FOOTNOTES:

[1] R. ACKERMANN would not feel himself justified in printing this

letter, nor in presuming to make an appeal to the British public in

behalf of the writer, were he not personally acquainted with the

character of this unfortunate and patriotic nobleman, who is held in the

highest veneration and respect for his benevolence to his numerous

tenantry, his liberality to strangers, and his general philanthropy. To

relieve the distresses which he has so pathetically described, the

publisher solicits the contributions of the benevolent. A distinct book

has been opened for that charitable-purpose at No. 101, Strand, in which

even the smallest sums, with the names of the donors, may be entered,

and to which, as well as to the original letter, reference may be made

by those who feel disposed to peruse, them.

NARRATIVE, &c.

You know, my dear friend, how often I have expressed the inconsiderate

wish to have some time or other an opportunity of witnessing a general

engagement. This wish has now been accomplished, and in such a way as

had well nigh proved fatal to myself; for my life had like to have been

forfeited to my curiosity. I may boast, however, with perfect truth,

that, during the four most tremendous days, I was wholly unaffected by

that alarm and terror which had seized all around me. On those four days

I was a near and undisturbed observer of a conflict which can scarcely

be paralleled In the annals of the world: a conflict distinguished by a

character which raises it far above your ordinary every-day battles. Its

consequences will extend not to Europe only, but to regions separated

from it by vast oceans. You must not expect from me a narrative that

will enter into military details, but merely a faithful historical

picture of what fell under my own observation; of what my own eyes,

assisted by an excellent telescope, could discover from one of the

highest buildings in the city, in the centre of operations, in the midst

of a circumference of more than eighteen leagues; and what I saw and

heard while venturing, at the hazard of my life, out of the city, not

indeed up to the mouths of the infernal volcanoes, but close in the

rear of the French lines, into the horrible bustle and tumult of the

baggage-waggons and bivouacs. We were here exactly in the middle of the

immense magic circle, where the incantations thundered forth from

upwards of fifteen hundred engines of destruction annihilated many

thousands, in order to produce a new creation. It was the conflict of

the Titans against Olympus. It is unparalleled in regard to the

commanders, great part of whom knew nothing of defeat but from the

discomfiture of their opponents, and among whom were three emperors, a

king, and the heir-apparent to a throne;--it is unparalleled in regard

to the form, for it was fought in a circle which embraced more than

fifteen miles;--it is unparalleled in regard to the prodigious armies

engaged, for almost half a million of warriors out of every region of

Europe and Asia, from the mouth of the Tajo to the Caucasus, with near

two thousand pieces of cannon, were arrayed against one another;--it is

unparalleled in regard to its duration, for it lasted almost one hundred

hours;--it is unparalleled in regard to the plan so profoundly combined

and so maturely digested by the allies, and characterized by an unity,

which, in a gigantic mass, composed of such, multifarious parts, would

have been previously deemed impossible;--it is unparalleled also in

regard to its consequences, the full extent of which time alone can

develop, and the first of which, the dissolution of the confederation of

the Rhine, the overthrow of the Continental system, and the deliverance

of Germany, are already before our eyes:--finally, it is unparalleled in

regard to single extraordinary events, the most remarkable of which is,

that the majority of the allies of the grand army, who had fought under

the banners of France in so many engagements with exemplary valour and

obstinacy, in the midst of this conflict, as if wakened by an electric

shock, went over in large bodies, with their drums beating and with all

their artillery, to the hostile legions, and immediately turned their

arms against their former associates. The annals of modern warfare

exhibit no examples of such a phenomenon, except upon the most

contracted scale. You may possibly object, that in all this there is

some exaggeration; and that, if I rate the battle of Leipzig so highly,

it is only because I happened to be an eye-witness of it myself; that

the French army is by no means annihilated; that in the uncommon talents

of its leader it possesses a sure pledge that it will regain from its

enemies those laurels which on various occasions they have ravished from

it for a moment. You may employ other arguments of a similar kind; but

to these I boldly reply, that neither do I consider the French army as

annihilated; that such a calamity could scarcely befall a force which in

the month of May, after ten engagements, numbered not less than 400,000

men, and was conducted by a general who had already won near fifty

battles: but this I maintain, that the mighty eagle, which proudly

aspired to encompass the whole globe in his flight, has had his wings

crippled at Leipzig to such a degree, that in future he will scarcely be

inclined to venture beyond the inaccessible crags which he has chosen

for his retreat. For my part, I cannot help considering the battle of

Leipzig as the same (only on an enlarged scale) as that gained near this

very spot 180 years ago, by the great Gustavus Adolphus. In this

conflict it was certainly decided that Napoleon, so far from being able

to sustain such another engagement in Germany, will not have it in his

power to make any stand on the right bank of the Rhine, nor recover

himself till secure with the relics of his dispirited army behind the

bulwarks of his own frontier.

