serious attack on the brigade of Omulew at Drenzewo. The general of brigade, Girard, marched against them with the 88th regiment, and drove them across the Narew. General Suchet arrived, pursued the Russians closely, and defeated them at Ostrolenka, where he killed sixty men, and fifty horses.

On the same day, May 13, the Russians attacked General Marrois at the mouth of the Bug. This general had passed that river on the 10th with a Bavarian brigade, and a Polish regiment. In the course of three days, he had constructed several tétes-du-pont, and had advanced to Wiskywo, for the purpose of burning the rafts on which the Russians had been at work for six weeks. This expedition completely succeeded, and the foolish work of six weeks was destroyed

in a moment.

This general attack on the French advanced posts, on the same day when General Kamenskoy was to make his attempt on Dantzig, was no doubt intended to occupy the grand French army, in such a manner as to prevent them from reinforcing the besieging army. The project of carrying relief to Dantzig, by means of a maritime expedition, appeared very extraordinary to such military men as were acquainted with the ground and positions occupied by the French army, and at the same time informed of the works that had been constructed for intercepting the navigation of both the Vistula and the canal of Dantzig. An English brigantine, the Dauntless, with that thoughtless, but, on the whole, not unfortunate audacity with which a series of glorious successes had, at this time, inspired all British seamen, having 120 English for her crew, fifty Russian and Prussian soldiers, carrying twenty-four carronades, and laden with powder and ball, appeared on the Vistula, in full sail, with an intention to enter the port of Dantzig. On her near approach, however, to the French works, she was attacked, not only by the batteries from both the shores, but a heavy shower of musketry, and forced to surrender. An aidde-camp of General Kalkreuth, who was on his return from the Russian head-quarters, and several English officers, were on-board the vessel.

On the 16th, a Russian division, of 6,000 men, under General Turkow, advanced from Brock to the Bug, and towards Pultusk, with a view to prevent the execution of some works, for strengthening a téte-du-pont. These works were defended by six battalions of Bavarians, under the command of the Prince Royal of Bavaria in person. The Russians advanced four times to the attack, and were four times repulsed, by grape-shot from the different batteries. The Russians, for this attack on Pultusk, had prepared a great number of rafts, in the same man

1807.

ner as they had done in their attack on the works BOOK VII. of General Le Marrois. Those rafts, prepared at so great an expense of time and labour, were CHAP. VIL burnt in two hours time. Those repeated attacks on works constructed with consummate skill, and defended by strong batteries, without a chance of success, were matter of astonishment to the French, and almost induced them to suppose, that the only purport of these attacks was to draw their attention from other parts of their line, to the right wing of their army. But the position of this was calculated for every imaginable case, whether of attack or defence. Meanwhile the important siege of Dantzig was continued.

On the 19th of May, when every thing was prepared by Marshal Le Febvre, and the French were proceeding to the assault, General Kalkreuth demanded a capitulation, on the same conditions that he had formerly granted to the garrison of Mayence. It appeared to the French general, that the difficulties remaining to be surmounted, in bringing the siege to a conclusion, were such, that the besieged might hold out yet fifteen days longer. In these circumstances it was deemed expedient to grant them what they demanded, an honorable capitulation. It was agreed, among other articles, that the garrison should march out of the city with all the honors of war, and be conducted to the advanced posts of his majesty the King of Prussia, at Pillaw, by a march of five days.

The garrison engaged not to serve against. the French army or its allies, for the space of a year, counting from the date of the capitulation, that is, the 20th of May. The prisoners of war confined at Dantzig, whether French, or allies of the French, to be exchanged.

As the garrison had not sufficient means for carrying off the whole of its baggage, a vessel was to be afforded for this purpose, to sail directly for Pillaw, under the command of a French officer. The magazines, and in general all that belonged, not to individuals, but to his Prussian majesty, to be consigned into the hands. of the French government.

The Prussian officers, who were prisoners on their parole, living with their families at Dantzig before the blockade of the place, had permission to remain there if they pleased, till farther orders from his serene highness Major-general the Prince of Neuf-Chatel (Berthier). Nevertheless, in order to be entitled to this privilege, they were to produce a certificate, from the governor, that they had not taken any part in the defence of the place. The wives of the officers and others, that is, persons in civil enployments or situations, were to be at liberty to remove from the city. The sick and wounded to be left under the care of Marshal Le Febvre

BOOK VII. and, on their recovery, to be sent to the advanced posts of the Prussian army.

CHAP. VII.

1807.

