armies, that Poischwitz, Leignitz, Goldberg and Lahn should be held by the French; Landshut, Rudelstadt, Bolkershagen, Streigau and Canth, by the allies; while the intermediate territory, including the fortress of Breslau, was to remain neutral, and be occupied by neither party.

CHAPTER XLI.

FROM THE ARMISTICE OF PLESWITZ TO THE RENEWAL OF THE WAR.

GREAT exertions were made by the British cabinet, to take advantage of the propitious events which marked the early part of the year 1813. It is difficult to say, whether the alacrity of the nation in submitting to fresh burdens, or the boundless generosity that transmitted supplies to Germany, or the efforts made to strengthen the victorious army of Wellington in Spain, or the diplomatic activity which hushed separate inte rests and reconciled jarring pretensions, in concluding alliances with other cabinets were most worthy of admiration. The position of Great Britain was indeed lofty and commanding, when she found the Continental states, after so long a struggle, ranging themselves around her standard, and saw the jealousies of rival governments merged in a common sense of necessity to crush the rapacious tyranny which she alone had uniformly and successfully opposed. Yet many serious obstacles were to be over. come, before this consummation could be fully realized; and difficulties of no ordinary kind awaited the statesman whose perseverance at length subdued them, and cemented out of such discordant materials the glo rious fabric of the Grand Alliance.

The decided step taken by Prussia, in seceding from her friendly rela tions with France, and uniting her fate to that of Russia, by the treaty of Kalisch, at once, and without any formal convention, reëstablished an amicable understanding between the cabinets of London and Berlin; and long before their diplomatic connexions were renewed, immense supplies of arms, ammunition and warlike stores had been forwarded from the Thames, and distributed through the Prussian dominions. To accelerate the conclusion of a regular treaty, Sir Charles Stewart, now the Marquis of Londonderry, was sent by the British government to the north of Germany as early as April, and he arrived at Berlin on the 22nd of that month. Learning that the King of Prussia was then at Dresden, he hastened to that capital, and on the 26th of April it was there agreed, that England, in addition to the military supplies already sent forward, should advance two millions sterling to sustain the operations of the CrownPrince of Sweden in the northern part of Germany, and a like sum to enable Russia and Prussia to keep up their armaments in Saxony; be. sides five hundred thousand pounds with which the British government charged itself as the cost of the Russian fleet. In return for these liberal advances, Russia agreed to maintain two hundred thousand, and Prussia one hundred thousand men in the field, exclusive of garrisons; and mat ters continued on this basis until the consummation of the armistice of Pleswitz.

No sooner, then, were the allied sovereigns delivered, by the convention, from the pressure of impending hostilities, than they exerted themselves to effect closer diplomatic relations with Great Britain; and, as both Sir Charles Stewart and Earl Cathcart, the English ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg, were at the allied head-quarters, a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, was promptly concluded. By this treaty, signed at Reichenbach on the 14th of June, England agreed to furnish Prussia with funds to the amount of six hundred and sixty-six thousand pounds, on condition that the latter power should keep eighty thousand men in the field for the remainder of the year; she also promised to contribute her influence toward the aggrandizement of Prussia, if the success of the allied arms would warrant it, in such geographical and statistical proportions as should at least restore that kingdom to the situation in which it stood prior to 1806; and on the other hand, the King of Prussia consented to cede to the Electorate of Hanover a part of his possessions in Lower Saxony and Westphalia, to the extent of three hundred thousand inhabitants, including in particular the bishopric of Hildesheim. By another and relative treaty, between Russia and Great Britain, it was stipulated that the latter power should pay to the former a subsidy of thirteen hundred and thirty-three thousand pounds; and in return, the Emperor Alexander agreed to maintain in the field one hundred and sixty thousand men: and England formally ratified her previous agreement to maintain the Russian fleet and crews, lying in her harbors since the convention of Cintra in 1808, at an annual expense of five hundred thousand pounds. And as these large subsidies appeared to be inadequate to the daily increasing cost of the armaments which the allies had on foot or in preparation, and especially as the want of specie was everywhere severely felt, the treaty further stipulated, that an issue of paper, to the extent of five millions sterling, guarantied by the three powers, should be made by the Prussian states, of which two-thirds were to be at the disposal of Russia, and one-third at that of Prussia: the ultimate liquidation of the notes was fixed for the first of July, 1815, or six months after the conclusion of a general peace; and their payment at that period was undertaken in the proportion of three-sixths by England, two-sixths by Russia, and one-sixth by Prussia. And although these treaties, by their letter, promised the supplies of money only during the year 1813, yet the high contracting parties agreed to concert anew on the aid they were to afford each other, in case the war should be prolonged beyond that period; and in particular, they "reciprocally engaged not to negotiate separately with their common enemies, nor to sign any truce, peace or convention whatsoever, otherwise than by mutual consent.'

