FREDERICK WILLIAM III. 



FREDERICK WILLIAM IIL 



francs, payable monthly. Prussia being still unable to ni*e so much 

 one; in ao thort time, another convention was made by wliicli the 

 debt wu diminished by 80,000,000 francs, on condition that the rat 

 should be peJd in thirty-six monthly instalments. Even this obligation 

 IrmB would not hare fulfilled if the king had not declared that he 

 could pny oue half of it, feeling himself bound to do so M possessor 

 of the crown lauds. Struggling with all these difficultiss, the king 

 approved of the plan of establishing a university at Berlin ; nnd lie 

 bowed much real in its foundation, which took ]>laee in 1810. lie 

 alto invited di-tinguished men from other parU of Qermany to awilt 

 him in hU difficult task of regenerating Prumia : the historian Niebuhr, 

 who deecrrea so much praise for his laudable conduct in this period, 

 had entered the Prussian service as early as 1803. 



1 iiiring the five years that followed the peace of Tilsit, Frederick 

 William was the mere vassal of Napoleon, who seized every oppor- 

 tunity of humbling and weakening him still more. The means which 

 be employed had however sometimes the contrary effect, nnd in one 

 instance he showed his anger at being disappointed in very strong 

 terms. Napoleon had no sooner taken possession of Berlin than be 

 issued his famous decree, by which the continent of Europe was shut 

 against all intercourse with Great Britain, and which ordered tbe 

 seizure of Kuglish goods wherever they might be found. l'>y the 

 treaty of Tilsit, Frederick Willism was compelled to give effect to 

 that monstrous decree in his remaining dominions, although England 

 was nearly the only country in which the Prussians could sell their . 

 corn, htuip, and timber, and Napoleon expected that as Prussia had 

 already mHend so much during the short war with England in 1806, 

 she would now noon lose tbe last chance of raiding money, and thus 

 give him a pretext to put the whole country under his administration 

 till bin* should have paid her debt. Just at the time when Prussia 

 was reduced to such a state that tbe royal family had no better dinner 

 than the humblest mechanic, and the king's plats and jewels were at 

 Hamburg to be sold, an immense quantity of English goods was 

 discovered at Stettin, and in some other sea-ports. The Prussian 

 officer* speedily and secretly sold them, their purchasers being mo-tly 

 Frenchmen, and the money thus raised 1,000,0002. sterling as some 

 say, or 700,0001. according to others was employed iu diminishing 

 the French debt. When Napoleon was informed of the fact, he was 

 greatly excited, but it was then too late to seize the goods and put 

 the money in his own purse. 



In Is 12 Napoleon set out on his campaign agaiust Russia, and 

 Frederick William was under the necessity of joining his oppressor 

 an<l sending a body of 20,000 men to act against the Emperor Alex- 

 ander. At Dresden Napoleon was received by a host of potentates. 

 Among them was Frederick William, but though he was obliged to 

 bow, he did it as stiffly as possible, spoke very little, and by his 

 reserved behaviour increased the ill-feelings of Napoleon against him. 



If Napoleon had been victorious in Russia, Prussia would have 

 disappeared from among the kingdoms of Europe ; and both Napo- 

 leon and Frederick William well knew that. The Prussian contingent 

 fought under Marshal Macdonnld, on the extreme left of the French, 

 which was operating against Riga in tbe direction of St. Petersburg, 

 and the Prussians behaved so well as to deserve the praise of their 

 French commander. In consequence of Napoleon's retreat from 

 Moscow, tbe left wing of his army retreated also, but slowly. Closely 

 pressed by the Russians, the Prussian general York, the descendant 

 of an English family settled in Prussia, suddenly made a truce with 

 his Russian opponent, General Diebitech. A few days afterwards, 

 80lh of December, they concluded the famous convention of Posarum, 

 in consequence of which the Prussian army retreated into Prussia, 

 and all hostilities between the corps of York and Diebitsoh ceased. 

 Napoleon's wrath at this unexpected event was indescribable, and he 

 sent a threatening letter to Frederick William, demanding that York 

 fchould be deprived of his command, and be tried by a court-martial 

 for high treason. Frederick William was then in Berlin, surrounded 

 by French troops : he consequently declared the convention of Posarum 

 null and void, and ordered York to be arrested. A sort of mock 

 investigation of the caso took place, but it wu Boon dropped, and 

 subsequent events showed that, although perhaps without direct 

 orders, York bad acted according to the secret wishes of his rojul 

 master : it had indeed been sufficiently obvious for some time that 

 the Prussian king wu only acting with Napoleon u long as it united 

 his own purpose. 



Frederick William hastened to Breslau, where he had an interview 

 with the Km i cror Alexander. On the 28th of February 1 - 

 signed a treaty of peace and alliance with Alexander at Kalisch, 

 in Poland, but u yet no war wu declared agaiust France, 

 and the remnants of the French army, which retreated through 

 Pruuia, were hospitably received by the inhabitant", although they 

 brought unnprakable misery over the country. At last, on the 17th 

 of March 1813, Frederick William, perceiving that be could do so 

 with apparently little rick, declared war against France, and issued 

 the famous proclamation to bis subjects which roused the whole 

 nation u one man, in arms against the foreign usurper. 



