By the success of these operations the French, after turning the Prussian left, became masters of their magazines, and placed themselves between their grand army and the cities of Berlin and Dresden. On the 12th, part of the French centre, under Marshal Davoust, entered Naumburg, and took possession of the Prussian magazines, which they set on fire. Their army now extended along the right bank of the Saale from Naumburg to Neustadt. Their first line was composed of the corps of Davoust, at Naumburg; of that of Lannes, at Jena; and of that of Augereau, at Kahla. In the second line was the grand duke of Berg, between Zeitz and Leipzig; the prince of Ponte Corvo, at Zeitz; the emperor and Soult, at Jena; and marshal Ney, at Neustadt.

The disasters of Schleitz and Saalfeld, and the unfortunate death of prince Louis, when known at the Prussian head-quarters, produced there universal consternation and dismay, though the extent and consequences of these calamities were far from being fully understood or foreseen. Fears were entertained, that the French, after breaking through and defeating their left, would advance to Dresden and take possession of Saxony. But so remiss were they in the most ordinary precautions, and so absurdly confident in the strength of their positions, that one of their patroles, sent out from head-quarters towards Naumburg to reconnoitre, returned without going to Naumburg, because when half way they met a traveller who told them there were no news of the French at Naumburg. From this state of blind security they were roused by the blaze of their magazines on the night of the

12th, which at once disclosed to them the real intentions of the enemy, and shewed how successful he had been in accomplishing his designs. Nothing now remained for them but to risk a general engagement without delay. Next day was employed, on both sides, in making arrangements for the important battle decisive of the fate of Prussia. The French army extended from Naumburg to Kahla, along the Saale, a line of six hours march, its centre being at Jena. The Prussians, who had been collecting the whole of their forces into one point, were assembled between Auerstadt, Weimar, and Jena. The two armies were separated by the heights of the Saale, which seemed to afford an impregnable position to the Prussians, and to oppose an insuperable barrier to the French. But, by some incredible oversight, the Prussian generals, satisfied with guarding the high road between Jena and Weimar, left the most important passes of the Saale unoccupied. Of this omission the French failed not to avail themselves. During the whole of the night of the 13th they were indefatigably employed in securing these passes, and transporting cannon to defend them; in which they were so successful, that, when day broke, the Prussians saw themselves attacked in their elevated position, which they had considered as an impregnable fortress; and so unsuspicious were they to the last moment of their danger, that at Rauhthal, the French, who had penetrated by the neglected pass of Swetzen, arrived within 300 paces of one of their columns before its approach was suspected.

At break of day the whole of the French army was under arms. The

light troops of the centre began the action by opening a brisk fire on the Prussians, which drove them from their advanced positions, and enabled the French line to extend itself on the plain, and draw up in order of battle. The Prussian left, amounting to about 50,000 men, were dispatched early in the morning towards Naumburg, to take possession of the impregnable defiles of Koesen; but these were already occupied by Davoust, whom they attacked eleven times successively, but in vain attempted to dislodge. Their centre, consisting of 80,000 men, was opposed to the French centre at Jena; and these were the only two divisions of their army engaged in the heat of the action. Their right, under general Ruchel, amounting to 12,000 men, did not come up till their centre was broken and thrown into disorder; and their rear guard, (formerly their vanguard), commanded by the duke of Saxe Weimar, was still at Meinungen, 30 miles distant from the field of battle. A thick fog obscured the early part of the day; and when it cleared up, the two armies beheld each other at the distance of less than cannon shot. The action began by some French battalions taking possession of a small village, from which the Prussians attempted to dislodge them. Lannes advanced to support his countrymen, and Soult to get possession of a wood upon his right occupied by the enemy. Another body of Prussians having made a movement upon the French left, Augereau put his troops in motion to repulse them. In less than an hour the action became general. Two hundred and fifty or three hundred thousand men with seven or eight hundred pieces of

