682 



BRITAIN. 



Biitain. 



1806. 



Battle of 

 Averstadt. 



Negotia- 

 jion f >r 

 peace. 



Death of 



Mr Fox. 



lish ministry, of the desire of the cabinet of Berlin to 

 return to a state of amity with Britain, than Lord 

 Morpeth was dispatched to the head quarters of the 

 Prussian army, there to negotiate for peace. These 

 he reached at Weimar, on the 12th of October. But 

 the same impolicy and insincerity, which had before 

 disgraced the councils of Prussia, were still visible in 

 her conduct. She had entered on the awful crisis of 

 a rupture with France, without informing England 

 of her resolution. She now hesitated and shitted at 

 the prospect of negotiating for peace with us, know- 

 ing, that the restoration of Hanover would be requi- 

 red. If she lost the impending battle, all would be 

 lost. If she gained it, she hoped to retain Hanover 

 independent of Britain. Her minister Luechesini, 

 therefore, unguardedly answered Lord Morpeth, 

 when he asked if his court was ready to enter on im- 

 mediate negotiation, that it would depend on the is- 

 sue of the battle which had just been fought. The 

 battle of Averstadt had been already fought, but the 

 result was not yet known at the place where this was 

 spoken. It is needless to add, that the battle of 

 Averstadt put it beyond the power of Frederick to 

 negotiate farther with Great Britain. Before the 

 short and awful struggle had commenced, which de- 

 cided the existence of Prussia, an accidental circum- 

 stance, * which brought on a personal correspond- 

 ence between the ministers of France and England, 

 drew forth the only serious proposals for peace, 

 which had been made since the renovation of the war. 

 It is of small consequence to detail the particulars of 

 a treaty which ended so unfortunately. As soon as 

 it was obvious, that the abandonment of Russia was 

 to be the price of the favourable terms, so ostenta- 

 tiously at first promised to Britain, the determina- 

 tion of our court not to listen to any such projects, 

 prevented a precise detail of the concessions which 

 France was willing to make for the attainment of her 

 object. It is, however, worthy of remark, that no 

 offer of Sicily, the great object for which Mr Fox 

 had contended, was ever made, even in the supposi- 

 tion of a separate peace. An attention not only to 

 the interests, but to the wishes of Russia ; a firm de- 

 termination to listen to no measure, that could give 

 her umbrage or suspicion ; and a strong desire to pre- 

 serve Sicily, almost a resolution not to abandon it, 

 were the prominent features of the conduct of Bri- 

 tain during this negotiation. Mr Fox, whose health 

 had been for some time declining, did not live to 

 know, though he strongly anticipated, the issue of the 

 negotiation. On the 13th of September, that illus- 

 trious statesman breathed his last. See Fox. 



Bonaparte lavished abuse on his survivors in the 

 British cabinet, for departing from the sincere and 

 pacific views with which Mr Fox had commenced 

 the treaty. But their popularity was in no danger 

 of being hurt by that imputation ; for, independent of 

 the charge being wholly false, the British public were 

 rather disposed to be jealous of pacific views in their ru- 

 lers, than to doubt their sincerity. Since the commence- 

 ment of the present war, the universal cry has been 



the danger of a peace. On the present occasion, the 

 nation were less disposed to shudder at the prospect 

 of protracted war, than at the restrospect of the pe- 

 rils which they had escaped of an insidious treaty. 

 The death of Mr Fox was not immediately fatal to 

 his ministry. At the recommendation of Lord Gren- 

 ville, his majesty was pleased to appoint Lord How- 

 ick to the foreign department, Lord Sidmouth to 

 the presidency of the council, and Lord Holland, the 

 only new member who was brought into the adminis- 

 tration, to be lord privy seal. A dissolution of par- 

 liament took place, and the elections were, in general, 

 such as to furnish a parliament, which promised to be 

 more favourable than the last to the present adminis- 

 tration. 



After the fatal and dreadful battle of Averstadt, 

 Bonaparte pursued his career to Berlin, with no re- 

 sistance from the broken remains of the Prussian ar- 

 my, except from the small and single band of the 

 gallant Blucher, who at last surrendered at Lu- 

 beck, after the city had been taken by storm. At 

 Berlin, the conqueror, whilst he was erecting new 

 kingdoms and dukedoms, published his famous de 

 cree against the commerce of Britain, by which he 

 declared the whole island in a state of blockade. He 

 set out from thence to pursue the king of Prussia 

 across the Oder, whilst the garrisons of that u :for- 

 tunate monarch, either from panic or treachery, seem- 

 ed to be emulous which should be the first to sur- 

 render, j- 



One of the capital errors of Prussia had been to 

 rush into the contest with France, without waiting 

 for the co-operation of Russia. On the first inti- 

 mation of her danger, the Russian troops advanced 

 through Poland, and, as if they had hoped to retrieve 

 one fault by committing another, exactly imitated 

 the example of their defeated ally, in precipitately 

 meeting the French. General Beningsen, at the 

 head of their first division, reached Warsaw before 

 the French. A check, which he received on the 

 Vistula, taught him the necessity of retreating behind 

 the Narew, where he was joined by the divisions of 

 Bnxhoveden and Kamenskoy, the latter of whom was 

 appointed to the chief command of Alexander's 

 forces. From the Narew, the Russian columns made 

 a second retreat, broken and discomfited, and were 

 saved only by the badness of the roads, which impe- 

 ded the progress of the French artillery. At that 

 critical moment, the Russian generalissimo Kamen- 

 skoy left his army, and retired to Ostrolenka. It was 

 given out that his understanding was deranged. A 

 very different account of his conduct is not discredit- 

 ed by the issue of the campaign. He was old in 

 military experience, and is said to have been the on- 

 ly one of the Russian generals, who saw the danger 

 of their situation, and to have left the army in disgust 

 and despair, when he found his authority insufficient 

 to curb the impetuosity of the younger generals, 

 who were determined on risking another engagement. 

 Benningsen and Buxhoveden accordingly fought at 

 Pultusk, and at Golymyn. The latter claimed a 



Britain. 



GEORGE!' 

 1805. 



Bonapart' 

 advances 

 Berlin. 



Berlin de 

 cree. 



Advance 

 the Russi. 

 army. 



Battles b 

 tween th< 

 French aj 

 Russian ; 

 mies. 



* The circumstance of a Frenchman, (who afterwards proved to be disordered in his intellects,) having communicated to 

 Mr Fox his intention of going to France to assassinate Bonaparte, occasioned a letter from Mr Fox to the French 

 jnent, describing the individual. He was arrested at Hamburgh. 



f- With some exceptions, Great Glogaw and Breslaw made a creditable resistance. 



