LON 
mod afraid; with them, therefore, all the light cavalry 
■who came upon them unawares were fure to be Cofacs. 
The preparations that were making now evidently de¬ 
noted the approach of fome important event. The French 
corps had already ranged tliemfelves in a vaft femicircle, 
extending from north to eaft, and thence to fouth-weft. 
The country towards Merfeburg and Weiflenfels feemed 
to be merely obferved. For this purpofe the eminences 
beyond the village of Lindenau were occupied. Here the 
accefs to the city is the moft difficult, a caufeway only 
leading to it in this direction. The country on the right 
and left confifts of fwampy meadows and wood-land,every¬ 
where interfered by ditches and muddy ffreams. 
It was not eafy to judge of the force of Napoleon in 
this quarter; yet the following may lead to a tolerably cor¬ 
rect elfimate. One divifion of Marmont’s corps confided 
at the utmoft of 4000, fo that the whole might amount to 
12,000 men ; and it was one of thofe which, in comparifon 
of others, had fuftained the lead lofs. Even that of Au- 
gereau, which was inconteftably the molt complete, as it 
Jhad jult come out of cantonments, was computed at fcarcely 
15,000 men. If, then, we take 10,000 for the average, 
the total amount of the French armies collefted near Leip- 
lic, as the wrecks only of feveral were then remaining, can 
fcarcely have reached 170,000, even including the guards. 
Such a force, however, commanded by fo many generals who 
had heretofore been acknowledged the ableft in Europe, 
together with more than 600 pieces of artillery, was (till 
fully fufficient to make itfelf refpefted, and even feared, 
by an enemy of double its number. One fingle fpecies of 
troops alone was below mediocrity—the cavalry, both in 
regard to the horfes and the men, the former from weak- 
nefs and want of fuftenance, and the latter from ignorance 
of their bufinel's. With the force of the allies we are un¬ 
acquainted, but at all events they mud have been more 
numerous. 
The 14th of October at length dawned. It had been 
preceded by feveral rainy days; but this was merely low¬ 
ering. The cannon thundered at intervals towards Lie- 
bertwolkwitz. In the forenoon, wounded French, chiefly 
cavalry, kept coming in fingly. With whom they had 
been engaged they knew not —Cofacs of courfe. “ We 
looked forward with certainty to a general engagement. 
It became every hour more dangerous for the inquilitive 
to venture out or in at the gates. There was no end to 
the marching of horfe and foot, and the rolling of carri¬ 
ages ; at every ten paces you met in all directions with 
corps de garde, by whom every non-military perlon with¬ 
out diflinCtion was ordered back, fometimes with fair 
■words, and at others with rudenefs. Several couriers 
had been fent forward to announce the fpeedy arrival of 
the king of Saxony and Napoleon. The Hero of the Age, 
as he has been ftyled, actually came about noon ; not, as 
■we anticipated, by the Drefden road, but by that from 
Berlin. He parted haftily through the city, and out at 
the fartheft Grimma gate, attended by fome battalions 
and fquaarons at his guards. A camp-chair and a table 
■were brought in all hatfe, and a great watch-fire kindled 
in the open-field, not far from the gallows. The guards 
bivouacked on the right and left. The emperor took 
poffefiicn of the head-quarters prepared for him, which 
were far from magnificent, being furrounded only by the 
relics of the (talks and leaves of the cabbages consumed 
by his foldiers, and other matters ftili more offenfive. 
The table was infta.itly covered with maps, over which 
the emperor pored rnofi attentively for a confiderable time. 
Of what was pafilng around him he feemed not to take the 
fmalleft notice. The fpeftatcrs, of whom (fays the wri¬ 
ter we are quoting) I was one, crowded pretty clofe. A 
long train of carriages from the Wurtzen road, the crack¬ 
ing of the whips of the poftilllons, together with a great 
number of horfe-foldiers and tall grenadiers, announced 
the arrival of another diftinguifhed perfonage, and called 
tiie attention of the by-ftanders that way. It was the king 
of Saxony, with his guards and retinue. He alighted. 
DON. 347 
and a kind falutation enfued between him and Napoleon. 
