J20] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



. Kutusoff being the commander in 

 chief. Witgenstein's main force 

 had crossed the Elbe, in order to 

 drive back the French towards the 

 Maine. One of his corps had en- 

 tered Lubeck, and others were 

 posted on the Elbe, near Boitzen- 

 burg. Of Tschitschagotf's army, a 

 part lay near Thorn, and another 

 part, under PlatofF, was employed 

 in the siege of Dantzic. Part of 

 Wintzingrode's army was near Cus- 

 trin and Lansberg : another part 

 occupied the old town of Dresden 

 on the right bank of the Elbe ; 

 whilst a third corps had crossed 

 that river at Schandau, for the 

 purpose of turning Davoust. Rus- 

 sian reinforcements were also on 

 the Vistula. The Prussian force 

 was thus distributed : general 

 Blucher had removed from Silesia 

 into Saxony. D' Yorck was at Ber- 

 lin with the main army. Detach- 

 ments occupied Hamburg and 

 Rostock, and another invested 

 Stettin. A Swedish force was at 

 Stralsund ; and the Crown Prince 

 was expected to commence his 

 campaign with 50,000 men. On 

 April 16th, the garrison of Thorn, 

 consisting of 4,000 men, chiefly 

 Bavarians and Poles, surrendered 

 to the Russian commander, count 

 Langeron, with 200 pieces of can- 

 non. The Russian troops thus 

 set free joined the force lying be- 

 fore Dantzic. Spandau also capi- 

 tulated to the Russians on the 18th 

 of the month. 



It is now proper to *.ake a view 

 of what was passing in France, 

 where the presence of the emperor, 

 unimpaired in confidence or acti- 

 vity, and in his boastful language 

 assuming the merit of victory in 

 .the tr.idst of the dreadful reverses 

 he had experienced, silenced all 



discontent, and disposed the na- 

 tion to every further sacrifice that 

 his absolute will might demand. 

 By a senatus-consultum, adopted 

 on Jan. 11th, 350,000 men were 

 placed at the disposal of govern- 

 ment; and nothing could be more 

 loyal and submissive than the ad- 

 dress of the conservative senate in 

 presenting the decree for this ad- 

 ditional force to their master. In 

 the same month, several confer- 

 ences being held between Napo- 

 leon and the pope at Fontaine- 

 bleau, a concordat was signed by 

 them on Jan. 25th, fur terminating 

 the subsisting differences relative 

 to the church C Sec State Papers J. 

 On this occasion the pope and 

 the empress made and returned 

 visits to each other. As a prepa- 

 rative for the emperor's departure 

 to the army, n plan for a regency 

 was framed and adopted, Feb. 5th, 

 by which the empress was declared 

 regent during his absence, or in 

 case of his death. A flattering ex- 

 pose of the state of the French 

 empire was published, in which its 

 population was stated at 42,700,000 

 souls, as taken from an accurate 

 census, and was said to have aug- 

 mented nearly one-tenth within 

 twenty-four years. A long detail 

 was given of the marine admini- 

 stration, and a prospect was confi- 

 dently held out of an annual in- 

 crease of the navy which the mari- 

 time superiority of England could 

 not prevent. At length, having 

 by extraordinary exertions revived 

 the spirit, and called forth the vast 

 resources, of his empire, Napoleon 

 set out for the army on April 15th, 

 and arrived at Mentz on the 20th. 

 The French army, formidable in 

 number and appointment, con- 

 sisted of twelve corps, besides the 