Four times had the sun pursued his course over the immense field of

battle before the die of Fate decided its issue. The whole horizon was

enveloped in clouds of smoke and vapours; every moment fresh columns of

fire shot up from the circumjacent villages; in all points were seen the

incessant flashes of the guns, whose deep thunders, horribly

intermingled with continual volleys of small arms, which frequently

seemed quite close to the gates of the city, shook the very ground. Add

to this the importance of the question which was to be resolved in this

murderous contest, and you may form a faint conception of the anxiety,

the wishes, the hopes,--in a word, of the cruel suspense which pervaded

every bosom in this city.

To enable you to pursue the train of events, as far as I was capable of

informing myself respecting them, I will endeavour to relate them as

they occurred. It was not till the arrival of marshal Marmont with his

corps of the army in this neighbourhood that any idea of the probability

of a general engagement at Leipzig began to be entertained. That

circumstance happened in the beginning of October. These guests brought

along with them every species of misery and distress, which daily

increased in proportion as those hosts of destroyers kept gradually

swelling into a large army. They were joined from time to time by

several other corps; the city was nearly surrounded by bivouacs; and,

gracious God! what proceedings! what havoc!--We had frequently been

informed that all Saxony, from Lusatia to the Elbe, resembled one vast

desert, where nothing was to be seen but towns laid waste and

plundered, villages reduced to ashes, naked and famishing

inhabitants;--that there was no appearance of any other living creature;

nay, not even a trace of vegetation remaining. These accounts we

naturally regarded as exaggerations, little imagining that in a short

time we should have to give to our distant friends the same details of

horror respecting our own vicinity. Too true it is that no nation has

made such progress in the art of refinement, and is so ingenious in

devising infernal torments, as that, which, under the name of allies and

protectors, has made us so inexpressibly wretched. Ever since the battle

of Luetzen, Leipzig had been one of the principal resources of the grand

French army, and they showed it no mercy. Numberless hospitals

transformed it into one great infirmary; many thousands of troops,

quartered in the habitations of the citizens, one prodigious _corps de

garde_; and requisitions of meat, bread, rice, brandy, and other

articles, one vast poor-house, where the indigent inhabitants were in

danger of starving. But for this well-stored magazine, the great French

army had long since been obliged to abandon the Elbe. No wonder then

that this point should have been guarded with the utmost care. It

required commissaries and inspectors, such as those who had the control

over our store-houses and granaries, to complete the master-piece, to

reduce that Leipzig, which had once patiently sustained, without being

entirely exhausted, the burdens of a war that lasted seven years--to

reduce it, I say, in six months, to so low an ebb, that even the opulent

were in danger of perishing with hunger; that reputable citizens could

no longer procure the coarsest fare; and that, though their hearts

overflowed with pity and compassion, they were absolutely incapable of

affording the slightest relief, not so much as a crust of bread, to the

sick and wounded soldier. It is impossible to give you any idea of the

dexterity and rapidity with which the French soldiers will so totally

change the look of a village, a field, or a garden, that you shall not

know it again, how well soever you may have been acquainted with it

before. Such was the fate of Leipzig, and of the beautiful environs of

our inner city-walls.

