Prussian government still professed to maintain the French alliance. A
few days later King Frederick William left Berlin, which was still
occupied by the French, for Breslau. Before the end of February he had
concluded the treaty of Kalisch with Russia, by which the two powers
were to conduct the war against France conjointly, and Russia was not to
lay down her arms till Prussia should be restored to a strength equal to
that which she had possessed in 1806. On March 2 Cathcart arrived at
Kalisch as British ambassador to the Russian court. He actively promoted
Russia's alliance with Prussia, from which Great Britain stood apart for
the present. He was able to obtain from Prussia a renunciation of her
claims on Hanover, but Frederick William was still opposed to any
increase of Hanoverian territory. On the 17th Prussia declared war on
France. By that time the Russians had entered both Berlin and Breslau,
and had freed Hamburg from French dominion, thus reopening Germany to
British commerce. The declaration of war by Prussia was accompanied by a
convention with Russia providing for the deliverance of Germany and the
dissolution of the confederation of the Rhine. This convention embodied
Stein's policy. It relied on popular support and it aimed at an unified
government, at least in the territories occupied at that date by
adherents of France.

[Pageheading: _THE GERMAN CAMPAIGN OF 1813._]

But the popular upheaval in Germany was confined to the kingdom of
Prussia, and the attempt to spread it elsewhere only provoked distrust
in Austria and the South German states; it was not until the
conservative elements in Germany were won over by Metternich's policy
that the anti-Napoleonic movement became truly national. For the present
Austria played the part of mediator. Lord Walpole, who had been sent on
a secret errand to Vienna in December, 1812, tried in vain to win
Austria to the side of the allies by promising the restoration of the
Tyrol, Illyria, and Venetia.[59] Her government would probably have
preferred a reconciliation with France, which would have arrested the
growth of Russia and left Germany divided, to a unified Germany such as
Stein desired; but Metternich, who directed her policy, cherished little
hope of the success of his endeavours, though he knew when to employ
agents more optimistic than himself. The Austrian treasury was empty,
and it therefore suited Austria to remain neutral as long as possible,
while in t