In Behalf of the Inhabitants of the adjacent Villages and Hamlets,
who have been reduced to extreme Distress by the Military
Operations in October, 1813.
The prosperity of Leipzig depends upon commerce, as that of commerce
depends upon liberty. Till 1806 it was a flourishing city. With England
in particular, whose manufactures and colonial produce were allowed to
be freely imported, its commercial relations were of the highest
importance. For the opulence which Leipzig then enjoyed it was indebted
to its extensive traffic, which contributed to the prosperity of Saxony
in general; but it was more particularly the numerous adjacent villages
and hamlets that owed to our city their respectability, their
improvements, and the easy circumstances of their inhabitants.
The well-known events in October, 1806, rendered Saxony--the then happy
Saxony--dependent on the will of Napoleon. Commerce, and the liberty of
trade, were annihilated as by magic. A new code was enforced, and
Leipzig was severely punished for the traffic which it had heretofore
carried on with England and which had been encouraged by its sovereign,
as for a heinous crime. Since that catastrophe Saxony had suffered
severely, its prosperity had greatly declined, and our city in
particular had, in addition to the general burdens, the most grievous
oppressions of every kind to endure. How often did Leipzig resemble a
military parade or hospital rather than a commercial city! How many
pledges of our affection were snatched from us by the contagious fever
spread among us by means of the hospitals!--But with the spring of the
present year, with the season which usually fills every tender heart
with delight, commenced the most melancholy epoch for our country, as it
became the theatre of a war which laid it waste without mercy, and of
the most sanguinary engagements. After all the hardships which it had
suffered, a lot still more severe awaited Leipzig and its vicinity.
From the commencement of October last the French troops here kept daily
increasing, as did also their sick and wounded in a most alarming
manner. On the 14th Napoleon arrived with his army in our neighbourhood,
and the different corps of the allied powers advanced on all sides. On
the 15th commenced all round us a great, a holy conflict, for the
liberation and independence of Germany, for the peace of Europe, for the
repose of the world--a conflict which, after an engagement of three
days, that can scarcely be paralleled in history for obstinacy and
duration, and at last extended to our city itself, terminated on the
19th of October, through the superior talents of the generals and the
valour of their troops, which vanquished all the resistance of despair,
in the most complete and glorious victory. The French still defended
themselves in our unfortified town, and would have devoted it to
destruction; the allies made themselves masters of it by assault at one
o'clock, and spared it. They were received with the loudest acclamations
by the inhabitants, whose joy was heightened into transport when they
beheld their illustrious deliverers, the two emperors, the king of
Prussia, and the crown-prince of Sweden, enter the place in triumph.
During this engagement the Saxon troops went over to the banners of the
allies.
This eventful victory justifies the hope of a speedy peace, founded upon
the renewed political system of the balance of power,--an honourable,
safe, permanent, and general peace, for which, with all its attendant
blessings, Europe will be indebted, under divine Providence, to the
invincible perseverance of England in the contest with France, to the
combined energies of the south and the north, and to the exertions of
the allied powers, and of the truly patriotic Germans by whom they were
joined.
The battle of Leipzig will be ever memorable in the annals of History. A
severe lot has hitherto befallen our city. To the burdens and
requisitions of every kind, by which it was overwhelmed, were added the
suspension of trade, and the injury sustained by the entire suppression
this year of our two principal fairs. Our resources are exhausted, and
we have yet here a prodigious number of sick and wounded;--upwards of
30,000 in more than 40 military hospitals, with our own poor and the
troops yet stationed here for our protection, to be provided for;
besides which numberless just claims for the good cause yet remain to be
satisfied. But from misfortune itself we will derive new strength and
new courage, and our now unfettered commerce affords us the prospect of
a happier futurity. We have lost much; but those days when we ourselves
knew the want of provisions, and even of bread--those days of horror,
danger, and consternation--are past; we yet live, and our city has been
preserved through the favour of Heaven and the generosity of the
conquerors.
