atic warriors, singing oriental airs, pile | where more than two-thirds of their their arms in the streets, strew a little number found an honoured grave. The straw on the pavements, and lie down bands of volunteers, clothed in black, to rest beside the steeds, picketed to were much more numerous. Several the walls, which had accompanied them different provinces had contributed to from the Volga and the Don. By de- form them; and a large proportion grees, however, these apprehensions were composed of the young men at wore off; the uncouth warriors were the universities, who now took the found to be kindly and sober; a copi- field under the direction of the same ous supply of brandy, bread, herrings, men, as officers, to whom they had forand onions, always put them in good merly listened with reverence in the humour; and soon they were to be seen professors' chairs. Several distinguishcarrying the children in their arms for ed members of the universities, in parhours together, and teaching them to ticular Jahn and Staffens, appeared speak and sing in Russian. Shortly with a warlike air, and surrounded by after, these rude hosts were followed a numerous train of followers. These by the more regular columns of the noble bands, however, though overRussian army; infantry, cavalry, and flowing with courage, and burning to artillery succeeded each other without signalise themselves, scarcely appeared intermission, in the finest possible state broke in to a discipline sufficiently of discipline and equipment; and when strict for the arduous duties upon the Emperor Alexander and the King which they were about to enter; and of Prussia, at the head of their respec- many of them were still of such tender tive divisions of Guards, defiled over years as to be obviously unequal to the the bridge of the Elbe, and entered the fatigues of a campaign. Numbers of city, all the spectators were lost in as- gallant youths, too young to be adtonishment at the aspect of the troops, mitted into the ranks, and hardly able which, after undergoing the fatigues of to carry a musket, followed the regiso dreadful a campaign, appeared in all ments, supplicating to be allowed to the pomp and majesty of unsullied war. join their elder comrades. One boy of Garlands of flowers were everywhere ten years was to be seen entreating the strewn on their approach; the windows officers of different regiments, with were filled with rank and beauty; and tears in his eyes, to receive him in the the monarchs entered the town between ranks of volunteers, if not as a private, a double rank of damsels clothed in at least as a drummer; while another, white, bearing baskets loaded with all only nine, was reclaimed by his parents the beauty of spring. at Breslau, by advertisement in the public newspapers. 25. But if the long columns of the Russian army, and the varied appearance of their troops, were descriptive of the vast extent of their empire, and the prodigious power of that enthusiasm which had brought the military force of such distant regions into the heart of Europe; still more interesting, in a moral point of view, was the asspect of the patriot bands of Prussia. The chasseurs of the Guard, in particular, excited general attention, and conveyed a lively idea, both of the sacrifices which her people had made to deliver their country, and of the heroic spirit with which they were animated. A thousand young men, almost all of the best families, marched in the ranks with ardour to battle, 26. These noble youths took the field under the sanction, and impressed with the liveliest feelings of religious duty. It was from that holy spring that the spirit destined to combat, and ultimately conquer, the worldly passions of the French Revolution took its rise. "We marched," says one of the volunteers, the poet Körner, "in parade from Zoblen to Rogau, a Lutheran village, where the church, with great simplicity, but also with great taste, had been decorated for the convention of the volunteers. After singing a hymn of my composition, the clergyman of the parish delivered an address, full of manly vigour and public enthusiasm. Not a dry eye was to be seen in the whole Assembly. After the service, he pronounced the oath before us, for the cause of humanity, of fatherland, of religion, to spare neither substance nor soul-to conquer or die for the right. We swore! He then fell on his knees, and besought God for a blessing on His champions. It was a moment when the present thought of death kindled flame in every eye, and woke heroism in every heart. The oath, solemnly repeated by all, and sworn on the swords of the officers, and Luther's hymn, 'Ein feste burg ist unser Gott,' A stronghold is our God,' concluded the ceremony; upon which a thundering vivat burst from the congregation of champions for German freedom, while every blade leaped from its