The losses in this battle were prodigious; twenty-five thousand men were killed or wounded on the side of the Russians; and thirty thousand on that of the French, besides ten thousand who temporarily deserted their colors. The Russians lost sixteen guns and fourteen standards, and captured twelve French eagles in return.

Immediately after the battle, Napoleon gave orders for his heavy artil. lery and baggage to defile toward Landsberg; but he was relieved from the mortification of retreating before an enemy in an open field, by the measures of Benningsen, who, in opposition to the wishes and advice of his officers, and as yet ignorant of the immense loss and consequent intentions of the French Emperor, resolved on withdrawing toward Koningsberg. For nine days, the French remained at Eylau, unable to advance, unwilling to retreat, and apparantly awaiting some pacific overture from the enemy. Finding, at length, that the Russians manifested no disposition to propose an armistice, Napoleon resolved himself to take that step, and sent General Bertram to Benningsen's outposts with proposals of peace to the King of Prussia. The Russian commander sent the envoy on to Memel, where that monarch resided, and sent also a letter recommending him not to treat. The French officer, on being presented to the king, proposed a separate treaty of peace, and on terms far different from those which he would have offered after the battle of Jena; but Frederic William could not be induced to negotiate on a basis that excluded the Emperor of Russia from the treaty, notwithstanding the comparatively tempting offers that were made to him.

Foiled in his endeavors to seduce Prussia into a separate accommodation, Napoleon at length found himself compelled to retreat. Eylau was evacuated, and six hundred wounded men were there abandoned to the enemy, while the whole army, retiring by the great road of Landsberg, spread itself into cantonments on the banks of the Passarge, from Hohenstein to Braunsberg. Orders were at the same time given to

resume the siege of Dantzic.

The

The bloody contest of Eylau excited the liveliest hopes among the people of Germany and England, and the gloom and depression that it diffused through all ranks in France were proportionably deep. funds fell rapidly, thousands of families were called to mourn the death of relatives, and the general despondency was much increased when the message of Napoleon to the Senate, dated March 26th, announced that another conscription of eighty thousand men was needed, and must be anticipated from the supply not legally due until September of the following year. The number of young men who then annually attained the age of eighteen in France, was two hundred thousand; yet, within seven months, Napoleon had called for no less than two hundred and forty thousand. This requisition for men was followed by a demand for immense supplies of stores and ammunition: all the highways converging from France and Italy to Poland were covered with troops and baggagewagons; horses followed in great numbers from Holstein, Flanders and Saxony, and contributions were levied to an indefinite extent in Germany for the maintenance of the army. Indeed, so far did the provident care of the Emperor reach, and so strongly did he feel the danger of his position, he made gigantic preparations for a defensive warfare, and strengthened himself by fortresses and intrenchments, in anticipation of a struggle for life or death on the banks of the Rhine.

While Napoleon was taking those measures which resulted in the battle of Jena, the affairs of Turkey attracted some attention among the powers of Europe. As early as August, 1806, the French Emperor had sent General Sebastiani to Constantinople, for the express purpose of fomenting discontent between Turkey and Russia. By a treaty between these two powers, bearing date September 24th, 1802, it had been stipulated, that the governors of the two Turkish frontier provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia should not be removed from office without the consent of Russia; nevertheless, Sebastiani, seizing on this clause as the most promising ground for bringing about a rupture, succeeded in persuading the Sultan Selim to displace the rulers of those provinces: and as the step was taken, not only without the concurrence of Russia, but also without the knowledge of the other diplomatic functionaries at Constantinople, the Russian minister complained loudly of the infraction of the treaty, and he was supported by Mr. Arbuthnot, minister from Great Britain, who threatened an attack on the Turkish capital by the fleets of the two nations. A few days afterward, a Russian brig, which arrived at the mouth of the Bosphorus, was denied admission by the Turkish authorities: this so enraged the Russian minister, that he embarked on board the English brig Canopus, threatening to leave the harbor if the two dismissed governors were not replaced; and the British envoy added, that if the demand of Russia were not complied with, an English fleet would enter the Dardanelles and lay the Turkish capital in ashes. Intimidated by these threats, the Sultan acceded to the demand, and made ample promises of satisfaction for the steps he had taken: but it soon appeared that he had yielded to the storm only to place himself in a condition to brave it, and that his policy and predilections were identified with Napoleon's views. In the mean time, intelligence of the rupture, but not of its reconciliation, had reached St. Petersburg, and General Michelson was dispatched with a powerful army to make an immediate descent on the Turkish dominions; and although, afterward, news of the accommodation arrived, the Russian cabinet, either having no confidence in the good faith of Selim, or not sorry to find a pretext for invading Turkey, refused to countermand their orders to General Michelson, who advanced accordingly into the Sultan's territory. Sebastiani, improving the advantage thus offered, induced the Divan to declare war against Russia, which was formally proclaimed on the 30th of December. But notwithstanding the hostile attitude thus assumed by Turkey, she was yet in no condition to sustain the war, and General Michelson overran Wallachia and Moldavia, and took military possession of both provinces. An application from the cabinet of St. Petersburg to that of London, for the naval cooperation of the latter in prosecuting the contest, was readily acceded to; and Sir John Duckworth, having under his command seven ships of the line, two frigates and two bomb-vessels, received orders to force the passage of the Dardanelles and compel the Turks to renounce their alliance with France. On the 26th of January, when the fleet arrived off the mouth of these straits, Mr. Arbuthnot presented to the Sultan the ultimatum of Great Britain, requiring the dismissal of Sebastiani, the formation of a treaty with England and Russia, and the opening of the Dardanelles to the vessels of the latter power. This proposal was rejected, and a declaration of war against Great Britain immediately ensued.

