HISTORY OF EUROPE. 187 
CHAP. X. 
Unfitness of the Duke of Brunswick to be Generalissimo of the Prussian 
Army—-Position of the Prussians before the Battle of Auerstadt—Of the 
French—Defeat of the Prussian Left and Death of Prince Lewis of 
Prussia—French get Possession of the Prussian Magazines—Battle of * 
Auerstadt—Loss of ihe Prussians in that fatal Action—Errors of their 
Generals—Surrender of Erfurt—Defeat of Kalkreuth in attempting to 
retreat over the Hertz Mountains—Defeat of the Prussian Reserve under 
Prince Eugene. of Wirtemberg—Release of the Saxon Prisoners and 
Armistice between France and Sarony—King of Prussia escapes across the 
Oder—Bonaparte enters Berlin—His Conduct at Berlin and Potzdam— 
Capture of Prince Hohenlohe’s Army—Retreat of General Blucher to 
Lubeck—That City taken by Storm, and the Remains of Blucher’s Army 
forced to lay down their Arms-——Bad Defence of the Prussian Fortresses— 
Surrender of Spandau, Stettin, Custrin, Magdeburg, Hameln, and Nieu- 
burg—Incaston of Westphalia from Holland—Occupation of Hesse Cassel 
and Expulsion of the Elector—Occupation of Hanover, Brunswick, and 
Mecklenburg—Peace between France and Savony—Title of King conferred 
on the Elector of Saxony—The Princes of the House of Saxe admitted into 
the Confederation of the Rhine—Occupation of Hamburgh, and Confiscation 
of all’ English Produce and Manufactyres found in that City—Berlin 
Decree—Armistice between France and Prussia signed by Lucchestnt, but 
refused to be ratified by the King of Prussia—French cross the Oder— 
Progress of their Arms in Silesia—in Poland—Arrival of the Russtans at 
| Warsaw—Their subsequent Retreat beiind the Narew—Miliary Precau- 
‘tions of the French—Passage of the French over the Narew— Actions on 
the Narew and Wkra—Defeat and Retreat of the Russians—Exaggerated 
Accounts of the Sickness prevailing in the French Army. 
FYCHE capital error of the Prus- 
| + sian government, when it de- 
| termined upon war with France, 
was in the choice of its general. It 
‘was at first settled, that the king, 
| assisted by a council of general offi- 
cers, should take the command of 
his army in pexson. This arrange- 
Ment was undoubtedly liable te 
Many objections. A wilitary coun- 
cil composed of generals, among 
whom there was no marked superi- 
ority of rank or character, and 
controlled by a monarch, inexperi- 
enced in war, diffident of -his abi- 
lities, and therefore unsteady in his 
determinations, governed -by mi- 
nisters equally timid and irresolute 
as himself, was, it must be confessed, 
a most upfit instrument to oppose 
; te 