The king foon afterwards mounted a horfe, and proceeded 
into the city. Napoleon meanwhile remained where be 
was. He fometimes rofe from his feat, went up to the 
watch-fire, held his hands over it, rubbed them, and then 
placed them behind him, whilft with his foot he pufhed 
the wood, confiding of dry boards and rafters from the 
nearefi: houfes, into the flame, to make it burn more fiercely. 
At the fame time he very frequently took fnuff, of which 
he feemed to have but a final! quantity left in his gold 
box. At laft he fcraped together what was left with his 
finger, and poured it out upon his hand. When all was 
gone, he opened the box feveral times and finelt to it, 
without applying to any of the marlhals and generals 
around him to relieve his want. As the difcharges of ar¬ 
tillery towards Probltheide grew more and more general 
and alarming, and the wounded kept returning in conti¬ 
nually-increafing numbers, I was rather furprifed that the 
commander fhould, on this occafion, contrary to his ufual 
cultom, quietly remain fo far from the field of battle, which 
was near ten miles difiant, apparently without giving 
himfelf the leafi concern about the event.” 
Meanwhile, within and without the town, all was buf- 
tle and confufion. The thunder of artillery rent the air; 
the fuburbs were inundated with foldiers; the gates of 
the town were hardly wide enough to receive the wound¬ 
ed, and to let out carriages, and trains of cannon. The 
found of drums incefl'antly announced the arrival of frefti 
regiments; and about midnight the din of war fubfided 
for a few hours. The bivouacs l'pread in the neigh¬ 
bourhood, with their fcattered lights, and the flames aril- 
ing from burning farms and villages were reverberated by 
the cloudy (kies. The fpediacle was horribly lolemn.— 
The next day pafied quietly, if any repofe can exift be¬ 
tween the eagernefs of hope and the chill of fear. 
The 16th of Oftober was the day fixed upon by prince 
Schwartzenberg for a general attack on all the French po- 
fitions around Leipfic. On the north fide, their line ex¬ 
tended from that city through Delitch and Bitterfeld to 
the Mulda. Bernadette occupied the left of the oppofite 
army, reaching from Wettin to Zarlug: but general Bln- 
cher, being on the right, with his head-quarters pufhed 
to Grofs Kugal, was nearefi to Leipfic ; and it was there¬ 
fore determined, that on his fide the grand effort fhould 
be made. Accordingly, having made bis difpofitions, he 
attacked in the morning the three French corps which 
were there ported, under the command of Ney. The 
French made the moft deiperate refiftance; feveral of the 
villages in difpute were five or fix times taken and re¬ 
taken ; but at 1 ngth they were driven from all their po- 
fitions, and forced to retire behind the Partba, which Im¬ 
mediately covered Leipfic. They loft in this battle forty 
pieces of cannon, with 12,000 wounded and prifoners. 
General Blucher’s lofs is eftimated at 6 or 7000 kille d and 
wounded. On the fame day, a fimultaneous attack was 
mafia on the other fide by the grand army in thp neigh¬ 
bourhood of Wachar and Liebert Wolkowitz. The Ruf¬ 
fians began by (forming tv. o fortified buildings, which co¬ 
vered the front of their .enemy’s centre. But foon after, 
Bonaparte collected the whole mafs of his cavalry, which, 
headed by Murat, fucceeded in breaking the centre of the 
allies. The moment was critical; total defeat might have 
been the confequence. But fix regiments of Auftrian 
cuirafiiers ftept forward, gallantly withftood the efforts of 
the French, and fucceeded in checking their progrefs. 
The French had gained fome ground ; but, upon the 
whole, this deiperate and fanguinary adtion made no ma¬ 
terial change in the relative pofition and ftrer.gth of the 
two armies. 
On the 17th, (Sunday,) the allies made a paufe, with 
the view of bringing up further,reinforcements. Gene¬ 
ral Benningfen had, on the advance of prince Schwartzen¬ 
berg, been left to obferve Drefden with a large army. 
When, however, Bonaparte had quitted that capital, and 
had left it merely defended by St. Cyr, with a garrifon of 
163OOQ 
