Excerpt from History of the Consulate and the Empire of France Under Napoleon, Vol. 9 of 12 Anglo-portuguese and twenty thousand Spaniards - Plans of the French generals - Possibility of holding in check, by means of a good system of operations, the English forces, and of even driving them back into Portugal - Fresh conflicts between the Government in Paris and that in Madrid, and the disastrous instructions which are their result - By these instructions, and Joseph's dilatoriness in evacuating Madrid, is caused a fresh dispersion of the French tr00ps - Resumption of operations in May 1813 - Four divisions of the army of Portugal having been sent to General Clausel in the north of the Peninsula, Joseph has only fifty-two thousand tr00ps to oppose to Lord Wellington - Retreat upon Valladolid and Burgos - The failure of provisions hastens our retrograde march - Two opinions prevail in the army: the one to the effect that it would be better to fall back upon Navarre, in order to be more certain of being able to rejoin General Clausel; the other, that the army should remain upon the great Bayonne route, in order to cover the French frontier - The reiterated orders received from Paris incline Joseph and Jourdan to follow the latter opinion - Numerous advices sent to General Clausel to procure his junction with the grand army between Burgos and Vittoria - Retreat upon Miranda del Ebro and Vittoria - Hope of being joined there by General Clausel - Unfortu nate inaction of Joseph and Jourdan during the days of the lgth and 20th of J une - Disastrous battle of Vittoria on the zrst of June, and complete ruin of the affairs of France in Spain - To whose fault the occurrence of these misfortunes should be attributed - Napoleon, excessively irritated against his brother Joseph, gives orders for his arrest should he visit Paris - Marshal Soult despatched to Bayonne to rally the army and resume the offensive - Return of Napoleon to Dresden, after an excursion of some days' duration to Torgau, Wittenberg, Magdeburg, and Leipsic - Results of the negotiations of Prague - MM. De Humboldt and d'anstett nominated to be the representatives of Prussia and Russia in the Congress of Prague These negotiators, arriving at Prague on the 11th of July, complain bitterly at not being met by the French plenipotentiaries on the appointed day - Chagrin and complaints of M. De Metternich Napoleon, returning to Dresden on the 1 5th, at length, after having delayed the selection of the French plenipotentiaries under various pretexts, nominates MM. De Narbonne and Caulaincourt - A false interpretation given to the convention, which prolongs the armistice, furnishes him with a fresh pretext for deferring the departure of M. De Caulaincourt - He hopes by thus gaining time to delay the resumption of hostilities until the r7th - The difficulty raised with respect to the armistice having been overcome, Napoleon sends M. De Caulaincourt, furnished with instructions which raise almost insoluble questions of form - In the meantime he leaves Dresden on the 25th of July for the purpose of meeting the Empress at Mayence - Financial affairs and policy of the Empire during the Saxon campaign - Affairs of the seminaries of Tournay and Gand, and of the jury of Antwerp - Return of Napoleon to Dresden on the 4th of August, after having passed in review the new corps which have arrived in Saxony - Frivolous difficulties with respect to matters of form, by which even the constitution of the Congress of Prague is prevented - M. De Metternich declares for the last time, that if at midnight on the roth of August the bases of a peace have not been agreed upon, the armistice will be renounced, and Austria. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com