Marshal Le Febvre engaged to the inhabitants of Dantzig, to employ all the means in his power for the protection of persons and property. This capitulation was to be carried into execution at twelve o'clock at noon, the 26th of May. It was to be understood, that between the present and that period, the garrison of Dantzig was not to make any attack on the besiegers, in case of their being engaged in any action with the RussoPrussian army without the city."

On the 27th of May, the garrison marched out of the city with General Kalkreuth at its head. This strong garrison, which consisted at first of 18,000 men, as before stated, and, at the opening of the trenches, of 16,000, was now reduced to 9,000, of which number 400, and among these some officers, deserted. The officers said, that they had no mind to go to Siberia. Several thousands of artillery-horses were given up to the French, according to the terms of capitulation, but most of them in a very bad condition; 800 pieces of artillery; magazines of every kind; more than 500,000 quintals of grain ; well-stored cellars; immense collections of clothing, and spices and great resources of every kind for the army. The Russian Lieutenant-general Kamenskoy, who, after his defeat of the 15th, retired under the fortifications of Weischelmunde, remained there, without making any farther attempts, and was a spectator of the surrender of Dantzig. When he perceived that the French were employed in erecting batteries for burning his ships, he set sail, and returned with his fleet to Pillaw. The fort of Weischelmunde, however, still held out. But when Marshal Le Febvre summoned it on the 26th, while the terms were only under consideration, the whole garrison advanced from the fort and surrendered at discretion. The commandant, thus abandoned by the garrison, saved himself by sea.

After the fall of Dantzig, a detachment was sent, closely to blockade and besiege, in form, the fortress of Graudenz, which, though strong, both by art and nature, could not be supposed to hold out long, hemmed in, as it was, on all sides, by the besieging and grand French army.

The last hope that remained to the allies of a favorable turn to the war, on the left, or western side of the Vistula, was Stralsund.

Marshal Mortier, having first plundered, introduced a regular system of exaction, and completely established the tyranny of France in Mecklenberg, Hamburgh, and Lubeck and had orders, towards the middle of February, to enter Swedish Pomerania, and lay siege to the capital of that province. It was invested on the land side, but the siege was not pushed with vigour.

Marshal Mortier, being charged with the siege of Colberg, drew off 7,000 men to that place, leaving the siege of Stralsund in charge to General Granjeau.

In the mean time, while the operations of the besiegers were but languid, the besieged made several bold sorties, demolishing the batteries of the enemy, and spiking their guns. The garrison of Stralsund received considerable reinforcements; and troops were also landed at other points from the Swedish flotilla.

In the beginning of April it was thought proper to reinforce the army besieging Dantzig. The siege of Stralsund was raised; and the besieging troops, by degrees, began to march to the Lower Vistula.

As soon as the General Baron Van Essen, the governor-general of Swedish Pomerania, perceived that the French were filing off from that province, in small detachments, he determined to march against them, and compel them to abandon their entrenchments, and completely to evacuate Pomerania. His troops were divided into two columns; the first under his own orders; the second under those of Lieutenant-general Baron Armfeldt. Each column consisted of eight squadrons of hussars, a detachment of mounted artillery, and four battalions of infantry, with their proper divisions of chasseurs or hunters. These two columns, advancing in the same line of direction, came up with the enemy at Lussow, drove them from thence to Ruderhagen, and pursued them from thence to Voigdehagen.

In the mean time the French had abandoned their batteries and entrenchments at Stralsund, and entrenched themselves on the heights between Voigdehagen and Teschenhagen, on which they had mounted a battery of four pieces of artillery and two howitzers. This being silenced by the Swedish artillery, they endeavoured to take possession of a morass, skirted by a wood, but were forced to desist from the attempt, and con tinue their retreat from one post to another, which they did with admirable skill and courage, even according to the Swedish account. On the 3d of April, General Van Essen's column entering Demnin, made the garrison, after a slight resist ance, prisoners, and sent out his light troops in pursuit of the enemy on the side of Mecklenburg. On the morning of the 4th of April, the column under Baron Armfeldt entered the town of Anclam, where he took 150 men prisoners. The military chest also, containing 3,000 crowns, fell into his hand. The loss of the French in this well-conducted retreat was not very considerable. But the prisoners made, during the retreat, by the two Swedish columns, were said to have been 10,000 men, and, among these, twenty

officers.