You must know that the bread and forage waggons of a great French army

are destined merely, as they pass through the villages, to receive the

stores collected from all the barns, cellars, lofts, and stables, which

are taken by force from the wretched husbandman, who is beaten, cut, and

mangled, till he puts-to his last horse, and till he carries his last

sheaf of corn and his last loaf of bread to the next bivouac; and then

he may think himself fortunate, if he is suffered to return home without

horses or waggon, and is not compelled to accompany the depredators many

miles without sustenance of any kind. In all other armies, whether

Russians, Prussians, Austrians, or Swedes, when the troops are not drawn

out in line of battle opposite to the enemy, in which case it is

necessary to send back the carriages into the rear, care is always taken

that waggons with bread and forage, and herds of cattle, shall follow

the marching columns. Whenever the army halts, magazines are immediately

established; and, if even the stores necessary for it are required at

the cost of the country, this case bears no comparison with that where

every attendant on the waggon-train is at full liberty to pillage till

his rapacity is satisfied. Woe to the country where, as in our's,

hundreds of thousands of such commissaries are allowed to exercise their

destructive office at discretion! Ask the inhabitants of more than

twenty villages round Leipzig, and many hundred others at a greater

distance, which certainly fared no better, what soldiers they were who

carried off roofs, doors, windows, floors, and every kind of household

furniture and agricultural implements, and threw them like useless

lumber into the watch-fires?--Ask those unfortunates what soldiers they

were who pillaged barns and cellars, and ransacked every corner of the

houses; who tore the scanty clothes from the backs of the poorest class;

who broke open every box and chest, and who searched every dunghill,

that nothing might escape them?--They will tell you that it was the so

highly vaunted French guards, who always led the way, and were the

instructors of their comrades.

It is a great misfortune for a country when, in time of war, the supply

of the troops is left to themselves by the military authorities, and

when that supply is calculated only from one day to another; but this

calamity has no bounds when they are French troops who attack your

stores. It is not enough for them to satisfy the calls of appetite;

every article is an object of their rapacity: nothing whatever is left

to the plundered victim. What they cannot cram into their knapsacks and

cartouch-boxes is dashed in pieces and destroyed. Of the truth of this

statement the environs of Leipzig might furnish a thousand proofs. The

most fortunate of the inhabitants were those who in good time removed

their stores and cattle to a place of safety, and left their houses to

their fate. He who neglected this precaution, under the idea that the

presence of the owner would be sufficient to restrain those locusts, of

course lost his all. No sooner had he satisfied one party than another

arrived to renew the demand; and thus they proceeded so long as a morsel

or a drop was left in the house. When such a person had nothing more to

give, he was treated with the utmost brutality, till at length, stripped

of all, he was reluctantly compelled to abandon his home. If you should

chance to find a horse or a cow, here and there, in the country round

our city, imagine not that the animal was spared by French

generosity:--no such thing! the owner must assuredly have concealed it

in some hiding-place, where it escaped the prying eyes of the French

soldiers. Nothing--absolutely nothing--was spared; the meanest bedstead

of the meanest beggar was broken up as well as the most costly furniture

from the apartments of the opulent. After they had slept upon the beds

in the bivouacs, as they could not carry them away, they ripped them

open, consigned the feathers to the winds, and sold the bed-clothes and

ticking for a mere trifle. Neither the ox, nor the calf but two days

old; neither the ewe, nor the lamb scarcely able to walk; neither the

brood-hen, nor the tender chicken, was spared. All were carried off

indiscriminately; whatever had life was slaughtered; and the fields were

covered with calves, lambs, and poultry, which the troops were unable to

consume. The cattle collected from far and near were driven along in

immense herds with the baggage. Their cries for food in all the high

roads were truly pitiable. Often did one of those wretches drive away

several cows from the out-house of a little farmer, who in vain implored

him upon his knees to spare his only means of subsistence, merely to

sell them before his face for a most disproportionate price. Hay, oats,

and every species of corn, were thrown unthreshed upon the ground, where

they were consumed by the horses, or mostly trampled in the dirt; and if

these animals had stood for some days in the stable, and been supplied

with forage by the peasant, the rider had frequently the impudence to

require his host to pay for the dung. Woe to the field of cabbages,

turnips, or potatoes, that happened to lie near a bivouac! It was

covered in a trice with men and cattle, and in twenty-four hours there

was not a plant to be seen. Fruit-trees were cut down and used for fuel,

or in the erection of sheds, which were left perhaps as soon as they

were finished. Though Saxony is one of the richest and most fertile

provinces of Germany, and the vicinity of Leipzig has been remarkable

for abundance, yet it cannot appear surprising, that, with such wanton

waste, famine, the most dangerous foe to an army, should have at length

found its way into all the French camps. Barns, stables, and lofts, were

emptied; the fields were laid bare; and the inhabitants fled into the

woods and the towns. Bread and other provisions had not been seen in our

markets for several days, and thus it was now our turn to endure the

pressure of hunger. It was a fortunate circumstance that many families

had laid in a quantity of potatoes, which indeed might yet be purchased,

though at an exorbitant price. The bakers of this place were obliged to

work up the small stock of flour in their possession for the use of the

troops; and all other persons were driven from the doors by the guards

with the butt-ends of their muskets; though the citizen who came in

quest of bread had perhaps twenty men quartered upon him, who all

expected him to find wherewith to satisfy their craving appetites.