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Notwithstanding the liberal provisions of these two treaties, as already recited, the scarcity of specie in Germany during the summer became so excessive, that England was again compelled to interpose; and, on the 30th of September, entered into an agreement to issue bills from the British exchequer, in favor of the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia, to the amount of two and a half millions sterling, payable in specie one month after the ratification of a general peace, at offices in such towns in the north of Germany as the cabinets of London, St. Petersburg and Berlin should designate; with an option to the holders to fund the amount of their notes in a stock bearing six per cent. interest. These issues were immediately made, and they at once supplied a circulating medium,

which passed on a par with specie throughout all Northern Europe: a memorable instance of the effect of national credit in public transactions, and of the inexhaustible resources of a country which, after a war of twenty years, was able not only to supply subsidies of vast amount to the Continental states, but to guaranty the circulation of foreign dominions, and cause her own promissory notes to pass like gold and silver through empires extending from the Elbe to the wall of China, and among nations that, but a few months previously, were arrayed against her in deadly hostility.

While the allies were thus strengthening themselves for the contest, Napoleon concluded a treaty with Denmark, on the 10th of July, by which it was determined that France should declare war against Sweden, and Denmark against Russia, within twenty-four hours after the denunciation of the armistice; and that both the contracting parties should concur with all their forces in the common object; each power also guarantied the integrity of the other's dominions. This treaty secured to France a valuable support at the mouth of the Elbe, and the acquisition of twenty thousand effective troops—a fact of no inconsiderable importance, since the advanced position of Marshal Davoust, who occupied Hamburg when the allies, by their retreat, were forced to abandon it, would otherwise have required a covering force of similar amount to be withdrawn from the French army.

Austria now held the balance between the hostile powers; and her forces, hourly accumulating behind the mountains of Bohemia, threatened to pour down in irresistible strength on whichever of the two parties should venture to dispute her will. As yet she had not proclaimed her definitive intentions, although she had clearly resolved upon them, and withheld their execution solely from prudential motives. Metternich, then and ever since the chief director of the Austrian councils, was too well aware of the insatiable ambition of Napoleon to place the slightest reliance on his present liberal promises of future forbearance; at the same time, that able minister was anxious, if possible, to secure the ad vantages of a successful campaign by an armed mediation rather than by an appeal to the arbitrament of war.

During the first three weeks of the armistice, little progress was made in the work of negotiation. Difficulties arose at the outset, as to the parties by whom, and the forms by which, they should be conducted. The allied sovereigns did not wish their plenipotentiaries to treat directly with those of France, but desired that both parties should address themselves to Austria as the mediating power; and this proposal was strongly supported by Metternich, on the part of the cabinet of Vienna. To solve the first difficulty, he came in person to Getschen, and entered into correspondence with Maret, the French ambassador. Maret insisted on a categorical answer to the question, whether France was still to regard Austria as an ally under the treaty of 1812. Metternich replied, that the duties of a mediator were not inconsistent with those of an ally; and sug gested that, in order to facilitate the negotiation, the treaty of 1812 should not be considered as broken, but only suspended-an expression which Napoleon justly considered as equivalent to a dissolution of his alliance with Austria. The other point of difficulty, the forms in which the nego tiations should be conducted, was next considered: and here Metternich found such a diversity of opinion, that he repaired to Dresden in order to

arrange the matter with Napoleon personally. His interview was prolonged till past midnight on the 28th of June.

"You are welcome, Metternich," said Napoleon, as soon as the minister was introduced, "but why do you come so late? We have lost nearly a month; and your mediation, from its long inactivity has become almost hostile. It appears that it is no longer agreeable to your cabinet to guaranty the integrity of the French Empire: well, be it so: but why had you not the candor to make me acquainted with that determination at an earlier period? Your doing so might have modified my plans; per. haps, prevented me from continuing the war. When you allowed me to exhaust myself by new efforts, you doubtless little calculated on such rapid events as have ensued. Nevertheless, I have gained two battles; my enemies, severely weakened, were beginning to wake from their illusions, when suddenly you glided among us; and, speaking to me of armistice and mediation, you spoke to them of alliance and war. But for your pernicious intervention, peace would have been at this moment concluded between the allies and France. What have hitherto been the fruits of your intervention? I know of none, except the treaties between Russia, Prussia and Great Britain. They speak of the accession of another power to their conventions-but you have a minister there, and perhaps know better than I to whom that refers. You cannot deny, that since Austria has assumed the office of mediator, she has not only ceased to be my ally, but has become my enemy. You were in fact about to declare your hostility, when the battle of Lutzen intervened, and, by showing you the necessity of augmenting your forces, made you desirous to gain time. You have two hundred thousand men screened by the Bohemian mountains; Schwartzenberg commands them; he is at this moment concentrating them in my rear; and it is because you conceive yourself in a condition to dictate the law, that you pay me this visit. I see through you, Metternich. Your cabinet wishes to profit by my embarrassments, and to augment them as much as possible, that you may recover a portion of what you have lost. Your only doubt is, whether you can gain your object without fighting, or whether you must throw yourself boldly among the combatants. You do not well know which of these lines of policy to adopt, and possibly you have come here to seek light on the subject. Well, what do you want? Let us treat."

