87] As for the Russians, he writes, they are thinned by
disease, and must spread out widely in order to besiege the many
fortresses between the Vistula and the Elbe. Indeed, he assures his
ally, the King of Bavaria, that it will be good policy to let them
advance: "The farther they advance, the more certain is their ruin."
Sixty thousand troops were being led by Bertrand from Italy into
Bavaria.[288] These, along with the corps of Eugene and Davoust, would
crush the Russian columns. And, while the allies were busy in Saxony,
Napoleon proposed to mass a great force under the shelter of the Harz
Mountains, cross the Elbe near Havelberg, make a rush for the relief
of Stettin, and stretch a hand to the large French force beleaguered
at Danzig.

Such was his first plan. It was upset by the rapidity of the Cossacks
and the general uprising of Prussia. Augereau's corps was driven from
Berlin by a force of Cossacks led by Tettenborn; and this daring free
lance, a native of Hamburg, thereupon made a dash for the liberation
of his city. For the time he was completely successful: the fury of
the citizens against the French _douaniers_ gave the Cossacks and
patriots an easy triumph there and throughout Hanover. This news
caused Napoleon grave concern. The loss of the great Hanse Town opened
a wide door for English goods, English money, and English troops into
Germany. It must be closed at all costs: and, with severe rebukes to
Eugene and Lauriston, who were now holding the line of the middle
Elbe, he charged Davoust (March 18th) to hold the long winding course
of that river between Magdeburg and Hamburg. The advance of this
determined leader was soon to change the face of affairs in North
Germany.

Shortly before Napoleon left Paris for the seat of war, he received
the new Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwarzenberg (April 9th). With a
jocular courtesy that veiled the deepest irony, he complimented him on
having waged _a fine campaign in_ 1812. Austria's present requests
were not reassuring. While professing the utmost regard for the
welfare of Napoleon, she renewed her offer of mediation in a more
pressing way. In fact, Metternich's aim now was to free Austria from
the threatening pressure of Napoleon on the west and of Russia on the
east. She must now assure to Europe a lasting peace--"not a mere truce
in disguise, like all former treaties with Napoleon"--but a peace that
would restrict the power of France and "establish a balanc