scabbard, and gleams of warlike light shone through the sanctuary. The hour was so much the more impressive, that most of us went out with the conviction that it was the last time we should ever meet." With such holy rites did the champions of German freedom prepare themselves for the fight. The moral world was shaken to its foundation: duty based on religion was arrayed against talent in rebellion against its author. round him to such an extent, that no small difficulty was sometimes experienced in making his way through. But it was chiefly in the respect paid by themselves and their followers to the rites of religion, that the difference appeared between the allied sovereigns and the French authorities by whom they had been preceded. The day after their entry was Easter Sunday; and it was celebrated from daybreak by the soldiers of both armies with extraordinary solemnity. The whole troops appeared in their very best and neatest attire. Everywhere the Cossacks were to be seen buying stained eggs to present to their comrades; wherever the Russians met, from the highest to the lowest rank, they gave the salute, "Christ is risen," to which the reply was, "Yes, he has risen indeed." The Emperor was the first to set this devout example; and having, after the preceding midnight, assisted at the solemn service of Easter in a little Greek chapel established in one of the apartments of the Bruhl palace, he immediately addressed that expression to every one of his officers present. Divine service was performed by the chaplains, or "papas" as they are call27. The Emperor and King lived at ed, of all the different Russian regiDresden with the utmost simplicity, ments quartered in Saxony. This was and won the hearts of all classes by succeeded by a splendid review, in the affability of their demeanour, and which a noble body of seven thousand the readiness with which they were at cavalry, headed by the Archduke Conall times accessible to the complaints, stantine, who had just arrived from not only of their own troops, but of Pilnitz, paraded before the sovereigns the Saxon people. Both appeared in at Dresden. Superficial readers may public without guards, or ostentation consider these incidents as trifles, but of any sort. Alexander, in particular, they are straws which show how the frequently walked out attended only by wind sets; and the reflecting observer an aide-de-camp, and seemed to take will not deem it the least interesting a pleasure in the crowds who thronged incident in this memorable year, that * He inhabited the beautiful Bruhl pal- the sovereigns and armies, which at ace in the suburbs of the city, the shady length delivered Europe, were bound walks of the garden of which had long been together by the common ties which the favourite resort of the children of the unite man to his Creator. After all better classes. Strict orders had been given in the first instance to close the gates against human powers had failed in combating these noisy intruders; but no sooner was the forces of the Revolution, victory was the Emperor informed of the deprivation to at length brought back to the arms of which they had been exposed, than he gave directions to have them admitted as usual, freedom, when they went forth to the and often walked out to divert himself with fight with the ancient war-cry of the the sportive happiness of his little allies. warriors of the Cross on their banners, The King of Prussia did the same at the Roy-«In this sign you shall conquer." + al palace of Racknitz, which formed his residence.-Témoin Oculaire, 213; ODEL. 113. t "In hoc signo vinces." and 29. The direction of Napoleon's march was determined by the important consideration of effecting a junetion with the Viceroy on the banks of the Saale; and with this view he advanced next day to Naumburg; while Ney reached Weissenfels, after having driven back the Russian videttes, which now, for the first time, began to show themselves on the road. Meanwhile the Viceroy, to facilitate the junction, ascended the course of the Saale, and on the same day arrived at Merseburg; so that the two armies were now not more than twenty miles distant. Eugene's forces consisted of two corpsLauriston's and Macdonald's mustered fully thirty thousand combatants, besides those left in garrison in the fortresses on the Elbe, and Victor's corps, which remained near Magdeburg. Already the thunder of their artillery was heard in the distance, and soon an aide-de-camp from the Viceroy announced the joyful intelligence to the Emperor, that his troops had passed the Saale by the bridge of Merseburg, and that a junction had been effected between the two armies. The young conscripts in Ney's corps, which formed the head of the advance, gazed with wonder on the veterans, many of them mutilated, who had survived the Moscow campaign; while they, reani mated by the sight of the dense columns which were hourly thronging to their support, forgot the horrors of the retreat, and fondly hoped that the glorious days of the grand army were about to return. Joyfully the united host moved towards the enemy, who occupied Halle, Leipsic, and all the adjacent roads, while the advanced guards were posted on the road to Weissenfels. 