mand of Field-marshal Kamenskoi, a veteran of the school of Suwarroff, nearly eighty years of age, and little qualified to measure swords with the conqueror of Western Europe. But the known abilities of Benningsen and Buxhowden, the two next in command, would, it was hoped, compensate for his want of experience in the novel art of warfare which Napoleon had introduced.

immense force, the front was advanced | Graudenz were completed from its shattowards the enemy. Davoust and Mu- tered ranks. Thus the total allied rat had entered Warsaw at the end of forces were not above ninety thousand November, which was abandoned by the strong, and, for the actual shock of war Prussians at their approach; and two in the field, not more than seventy-five days afterwards they crossed the Vistu- thousand men could be relied on. This la, and occupied the important tête-de-imposing array was under the compont of Praga on its right bank, which was in like manner evacuated without a struggle. On the right Lannes supported them, and spread himself as far as the Bug; while on the left, Ney had already made himself master of Thorn, and marched out of that fortress, supported by the cavalry of Bessières and followed by the corps of Bernadotte. In the centre, Soult and Augereau were preparing with the utmost activity to surmount the difficulties of the passage of the Vistula at Plock and Modlin. Thus eight corps were assembled, ready for active service, on that river, which, even after taking into view all the losses of the campaign, and the numerous detachments requisite to keep up the communications in the rear, could in all bring a hundred thousand men into the field; while the powerful reinforcements on their march, through Prussia and Poland, promised to enable the Emperor to keep up the active force in front at that great numerical amount.

22. Headquarters had been established at Pultusk since the 12th November: Warsaw, all the bridges of the Vistula, were in the hands of the Allies; and the firmness of their countenance gave rise to a belief that they were disposed to dispute the passage of that river with the invaders. Until the arrival of the second army under Buxhowden, however, which was advancing by forced marches from the Niemen, they were in no condition to keep their ground against the French; and it was deemed better to give them the moral advantage arising from the occupation of the Polish capital, than to hazard a general engagement with so decided an

21. The Emperor Alexander was far from having an equal force at his disposal. The first army, under Benning-inferiority of force. After some inconsen, consisting of sixty-eight battalions and one hundred and twenty-five squadrons, could muster forty-five thousand men, organised into four divisions, under Ostermann Tolstoy, Sacken, Prince Gallitzin, and Sidmaratski. It arrived on the Vistula in the middle of November. The second, consisting also of sixty-eight battalions and one hundred squadrons, arranged in the divisions of Touchkoff, Doctoroff, Essen, and Aurepp, was about thirty thousand strong, its regiments having not yet filled up the chasms made by the rout of Austerlitz. The wreck of the Prussian forces, re-organised and directed under the able management of General Lestocq, did not number more than fifteen thousand men, when the requisite garrisons for Dantzic and

siderable skirmishes, therefore, the Russians fell back at all points, their advanced posts were all withdrawn across the Vistula, and Warsaw, evacuated on the 28th, was occupied by Davoust on the 30th November. Previous to the opening of the winter campaign, Alexander addressed the following proclamation to his soldiers:-"Prussia formerly was the barrier between France and Russia, when Napoleon's tyranny extended over all Germany. But now the flame of war has burst out also in the Prussian states, and after great misfortunes, that monarchy has been struck down, and the conflagration now menaces the frontiers of our territory. It would be useless to prove to the Russians, who love the glory of their country, and are ready to undergo every sacrifice to

maintain it, how such events have con- | proposition, which amounted to a detributed to render our present efforts claration of want of confidence, both inevitable. If honour alone compelled in the integrity of the Russian governus to draw our sword for the protec- ment and the solvency of the Russian tion of our allies, how much more are finances, was of course rejected, and we now called upon to combat for our the result was, that no assistance, either own safety? We have in consequence in men or money, was afforded by Engtaken all the measures which the na- land to her gallant ally in this vital tional security requires-our army has struggle. An instance of parsimony and received orders to advance beyond the blindness beyond all example calamifrontier-Field-marshal Kamenskoi has tous and discreditable, when it is conbeen appointed to the command, with sidered that Russia was at that moment instructions to march vigorously against bearing the whole weight of France on the enemy-all our faithful subjects the Vistula, and that England had at will unite their prayers with ours to her disposal twenty millions in subsithe Most High, who disposes of the fate dies, and a hundred thousand of the of empires and battles, that he will pro- best soldiers in Europe. tect our just cause, and that his victorious arm and blessing may direct the Russian army, employed in the defence of European freedom."

