346 LON 
Thornton mentions in his difpatch as having expofed him- 
felf to fo much danger. Ney acknowledges a lofs of 8000 men, 
killed, wounded, and prifoners, and n pieces of cannon. 
The army of Gen. Nugent had taken the ftrong point 
of Pola Capo d’lftria, and Monte Maggiore, with fifty 
pieces of cannon, and a great quantity of ammunition. 
General Nugent was in communication with the Englifh 
fquadron ofFFiume, from which he received arms and am¬ 
munition for equipping the Iftrians, who had cheerfully 
flocked to the Auftrian (landard. General Thielman, on 
the 18th September, attacked Merfeburg, which furren- 
dered after a (harp refiftance. The Ruffian colonel OrlofF 
particularly diftinguifhed himfelf. More than 2000 pri¬ 
soners were taken in and about the town. 
A very gallant enterprife was executed by the Auftrian 
major Schlutberg, who, having received orders to take 
Friburg, placed part of his corps in ambufti on the 17th 
of September, and, appearing unexpectedly before the 
town the next morning, (formed the EberfdorfF gate; 
while other detachments of his troops, which had taken 
circuitous roads, advanced againft the Merfner and Dona 
gates : that of EberfdorfF being forced open, after an ob- 
ftinate refiftance, the garrifon, confifting of general Bruno, 
20 ltafF and Superior officers, 400 mounted huffiars, and 
220 infantry, were made prifoners. The Auftrian lofs 
was one killed and three wounded. At the beginning of 
OCtober, as we are told, the allies had alio taken Pegau. 
Both Friburg and Pegau are nearLeipfic. On the 14th of 
OCtober, Bremen was taken by a Ruffian force under ge¬ 
neral Tettenborn. 
Bonaparte’s vaflal allies now began to defert his ftan¬ 
dard. The king of Bavaria, on whom he placed his 
greateft reliance, made terms with Auftria. A treaty of 
alliance and concert, between Auftria and Bavaria, was 
figned by prince Reufs and general Wrede, on the 8th of 
OClober. General Wrede, with 35,000 Bavarian troops, was 
immediately to co-operate with thofe of Auftria, and was 
to have 25,000 Auftrians under his command. Even the 
Saxons had begun to abandon the caufe. A rumour of a 
Saxon battalion having come over to the crown-prince, 
we find confirmed by n bulletin of his highnefsof Sept. 26. 
This battalion was the firft of the king’s regiment; it en¬ 
tered Warletz with fixed bayonets and drums beating. 
Thefe defeats and defeClions were preparatory to the 
grand defeat, accomplifhed by the grand defection which 
appears to have fealed the fate of Napoleon’;—for now burfts 
upon us the moft important transaction of the whole year, 
which, in its caufes, in itfelf, and in its eft'eCls, can be 
compared with no event belonging to the (late) war, or 
to the hiftory of ancient and modern times. The conflict 
was awful, and bloody ; and, if half a million of people 
were engaged in the tremendous ftrife, many millions were 
looking up to this battle as either to break or to fallen 
their chains. The (hock made the w hole of Germany totter 
on its bafis, and was echoed from the remoteft parts of 
Ruffia to the fartheft verge of our iflands. The ifliie of 
this unparalleled contention drove the French acrofs the 
Rhine, and Sent the allies after them, to the very heart of 
the empire—to Paris! But its more immediate effeCts were 
the difjolution of the Confederation of the Rhine, which had 
placed all the German powers within the grafp of Napoleon, 
as tools for his ambitious purpoles; the overthrow of the 
continental fyflem, which had for fo many years cramped 
the trade of the greateft part of Europe, and had alfeCted 
moft eflentially the commerce of our metropolis ; and, 
finally, the folving the long-agitated problem w hether Bo¬ 
naparte’s will were to (way the reft ot the globe. An 
exaCl relation of this extraordinary turn of affairs cannot 
fail of being interelting to every Engliih reader, as it 
has re-opened feveral of our ufual places of refort for 
the difpolal of Engliih merchandife. In this relation we 
ffiall avail ourfelves of the “Narrative of remarkable Events 
in and near Leipzig, Oct. 3813.” publilhed for the benefit 
ef the (ufferers by thofe remarkable and terrible events. 