artillery, scattered death in every direction, and exhibited one of the most awful scenes ever beheld. The Prussian infantry behaved with courage and firmness; but their cavalry, worn out, fatigued, and disheartened, maintained not its antient reputation. The French cavalry charged with the greatest spirit and boldness; and their artillery performed wonders. The most courageous soldiers could not approach without trembling the shower of balls that preceded the march of their columns. Both armies manouvred with the same exactness as on a field day, but the rapidity of the French evolutions astonished and disconcerted the Prussians. Soult having got possession of the wood, after a combat of two hours, pressed forward; and, at the same instant, the French reserve, both cavalry and infantry, advanced to the front line, which, being thus strengthened, threw the Prussians into disorder, and forced them to retire. They rallied, however, and returned to the action, which they maintained for about an hour; but they were again thrown into confusion by the advance of the second French reserve, composed of the dragoons and cuirassiers under the command of the grand duke of Berg. The charge of this body of horse, at the conclusion of the day, was irresistible. Neither cavalry nor infantry could withstand the shock, In vain did the Prussians form themselves into square battalions: their ranks were broken; artillery, cavalry, infantry, all were put to rout. The French reached Weimar as soon their fugitive enemies.

While the Prussian centre and right were thus completely defeated, their left, repulsed by Davoust in its

repeated

repeated attempts to drive him from the defiles of Koesen, was forced; after a combat of several hours, to fall back upon Weimar, at the moment when the broken corps, which had reached that city, were attempting to retreat in the direction of Naumburg. The confusion aris ing from these opposing currents may be easily imagined; in addition to which, the innumerable baggage waggons, that blocked up all the roads leading to Erfurt, impeded the retreat of the troops, and compelled them to consult their immediate safety by a precipitate flight. The king himself was forced to quit the high road, and, at the head of a small body of cavalry, to escape from this scene of disorder across the fields.

According to the French accounts, more than 20,000 Prussians were killed or wounded in this disastrous action, and from 30,000 to 40,000 taken prisoners. The duke of Brunswick and lieutenant-general Schmettaw were mortally wounded. Above twenty generals and lieute nant-generals were made prisoners, and 300 pieces of cannon and 60 standards were taken.

"

The loss of the French is stated, in their official reports, at 1,100 killed, and 3000 wounded. None of their officers above the rank of a brigadier-general was either killed or wounded.

Many were the errors of the Prussian generals in this engage ment. In addition to those already hinted at in the course of this narra

tive, the most fatal was their omitting on the 13th to possess themselves of the impregnable heights and de files of Koesen ; their neglecting to have any corps in reserve to sups port their battalions against the double reserve of the French; their leaving the duke of Saxe Weimar with 16,000 men at Meinungen, where he remained till next day, unacquainted with what had passed, the absence of all concert and cooperation between the two divisions of their army principally engaged; and the unprepared state in which they were found by the enemy when the action began. After the duke of Brunswick was carried off the field, there was no commander in chief to issue general orders to the army. The corps fought singly, without plan or combination, or attention to the movements of the enemy. When the action was lost, the troops who escaped from the field of battle fled in different direc tions, and, ultimately, were all taken prisoners or dispersed, because no rallying point to retreat upon had been settled, in case such a disaster should befal them.

A considerable body of Prussians under marshal Mollendorf and the prince of Orange Fulda made good their retreat to Erfurt; but next morning they were invested in that place by the grand duke of Berg; and on the following day they surrendered by capitulation. The pri soners taken at Erfurt amounted to 14,000 men, among whom, besides Mollendorf and the prince of Orange,

VOL. XLVIII.

were

were many other officers of distinction. A park of 120 pieces of cannon, with all the requisite imple. ments and ammunition, and magazines of great value, fell at the same time into the hands of the French. Mollendorf, when taken prisoner, was dangerously ill of his wounds. A marked degree of attention was shewn to him by the French, as one who had done all that lay in his power to prevent the breaking out of hostilities; while the duke of Brunswick and others, whom they denominated of the war faction, were treated with the coarsest scurrility and abuse in their official gazettes, and with extreme rigour when they had the misfortune to fall into their hands, or were reduced to the necessity of soliciting their clemency and indulgence.

