1^8] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



ground they had won. On the 

 morning of the 19th the king of 

 Saxony sent a flag of truce to the 

 emperor Alexander, requesting him 

 to spare the town of Leipzic ; but 

 that sovereign, considering it as a 

 feint to gain time, ordered an im- 

 mediate assault. Leipzic was taken 

 after a short resistance, the allies 

 entering it at eleven, two hours 

 after Napoleon had made his escape. 

 There were captured with it the 

 king of Saxony with all his court, 

 the garrison and rear-guard of the 

 French army, amounting to 30,000, 

 all the sick and wounded, com- 

 puted at 22,000, the magazines, 

 artillery and stores. Nothing could 

 bemore complete than this success. 

 The emperor of Russia, the king 

 of Prussia, and the Crown Prince 

 of Sweden, each at the head of 

 their respective troops, made their 

 entry from different points, and 

 met in the great square, amidst the 

 universal acclamations of the peo- 

 ple, which were doubtless sincere, 

 since that unfortunate town had 

 been a dreadful suflFerer from being 

 made the great hospital of the 

 French army ; and the Saxons had 

 long manifested an impatience to 

 be delivered from that thraldom to 

 which their sovereign's engage- 

 ments with the French had con- 

 signed them. General Blucher's 

 great services were rewarded by 

 the rank of field marshal ; and 

 marshal prince Schwartzenberg 

 was decorated with orders by the 

 emperors of Austr a and Russia, 

 and the king of Prussia. 



The retreat of the French army 

 was full of confusion and disorder, 

 and the pursuers were daily mak- 

 ing prisoners, andcapiuring cannon 

 and other accompaniments of an 

 army- It was conducted across the 

 Saale by Weissenfels, thence to 



Erfurt, Gotha, and Eisenbach, 

 general D'Yorck closely attending 

 their march, and taking every op- 

 portunity of harassing them. The 

 following particulars are copied 

 from a report of the operations of 

 the Silesian army in pursuit. 



" An advanced corps of marshal 

 Bhicher's came up with the rear of 

 the enemy at the entrance of the 

 defiles in the mountains, within 

 about a German mile of Eisenach ; 

 the blowing up of several ammu- 

 nition waggons, the destruction or 

 abandonment of baggage, and the 

 capture of several stragglers, was 

 the immediate consequence; but 

 the enemy had penetrated far into 

 the defiles, where the ground was 

 not favourable for the advance of 

 cavalry, and it was only by following 

 his march for the three subsequent 

 daj's, that the precipitancy and dis- 

 asters of his flight became obvious. 

 For an extent of nearly fifty Eng- 

 lish miles, from Eisenach to Fulda, 

 carcases of dead and dying horses, 

 without number ; dead bodies of 

 men, who had been either killed 

 or perished through hunger, sick- 

 ness, or fatigue, lying on the roads 

 or in the ditches; parties of pri- 

 soners and stragglers brought in by 

 the Cossacks; blown up or destroy- 

 ed ammunition, and baggage wag- 

 gons, in such numbers as absolutely 

 to obstruct the road, sufficiently 

 attested the sufferings of the ene- 

 my ; whilst pillaged and burning 

 towns and villages marked, at the 

 same time, the ferocity with which 

 he had conducted himself. The 

 number of the dead bodies on the 

 road had been considerably aug- 

 mented, from a resolution that had 

 been taken to carry ofl' all the sick 

 and wounded, not resulting surely 

 from any principle of humanity, 

 but probably as matter of boast, in 



