With a cry of joy the princess did as she was directed and the order of arrest, which would have resulted in Hatzfeld's death in an hour, was recalled.
While at Berlin the Emperor addressed his troops in a proclamation in which he said: "Our entrance into Potsdam and Berlin had been preceded by the fame of our victories. We have made 60,000 prisoners, taken sixty-five standards, among which are the colors of the King of Prussia's guards, six hundred pieces of cannon, and three fortresses. Among the prisoners there are upwards of twenty generals; yet, notwithstanding all this, more than half our troops regret their not having fired a single shot * * * Soldiers, the Russians boast of coming to meet us, but we will advance to encounter, and save them half their march; they shall meet another Austerlitz in the heart of Prussia. A nation that can so soon forget our generous treatment after that battle,—owed their safety only to the capitulation we granted them,—is a power that cannot successfully contend against us. We will not again be the dupes of a treacherous peace."
Before leaving Berlin Napoleon received a deputation of the Senate, sent from Paris to congratulate him on the success of his campaign. Accompanied by representatives from the army, he made them the bearer of the trophies of his recent victories. He then prepared to extinguish whatever resistance existed in a few garrisons of the Prussian monarchy and to meet, before they could reach the soil of Germany, those Russians who were now advancing, too late, to the assistance of Frederic William.
[VII]
THE BATTLE OF EYLAU
Before opening the great campaign with Russia Napoleon received the explanation of the Elector of Saxony, who truly stated that Prussia had forced him to take part in the war. The apology was accepted, and from this time the Elector adhered to the league of the Rhine and was a faithful ally of Napoleon. On November 25th, 1806, the Emperor of France left Berlin and established himself on the 27th at Posen, a central town of Poland, which country began to manifest an agitation arising from the animating prospect of restored independence. The unfortunate but brave Poles entreated his aid; but Napoleon could not make them a positive promise of their restoration as a kingdom. His observation on the subject was, "that, if the match should once be lighted, there was no knowing how long it might continue to burn."
From the headquarters at Posen, Napoleon addressed his soldiers on December 2nd, saying: "It is a year ago to-day, at this very hour, that you were on the battlefield of Austerlitz. The dismayed Russian battalions fled in disorder, or, surrounded, gave up their arms to their victors. The next day they sued for peace, but we were imposed on: scarcely escaped by our, perhaps, overweening generosity, from the disasters of a third coalition, they ventured upon a fourth.... Soldiers, we will not lay down our arms until the general peace shall have fixed and assured the power of our allies and restored to our commerce its safety and its colonies." The proclamation produced an exhilarating effect on the soldiers and throughout Germany.
In the meantime Warsaw was put in a state of defense, and the auxiliary forces of Saxony and the new confederates of the Rhine were brought up by forced marches, while strong reinforcements from France repaired the losses of the early part of the campaign.
The French army at length advanced in full force and crossed successively the rivers Vistula, the Narew and Bug, forcing a passage wherever it was disputed, the Russian detachments being repulsed as often as they presented themselves. But it was not the intention of Bennigsen, the Russian general, to give battle to forces superior to his own, and he therefore retreated behind the Wkra. On the 23rd of December Napoleon arrived in person upon the Wkra and ordered the advance of his army in three divisions. He was fully aware that he was approaching a conflict of a very different kind from that which he had maintained with Austria, and more lately against Prussia. These troops, however highly disciplined, wanted that powerful and individual feeling which was a strong characteristic of the Russians,—a feeling that induces the soldier to resist to the last moment, even when resistance can only assure him of revenge. They were, in fact, those same Russians of whom Frederick the Great said, "that he could kill, but could not defeat them." They were also of strong constitution and inured to the iron climate in which Frenchmen were now fighting for the first time. The Cossacks are trained from early childhood to the use of the lance and sword, and familiarized to a horse peculiar to the country,—tractable, hardy, swift and sure-footed, beyond any breed perhaps in the world. On the actual field of battle the Cossack's mode of attack is singular; instead of acting in line, a body of them about to charge disperse at the word of command, and joining in a loud yell and hurrah, each acting individually upon the object of attack, whether infantry, cavalry or artillery, to all of which they have been in this wild way of fighting most formidable assailants.
In this campaign the Cossacks took the field in great numbers, under their celebrated hetman Platoff. The Russians also had in their service Tartar tribes who resemble the Cossacks in warfare; but they were little better than hordes of roving savages. On the plain between the town of Pultusk and the wood the right of the Russian position was formed, and on December 26th they were attacked by the French division of Lannes and Davoust with but partial success. The French lost nearly 8,000 men, killed and wounded, while the Russian loss amounted to about 5,000. The French retreated after nightfall. On the same day another division engaged in action at Golymin, driving back the French after which the Russian commander retreated for the purpose of concentrating his forces with the Grand Army. Both engagements were without immediate results, and instead of pressing their operations, the French retreated into winter quarters, Napoleon withdrawing his guard as far as Warsaw, while the other divisions were cantoned in the towns to the eastward.