XLIV. MOHRUNGEN. Meanwhile the Russian army con- CHAP. tinued its advance; on the 22d, headquarters were established at Bischopstein, and the Cossacks pushed 1807. on to Heilberg; and on the same day, a severe action Jan. 22. took place at Lecberg, from whence the French cavalry, under Colbert, were driven in the direction of Allenstein. Ney, now seriously alarmed, dispatched couriers in all directions to collect his scattered divi-, 1 Dum. xvii. sions, and on the 23d resumed his headquarters at 297, 307. Neidenberg, extending his troops by the left towards 353. Gilgenberg to lend assistance to Bernadotte.1 Jom. ii. Wilson, 84, 85. dotte, at near Moh with diffi Bernadotte, informed by despatches from all quarters of this formidable irruption into his cantonments, was rapidly concentrating his troops at Mohrungen, when Benningsen, with greatly superior forces, fell upon him. The French troops, eighteen thousand strong, were posted in rugged ground at Georgenthal, two miles in front of that town. General Makow at- Bernatacked them with the advanced guard of the Russians, tacked before sufficient forces had come up, and after a san- rungen, guinary conflict, in which the eagle of the 9th French escapes regiment was taken and retaken several times, and culty. finally remained in the hands of the Russians, suffered the penalty of his rashness by being repulsed towards Leibstadt. In this bloody affair both parties had to lament the loss of two thousand men, and the Russian general, Aurepp, was killed. It was the more to be regretted that this premature attack had been made, as Lestocq was at the moment at Wormditt, or five leagues distant on the right; Gallitzen, with five thousand horse, at All-Reichau, at the same distance on the left; Osterman Tolstoy at Heiligenthal, and Sacken at Elditten, all in the immediate neighbourhood, so that, by a concentration of these forces, the whole French corps might with ease have been made CHAP. XLIV. on the left and Dant The task of reducing the fortified towns on the Lower Oder, and between that and the Vistula, was 1807. allotted to Marshal Mortier. He took a position, in Operations the middle of December, at Anclam; and, upon his towards approach, the Swedish forces retired to Stralsund. Pomerania While in this station, he drew his posts round Colzic. berg, and several skirmishes occurred with the Prussian garrisons of that place. Matters remained in that situation till the end of January, when the blockade of Stralsund was more closely established, which continued till the conclusion of the campaign. More important operations took place at Dantzic and Graudentz, the siege of both which places was much facilitated by the great military stores taken in the towns of Silesia. They were brought down the Oder to near its mouth, and thence transported by land to the neighbourhood of these fortresses; and with such vigour did Marshal Lefebvre push forward the 'Dum. xvii. operations, especially against the former of these 223, 237. towns, that, before the end of January, considerable progress had been made in the works.1 Jom. ii. 387. of Marmont in Illyria. On the return of Napoleon to Warsaw, he received Operations detailed accounts of the operations of Marmont in Illyria since the commencement of hostilities in October. For a long period, and during the time when it was understood that a negotiation was on foot between the two governments, a sort of tacit suspension of arms existed between the French marshal and were much attached, from so complete a destruction of the barrier raised with so much care both against Austria and Russia. Nothing could more clearly demonstrate the determination of the French Emperor to reduce Prussia to the rank of a third-rate power; but the policy, with reference to the future interests both of France and Germany, of destroying the chief barrier of both against Muscovite aggression, was extremely doubtful. See MONTVERAN, Hist. Const. de la Situat. de l'Angleterre en 1816, 147, and DUM. xvii. 99, 100. XLIV. the Russians; but when it was distinctly ascertained CHAP. that hostilities had been resumed, the flames of war extended to the smiling shores of the Adriatic Sea. 1807. The Muscovites, strengthened by the arrival of Admiral Siniavin with a powerful squadron, resumed the offensive, and compelled Marmont to abandon the point of Ostro, and fall back on Old Ragusa, where he fortified himself in a strong position in front of the town, and resolved to await the arrival of his flotilla and reinforcements. Encouraged by this re- Sep. 29. trograde movement, the Russians, six thousand strong, supported by some thousand Montinegrins, advanced to the attack; but they were anticipated by the French Sep. 30. general; and after a sharp action, the new levies were dispersed, and the regular troops compelled to take refuge within the walls of Castelnuovo, after sustaining a loss of six hundred men.1 1 Dum.xvii. 240, 256. efforts to vigorous At the same period, a courier from Constantinople brought intelligence of the declaration of war by the Porte against Russia. This was an event of the very highest importance, promising, as it did, to effect so Napoleon's powerful a diversion in the Russian forces: and Na-stimulate poleon therefore resolved to improve to the uttermost the Turks so auspicious a change by contracting the closest