GENERAL HISTORY. 



[167 



iXt^Tinf s:.=:corul'r t of 80,00., about the.20th a^d ai- 



S be regarded as an indication terwards took possession of Elbing 



£^:i:^^^s;^ot^^t -i^:s^iipans^n.e^ 



forth in s"me n.i,hty effort. of May,.accom,>an.ed^bj the Em 



Early in the spring, the French 

 armv, united to that of the Confe- 

 deration of the Rhine, was in 

 march to the frontiers of Poland. 

 At tlie end of March, the field 

 equipao^e of Napoleon had reached 

 Dresden, and Marshal Ney had 

 his head-quarters at Wiemar. A 



press and the Prince of Neufchatel 

 (Berliner), and proceeded to Metz. 

 Some time before his departure he 

 had issued a decree tending to con- 

 ciliate the American government 

 to France ; the tenor of which was, 

 that in consequence of an act of 

 2nd of March 1811, by which the 



his head-quarters at vviemar..^ ^.^^^^•^^■^- - . 



Dortion of the troops of Prussia had Congress of the tinted sutes 



C placed at L disposal, the enacted exemptions ftom the pro- 



monarch of that country having 

 been induced in this month to ra- 

 tify a treaty of alliance with the 

 French emperor, which was de- 

 clared defensive against all the 

 powers in Europe with which ei- 

 ther of the contracting parties has 



entered or shall enter into war, .....o^v.....^ "'a'V inr,-n»] refusal 

 and reciprocally guaranteeing to in Council, and a formal retusal 

 "ch other the'inigrity of their toadhere to a systen. derogatory to 



vi!>ions of the non-inteicourse act, 

 which prohibit the entrance into 

 the American port< to the shi ps and 

 goods of Great Britain, of its co- 

 fonies and dependencies ; consider- 

 ing the said law as an act of re- 

 sistance to the arbitrary pretensions 

 consecrated by the British Orders 



present territory. That the Prussian 

 king hesitated for some time to 

 which of the great powers he 

 should ally himself, since neither 

 of them was likely to suffer him 



the independence of neutral pow- 

 ers ; it is decreed, that the decrees 

 of Berlin and Milan are definitive- 

 ly, and from the 1st of November 

 last, considered as never having 



of them was likely lo sunei inui •■^"'■y ^ -,- a „ „ 



to remain neuter, is very probable, taken place with regard to Ame- 

 but the rapid advance of the French rican vessels- 



would soon put an end to his inde- 

 cision. About this time great 

 changes were making in the French 

 troops quartered in Spain. Some 

 regiments of the imperial guard, 

 and some Polish regiments, which 

 were become veterans by their ser- 

 vice in thai country, were marched 

 to France, while otiiers, doubtless 

 comparatively raw troops, were in 

 motion to replace them. In the 

 month of Apiil, troops of all the 

 nations under French command 

 were incessantly proceeding to- 



The French emperor and em- 

 press reached Dresden on the 16th, 

 where they were to meet the em- 

 peror and empress of Germany. 

 Before this time the emperor Alex- 

 ander, who had left Petersburgli 

 on April 21st, was at Wilna, 

 where was General Barclay de 

 Tolly, geneial-in-chief of the first 

 army of the west. In the begin- 

 ning of May, the head quarters of 

 the duke of Abrantes (Junot) were 

 at Glogau in Silesia, and the 

 French and allied troops of which 



his 