Such was what might be termed the prologue to the grand tragedy which

was about to be performed in an amphitheatre of many square miles, and

to the catastrophe of which we looked forward with an anxiety that had

risen to so high a pitch, because, in case of the longer continuance of

this state of things, our own annihilation might be hourly expected.

That the grand armies of the allies were approaching Leipzig, on every

side, we had heard through several private channels. Napoleon had

quitted Dresden, which he had been compelled to abandon almost solely by

the want of all the means of subsistence. We were long uncertain

respecting his route, and so perhaps was he himself at first. Many, who

were qualified to form a judgment respecting military operation's, were

of opinion that he would make a push with his whole force upon Berlin

and the Oder. They supposed that those parts were not sufficiently

covered, and considered the fortresses on the Elbe as his _point

d'appui_ in the rear. This opinion, however, seemed to lose much of its

probability, as other French corps, under Ney, Regnier, Bertrand, and

Marmont, kept arriving here, and were afterwards joined by that of

Augereau. We had received authentic information that prince

Schwarzenberg had already advanced to Altenburg with the grand combined

army of Austria, Russia, and Prussia; and also that the crown-prince of

Sweden had his head-quarters at Zoerbig. Upon the whole, however, our

intelligence was unsatisfactory. For several days (that is to say, from

the 10th) it was reported that the emperor of the French would certainly

remove his head-quarters hither; that he had taken the road to Wurzen,

and was coming by way of Duben. This account was confirmed by several

detachments of the French guard. It is universally known that this

general preferably chooses those days on which he founds his claim to

glory, in order to distinguish them by new achievements. His proximity

to us, and the approaching 14th of October[2], strengthened the

anticipation of some important event in our neighbourhood. The light

troops of the allies, whom we took for the advanced guard of the

crown-prince of Sweden, were distinctly to be seen from the steeples of

the city, on the north side of it, towards Breitenfeld and Lindenthal.

Daily skirmishes ensued, and wounded French were hourly brought in. The

bustle in the city increased; the king of Naples had arrived, and fixed

his head-quarters at Konnewitz. Innumerable generals and staff-officers

filled all the houses. Not a moment's rest was to be had; all were in

bivouac. They seemed wholly ignorant of the motions of the allies; for

the same troops who went out at one gate often returned before night at

another; so that there was an incessant marching in and out at all the

four principal avenues of the city. These movements of cavalry,

infantry, and carriages, ceased not a moment even during the night It

was very rarely that a troop of cavalry, sent out upon patrol or picket

duty, returned without having lost several men and horses, who were

invariably, according to their report, kidnapped by the Cossacks. Upon

the whole, all the troops with whom the French had any rencounters were

called by them _Cossacks_--a name which I have heard them repeat

millions of times, and to which they never failed to add, that "the

fellows had again set up a devilish hurrah."

The Cossacks are indisputably the troops of whom the French are most

afraid. With them, therefore, all the light cavalry who come upon them

unawares are sure to be Cossacks. In revenge for the many annoyances

which they were incessantly suffering from these men, they applied to

them the opprobrious epithet of _brigands_. Often did I take pains to

convince them that troops who were serving their legitimate sovereign,

and fighting under the conduct of their officers, could not be termed

banditti; my representations had no effect,--they were determined to

have some satisfaction for their disappointment in a thousand attempts

to master such enemies. Their vanity was far too great to suffer them to

do justice to those warriors; and they never would admit what thousands

had witnessed, namely, that thirty French horse had frequently run away

from two Cossacks. If Napoleon had twenty thousand Russian Cossacks in

his service, the French journalists and editors of newspapers would

scarcely be able to find terms strong enough to extol these troops; and

the French have just reason to rejoice that the emperor Alexander has no

such rivals of their government in his pay, otherwise we should hear of

their exploits only, and the vaunted French horse-guards would long

since have sunk into oblivion.