24. No sooner had the advanced guards of Buxhowden's army begun to arrive in the neighbourhood of Pultusk, than Kamenskoi, whose great age 23. Sensible of the inferiority of its had by no means extinguished the forces to those which Napoleon had vigour by which he was formerly disassembled on the Vistula from all the tinguished, made a forward movement. states of Western Europe, the Russian Headquarters were advanced to Nacabinet made an application to the sielsk, and the four divisions of BenBritish government for a portion of ningsen's army cantoned between the those subsidies which she had so libe- Ukra, the Narew, and the Bug; while rally granted on all former occasions Buxhowden's divisions, as they succesto the powers who combated the com- sively arrived, were stationed between mon enemy of European independence; Golymin and Makow; and Lestocq, on and, considering that the whole weight the extreme right of the Allies, enof the contest had now fallen on Rus- camped on the banks of the Drewentz, sia, and the danger had now approach- on the great road leading to Thorn, was ed her own frontiers, they demanded, advanced almost up to the walls of that not without reason, a loan of six mil- fortress. The object of this general adlions sterling, of which one was to be vance was to circumscribe the French paid down immediately for the indis- quarters on the right bank of the Vispensable expenses connected with the tula; and as it was known that Napoopening of the campaign. It was easy leon with his guards was still at Posen, to see, however, from the answer to hopes were entertained that his troops this demand now, that the spirit of Pitt would be entirely driven from the right no longer directed the British councils. bank before his arrival, and the river The request was refused by the min-interposed between the winter quarters istry on the part of government; but of the two armies. it was proposed that a loan should be contracted for in England for the service of Russia, and that, for the security of the lenders, the duties on English merchandise, at present levied in the Russian harbours, should be repealed, and in lieu thereof, the same duties should be levied at once in the British harbours, and applied to the payment of the interest of the loan to the British capitalists. This strange

25. No sooner did Napoleon hear of this forward movement of the Russians, than he broke up from his quarters at Posen on 16th December, and arrived at Warsaw two days afterwards. No words can do justice to the warlike and patriotic enthusiasm which burst forth in that capital when they beheld the hero whom they hailed as their deliverer actually within their walls, and saw the ancient arms of Poland affixed

to the door of the hotel where the pro-ancholy presages in regard to the future visional government of Prussian Poland destiny of a realm thus agitated by the was established. The nobility flocked passion of independence, and the geninto the capital from all quarters; the erous sentiments of patriotic ardour, peasantry everywhere assembled in the with only a quarter of its former incities, demanding arms; the national habitants to maintain the struggle dress was generally resumed; national against its numerous and formidable airs were universally heard; several enemies. regiments of horse were speedily raised, and before the conclusion of the campaign, thirty thousand men were enrolled in disciplined regiments, from the Prussian provinces alone of the ancient monarchy. To secure for themselves the powerful support of the French Emperor, the Polish leaders were desirous not only that the entire Sarmatian nation should be restored, but that a prince of his own family should be placed on its throne. With this view they suggested Murat, the Emperor's brother-in-law, whose great reputation, especially as a cavalry officer, and his chivalrous character, seemed to point him out as peculiarly adapted for a nation whose nobles had boasted, in the days of their glory, that if the heaven itself were to fall, they would support it on the points of their lances. But Napoleon knew both the Poles and Murat too well to go into any such proposal. "I have not here," said he, "to beg a throne for my family —I have thrones enough to bestow without asking. Tell the Poles it is not by means of precautions, and personal calculations, that nations are delivered from a foreign yoke. I have come here for the general interest of Europe, to engage in one of the most difficult of enterprises, from which the Poles have more to gain than any other people. Their national existence is at stake, and not merely the general interests of Europe. If by unbounded devotion they second me sufficiently to secure success, I will award to them their independence. If not, I will do nothing, and leave them to the Russians and Prussians." The general enthusiasm did not make Napoleon forget his policy the provisional government was established by a decree of the Emperor, only "until the fate of Prussian Poland 27. This partisan warfare continued was determined by a general peace;" for ten days without any decisive reand the prudent began to entertain mel-sult on either side; but the arrival of

