posed to the storm, and had rarely taken rest or refreshment. He also suffered from having eaten some food of a coarse and indigestible quality. Through one or other, or the whole of these causes combined, Napoleon became very much indisposed, and was prevailed upon to return in his carriage to Dresden, instead of remaining at Pirna, more close in the rear of his pursuing battalions, to direct their motions.

Vandamme continued the pursuit on the Pirna road. Seduced by the enormous prize which lay before him at Toplitz, where the chief magazines of the allies had been established, and on which all their broken columns were now endeavoring to re-assemble, this brave and persevering soldier incautiously advanced beyond the wooden heights of Peterswald into the valley of Culm. A Russian corps suddenly turned on him, and formed in line of battle. Their general, Count D'Osterman, assured them that the life of "their father" depended on their steadfastness; and no effort could shake them. The battle continued till night, when Vandamme ought undoubtedly to have retired to Peterswald. He lingered till the morning of the 30th; when behind him on those very heights, appeared the Prussian corps of Kleist, who had been wandering and lost their way amid the forests. The French rushed up the hill in despair, thinking they were intercepted by design.The Prussians on their part, doubted not that some other division of Napoleon's force was hard behind them, and rushed down with the same fear, and the same impetuosity. The two armies were thus hurled on each other like two conflicting mobs, enclosed in a deep and narrow road, forming the descent along the side of a mountain. The onset of the French horse, under Corbineau, was so desperate, that many or most of them broke through, although the acclivity against which they advanced would not in other circumstances have permitted them to ascend at a trot; and the guns of the Prussians were for a moment in the hands of the French, who slew many of the artillerymen. The Prussians, however, soon rallied, and the two struggling bodies again mixing together, fought less for the purpose of victory or slaughter, than to force their way through each other's ranks, and escape in opposite directions. All became for a time a mass of confusion, the Prussian generals finding themselves in the middle of the French-the French officers in the centre of the Prussians. But the army of the Russians, who were in pursuit of Vandamme, appearing in his rear, put an end to this singular conflict. Generals Vandamme, Haxo and Guyot, were made

prisoners, with two eagles and 7000 men, besides a great loss in killed and wounded, and the total dispersion of the army, many of whom, however, afterwards rejoined their eagles.

Napoleon received the news of this calamity, however unexpected, with the imperturbable calmness which was one of his distinguished qualities General Corbineau, who commanded in the singular charge of the cavalry up the hill of Peterswald, presented himself before the Emperor in the condition in which he escaped from the field, covered with his own blood and that of the enemy, and holding in his hand a Prussian sabre, which in the thick of the melee, he had exchanged for his own. Napoleon listened composedly to the details he had to give. "One should make a bridge of gold for a flying enemy," he said, "where it is impossible, as in Vandamme's case, to oppose to him a bulwark of steel." He then anxiously examined the instructions to Vandamme, to discover if any thing had inadvertently slipped into them, to encourage the false step which that general had taken. But nothing was found which could justify or authorize his advancing beyond Peterswald, although the chance of possessing himself of Toplitz must have been acknowledged as a strong temptation. "This is the fate of war," said Buonaparte, turning to Murat. "Exalted in the morning, ow enough before night. There is but one step between triumph and ruin."

Battle of Wahlstadt.

CHAP. XXII.

Grossbeeren and Dennewitz. Napoleon retires from the Elbe. Great BATTLE OF LEIPSIC, fought on the 16th and 18th October, 1813. French retreat. Battle of Hanau. Allies on the Rhine. Napoleon arrives in Paris.

THE advices which arrived at Dresden from the north of Germany, were no balm to the bad tidings from Bohemia We must necessarily treat with brevity the high deeds of arms performed at a considerable distance from Napoleon's person, great as was their influence upon his fortunes. No

sooner did Blucher perceive that Napoleon had retired from Silesia than he resumed the offensive, and descended from the position he had taken up at Jauer. He encountered Macdonald, who was by no means prepared for this boldness, on the plains between Wahlstadt and the river Katsbach, on the 26th of August, and after a hard fought day, gained the victory Oudinot, meanwhile, had advanced from Leipsic towards Berlin, with the view of preventing Bernadotte from effecting a junction with Blucher, or overwhelming the French garrisons lower down the Elbe. The Crown Prince, however, met and defeated him at Grossbeeren, on the 23d of August; took Luckau, where 1000 men were in garrison, on the 28th; and continued to advance towards Wittemberg, under the walls of which city Oudinot at length concentrated all his forces. Napoleon, perceiving the importance of this point, sent Ney with new troops, and gave him the chief command, with strict orders to force his way to Berlin; so placing Bernadotte between the Leipsic army and himself at Dresden. Ney endeavored to pass the Swedes without a battle, but failed in this attempt. A general action was forced on him on the 7th of September, at Dennewitz. He also was defeated: 10,000 prisoners and 46 guns remained in the hands of Bernadotte; and Ney retreated upon Torgau.