Sir John Duckworth, on receiving this intelligence, made rapid preparations for passing the Dardanelles, and entered the straits on the 19th of February, with a fair wind. The Turks opened a cannonade from some of their batteries, but they were soon silenced by the broadsides of the fleet, which, steadily advancing, overtook and destroyed the ship of the Captain Pacha, together with five frigates, and cast anchor off the Isle of Princes, within three leagues of Seraglio Point. Sir John Duckworth then sent a message to the authorities of Constantinople, that unless the demands of Great Britain were instantly granted, he should in half an hour open his fire on the town.

At first, the Sultan thought of nothing but submission. Sebastiani, however, prevailed on him to pursue a different course; and, in order to gain time for repairing the ample batteries of the place, and of the Dardanelles, he dictated a reply, to the effect that the Sultan was anxious to reëstablish his amicable relations with England, and had appointed Allett Effendi to treat on his behalf. The unsuspecting admiral, who, by reason of Mr. Arbuthnot's illness, undertook the negotiation, was no match for the French general in diplomacy, and readily fell into the snare. Day after day passed in the exchange of notes and diplomatic communications; and, meanwhile, the entire defence having been intrusted to Sebastiani, the batteries of the capital, and along the whole straits through which the British fleet would have to retire, were put in order. The guns were mounted, ammunition supplied, men trained to the use of the cannon, and in short, preparations of the most formidable description were in rapid progress, while the English admiral remained inactive and credulous in the harbor of Constantinople: when at length he became sensible of his folly, and thought of retreating from his dangerous position, the wind had changed to the southwest, and rendered his escape, for the time, impossible. Fortunately, on the first of March, a breeze sprung up from the east, all sails were spread, and the fleet reëntered the perilous straits. The passage was disputed with great spirit, but the inexperience of the Turkish gunners prevented their improving to the utmost their advantage; and the British ships escaped the scene of danger with a loss of only two hundred and fifty men.

Sir John Duckworth, as soon as he had passed the straits, took possession of Lemnos and Tenedos, and established a strict blockade at the entrance to the Dardanelles from the Archipelago; and as a similar measure was adopted by the Russian fleet at the mouth of the Bosphorus, the Turks soon began to suffer from famine. After a time, their necessities became so urgent, that they manned their ships of war and boldly determined to attack the Russian squadron. The result was what might have been anticipated. Four of their ships of the line were taken, three burned, and the remainder driven back. This action occurred on the 1st of July, 1807.

In the mean time, an event of great importance had occurred in Eng. land. This was the dismissal of the Whig ministry, on the 24th of March, and the appointment on the 8th of April of a new cabinet, having among its members Mr. Canning and Lord Castlereagh.

This change of ministry was followed by an immediate change in the policy of Great Britain with respect to continental affairs. The men who now succeeded to the charge of her foreign relations, had been educated in the school of Mr. Pitt, and early imbibed his feelings of hostility toward

the French Revolution. They were strongly impressed with the disastrous effects of the economical system of their predecessors, which had led them to withhold their resources at the decisive moment, when a proper application of them might have brought the war to a triumphant conclusion; they did their utmost to atone for past errors, by renewing the alliances of Great Britain with the continental powers; and in the case of Prussia, they advanced liberal subsidies, together with arms and ammunition. But it was too late to restore the relations of cordiality that existed between England and Russia in the preceding year, as the Czar could not forgive the ungracious refusal of aid solicited by him from the cabinet of London before the battle of Pultusk.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CAMPAIGN OF FRIEDLAND AND TILSIT.