:

26. Having taken the precaution to establish strong têtes-de-pont at Praga, the outwork of Warsaw, Modlin, Thorn, and all the bridges which he held over the Vistula, Napoleon lost not an instant in resuming the offensive in order to repel this dangerous incursion of the enemy. Davoust, who formed the advanced guard of the army, was pushed forward from Praga on the road towards Pultusk, and soon arrived on the Bug; and, after having reconnoitred the whole left bank of that river, from its confluence with the Narew to its junction with the Vistula, made preparations for effecting the passage at Ökernin, a little below the junction with the Ukra. The Cossacks and the Russian outposts lined the opposite bank, and the difficulties of the passage were considerable; but they were not in sufficient force to dispute it in a serious manner; and after some sharp skir mishing, the experienced talents of General Gauthier, who was intrusted with the enterprise, established the French on the right bank, where they soon after sustained a severe action with the Russian advanced guard at Pomichowo. The Muscovites, however, returned in greater force; and the result was, that the French advanced guards were cut off, and the detachment to which they belonged fell back to the tête-de-pont established at the river. Meanwhile Soult and Augereau in the centre advanced to Plonsk, and Ney and Bernadotte, with Bessières' cavalry, moved forward on the left from Thorn to Soldau and Biezun, in such a manner as to threaten to interpose between the detached corps under Lestocq and Benningsen's main body, which was concentrated in the neighbourhood of Nasielsk.

campaign of 1812, and attached to Napoleon's household, fell into the hands of the Russians. On the same day Augereau fought from day break till sunset at Lochoczyn on the Ukra, with the divisions opposed to him, which at length began to retire. Thus the Rus sians, pierced in the centre by the passage of the Ukra at Czarnovo and Lochoczyn, and the combat at Nasielsk, were everywhere in full retreat. No decisive advantage had been gained; but the initiative had been taken from the enemy; and his divisions, separated from each other, were thrown into eccentric lines of retreat, which pro

Napoleon at Warsaw was the signal for | torian of the still more memorable the commencement of more important operations. On the 23d December, at daybreak, he set out from that capital for the army, with the Guards and Lannes' corps, and no sooner arrived at the advanced posts of Davoust, than he dictated on the spot directions for forcing the passage of the Ukra, which had hitherto bounded all their incursions.* The operation was carried into effect with the happiest success at Czarnovo, and with that ardour with which the presence of the Emperor never failed to animate the troops. After a severe action of fourteen hours, the passage was forced, and Count Ostermann, who commanded the Rus-mised every moment to separate them sian rear-guard, retreated upon Na- more widely from each other. sielsk. In this well-contested affair each party had to lament the loss of about a thousand men. Kamenskoi, finding the barrier which covered the front of his position forced, gave orders for concentrating his forces towards Pultusk on the Narew, and the Allies accordingly fell back at all points. They were vigorously pursued by the French, and another desperate conflict took place next day in front of Nasielsk, between General Rapp and the Russians under Count Ostermann Tolstoy, in which the latter were worsted, but not without a severe loss to the assailants. In this warm conflict the opposite bodies had become so intermingled that Colonel Ouvaroff, an aide-de-camp of Alexander, was made prisoner by the French; while Count Philippe de Ségur, destined for future celebrity as the his

"Napoleon," says Rapp, "no sconer arrived in sight of Okernin, than he reconnoitred the position of the Russians, and the plain which it was necessary to pass before arriving at the river. Covered with woods, intersected by marshes, it was almost as difficult to traverse as the fieldworks, which were bristling with Cossacks, were to carry on the opposite bank. The Emperor surveyed them long and with close attention; but as the thickets of wood in some places intercepted his view, he caused a ladder to

be brought, and ascended to the roof of a

cottage where he completed his observations. He then said, 'It will do-send an officer,' and when he arrived, dictated on the spot the minute directions for the movement of all the corps during the operation, which

are preserved in Dumas, xvii. 137."-RAPP, 125.