28. During his stay at Erfurth, | broken, and who, by a single day's Napoleon put the last hand to the presence of the imperial headquarters, organisation of his army; gave direc- found themselves deprived of their tions for strengthening the two cita- whole movable effects. dels of the town, and putting them in a posture of defence; and established hospitals for six thousand men. Meanwhile Eugene, firm in his position between the confluence of the Saale and Elbe, and round Magdeburg, quietly awaited the approach of the Emperor, who left Erfurth early in the morning of the 28th, mounted on horseback, and commenced the campaign. The conscripts, as the long and brilliant cortège of the Emperor passed through their ranks, gazed with delight on the hero who had filled the world with his renown; and the cheers with which he was saluted were almost as loud and general as in the most brilliant period of his career. But these animating signs died away when Napoleon had passed; and the first day's march was sufficient to convince every observer that the ancient discipline and order of the army were at an end, and that the admirable precision of the soldiers of Ulm and Austerlitz had been buried with the grand army in the fields of Russia. The Emperor slept that night at Eckartsberg, having passed in his journey over the field of Auerstadt, already immortalised in the annals of French glory. During the whole march, the imperial cortège was obliged to force its way, with almost brutal violence, through the dense crowd of infantry, cannon, horsemen, and waggons which encumbered the highway. Pillage had already commenced on all sides; and the disorders of the troops not only inflicted on the unhappy inhabitants all the miseries of war, but evinced, even under the eyes of the Emperor, the relaxed discipline and imperfect organisation of his army. Under the very windows of the hotel which he inhabited, a vast crowd of disorderly soldiers was collected, who, with loud shouts and dissonant cries, continued during the whole night to feed a huge fire, by throwing into it the furniture, beds, and property of the wretched inhabitants, into whose houses they had 30. No sooner were the Allies aware of the approach of the enemy in such strength, than they took measures to concentrate their forces; but the situation of their troops was such as to afford the most serious ground for disquietude. Not more than eighty thou crossing the defile of Grünebach that the head of the French column first encountered the Allies, who were strongly posted with six guns on the heights of Poserna, on the opposite bank, to defend the great road, which, after descending into the valley of that name, and passing the village of Rippach, ascends the opposite steep to enter upon the great plains of Lützen and Leipsic. The inferiority of Napoleon's forces in cavalry rendered it necessary to approach this advanced guard with caution, and the French infantry moved on in squares, as at the battle of the Pyramids in Egypt. sand men were scattered along the | Naumburg to Chemnitz. It was in line of the Elbe, from the Bohemian mountains to the sea, without any other point of support than Dresden, a town which could not be said to be fortified. The bridges of Meissen, Mühlberg, and Roslau, by which they had passed, were not yet even covered by têtes-de-pont-Dessau alone had a tolerable bridge-head; and the reinforcements in their rear were all absorbed in blockading the fortresses on the Elbe and the Oder. Thus it was impossible to give battle to the enemy with anything approaching to an equality of force. Yet was retreat still more hazardous, as it would weaken the moral influence which their advance had produced in Germany, and, by renewing its apprehensions, might revive all the vacillations of the cabinet of Vienna, and even induce it to throw its forces into the opposite scale. Nor were the chances of battle so un-ter that brave man," said the marshal; equal as they at first sight appeared. For though Napoleon was greatly superior upon the whole, it was by no means certain that his forces would all be concentrated upon one field; the quality of the allied troops was undoubtedly better than that of the conscripts by whom they were to be opposed; and, above all, the great superiority of their cavalry, which was nearly twenty-five thousand strong, while that of the French was not five thousand, both precluded the possibility of total defeat, and promised the most brilliant results in case