Another division of the Prussian army, under general Kalkreuth, attempted to escape in a body over the Hertz mountains; but was overtaken at the village of Greusen, and defeated with loss. Magdeburg was the quarter to which the fugitive columns of the Prussians chiefly directed their flight; and prince Hohenlohe, though wounded, having reached that for. tress, a considerable army was col. lected there under his standard. The garrison of Magdeburg amounted to 12,000 men; but the place was ill adapted for sustaining a siege or maintaining an army; its magazines having been emptied, with a fatal improvidence, to supply the grand army when it took the field. Marshals Ney and Soult, and the grand duke of Berg, followed the Prussians in their flight to the walls of Magdeburg; and, in the total confusion and disorder into which

October 17th,

they were thrown, made a number of prisoners, and got possession of a great part of their artillery, baggage, and ammunition.

On the other side of Weimar, prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, who was advancing with the Prussian reserve from Custrin, instead of falling back on the news of the battle, continued his march to Halle, where he was attacked by the prince of Ponte-Corvo *, and defeated with considerable loss. In this engagement, which destroyed the last entire corps of the Prussian army, the French took 5000 prisoners and 34 pieces of cannon. The Prussians, in their retreat, burned the bridge at Dessau over the Elbe; but it was quickly re-established by the French. An attempt was also made to destroy the bridge at Wittenberg, which the French arrived in time to prevent.

Previously to the battle of Auerstadt+, a proclamation had been issued by Bonaparte, addressed to the Saxons in the Prussian army, with the view of detaching them from, or at least of rendering them suspected to, their allies; and, immediately after the battle, 6000 Saxon prisoners, who had been taken in the action, were set at liberty on giving their parole not to serve against the French; whose sole object, they were assured, in taking up arms, had been to preserve the independance of the Saxon nation, and to prevent it from being incorporated with the Prussian monarchy. These measures were accompanied by a friendly message to the elector at Dresden, in consequence of which that prince, who had been preparing to fly from his capital, remained there, withdrew from his connection

† On the 11th.

with Prussia, and soon after concluded a treaty of peace and alliance with France. Heavy contributions were, nevertheless, imposed on the electorate for the support of the French army; and the city of Leipzig, which had been long a place of deposit for English merchandize, was occupied, without delay, by a French column under general Macon; whose rigorous search for English goods and property in that city is less remarkable than his anticipation of the famous Berlin decree, in his declaration to the merchants of Leipzig, that the island of Great Britain was in a state of blockade.

*

The unfortunate king of Prussia, who had behaved with great gallantry in the battle of Auerstadt, arrived at Charlottenberg, near Berlin, on the 17th, and from thence continued his route to Custrin on the Oder. From Custrin he soon after repaired to Osterode in West Prussia, and from Osterode to Konigsberg, where he remained at the end of the year, without having again joined the army. He was followed to Custrin by the garrison of Berlin, which was withdrawn from that city on the 21st, and a provisional administration appointed to maintain the public tranquillity till the arrival of the French. This last event was not long delayed. On the morning of the 25th the corps of marshal Davoust entered Berlin, and was next day followed by that of Augereau. Bonaparte had arrived on the 24th at Potzdam, where he stopped to examine the apartment and visit the tomb of the great Frederick. He ordered the sword of that great man, his scarf, the

ribbon of his order, the black eagle, and all the colours he took in the seven years war, to be sent to the Hotel of the Invalids at Paris, as a present to the old soldiers who had served in the Hanoverian war, and memorial of one of the greatest generals recorded in history. He had already seized an opportunity of gratifying the long wounded vanity of his countrymen, by taking down the monument erected in commemoration of the battle of Rosbach, and ordering it to be conveyed to Paris, as a proof that the disgrace which that day had brought on the French arms was at length effaced. At Potzdam he was informed that Spandau had surrendered, though held by a strong garrison, and amply provided with stores and ammunition. On the 27th, he made his public entry into Berlin; and next day he gave audience to the foreign ministers of powers in amity with France, resident in that city; to the Lutheran and reformed consistories, whom he assured of his protection; to the members of the court of appeals, to whom he gave instructions how to administer justice, and to the civil authorities of the city, to whom he recommended strongly to maintain a vigilant police. "I will not suffer any windows to be broken," said he: "my brother the king of Prussia ceased to be a king from the day when prince Lewis Ferdinand was bold enough to break the windows of his majesty's ministers: his majesty should have ordered him to be hanged." Some of the persons, who presented themselves before him, on this and other occasions, were received with bitter taunts and

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