Napoleon had now recovered his health and activity; and the exertions which he made at this period were never surpassed, even by himself. On the 3d of September he was in quest of Blucher, who had now advanced near to the Elbe; but the Prussian retired as before. Returning to Dresden he received the news of Dennewitz, and immediately afterward heard that Witgenstein had a second time descended towards Pirna. He flew thither on the instant; the Russian also gave way, (afraid probably, of one of those sudden strokes of inspiration, when Napoleon seemed almost to dictate terms to fate) and the Emperor once more returned to Dresden on the 12th. Again he was told that Blucher, on the one side, and Witgenstein on the other, were availing themselves of his absence, and advancing. He once more returned to Pirna; a third time the Russian retired. Napoleon followed him as far as Peterswald, and, having contemplated with his own. eyes the scene of Vandamme's catastrophe, once more returned to his centre point.

Towards Leipsic, however, as on a common centre, the forces of France, and all her enemies were row at length converging. The allies received the reinforcement of no less

than 60,000 Russians, under the command of Bennigsen.The most of them came from the provinces eastward of Mos cow; and there were to be seen attending them tribes of the wandering Baskirs and Tartars, figures unknown in European war, wearing sheep-skins, and armed with bows and arrows. But the main body consisted of regular troops, though some bore rather an Asiatic appearance. This was the last rein forcement which the allies were to expect; being the Arriereban of the almost boundless empire of Russia. Some of the men had travelled from the wall of China to this universal

military rendezvous. Napoleon himself, reached Liepsic on the 15th of October, and almost immediately the heads of Schwartzenberg's columns began to appear towards the south. It was necessary to prepare on the northern side also, in case Bernadotte and Blucher should appear ere the grand army was disposed of; and, lastly, it was necessary to secure effectually the ground to the west of Leipsic;-a series of marshy meadows interfused with the numerous branches of the Pleisse and the Elster, through which lies the only road to France. Napoleon, having made all his preparations, reconnoitred every out-post in person, and distributed eagles, in great form, to some new regiments which had just joined him. The ceremonial was splendid; the soldiers knelt before the Emperor, and in presence of the whole line, military mass was performed, and the young warriors swore to die rather than to witness the dishonor of France.

At midnight, three death-rockets, emitting a brilliant white light, sprung into the heavens to the south of the city; these marked the position on which Schwartzenberg (having now with him the Emperor of Austria, as well as Alexander and Frederick William) had fixed his head-quarters. They were answered by four rockets of a deep red color, ascending on the instant from the northern horizon; and Napoleon doubted not that he was to sustain on the morrow the assault of Blucher and Bernadotte, as well as of the grand army of the allies Blucher was indeed ready to co-operate with Schwartzenberg: and though the crown prince had not yet reached his ground, the numerical superiority of the enemy was very great. Buonaparte had with him, to defend the line of villages to the south and north of Leipsic, 136,000 men; while even in the absence of Bernadotte, who might be hourly looked for, the allies mustered not less than two hundred and thirty thousand.

The battle commenced on the southern side at day-break

of the 16th. The allies charged the French line there six times in succession, and were as often repelled. They were now something in the condition of wrestlers who have exhausted themselves in vain and premature efforts; and Napoleon in turn, assuming the offensive, began to show his skill and power. It was about noon when a general advance took place along the centre of the French. It was for some time fearfully successful. The village of Gossa, hitherto occupied by the allies, and in the very centre of their line, was carried by the bayonet. The eminence called the Sheepwalk was also in danger of being lost, ard the exertions of Macdonald put him in possession of the redoubt called the Swedish Camp. The desperate impetuosity of the French fairly broke through the centre of the allies. The king of Naples with Latour Maubourg and Kellerman, poured through the gap and at the head of the whole body of cavalry thundered forward as far as Magdeberg, a village in the rear of the allies, bearing down General Rayefskoi, with the grenadiers of the reserve who threw themselves forward to oppose their passage.

But at this imminent moment of peril, while the French cavalry were disordered by their own success, Alexander ordered the Cossacks of his Guard, who were in attendance on his person, to charge. They did so with the utmost fury, as fighting under the eye of their sovereign, disconcerted Buonaparte's manœuvre, and bore back with their long lances the dense mass of cavalry who had so nearly carried the day. In the meantime, when the carnage was continuing on the southern side of Leipsic, a similar thunder of artillery commenced on the right, where Blucher had arrived before the city, and suddenly come into action with Marmont, with at least three men for one. Breathless aides-de-camp came galloping to reclaim the troops of Souham, which, for the purpose of supporting Poniatowski, had been withdrawn from their original destination of assisting Marmont. They could not, however, be replaced, and Blucher obtained, in consequence, great and decided results. He took the village of Mackern, with twenty pieces of artillery, and two thousand prisoners; and when night separated the combatants, had the advantage of having greatly narrowed the position of the

enemy.

But the issue on the south side of Leipsic continued entirely indecisive, though furiously contested. Gossa was still disputed, taken and retaken repeatedly, but at length remained in possession of the allies. On the verge of the Pleisse,