a state of discouragement, and chiefly composed of raw levies, and that on the side of Napoleon there was an overwhelming weight of guns. Kutusoff and the Russians began the attack with great spirit; but Kutusoff committed the error which Napoleon had foreseen: confident of success, he extended his line too much. Yet, after all, that line was not so easily broken through: for the French to do that it took a concentrated attack by Marshals Soult, Lannes, and Murat with all the French cavalry. In time, when many a French saddle had been emptied, the Russian divisions were separated; the Austrian recruits fought loosely and without intelligence; and, after a terrible conflict on the part of the Imperial Russian Guards, the

allied army was routed in detail. Its loss was tremendous: thousands were drowned in the frozen lakes in the rear of their position, the ice, though thick, not being sufficiently strong to bear their weight. Entire lines of Russian infantry were mowed down by the artillery of the enemy; but other lines sprang up to supply their places, and the best part of Kutusoff's army, after standing the brunt of the battle, retired in admirable order, covered by clouds of Cossacks, who, with their rapid, irregular charges, and long lances, repeatedly drove back Murat's regular horse.

By one or two o'clock in the afternoon the success of Napoleon was pretty well decided; but it was near midnight ere the Russians entirely left the field, and then they marched off with such a countenance that the French did not venture to follow them. In the course of the morning, once, if not twice, Marshal Soult was in the greatest danger; Kutusoff nearly succeeded in reuniting his divisions and closing up his line—and the fate of Napoleon seemed to hang by a thread. A charge made by the entire cavalry of his guard, and then a sustained fire of grape-shot on the solid Russian squares, turned the scale, and allowed him to hum his opera air, "Ah! comme il y viendra!" In the combat, the French placed a principal reliance on their artillery; the Russian infantry made a great use of the bayonet. Most of the French that were wounded were wounded by that weapon, and in the great majority of cases those wounds proved mortal. The total loss on this side exceeded 5,000 men and officers.

The battle of Austerlitz was the most brilliant victory achieved by Napoleon during the period of the Empire. Between the surrender of Mack and this great battle, he received intelligence of the annihilation of his fleets at Trafalgar. This clouded his triumph, and for a time depressed his spirits. He peevishly said, "I cannot be everywhere!" But, as several writers have observed, his presence at Trafalgar, in a ship of the line, would have been much more useless than that of Nelson on horseback in the campaign of the Danube, and in Moravia.

Before advancing on Vienna, the conqueror had said that it was time for the Emperor of Germany to recollect that all empires have

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an end. There was, in reality, not much danger of any such catastrophe; but the Emperor Francis was guided by timid counsels, and was concerned for "the good citizens of Vienna." He had an interview with Napoleon the day after the battle of Austerlitz, and an armistice was concluded, by which the Russians, who scarcely needed the permission, were allowed to retire to their own country. Francis, who had been well subsidized by England, seceded from the coalition; and on the 26th of December (twenty-four days after

Austerlitz) peace between France and Austria was signed at Presburgh. The sacrifices were, of course, all on one side. Austria gave up to the kingdom of Italy the Venetian provinces and Dalmatia ; and to the Elector of Bavaria, Tyrol, and other districts, further agreeing to pay a military contribution of one hundred millions of francs. The result of this war of 1805, or rather of the pusillanimous diplomacy which accompanied as well as followed it, was to leave Italy entirely at the disposal of Napoleon, and to extend his influence in Germany. Having made himself Emperor and King, he now began to put royal crowns upon other heads: he raised the Electors of Bavaria and Wurtemburg to the rank of kings. At the