of suc cess. 31. These considerations having induced the allied sovereigns to risk a battle, it was no sooner ascertained that Napoleon had passed the Saale, near Weissenfels, on the 30th April, than the Russian and Prussian forces were moved forward with all imaginable expedition, to prevent his advance to Leipsic, and give him battle in the plains of LÜTZEN. The Prussian army was concentrated, on the 1st May, at Röthe: Wittgenstein, with the main body of the Russians, was at Zwenkau; while Winzingerode and Milaradowich, more in advance, observed the movements of the enemy on the road from 32. Marshal Bessières, Duke of Istria, colonel of the Imperial Guards, was among the foremost of the horsemen who advanced to reconnoitre the enemy's position, when a cannon-shot killed the brigadier of his escort. "In and hardly had the words passed his lips, when a second cannon-ball struck himself on the breast, and laid him dead on the spot. His body was immediately covered with a white sheet, to conceal the calamity from the soldiers; and no one spoke of the event Marshal Bessières had, in different ranks, *Ever since the campaign of Italy, in 1796, commanded the Guard which accompanied Napoleon in his battles. He was one of his most esteemed lieutenants; and he deserved the Emperor's regard, as well by his milifor civil affairs and his fidelity to his intertary experience and ability, as by his talent ests. His body was embalmed, and arrived at the Hôtel des Invalides, at Paris, on the 20th May, where it was interred: and the Emperor wrote the following touching letter to his widow, who was inconsolable for his loss:-"My cousin, Your husband has died on the field of honour. The loss which you less great; but mine is still greater. The and your children have sustained is doubtDuke of Istria has died the noblest death, and without suffering; he has left a reputation without spot, the best inheritance he could bequeath to his children. My protection is secured to them: they will inherit all the affection which I bore to their father." When the author visited Paris, in May 1814, mausoleum of the deceased, by the affectionthe lamps were burning night and day in the ate care of his widow, who still daily visited and spent some time in his tomb. The King of Saxony erected a monument to Bessières, on the spot where he fell.-FAIN, 1. 344, 345; and LAS CASES, vi. 45. even at the imperial headquarters were there assembled. The Imperial Guard and reserve cavalry were in the neighbourhood of Lützen; Marmont's corps followed in echelon; next to him, Bertrand brought up his Italians from Nossen; behind them, between Naumburg and Weissenfels, came Oudinot's men; while Ney's dense columns covered the flank of the huge array, on the side of Pegau, as far as Lützen. 34. On the other hand the allied sovereigns, who had taken the field on the 29th April, and put themselves at the head of their respective armies, were resolved to give battle in the plains of Lützen. Not that they were insensible of the risk which they ran in combating Napoleon at the head of superior forces, especially among the thickly crowded villages of Saxony, where their magnificent cavalry would be of little avail; but political considerations of the highest importance, referring to the courts of Vienna and Dresden, forbade them to recede or act on the defensive at this particular juncture. They crossed the Elster, therefore, near Pegau, early on the morning of the 2d May, and advanced with all their forces, directing their march towards Jena, and threatening the ene communication with Bohemia and the 33. Next morning the French troops, being now aware that they were in presence of the enemy, advanced in close order towards Leipsic, ready at amy's right, so as to keep up their own moment's warning to form square, to resist the formidable cavalry to which they were opposed. General Lauriston, with his corps, the advanced guard of Eugene's army, moved on the road from Merseburg. He met with no resistance till he arrived at Lindenau, the western suburb of Leipsic; but there the streets were barricaded, and the houses loopholed. As a serious resistance was expected, the troops halted, and the fire of artillery commenced. Macdonald's corps followed on the same line, and it only was engaged in the subsequent action. On the great road from Lützen to Leipsic, the main body of the French army, under Napoleon in person, advanced in a dense array of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and chariots, crowding the road from Weissenfels to Lindenau; and it seemed hardly possible for any efforts to restore order to the prodigious accumulation of men and carriages which In 35. The hostile armies thus approached each other in a very peculiar manner; for both were in open column, and actually under march; and they came into collision like two men-of |