All the preparations that were making now evidently denoted that we were

on the eve of important events. The French corps had already ranged

themselves in a vast semicircle, extending from north to east, and

thence to south-west. The country towards Merseburg and Weissenfels

seemed to be merely observed. For this purpose the eminences beyond the

village of Lindenau were occupied. Here the access to the city is the

most difficult, a causeway only leading to it in this direction. The

country on the right and left consists of swampy meadows and wood-land,

every where intersected by ditches and muddy streams. If you inquired

of the French officers what might be the total strength of their army

about Leipzig, their statements were so various, that it was impossible

to fix with the least confidence upon any number as a medium. By what

standard, indeed, can you judge of a force rated by some at 150,000, by

others at 400,000 men? They unanimously agreed, on the other hand, that

the allies would be opposed by fifteen corps, exclusively of the guards.

I had an opportunity of forming a tolerably correct estimate of one

division of Marmont's corps, which consisted at the utmost of 4000, so

that the whole might amount to 12,000 men; and it was one of those

which, in comparison of others, had sustained the least loss. Even that

of Augereau, which was incontestably the most complete, as it had just

come out of cantonments, was computed at scarcely 15,000 men. If, then,

we take 10,000 for the average, the total amount of the French armies

collected near Leipzig, as the wrecks only of several were then

remaining, can scarcely have reached 170,000, even including the guards.

Such a force, however, commanded by so many generals who had heretofore

been acknowledged the ablest in Europe, together with wore than 600

pieces of artillery, was still fully sufficient to make itself

respected, and even feared, by an enemy of double its number. One single

species of troops alone was below mediocrity:--the cavalry, both in

regard to the horses and the men, the former from weakness and want of

sustenance, and the latter from ignorance of their business. With the

force of the allies we are yet unacquainted, but at all events they must

have been more numerous.

The 14th of October at length dawned. It had preceded by several rainy

days; but this was merely lowering. The cannon thundered at intervals

towards Liebertwolkwitz. In the forenoon wounded French, chiefly

cavalry, kept coming in singly. With whom they had been engaged they

knew not--_Cossacks_, of course. We looked forward with certainty to a

general engagement. It became every hour more dangerous for the

inquisitive to venture out or in at the gates. There was no end to the

marching of horse and foot and the rolling of carriages; at every ten

paces you met in all directions with _corps de garde_, by whom every

non-military person without distinction was ordered back, sometimes with

fair words, and at others with rudeness. Several couriers had been sent

forward to announce the speedy arrival of the king of Saxony and

Napoleon. The hero of the age, as he has been styled, actually came

about noon, not, as we anticipated, by the Dresden road, but by that

from Berlin. He passed hastily through the city, and out at the farthest

Grimma gate, attended by some battalions and squadrons of his guards. A

camp-chair and a table were brought in all haste, 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 possession of the

head-quarters prepared for him, which were any thing but magnificent,

being surrounded only by the relics of the stalks and leaves of the

cabbages consumed by his soldiers, and other matters still more

offensive. The table was instantly covered with maps, over which the

emperor pored most attentively for a considerable time. Of what was

passing around him he seemed not to take the smallest notice. The

spectators, of whom I was one, crowded pretty close about him. On

occasion of his visit to the city, a few months before, the French had

discovered that the people of Leipzig were not so malicious as they had

been represented, but tolerably good-natured creatures. They were

therefore allowed to approach unobstructed within twenty paces. A long

train of carriages from the Wurzen road, the cracking of the whips of

the postilions, together with a great number of horse-soldiers and tall

grenadiers, announced the arrival of another distinguished personage,

and called the attention of the by-standers that way. It was the king of

Saxony, with his guards and retinue. He alighted, and a kind salutation

ensued between him and his august ally. The king soon afterwards mounted

a horse, and thus proceeded into the city. Napoleon meanwhile remained

where he was. He sometimes rose from his seat, went up to the

watch-fire, held his hands over it, rubbed them, and then placed them

behind him, whilst with his foot he pushed the wood, consisting of dry

boards and rafters from the nearest houses, into the flame, to make it

burn more fiercely. At the same time he very frequently took snuff, of

which he seemed to have but a small quantity left in his gold box. At

last he scraped together what was left with his finger, and poured it

out upon his hand. When all was gone, he opened the box several times

and smelt to it, without applying to any of the marshals and generals

around him to relieve his want. As the discharges of artillery towards

Probstheide grew more and more general and alarming, and the wounded

kept returning in continually increasing numbers, I was rather surprised

that the commander should, on this occasion, contrary to his usual

custom, quietly remain so far from the field of battle, which was near

ten miles distant, apparently without giving himself the least concern

about the event.