In two pitched battles at Ltitzen, on the 2nd of May, and at Bautzen, 

 on the 20th and 21st of May, Napoleon was victorious over the com- 

 bined Prussians and Russian! ; but neither of these victories had any 

 important consequences for him, and to far wore the allies from being 



downcast, that they retreated only a short distance, and immediately 

 reusumed a threatening attitude. Where Napoleon did not command 

 in person, and especially in the little war, the French were regularly 

 beaten ; and he accordingly listened to the proposition of Frederick 

 William and Alexander to settle their differences peacefully. They 

 made a truce at Poischwitz on the 4th of June to last till the 17th ..f 

 August, aud a congress wu assembled at Prague under tbe me.: 

 of Austria, which until then had kept a strict neutrality. Both of 

 the belligerent parties endeavoured to draw Austria into their interest, 

 and both of them wanted time to increase their armies in ca-e of a 

 new outbreak of hostilities. Napoleon having peremptorily rejected 

 the main condition of definitive peace, namely, to give up all his 

 conquests in Germany and to withdraw with his armies beyond the 

 Rhine, Sweden, and Austria declared for the allies; and as Napoleon 

 had gradually augmented his forces by new levies in France, and by 

 withdrawing 50,000 veteran troops from Spain to Germany, ho broke 

 off the negotiations, and the war commenced again on the 17th of 

 August. The patriotic enthusiasm which first animated Prussia was 

 then spreading over all Germany, aud principally Northern Germany, 

 whence the French had been driv-n out by the inhabitants imme- 

 diately after Prussia's declaration of war agaiust France ; but although 

 Marshal Davoust and General Vaudamme soon brought the j ojilc 

 again to obedience, the allies knew that they could reckon upon a 

 general rising at the first opportunity. The forces of the a i 

 August have been estimated at 500,000 men, of which about 200,000 

 were Prussians; but this estimate is rather below than above the real 

 number. The army of Napoleon was considerably less : but iu tint 

 north Denmark had declared for him and damaged the operation of 

 the allies on that side. On the 27th of August Napoleon gaine 1 

 another victory at Dresden; but having advanced upon Boheuiii, part 

 of bis army was entirely routed at Kulm by the Russian* and at 

 Nolleudorf by the Prussian general Kleiat Upon this the hopes of 

 Napoleon were blighted by oue defeat after another, aud in the battles 

 of Urossbeeren, Dennewitz, Katzbach, Qorde, aud many other 

 Prussians and their brave commander Bliicher restored the honour nf 

 their arms, and reduced Napoleon to a most critical position in tbe 

 neighbourhood of Leipzig. In the battle of Leipzig the 1 

 power was broken, or rather in three successive battles on the 16th, 

 18th, and 19th of October, and there again Bluclier and ti.c I'l 

 obtained the greater share of glory. It was on the l.Hh, iu the 

 evening, when Frederick William and the Emperors of Austria and 

 Russia met on a hill near Probstheida, where the centre of tha 

 French position had been, and descending from their horses, em- 

 braced each other iu the presence of their soldiers, and kneeling 

 down, remained long in silent prayer. From Leipzig the remnants of 

 the French army fled to the Rhine. The passage of the Rhiuu was 

 i by Napoleon on the 2nd of November. Frederick William, 

 urged by Blucher, advised tbe allies to invade France, but there was 

 a contrary opinion at head-quarters, and two months were spent in 

 inactivity before at last the Russo-Prussians crossed the Rhine on the 

 1st of January 1814. Tbe beginning of the campaign in France was 

 signalis.d by the battles of Brienne and La Rothicre, where P.i 

 once more obtained an advantage over Napoleon. Frederick William 

 and Alexander were witnesses of the battle at Brienne. During thu 

 subsequent negotiations at Ch&tillon Frederick William appe. 

 be satisfied with moderate conditions, but Napoleon was victori 

 several battles that were fought during the negotiations, and the 

 French plenipotentiaries withdrew from ChiUillon. 



The allies now agreed by the convention of Chaumout that they 

 would make no peace till France was reduced within her 1 

 limits; that Austria, Russia, and Prussia should employ all tln-ir 

 forces to that effect, and keep each, for the period of twenty years 

 after the peace, an army of 160,000 men ready to enforce the condi- 

 tions of such a peace, and that Great Britain should pay 5,00" 

 sterling. There wu still a doubt at the head-quarters of the allies 

 whether they should march upon Paris or not, the operations of 

 Napoleon in their rear seeming to render such movement very 

 dangerous, but Frederick William, at the instigation of Blucher, 

 constantly urged the necessity of finishing tbe war at Paris, and so at 

 la-t the great task was undertaken. On the Utb and lOtii of Mar, h 

 Blucher defeated Napoleon at Laou, Prince Schwnrzcuberg was vic- 

 torious at Arcis-sur-Aube, and their united armies gained another 

 battle at La Fere C'hampeuoise. A few days afterwards they si . 

 the fortifications round Paris, and gained the battle of Mont-Martre, 

 and on the following day, the 31st of March, Frederick William and 

 Alexander made their triumphal entry into Paris. On the 2nd of 

 April Napoleon was deposed by the Senate. 



After the restoration of the Bourbons, Frederick William in com- 

 pany with the Emperor Alexander, several members of the Royal 

 Prussian family, and the old field-marshal Blucher, paid a vi-it to 

 England, where they were most enthusiastically received. After a 

 short stay iu England he returned to Prussia, and made his triumphal 

 entry into Berlin, and tlieuce proceeded to the congress at Vienna, to 

 take his seat among the distributors of the provinces ceded by France 

 at the peace of Paris. There he claimed his former possessions, 

 except the greater part of his share in the division of Poland, which 

 he consented to leave to Russia, but with his usual unscrupulous 

 selfishness, he demanded, u an indemnity, tbe whole kingdom of 