alli-resistance. ance with the Turkish government. Though General Michelson had early gained considerable advantage, and was advancing towards Belgrade, which had fallen into the hands of Czerny George and the insurgent Servians, yet the disasters of the Prussian war had opened the eyes of the Cabinet of St Petersburg, when it was too late, to the imprudence of which they had been guilty in engaging at once in two such formidable contests; and thirty-six battalions and forty squadrons about twenty-five thousand men) were ordered to advance with all possible rapidity from the plains of XLIV. CHAP. Moldavia to the banks of the Bug. Desirous to derive every possible advantage from this great diver1807. sion, Napoleon sent instructions to his ambassador at Constantinople, General Sebastiani, to use the greatest efforts to induce the Turkish government to enter vigorously into the contest; while to Marshal Marmont he gave orders to send French officers into all the Ottoman provinces, with orders to do their utmost every where to rouse the Mussulman population against the Muscovite invaders ;* while the relations of France Jan. 2, 1807. *.These instructions to Marmont are well worthy of attention, both as evincing the views Napoleon already entertained in regard to the Ottoman empire, and setting in a clear light his subsequent perfidious conduct in abandoning that power to the ambition of Russia, by the treaty of Tilsit. “A courier, just arrived from Constantinople, has announced that war against Russia is declared: great enthusiasm prevails at that capital, twenty regiments of Janissaries have just set out from its walls for the Danube, and twenty more will speedily follow from Asia. Sixty thousand men are at Hersova; Paswah Oglou has assembled twenty thousand at Widdin. Send immediately five engineer officers and as many of artillery to Constantinople-aid the pachas in every possible way with counsel, provision, and amunition. It is not unlikely that I may send yon with 25,000 men to Widdin, and there you will enter into the system of the Grand Army, of which you would form the extreme right. Twenty-five thousand French, supported by sixty thousand Turks, would soon force the Russians not to leave 30,000 men on the Danube, as they have done, but to forward twice that number to defend their own frontiers in that quarter. Send twenty or thirty officers to the pachas, if they demand so many; but the period for the employment of troops is not yet arrived. The Turks may be relied on as faithful allies, because they hate the Russians, therefore be not sparing in your supplies of all sorts to them. An ambassador from Persia as well as Turkey has just been at Warsaw; the court of Ispahan also, as the sworn enemy of Russia, may be relied on as our friend. Our relations with the Eastern powers are now such that we may look forward shortly to transporting 40,000 men to the gates of Ispahan, and from thence to the shores of the Indus :-projects which formerly appeared chimerical are now no longer so, when I receive ambassadors from the Sultan, testifying a serious alarm at the progress of Russia, and the strongest confidence in the protection of France. In these circumstances, send your officers over all the Turkish provinces, they will make known my disposition towards the Grand Seignor, and that will exalt the general enthusiasm, XLIV. with Persia and Turkey were considered of such para- CHAP. mount importance, that they were made the subject of a special message to the Senate, which declared 1807. "The Emperor of Persia, tormented, as Poland was for sixty years, by the intrigues of Russia, is animated by the same sentiments as the Turks. He has resolved to march upon the Caucasus to defend his dominions. Who could number the duration of the wars, the number of campaigns, which would be required one day to repair the calamities consequent upon the Russians obtaining possession of Constantinople? Were the tiara of the Greek faith raised again, and extended from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, we should see in our own days our provinces attacked by clouds of barbarians; and if, in that tardy struggle, civilized Europe should happen to fall, our culpable indifference would justly excite the reproaches of posterity, and would become a subject of opprobrium in history." Memorable words! when the events 1 Jom. ii. which subsequent times have brought about, and the 345, 349. objects of political apprehensions in our own time, are Bign. vi. taken into view.1 121. residence The residence of the French generals and officers at Warsaw appeared a perfect Elysium after the fa- Delightful tigues and privations to which they had been exposed. of the The society of that capital is well known to be one of French at the most agreeable in Europe, from the extraordinary talents and accomplishments of the women of rank of which it is composed. No person can have mingled while at the same time you will be able to acquire for me information which may prove in the highest degree useful. In a word, General, I am the sincere friend of Turkey, and wish to do it all the good in my power; let that principle regulate all your actions. I consider the Turkish declaration of war against Russia as the most fortunate circumstance which could possibly have occurred in my present situation."-JOMINI ii. 347-349. Warsaw. |