It was not till the arrival of marfhai Marmont with his 
I) O N. 
troops in the neighbourhood of Leipfic that the probability 
of an engagement taking place there was entertained. This 
was at the beginning of OClober. Thefe guefts brought 
with them every fpecies of mifery and diftrefs, which daily 
increafed in proportion as thofe hofts of dellroyers kept 
gradually fwelling into a large army. Ever fince the battle 
of Lutzen, Leipfic had been one of the principal refources 
of the grand French army; and they (hovved it no mercy. 
Numberlefs hofpitals transformed it into one great infir¬ 
mary; many thoulands of troops, quartered in the habi¬ 
tations of the citizens, one prodigious corps de garde-, and 
requifitions of meat, bread, rice, brandy, and other articles, 
one vaft poor-houfe, where the indigent inhabitants were 
in danger of ftarving. But for this well-ftored magazine, 
the great French army had long fince been obliged to 
abandon the Elbe. No wonder then that this point (hould 
have been guarded with the utmoft care. 
The appearance of the French troops, and the terror 
they brought with them, were like a prologue to the fan- 
guinary tragedy which Providence had ordained or permit¬ 
ted to be performed on that fpot; whilft on the other fide 
the dramatis perfona;, the well-combined and mighty ar¬ 
mies of the allies, were approaching Leipfic. Napoleon had 
quitted Drefden, forced out by the want of all means of 
lubfiftence. No one could guefs where he was direCling 
his thunder; perhaps he was at firft himfelf undetermined. 
Many who were qualified to form a judgment refpefting 
military operations, were of opinion that he would make 
a pufli with his whole force upon Berlin and the Oder. 
They fuppofed that thofe parts were not fufficiently co¬ 
vered, and confidered the fortreffes on the Elbe as his 
point d'appui in the rear. This opinion, however, feemed 
to lofe much of its probability, when other French corps 
under Ney, Regnier, Bertrand, and Marmont, conti¬ 
nued to arrive, and were afterwards joined by that of 
Augereau. We had received authentic information (fays 
the writer of the Narrative) that prince Schwartzenberg 
had already advanced to Altenburg with the grand com¬ 
bined army of Auftria, Ruffia, and Pruffia; and alfo that 
the crown-prince of Sweden had his head-quarters at 
Zorbig. Upon the whole, however, our intelligence 
was unfatisfattory. For feveral days (that is to fay, 
from the 10th) it was reported that the emperor of the 
French would certainly remove his head-quarters hi¬ 
ther; that he had taken the road to Wurzen, and was 
coming by way of Diiben. This account was confirmed 
by feveral detachments of the French guard. It is uni- 
verfally known that this general preferably chofe thole 
days on which he founded his claim to glory, in order to 
diltinguifli them by new achievements. His proximity to 
Leipfic, and the approaching 14th of October, the anni¬ 
versary of the battles of Ulm and of Jena, (Lengthened 
the anticipation of foine important event in that neigh¬ 
bourhood. The light froops of the allies, that were taken 
for the advanced guard of the crown-prince of Sweden, 
were diftinflly to be feen from the fteeples of the city, 
on the north fide of it, towards Breitenfeld and Linden- 
thal. Daily (kirmiffies enfued, and wounded French were 
hourly brought in. The buftiein the city increafed; the 
king (|j l Naples had arrived, and fixed his head-quar¬ 
ters at Konnewitz. Innumerable generals and (iaff-offi- 
cers filled all the houfes. Not a moment’s reft was to be 
had ; all were in bivouac. They feemed wholly ignorant 
of the motions of the allies; for the fame troops who went 
out at one gate often returned before night at another; (o 
that there was an inceffant marching in and out at all the 
four principal avenues of the city. Thefe movements of 
cavalry, infantry, and carriages, ceafed not a moment even 
during the night. It was very rarely that a troop of ca¬ 
valry, fentout upon patrol or picket duty, returned with¬ 
out having loft feveral men and hor(es,vvho were invariably, 
according to their report, kidnapped by the Cofacs. But, 
in truth, all the troops with whom the French had any 
rencounters were called by them Cofacs; for the Cofacs 
were indilputably the troops of whom the French were 
moil 