One subject of affliction lies heavy upon our hearts. Our prosperous
days afforded us the felicity of being able to perform in its full
extent the duty of beneficence towards the necessitous. We have before
our eyes many thousands of the inhabitants of the adjacent villages and
hamlets, landed proprietors, farmers, ecclesiastics, schoolmasters,
artisans of every description, who, some weeks since, were in
circumstances more or less easy, and at least knew no want; but now,
without a home, and stripped of their all, are with their families
perishing of hunger.
Their fields have gained everlasting celebrity, for there the most
signal of victories was won for the good cause; but these fields, so
lately a paradise, are now, to the distance of from ten to twelve miles,
transformed into a desert. What the industry of many years had acquired
was annihilated in a few hours. All around is one wide waste. The
numerous villages and hamlets are almost all entirely or partially
reduced to ashes; the yet remaining buildings are perforated with balls,
in a most ruinous condition, and plundered of every thing; the barns,
cellars, and lofts, are despoiled, and stores of every kind carried off;
the implements of farming and domestic economy, for brewing and
distilling--in a word, for every purpose--the gardens, plantations, and
fruit-trees--are destroyed; the fuel collected for the winter, the
gates, the doors, the floors, the wood-work of every description, were
consumed in the watch-fires; the horses were taken away, together with
all the other cattle; and many families are deploring the loss of
beloved relatives, or are doomed to behold them afflicted with sickness
and destitute of relief.
The miserable condition of these deplorable victims to the thirst of
conquest, the distress which meets our view whenever we cross our
thresholds, no language is capable of describing. The horrid spectacle
wounds us to the very soul.
But all these unfortunate creatures look up to Leipzig, formerly the
source of their prosperity;--their eloquent looks supplicate our aid;
and the pang that wrings our bosoms arises from this consideration, that
neither the exhausted means of Leipzig nor those of our ruined country
are adequate to afford them that relief and support which may enable
them to rebuild their habitations, and to return to the exercise of
their respective trades and professions.
All the countries of our continent have been more or less drained by
this destructive war. Whither then are these poor people, who have such
need of assistance--whither are they to look for relief? Whither but to
the sea-girt Albion, whose wooden walls defy every hostile attack,--who
has, uninjured, maintained the glorious conflict with France, both by
water and by land? Ye free, ye beneficent, ye happy Britons, whose
generosity is attested by every page of the annals of suffering
Humanity--whose soil bus been trodden by no hostile foot--who know not
the feelings of the wretch that beholds a foreign master revelling in
his habitation,--of you the city of Leipzig implores relief for the
inhabitants of the circumjacent villages and hamlets, ruined by the
military events in the past month of October. We therefore entreat our
patrons and friends in England to open a subscription in their behalf.
The boon of Charity shall be punctually acknowledged in the public
papers, and conscientiously distributed, agreeably to the object for
which it was designed, by a committee appointed for the purpose. Those
who partake of it will bless their benefactors, and their grateful
prayers for them will ascend to Heaven.
(Signed) FREGE AND CO.
REICHENBACH AND CO.
JOHANN HEINRICH KUeSTNER AND CO.
_Leipzig, Nov. 1, 1813._
* * * * *
_We, the Burgomaster and Council of the city of Leipzig, hereby
attest the truth of the deplorable state of our city, and of the
villages around it, as faithfully and pathetically described in a
Memorial dated November 1st, and addressed to the British nation
by some of our most reputable and highly-respected
fellow-citizens, namely, the bankers Messrs. Frege and Co. Messrs.
Kuestner and Co. Messrs. Reichenbach and Co.; and recommend it to
the generosity which has, in all ages, marked the character of the
British nation. We have formally authenticated this attestation,
by affixing to it the seal of our city, and our usual signature._
(L.S.) D. FRIEDRICH HULDREICH CARL SIEGMANN,
Acting Burgomaster.
_Leipzig, Nov. 18, 1813._
Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland-Court, Strand, London.