After the retreat of the French from Swedish Pomerania, the Swedish army occupied a line of positions of very great extent, having the heads of its columns at Falkenwald, Stoltzenberg, Stadsfort, Belling, and Darkitz; that is, from the banks of the Oder to the confines of Mecklenberg Strelitz. Marshal Mortier determined to bear, with his whole force, on the centre of this dilated line, without giving himself any trouble about the other positions, being convinced, that by a rapid march on the river Peene, which the Swedes had inconsiderately crossed, he could throw them into the utmost confusion and consternation. Having assembled a part of his forces at Passewack, on the evening of April 15, he advanced on the 16th, before break of day, on the road to Anclam, overthrew a Swedish post at Belling, and another at Ferdinandskaff, took 400 prisoners, and two pieces of cannon, entered Anclam at the same time with the enemy, and made himself master of the bridge on the Peene. Thus a Swedish column, commanded by General Cardell, was cut off. It remained at Nekermunde when the French were already at Anclam. General Armfeldt, one of the Swedish commandersin-chief, was wounded by a grape-shot. All the magazines at Anclam were taken, together with all the Swedish sloops of war, on the lake adjoining to Anclam, and transports. The column of General Cardell,, which was cut off from the other Swedish troops, was attacked on the 17th, by the general of brigade Veau, near Neckermunde, when it lost three pieces of cannon, and 500 men. Another column took possession of Demnin, and made 500 soldiers prisoners. The Swedes were driven back again behind the river Peene.

1

General Armfeldt, after informing the Baron Van Essen of his having been wounded, and that he had been obliged to make the infantry of his division fall back on Ranzien, retired to Stralsund. It was ordered by Van Essen to march to Grimm, and thereafter to the head-quarters of Van Essen, the commander of the other division, and who had now the supreme command of both at Griefswald. Here, April 17, he was joined by a detachment of hussars, belonging to the royal guard from Stralsund. Early on the morning of that day, he had sent a flag of truce to Marshal Mortier, of twenty-four hours, for the purpose of removing the sick and wounded to hospitals. It was not difficult to persuade the marshal, who knew how much his master wished to detach Sweden from the cause of the allies, to comply with his request. Soon after noon, the first adjutant of Marshal Mortier arrived with a flag of truce at Griefswald, with an answer to that which had been sent by the Swedish general.

Before mid-day of the 18th, another flag of truce arrived from Marshal Mortier, and an early hour was fixed for a conference between the two

1807.

generals at Sklatkow, within an English mile and BOOK VII. half of Anclam, where an armistice was agreed on, not to be broken without ten days' previous CHAP. VII notice. Besides this, which was the principal article, there were others, and these altogether in favor of the French. The Swedes were to restore the isles of Usedom and Wollin, which were to be occupied by the French garrisons, to be sent thither for that purpose, on the day after, that is, the 20th of April. The line of demarkation between the two armies was to be the Peene and the Trebel. But the French were farther to occupy a position beyond the Peene, and behind the barrier of Anclam. During the armistice, the Swedes were not to afford succours of any kind to the towns of Graudenz and Dantzig, nor yet to the troops of any of the powers at war with France or its allies. During the armistice, no troops belonging to any of the powers at war with France were to be landed at Stralsund, or any other part of Swedish Pomerania, or the isle of Rugen. If, however, there should be a debarkation of any troops at Stralsund, in consequence of superior orders unknown to General Van Essen, the general engaged, that they should not commit any act of hostility against the French.

Towards the end of the same month, (April,) Marshal Mortier and General Van Essen improved the terms of mutual accommodation into a more certain prelude to a permanent peace. It was agreed, April 29, that none of the parties should resume hostilities without giving a month's previous notice, instead of the ten days fixed by the armistice of the 18th.

When the King of Sweden was informed of the armistice, and the events that led to it in Pomerania, he determined to come thither, and take the affairs of this province, political and military, into his immediate management, and accordingly arrived at Stralsund early in May. Though he was far from approving of the armistices of the 18th and 29th of April, he was sensible that those armistices, which he considered as most disgraceful, were owing, not to any misconduct on the part of the general, Baron Van Essen, but to the imprudence and precipitation of General Armfeldt, in crossing and advancing too far with his column beyond the Peene. While General Van Essen, therefore, was appointed governor-general of Pomerania, and decorated with the grand cross of the Swedish order of the sword, General Armfeldt obtained permission from the king to resign his commission. These marks of favor were shewn to General Van Essen on the 14th of May, at a grand parade; when the officers of the different Swedish regiments stationed at Stralsund, and various places in the vicinity, were also presented to his majesty, by whom they were received in the most gracious manner. He expressed his entire satisfaction with their conduct in the last cam

