118 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



arrogant treatment of an humi- 

 liated nation ; and on the other, 

 to point out instances of the vacil- 

 lating policy of Prussia, and her 

 breach erf engagements. But cir- 

 cumstances were entirely chang- 

 ed ; and when did a vanquished 

 power decline a favourable op- 

 portunity for recovering its con- 

 sequence, and annulling forced 

 concessions ? Further, a prospect 

 was now opened of liberating all 

 Germany from the yoke imposed 

 upon it by unjust and insatiable 

 ambition ; and this was a cause 

 which, independently of private 

 interest, might kindle a flame in 

 every breast susceptible of gene- 

 rous emotions. The king of Sax- 

 ony, as the storm rolled nearer to 

 him, took the alarm, and on Feb. 

 23rd, issued a proclamation from 

 Dresden, in which he announced 

 his intention to withdraw from 

 that capital, and retire to another 

 part of his kingdom ; at the same 

 time expressing his confidence in 

 the powerful aid of his great ally, 

 and advising his subjects to main- 

 tain a peaceable and orderly con- 

 duct during the present emergency. 

 The French, who for a lime ap- 

 peared to intend making a stand at 

 Berlin, now finding every thing 

 hostile to them in the Prussian ter- 

 ritory, quitted that city in the 

 night of March 3rd, and the Rus- 

 sians entered it as friends on the 

 following morning. On the Ilth, 

 Count Witgenstein made his public 

 entry amidst general ecclamations. 

 General Morand, who had kept 

 possession of Swedish Pomerania 

 with a body of 2.500 men, now 

 thought it advisable to follow the 

 grand French array, which was re- 

 treating upon the Elbe. He be- 

 gan his march, joined by the cus- 



tom-house officers who had been 

 posted in that province, and at- 

 tended with a train of 18 pieces of 

 artillery, and on March 15th he 

 reached MoUen. At Bergedorf he 

 was met by the 11th military French 

 division, and the custom- house 

 officers from Hamburg, and he 

 made a feint of marching to that 

 city, but a body of Danish troops, 

 stationed on the border to preserve 

 their neutrality, prevented his ad- 

 vance in that direction. Colonel 

 Baron Von Tettenborne.command- 

 ing a corps of Witgenstein's divi- 

 sion, sent some Cossacks to harass 

 Morand at Bergedorf, who, finding 

 his position untenable, proceeded 

 to Eschenburg. He there em- 

 barked his troops in boats on the 

 Elbe, and escaped, with the loss of 

 part of his artillery. Tettenborne 

 entered Hamburg on March 18th, 

 amidst the most lively expressions 

 of joy from the citizens, and the 

 ancient government of that cele- 

 brated seat of commerce was 

 restored. The baron published 

 addresses to the inhabitants of 

 the left bank of the Lower Elbe, 

 and the city of Lubeck, exhort- 

 ing them to take up arms in the 

 sacred cause of their country ; 

 and he announced a plan for the 

 raising of a volunteer corps in 

 Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, 

 to bear the name of the Hanseatic 

 legion. Col. Hamilton, the Bri- 

 tish commander at Heligoland, 

 having learned the evacuation of 

 Cuxhaven by the French, sent a 

 small force which took possession 

 of the batteries of that place, and 

 the castle of Ritzenbuttle, the 

 burghers surrendering them to the 

 disposal of his Britannic Majesty. 

 The people on the Weser then rose 

 in considerable numbers, and took 



