During the five years that followed the peace of Tilsit, Frederick' William was the mere vassal of Napoleon, who seized every oppor tunity of humbling and weakening him still more. The means which he employed had however sometimes the contrary effect, and in one instance he showed his anger at being disappointed in very strong terms. Napoleon had no sooner taken possession of Berlin than he issued his famous decree, by which the continent of Europe was shut' against all intercourse with Great Britain, and which ordered the seizure of English goods wherever they might be found. By the treaty of Tilsit, Frederick William was compelled to give effect to that monstrous decree in his remaining dominions, although England was nearly the only country in which the Prussians could sell their corn, hemp, and timber, and Napoleon expected that as Prussia had already buffered so much during the short war with England iu 1806, she would now soon lose the last chance of raising money, and thus give him a pretext to put the whole country under his administration till she should have paid her debt. Just at the time when Prussia was reduced to such a state that the royal family had no better dinner than the humblest mechanic, and the king's plate and jewels were at Hamburg to be sold, au immense quantity of English goods was discovered at Stettio, and in some other sea-ports. The Prussian officers speedily and secretly sold them, their purchasers being mostly Frenchmen, and the money thus raised-1,000,000/. sterling as some say, or 700,000/. according to others—was employed in diminishing the French debt. When Napoleon was informed of the fact, he was greatly excited, but it was than too late to seize the goods and put the money in his own purse.
In 1S12 Napoleon set out on his campaign against Russia, and Frederick William was under the necessity of joining his oppressor and seudiug a body of 20,000 men to act against the Emperor Alex ander. At Dresden Napoleon was received by a host of potentates. Among them was Frederick William, but though he was obliged to bow, he did it as stiffly as possible, spoke very little, and by his reserved behaviour increased the ill-feelings of Napoleon against him.
If Napoleon had been victorious in Russia, Prussia would have disappeared from amoug the kingdoms of Europe; and both Napo leon and Frederick William well knew that. The Prussian contingent fought under Marshal Macdonald, on the extreme left of the French, which was operating against Riga in the direction of St. Petersburg, and the Prussians behaved so well as to deserve the praise of their French commander. In consequence of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, the left wing of his army retreated also, but slowly. Closely pressed by the Russians, the Prussian general York, the deacondant of au English family settled in Prussia, suddenly made a truce with his Russian opponent, General Diebitsch. A few days afterwards, 80th of December, they concluded the famous convention of Poearum, in consequence of which the Prussian army retreated into Prussia, and all hostilities between the corps of York and Diebitsch ceased. Napoleon's wrath at this unexpected event was iudescribable, and he sent a threatening letter to Frederick William, demanding that York should be deprived of his commend, and be tried by a court-martial for high treason. Frederick William was then in Berlin, surrounded by French troops : he consequently declared the convention of Posartun null and void, and ordered York to be arrested. A sort of mock investigation of the case took place, but it was soon dropped, and subsequent events showed that, although perhaps without direct orders, York had acted according to the secret wishes of his royal master : it had indeed been sufficiently obvious for some time that the Pruaslau king was only acting with Napoleon as long as it suited his own purpose.
Frederick William hastened to where be had an interview with the Emperor Alexander. On the 28th of February 1813, he signed a treaty of peace and alliance with Alexander at Kaliseh, in Poland, but as yet no war was declared against France, and the remnants of the French army, which retreated through Prussia, were bovitably received by tho inhabitant's although they brought unspeakable misery over the country. At last, on tho 17th of March 1813, Frederick William, perceiving that he could do so with apparently little risk, declared war against France, and issued the famous proclamation to his subjects which roused the whole nation as one man, in arms against the foreign usurper.
In two pitched battles at Ltitzen, on the 2nd of May, and at Bautzen, on the 20th and 21st of May, Napoleon was victorious over the com bined Prussians and Russians • but neither of these victories had any important consequences for hill, and eo far were the allies from being downcast, that they retreated only a short distance, and immediately reassumed a threatening attitude. Where Napoleon did not command in person, and especially in the Iliac war, the French were regularly beaten; and he accordingly listened to the proposition of Frederick William and Alexander to settle their differences peacefully. They made a truce at Poiechavitz on the 9th of June to last till the 17th of August, and a congress was assembled at Prague under the mediation of Austria, which until thou had kept a strict neutrality. Both of the belligerent parties endeavoured to draw Austria into their interest, and both of them wanted time to increase their armies in case of a new ontbreak of hostilities. Napoleon having peremptorily rejected the main condition of definitive pence, namely, to give up all his conquests in Germany and to withdraw with his armies beyond the Rhine, Sweden, and Austria declared for the allies; and as Napoleon had gradually augmented his forces by new levies in France, and by withdrawiug 50,000 veteran troops from Spain to Germany, he broke off the negociatlous, and the war oommersced again on the 17th of August. The patriotic enthusiasm which first animated Prussia was then spreading over all Germany, and principally Northern Germany, whence the French had been driven out by the inhabitants imme diately after Prussia's declaration of war against France ; but although Marshal Davoust and General Vaudamme soon brought the people again to obedience, the allies knew that they could reckon upon a general rising at the first opportunity. The forces of the allies in August have been estimated at 500,000 men, of which about 200,000 were Prussians; but this estimate is rather below than above the real number. The army of Napoleon was considerably less : but in the north Denmark had declared for him and damaged the operation of the allies on that side. On the 27th of August Napoleon gable I another victory at Dresden ; but having advanced upon Bohemia, part of his army was entirely routed at Kulm by the Russians, and at Nolleudorf by the Prussian general Kleist. Upon this the hopes of Napoleon were blighted by one defeat after another, and in the battles of Grossbeeren, Dennewitz, Katzbach, Gordis and many others, the Prussians and their brave commander Blucher restored the honour of their arms, and reduced Napoleou to a most critical position in the neighbourhood of Leipzig. In the battle of Leipzig the French power was broken, or rather in three successive battles on the 16th, 18th, and 19th of October, and there agaiu Blucher and the Prussians obtained the greater share of glory. It was on the 18th, in the evening, when Frederick William and the Emperors of Austria and Russia met on n hill near Probstheida, where the centre of the French position had been, and descending from their horses, em braced each other in the presence of their soldiers, and kneeling down, remained long in silent prayer. From Leipzig the remnants of the French army tied to the Rhine. The passage of tho Rhlue was effected by Napoleon on the 2nd of November. Frederick William, urged by Blucher, advised the allies to invade France, but there was a contrary opinion at head-quarters, and two months were spent in inactivity before at last the Russo-Prussians crossed the Rhine on the tat of January 1814. The beginning of the campaign in France was sigualis_d by the battles of Brienne and La Rothiere, where Bliieher once more obtained an advantage over Napoleon. Frederick William and Alexander were witnesses of the battle at Brienne. During the subsequent negotiations at Chatillon Frederick William appeared to be satisfied with moderate conditions, but Napoleon was victorious in several battles that were fought during the negotiations, and the French pleuipotentiaries withdrew from Chatillon.