, by this active and successful commander, of Stettin, a fortress well calculated for defence, and which contained a garrison of six thousand men and one hundred and sixty pieces of cannon. This achievement was accomplished by one of the wings of the duke of Berg's corps, while the other attacked a column of six thousand Prussians, who immediately laid down their arms. Stettin was the fortress to which, after the fatal day of Jena, the prince of Hohenlohe directed his course with the prin | The gallant general Blucher, with a corps of ten thousand five hundred men, eluded the enemy's pursuit for three weeks; but at last, being obliged to shut himself up in Lubeck, that place was surrounded, and the old veteran, when all hope of succour was dissipated, surrendered by capitulation. Marshal Davoust had, on the 18th of October, taken possession of Leipzic, where immediate notice was given to the merchants and bankers, that all English property would be seized in this grand entrepot 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 whateverdescription; 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. the 24th, Buonaparte arrived at Potsdam, where he visited the palace, and the tomb of the great Frederick. The 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 cri On |