It was about four in the afternoon when one of his aid-de-camps came at

full speed from the city, and made a report. The drums instantly beat to

arms, and the divisions of the guards broke up. The emperor immediately

mounted his horse, and followed them. He directed his course towards the

Kohlgaerten[3], leaving the field of battle on the right. I soon

perceived the cause of this movement: the message informed him of the

arrival of the whole of his guards, for whom he had been waiting. They

came from Dueben, entering by the Halle gate, and now made a countermarch

upon Dresden. When I beheld their endless files and cannon without

number pouring out of the city, I certainly gave up the allies for lost.

I was thoroughly convinced that Napoleon had no other plan than to

strike off to the right behind the Kohlgaerten, with his new army, and,

proceeding from Stoetteritz, to turn his enemies on the right flank, and,

as he had often done before, to attack and annihilate them. I was

however egregiously mistaken. The emperor went with his retinue scarcely

a thousand paces, to the first houses of the Kohlgaerten, where he took

up his quarters, and quietly passed the night. The guards and the whole

train likewise stopped in that neighbourhood, and there bivouacked. It

grew dark. The palisades at the gate had left but a narrow passage,

through which troops and artillery kept pouring without intermission.

People on horseback and on foot, who wanted to return into the city, had

been already detained for several successive hours; the crowd every

moment increased, and with it the danger. To seek another entrance was

impracticable, as a person would run the risk of being detained by the

thousands of pickets, and shot, or at least dragged to the filthiest

bivouacs. The night was dark as pitch, and no hope left of getting home.

It rained fast, and not a corner was to be found where you might take

shelter. I was in the midst of more than a thousand horses, which

threatened every moment to trample me under their feet. Fortunately for

me, they were all tolerably quiet The thunder of the artillery had long

ceased; but, had it even continued, it could not possibly have been

heard amidst the rattling of carriages and cannon; the shouts of

soldiers and officers, as sometimes cavalry, at others infantry, wanted

to pass first; the incessant cursing, cracking, pushing, and thrusting.

Never while I live shall I witness such a scene of confusion, of which

indeed it is impossible to convey any conception. It continued without

intermission from four in the afternoon till twelve at night, so that

you may figure to yourself the disagreeable situation in which I was

placed. No sooner had the first columns arrived at their bivouacs in the

neighbouring villages, than a thousand messengers came to announce the

intelligence in a way that sufficiently proved what unwelcome visitors

they were. Weeping mothers with beds packed up in baskets, leading two

or three stark-naked children by the hand, and with perhaps another

infant at their back; fathers seeking their wives and families;