28. Kamenskoi, though a gallant veteran, was altogether unequal to the perilous crisis which had now arrived. The army, separated into two parts, of which one was moving upon Golymin, the other falling back towards Pultusk, was traversing a continual forest, through roads almost impassable from the mud occasioned by a longcontinued thaw, and the passage of innumerable carriages, which had broken it up in all parts. Overwhelmed by these difficulties, he issued orders to sacrifice the artillery, which impeded the retreat-gave directions to arrest the supplies destined for the army at Grodno, and himself took the road of Lomza. Deeming such an order wholly unnecessary, and the result of that approaching insanity which soon after entirely overset the mind of the veteran marshal, Benningsen took the bold step of disobeying it; and, in order to gain time for the artillery and equipages to defile in his rear, he resolved to hold fast in the position of PULTUSK, with all the troops which he had at his disposal. Nothing could be more acceptable to the Russians, to whom the fatigues and privations of a retreat, at a season when sixteen hours out of the

twenty-four were involved in total darkness, and the roads, bad at all times, were in many places several feet deep of mud, had been the severest trial of discipline and courage. No sooner, however, was it known that

they were marching towards a chosen field of battle, than their hardships and difficulties were all forgotten, and the troops which, from mid-day on the 25th, successively arrived at Pultusk, took up their ground in parade order, full of enthusiasm for the battle on the morrow. Before it was dark, sixty battalions and fifty-five squadrons, with one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, in all about forty thousand men, were here assembled; while the division of Doctoroff, with part of those of Sacken and Gallitzin, were opposed at GOLYMIN to Augereau's corps, one division of Davoust's, and one of Murat's cavalry. Three Russian divisions, viz. those of Essen, Aurepp, and Touchkoff, were at such a distance in the rear, both of Pultusk and Golymin, that they could not be expected to take any part in the actions which were approaching.

Russian retreat, the sacrifice of seventy pieces of their heavy artillery, the dreadful state of the roads, which impeded the French advance, and the impervious intervening country, which separated their numerous corps from each other, alone defeated this profound combination, and prevented the arrival at Pultusk and Golymin, before the enemy, the corps which were there destined to fall upon their retreating columns, or bar the road to the frontiers of Russia.

30. The position of Pultusk is the only one in that country where the ground is so far cleared of wood as to permit of any considerable armies combating each other in a proper field of battle. An open and cultivated plain on this side of the river Narew, there stretches out to the south and east of that town, which lies on the banks of its meandering stream. A succession of thickets surround this open space in all directions, excepting that on which the town lies; and on the inside of them the ground rises to a semicircular ridge, from whence it gradually slopes down towards the town on one side, and the forest on the other; so that it is impossible, till this barrier is surmounted, to get a glimpse even of the buildings. There the Russians were drawn up in admirable order in two lines-their left resting on the town of Pultusk, their right on the wood of Moszyn, which skirted the little plain, the artillery in advance; but a cloud of Cossacks swarmed in front of the array, and prevented either the force or composition of the enemy from being seen by the French as they advanced to the attack. Sacken had the command of the left; Count Ostermann Tolstoy of the right; Barclay de Tolly, with twelve battalions and ten squadrons, occupied a copsewood in front of the right; while Bagavout, with twenty battalions and ten squadrons, was

29. The object of Napoleon in these complicated operations was in the highest degree important; and the vigour of Benningsen and Prince Gallitzin, joined to the extreme shortness of the days and the horrible state of the roads, alone saved the Allies from a repetition of the disasters of Auerstadt and Jena. His right wing, under Lannes, was intended to cut Benningsen's army off from the great road through Pultusk; his centre, under Davoust, Augereau, Soult, and Murat, was destined to penetrate by Golymin and Makow to Ostrolenka, directly in the rear of that town, and two marches between Benningsen and the Russian frontier; while the left wing, under Ney, Bernadotte, and Bessières, was to interpose between Lestocq and the Russian centre, and throw him back into Eastern Prussia, where, driven up to the sea, he would soon, if the Russians were disposed of, be compelled, like Blucher, to surrender. A more masterly project never was conceived; it was almost a repetition of the semi-placed in front of the left, covering circular march of the Grand Army round Mack at Ulm; and the hesitation of Kamenskoi between an advance and a retrograde movement, served to offer every facility for the success of the enterprise. The celerity of the

the town of Pultusk: Benningsen was stationed in the centre;-names destined to immortal celebrity in future wars, and which, even at this distant period, the historian can hardly enumerate without a feeling of exultation