hensive of the danger, set themselves to prepare the public mind for the event, by employing emissaries to announce their intention in whispers through the circles, and three thousand coffeehouses of the capital. But an impression of terror was visible, even to a cursory observer, on the countenances of those who were either themselves exposed to the danger, or shuddered at the prospect of new revolutionary horrors, and of suspicion and joy, but half disguised in the lowering brows of the most resolute of the disaffected, constantly on the alert to improve the concurrence of opportunity, and who hailed this desperate expedient as a confirmation of their hopes. The orator of the government, Renaud St. Jean D'Angely, shed tears as he stated the necessity of the measure: and the senate received it, contrary to their usual practice, in silent acquiescence, and with every symptom of reluctance and dismay. In order to assuage the general grief, it was found adviseable to qualify the new call for 80,000 men, by a clause enacting that they were then to be merely organized, and retained within the limits of the empire, as a national guard. Circumstances enabled them to adhere to this condition, which most certainly would have been violated, if the armies had sustained a defeat. In the midst of disquietude and fear, public festivals were multiplied, in order to give the administration at home an air of confidence: and an unusual degree of splendour brightened the court of the empress, who remained in Paris, and took a principal share in those mummeries of despotism.

It was not to be wondered at, therefore, if, all things considered, Bonaparte should be desirous of a pacification. There was no reception, perhaps no return for him to Paris, but in the character of a conqueror. Though, after the fall of Dantzig, the main army was increased by a disposeable force of more than 30,000, and though there was neither truce nor armistice, he did not take any measures for immediately opening the campaign, and surprising the enemy according to his usual system, by the promptitude and the celerity of his movements, but manifested every symptom of a sincere and even somewhat earnest desire that hostilities might be, for the present, terminated by negociation. Till this negociation should be brought to some issue, he seemed determined to remain on the defensive. The ambassadors attending his court at Finkenstein were witnesses of the proud eminence on which he now stood, and abundant care was taken that they should fully understand the importance of his recent conquest, the great bulwark of the Vistula. When the ambassador of the porte (Seid Mahomed Vahid) was presented, on the 28th of May, by the Prince of Benevento (Maurice Talleyrand) to Bonaparte, he said to the ambassador, that he and the Sultan Selim would be for ever after as in

CHAP. VII.

1807.

separably connected as the right hand and the left. BOOK VII. The offices and administration of the government were now transferred from Warsaw to Dantzig, which seemed at this time to be intended for the capital of the French dominions in those parts. This city was visited, on the 30th of May, by Bonaparte, attended by the greater part of his staff, his minister for foreign relations, and in short all his court. He reviewed his troops, and gave orders for the reparation of the works demolished in the course of the siege. General Rapp, a great favorite, was appointed governor, and Le Febvre created Duke of Dantzig. Each soldier engaged in the siege received a gratuity of ten francs.

From his imperial camp at Finkenstein, May 28, Bonaparte wrote to the conservative senate, that he had instituted duchies as rewards for eminent services done him, whether military or civil; and that, in pursuance of this system of encouragement, he had created, by letters patent, the Marshal Le Febvre hereditary Duke of Dantzig, not only in consideration of his late atchievement, but because on, and ever since the first day of his reign, Le Febvre had rendered him the most signal service. It was his business, he said, to establish the fortunes of such families as devoted themselves without reserve to his service, and constantly sacrificed their own particular interests to his.

Though, before the fall of Dantzig, the Russians had avoided a general action, yet, fifteen days after the capitulation of that place, they made a vigorous attack on the French. June 5, the grand French army was attacked by the allies, at different points of its line. On the right of the allies, and the left of the French, twelve Russian and Prussian regiments, forming two divisions, attacked the téte-du-pont of Spanden on the Passarge, which was defended by a regiment of light infantry, strongly covered by entrenchments and redoubts. They were repulsed seven times, and as often renewed the attack. But immediately after the last assault, they were charged by a regiment of dragoons, that had come up to the assistance of the regi ment of infantry, and forced to abandon the field of battle with a great loss in killed and wounded. Two divisions belonging to the centre of the allied army attacked at the same time the tête-dupont of Lomitten, which was defended by a brigade of the corps of Marshal Soult. The Russian general, with 1,100, fell in the action; 100 were taken, and a great many wounded. The loss of the French, according to their bulletin, was no more than 120 men. This is incredible; and it is here stated merely as an instance of that extravagance of misrepresentation, which is sufficient excuse for not repeating, on all occasions, their gasconades of this kind. At the same time,