THE two armies under Benningsen and Napoleon, remained in a state of tranquillity for nearly four months after the battle of Eylau; but during this time, some comparatively trivial operations had been undertaken by detached parties of the respective nations, and the siege of Dantzic was maintained with a force proportionate to its importance. This city, formerly one of the most flourishing of the Hanse Towns, had fallen to the lot of Prussia on the last partition of Poland, in 1794; and though it had much declined in wealth and population since that disastrous period, it was still a place of strength and consideration. Its situation at the mouth of the Vistula gave it a monopoly of the commerce of Poland, which consisted in the export of immense quantities of wheat and the import of the productions of almost every civilized country. The fortifications of Dantzic were strong, but its principal defence lay in the marshy nature of the ground in its vicinity which was traversed only by a few dikes, and in the power which the besieged had of inundating the country to the extent of several miles, by the sluices of the Vistula. The garrison was composed of twelve thousand Prussians and five thousand Russians, under the command of Field-marshal Kalkreuth.

As early as the middle of February, Napoleon gave orders for the more vigorous prosecution of the siege, and detached a large body of his best troops for that purpose. The besieging force proceeded by regular approaches, took the several outworks of the place one after another, and by the 7th of May, the garrison, though well furnished with provisions, began to fail in ammunition. As the numbers of the French enabled them to resist every attempt of the Russians to throw supplies into the town, this deficiency soon rendered its defence impossible for any great length of time; and on the 24th of May, its commander was forced to capitulate. The garrison was permitted to retire with their arms and the honors of war, on condition of not serving against France for a year, or until regularly exchanged; and Dantzic, with its nine hundred pieces of cannon, fell into the hands of the French troops.

On the reopening of the campaign between the two armies, Benningsen

was able to muster but a hundred and twenty thousand men, which number included the detached corps of sixteen thousand Prussians and Russians, under Lestocq, in front of Koningsberg, and the left wing, fifteen thousand strong, under Tolstoy, on the Narew; so that the force to be relied on in direct opposition to Napoleon, was scarcely ninety thousand men. The exertions of the French Emperor had assembled a much larger force. Exclusive of an army of observation on the Elbe, and the garrisons and blockading corps in his rear, no less than a hundred and fifty thousand infantry and thirty-five thousand cavalry were ready for immediate action on the Passarge and the Narew. Hence, vast as were the resources of Russia when she had time to collect into one focus her unwieldy strength, she was now overmatched on her own frontier.

After the fall of Dantzic, Benningsen was induced by the exposed situation of Ney's corps at Guttstadt, on the right bank of the Passarge, midway between the two armies, to hazard an attack on that insulated body. Early on the morning of the 5th of June, the Russian army was put in motion for the accomplishment of this enterprise, and two feigned attacks were made on the fortified bridges of Spandau and Lomitten, in order to distract the enemy's attention: these attacks were so spiritedly maintained, that the French officers conceived the forcing of the bridge to be the chief object of the Russian commander. Meanwhile, the real attack was directed against Ney, seven miles to the right of the Passarge, and seemed to promise perfect success, as the French marshal was taken entirely by surprise. But the Russians advanced in detachments, and strict orders had been given not to begin the battle until all were on the ground; consequently, some delays having occurred on the march, Ney was enabled to recover from his confusion, and organize a retreat before the Russians assailed him. The action at length commenced at two o'clock; Guttstadt was carried by assault, and four hundred prisoners, with several guns and a quantity of magazines, were taken; but, owing to the dilatory movements of the Russians, Ney retired with comparatively little loss to Aukendorf, where he passed the night, and the next day he made good his retreat to Dippen. Napoleon took measures to retaliate this attack, by a general advance upon the Russian position; but Benningsen had no desire to meet the whole French army with his inferior numbers, and accordingly withdrew to the camp at Heilsberg, which he had previously intrenched with great care.

Napoleon pursued the retreating columns to their intrenchments, and, on the 10th of June, prepared for a general attack. He prevailed in the first instance, and two French regiments established themselves within the Russian redoubts; but they were soon charged, broken and totally destroyed. Following up this success, the Russians sallied forth upon the plain, and forced Soult's division to give ground. At the same time, the divisions of St. Cyr, St. Hilaire and Legrand, which had penetrated to the foot of the redoubts along the line, were driven back with great loss; and at this juncture, when the French were retiring at all points, night terminated the action.

At eleven o'clock, in the night, a deserter from the French was brought to Benningsen's head-quarters and informed him that a fresh attack was about to be made. The Russians immediately stood to their arms, and were scarcely prepared for the new movement, when, by the uncertain starlight, dark masses of the enemy were seen to emerge from the woods