RUSSIAN. GERMAN WAR. 



53 



tance, on his left wing, and driven hack, in disorder, 

 to Golilis. On the 17th, Napoleon negotiated, 

 through count Meerveldt, who had been taken 

 prisoner, for liberty to retire undisturbed, and for 

 an armistice, both of which proposals were the less 

 listened to, because the allies could now conduct 

 their operations with a mutual understanding, the 

 crown-prince of Sweden having joined Bliicher 

 with upwards of 60,000 men, and general Bennig- 

 sen, with almost an equal number, being every 

 minute expected from Grimma. October 18, 

 therefore, a fearful con diet took place at Leipsic. 

 The French fought with desperation, to save their 

 honour and secure their retreat, which had been 

 commenced at day-break. Their centre and their 

 right wing, from Probstheyda to Konnewitz, re- 

 mained firm. The left, supported in Schbnfeld on 

 the Parthe, was defeated rather by the defection of 

 the Saxons and Wiirtembergers, than from want of 

 bravery ; and nothing but the inexplicable careless- 

 ness of Napoleon on the 19th October converted 

 the regular retreat, at last, into a flight, and a 

 general overthrow of the rear. (See JLeipsic.) 

 This battle emancipated Germany. Bavaria had 

 already (October 8) renounced the confederation 

 of the Rhine, and united with Austria. All the 

 German princes followed this example, with the 

 exception of the king of Saxony (prevented by his 

 imprisonment in Leipsic), Jerome of Westphalia, and 

 the prince-primate. After the loss of many thou- 

 sands, in prisoners and disabled, Napoleon, assailed 

 or harassed in every quarter, was obliged, in order 

 to gain the Rhine, to sustain a bloody conflict 

 (October 31) with the Bavarians and Austrians 

 stationed at Hanau. (q. v.) The allies made a halt 

 on the Rhine, in order to unite the forces of libe- 

 rated Germany with those furnished by Britain 

 and Holland, which was now working its own 

 emancipation. The number of troops collected 

 against Napoleon in 1814, amounted to 1,208,000. 

 The only remaining vestiges of Napoleon's power 

 were the fortresses on the Vistula, Oder, Elbe, &c., 

 in which, however, his best troops, cut off from all 

 succour, finally perished, from want and suffering, 

 or were forced to surrender. Even the Danes, 

 who had been forced to form the closest union with 

 Napoleon, in consequence of the hard terms prof- 

 fered them by Britain and Sweden in the spring 

 of 1813, were obliged to concede to the crown- 

 prince of Sweden, in the peace of Kiel (January 14, 

 1814), all that they had formerly refused. The 

 Rhine having been passed subsequently to January 

 1, 1814, at Caub, Manheim, Rastadt, Ehrenbreit- 

 stein, and Diisseldorf, it was easy to see that Na- 

 poleon would be eventually overpowered, becaiise 

 in France many had fallen from him since fortune 

 forsook him, and the old aristocracy raised their 

 heads again, whilst the people at large were ex- 

 hausted by war. Immediately after his arrival, he 

 had indeed set every spring in motion, in order to 

 repeat, once more, the unexampled exertions which 

 had been made in 1811 and 1813. But affairs in 

 Spain had taken a most unfavourable turn. Mar- 

 shal Jourdan had been totally defeated by Welling- 

 ton, at Vittoria (June 21, 1813), and had been 

 forced back to the Pyrenees, with the loss of his 

 artillery; and, subsequently, Soult and Suchet had 

 with difficulty kept the enemy from the soil of 

 France itself, and it was consequently necessary to 

 send thither new forces. For the first time, 

 therefore, the senate ventured, though timidly, to 

 represent the misery of France, when repeated 



decrees of Napoleon ordered the levy of nearly 

 half a million new conscripts of 1807 1814, the 

 organization of cohorts of national guards, and the 

 formation of four armies of reserve. Still stronger 

 terms did the deputies Laine and Raynouard use in 

 the legislative body; and, in consequence of the 

 general indignation at the enormous expenditure of 

 human life, great difficulties now presented them- 

 selves, when the demands of self-defence were 

 imperative, in the way of collecting the myriads 

 which were necessary, and to provide them with 

 artillery, horses, and other requisites. Beyond the 

 Rhine, therefore, from Switzerland to Holland, 

 which was for the most part voluntarily evacuated 

 by the French, the allies found but little resistance. 

 Almost without loss of blood, they were able to 

 gain possession of mount Jura, to put their left 

 wing in communication with the Austrian army of 

 Italy (which, commanded by general Hiller, had 

 threatened, from Tyrol, to cut off the viceroy, and 

 had obliged him to retreat to the Adige), to make 

 themselves masters of all the passes to Italy, of the 

 city of Geneva, of the roads over the Simplon and 

 Bernard, and, as early as the 9th January, to occupy 

 a new line, covered on the left by the Seine, on 

 the right by the Meuse, in Alsace, Lorraine, Deux- 

 Ponts, &c., with the exception of the invested for- 

 tresses. Napoleon had issued a proclamation for a 

 kind of general rising of the people, or a levy in 

 mass. This measure, which did wonders in the 

 revolution, had, in this instance, but little effect 

 among the suffering people. In a few quarters 

 only, and not till the excesses of the enemy, exas- 

 perated by national hatred, had occasioned excite- 

 ment, did the call produce some effect, but could 

 give no new direction to the course of affairs. The 

 allies, continuing to advance, occupied the Saar 

 the Moselle, the passes of Ardennes, almost 

 without a blow. In no instance had a French 

 general strength enough to maintain the most im- 

 portant points against the overwhelming force of 

 the invaders; and it was hoped, by the middle of 

 February, to reach Paris in safety, when Napoleon, 

 who left it on the 25th January, and went to join 

 his army (assembled, after infinite trouble, on the 

 Aube), fought, from January 27 to February 3, a 

 number of battles, which, with that at Bricnne, on 

 February 1, form one of the most striking exhibi- 

 tions in military history. Napoleon put forth all 

 his skill. He lost the battle of Brienne, after his 

 army of 70,000 men had made the most desperate 

 resistance, which, regardless of danger, he super- 

 intended every where, and left behind seventy- 

 three cannon, and 12,000 prisoners, to retire, as it 

 seemed, beyond Troyes. Meanwhile, the enger- 

 ness of the allies to improve the first victory on 

 the soil of France, gave rise to a separation of their 

 forces, of which Napoleon took advantage judi- 

 ciously and boldly. Having received on wagons 

 new troops from the army of Spain, he proceeded, 

 with rapidity, from the Seine to the Lower Marne, 

 along which the army of Bliicher was marching, in 

 security, to Paris. He broke through its centre, 

 and destroyed, at Champeaubert (February 10), 

 the column of general Olsusieff. Without the aid 

 of general York, general Sacken would have met 

 with a similar fate the next day, at Montmirail. 

 In like manner (February 14), Napoleon repulsed, 

 with considerable loss, at Vauchamp and Etoges, 

 the columns led by the field-marshal hiin>, If. 

 With great exertions, a union was, at last, effected 

 with Bliicher's reserves. Schwartzenberg and 