To this vehement attack, which embodied more truth than he was willing to acknowledge, Metternich replied with studied address, "The sole advantage which the Emperor my master proposes, or wishes to derive from the present state of affairs is, the influence which a spirit of moderation, and a respect for the rights and possessions of independent states, cannot fail to command from those who are animated with similar sentiments. Austria wishes to establish a state of things which, by a wise distribution of power, may place the guaranty of peace under the guardianship of an association of independent states. "Speak more clearly," interrupted the Emperor; "come at once to the point; but do not forget that I am a soldier, who would rather break than bend. I have offered you Illyria to remain neutral: will that suffice? My army is strong enough to bring Russia and Prussia to reason: all I ask from you is, to withdraw from the strife." "Ah, sire!" said Metternich, eagerly, "why should your majesty enter singly into the strife? Why should you not double your forces? You may do so, sire! It depends on

yourself to add our armies to your own. But matters have come to that point, that we can no longer remain neutral: we must be for you, or against you."

At these words, the Emperor conducted Metternich into a cabinet apart, in which stood tables covered with maps, and for a time their conversation could not be overheard. After a while, the voice of Napoleon was audible above its ordinary pitch: "What!" said he, "not only Illyria, but the half of Italy, and the return of the pope to Rome, and Poland, and the abandonment of Spain, Holland, Switzerland, and the Confederation of the Rhine! And this you call a spirit of moderation! You are intent only on profiting by every chance that offers: you alternately transport your alliance from one camp to the other, so as to be always a partaker of the spoil, and yet you speak to me of your respect for the rights of independent states. You would have Italy; Russia would have Poland; Sweden would have Norway; Prussia would have Saxony; and England, Holland and Belgium: in short, peace is only a pretext; you are all eager to dismember the French Empire, and Austria thinks she has only to declare herself, in order to crown the enterprise! You propose, here, with a stroke of the pen to sweep away the ramparts of Dantzic, Custrin, Glogau, Magdebourg, Wesel, Mayence, Antwerp, Alexandria, Mantua-all the strong places of Europe, in short, of which I obtained possession by dint of victories! And I, obedient to your policy, am to evacuate Europe, of which I still hold the half; recall my legions across the Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees; subscribe a treaty which would be nothing but one vast capitulation; and place myself at the mercy of those of whom I am at this moment the conqueror! And, it is when my standards are floating at the mouths of the Vistula and on the banks of the Oder; when my victorious army is at the gates of Berlin and Breslau; when I am at the head of three hundred thousand men— that Austria, without striking a blow, without drawing a sword, expects me to subscribe such conditions! My father-in-law, too, has matured such a project, and he sends you on such a mission! In what a position would he place me, with regard to the French people! Does he suppose that a dishonored and mutilated throne in France can be a refuge for his son-in-law and grand-son? Ah! Metternich, how much has England given you to make war upon me!"

This violent tirade was delivered while Napoleon strode up and down the apartment; and at the last insulting question, which nothing in the character or conduct of the Austrian diplomatist could for an instant justify, the Emperor let his hat, that he had hitherto carried in his hand, fall to the floor. Metternich turned pale, but made no movement to raise it, as his politeness at any other time would have dictated; and Napoleon, after passing and repassing it several times, at length kicked it aside.

After a pause of a few minutes, during which not a word passed on either side, Napoleon became more tractable, and, reverting to fair words, contended for a congress, to continue its sittings even during hostilities, in case they should recommence. A convention, in consequence, was made, stipulating that the congress should meet at Prague on the 5th of July, at latest, and Austria agreed to procure the prolongation of the armistice to the 10th of August. The convention was based on the mediation of the Emperor of Austria, and accepted by Napoleon "for a general or continental peace." By this means, Metternich gained a great