children, who had lost their parents in the crowd trucks with sick

persons forcing their way among the thousands of horses; cries of misery

and despair in every quarter:--such were the heralds that most feelingly

proclaimed the presence of the warriors who have been celebrated in so

many regions, and whose imposing appearance has been so often admired,

all these unfortunates crowded into the filthy corner formed by the old

hospital and the wall at the Kohlgaerten-gate. Their cries and

lamentations were intermingled with the moans and groans of the wounded

who were going to the hospitals, and who earnestly solicited bread and

relief. A number of French soldiers, probably such as had loitered in

the rear, searched every basket and every pocket for provisions. They

turned without ceremony the sleeping infants out of the baskets, and

cared not how the enraged mothers lacerated their faces in return. The

scenes of horror changed so quickly, that you could not dwell more than

half a minute upon any of them. The tenderest heart became torpid and

insensible. One tale of woe followed on the heels of another,--"Such a

person too has been plundered!--Such an one's house has been set on

fire!--This man is cut in pieces; that has been transfixed with the

bayonet!--Those poor creatures are seeking their children!"--These were

the tidings brought by every new fugitive. If you asked the French when

the march would be over, you received the consolatory answer--"Not

before six o'clock in the morning." During the night the sound of drums

and trumpets incessantly announced the arrival of fresh regiments. At

length, about midnight, the bustle somewhat subsided, at least so far as

regarded the marching of troops. I now seized the favourable moment, and

felt myself as it were a new creature; when, having made my way through

the crowd of horses with extraordinary courage and dexterity, I once

more set foot in the city. _Thus the morning and the evening completed

the first day of horror._

Notwithstanding the unpleasant circumstances in which my curiosity had

involved me on the preceding day, I had in fact seen and heard nothing

as far as related to my principal object. It was no battle, but merely

an indecisive, though warm, affair. The first act of the piece concluded

with aft illumination extending farther than the eye could reach, and

occasioned by the innumerable watch-fires which were kindled in every

quarter, and gradually spread farther and farther, as the lines of the

bivouacking army were lengthened by the arrival of fresh columns. By way

of variety, the flames rising from a number of burning houses in the

distance formed as it were points of repose. Scarcely was the night over

when all eyes and ears were on the alert, in expectation that the

sanguinary scene would commence with the morning's dawn. All, however,

remained quiet. People, therefore, again ventured abroad, and there

thought themselves more secure than the preceding day, because they

might the more easily avoid the danger while at a distance-than they

could have done the night before. It required, to be sure, considerable

strength of nerves not to be shocked at the spectacles which every where

presented themselves. Many dead bodies of soldiers, who had come sick

into bivouac, lay naked in the fields and upon the roads. The heirs had

taken especial care to be on the spot at the moment of their decease, to

take possession of all that the poor wretches had to bequeath. The

mortality among the horses had been still greater: you met with their

carcasses almost at every step; and, which way soever you turned your

eyes, you beheld a still greater number which Death had so firmly seized

in his iron grasp, that they inclined their heads to the ground, and

fell, in a few minutes, to rise no more! Scarcely was there sufficient

room on the high road for a slender pedestrian to find a passage. All

the fields were covered with troops and baggage. Even on the place of

execution they had erected bivouacs, and not the most inconvenient,

because they were there less crowded than in other places. Except single

musket-shots, nothing was to be heard but incessant cries of _Serrez!

Serrez!_ (Closer! Closer!)--The dice yet lay in the box, and were not

destined to be thrown that day. It was probably spent in reconnoitring,

in order to make up the parties for the grand game in which empires were

the stake. The preparations for the defence of the city became more

serious and alarming. The exterior avenues had been previously

palisaded, and provided with _chevaux de frise_; but the greater part of

them were completely closed up. Loop-holes were formed in every wall,

and _tirailleurs_ posted behind them. In every garden and at every hedge

you stumbled upon pickets. As the inner town is better secured by its

strong walls against a first onset, they contented themselves there with

sawing holes in the great wooden gates, for the purpose of firing

through them. Every thing denoted the determination not to spare the

city in the least, however unfit in itself for a point of defence. The

only circumstance calculated to tranquillize the timid was the presence

of our king, for whom, at any rate, Napoleon could not but have some

respect.

As there was no appearance of gleaning much information abroad, I now

sought a wider prospect upon a steeple.--So much I had ascertained from

all accounts, that it was principally the Austrians who had been

engaged the preceding day. Some hundreds of prisoners had been brought

in; the church-yard had been allotted to these poor fellows for their

abode, probably that they might study the inscriptions on the

grave-stones, and thus be reminded of their mortality. Nothing was given

them to eat, lest they should be disturbed in these meditations. So far

as the telescope would command were to be seen double and triple lines,

the end of which the eye sought in vain. The French army stretched in a

vast semicircle from Paunsdorf to Probstheide, and was lost in the woods

of Konnewitz. It occupied therefore a space of more than one German mile

(five English miles). Behind all these lines appeared reserves, who were

posted nearer to the city. On this side the main force seemed to be

assembled. Towards the north and west the ranks were more broken and

detached. Of the armies of the allies, only some divisions could yet be

discerned. The Cossacks were plainly distinguished at a distance of two

leagues. They had the boldness to venture within musket-shot of the

French lines, alight, thrust their pikes into the ground, and let their

horses run about. The king of Saxony himself witnessed their audacity

whilst in the midst of the French army, about half a league from

Leipzig. A number of these men came unawares upon him; and a Saxon

officer, with eighty horse, was obliged to face about against them, till

the king had reached a place of safety. This was the principal reason

why he made his entry into the city on horseback.

The 15th of October, which had been universally expected to give birth

to important events, was now quietly passed. For many weeks the city had

not been so tranquil as it was on the night of that day. Nothing but

the incessant _Qui vive?_ at the gates, denoted the presence of the

troops. On my return about eight o'clock from the suburbs, I was

suddenly surprised by an unusual phenomenon: in the direction of Pegau,

I saw three white rockets ascend to a great height amid the darkness. I

stood still, and waited to observe what would follow. In about a minute

four red ones rose above the horizon, apparently from Halle. After this

there was nothing more to be seen. That they were signals could not be

doubted, any more than that those signals must have been made by the

combined troops. I concluded that they must have armies in those

quarters, and that they were informing one another by these luminous

messengers of the points at which they had arrived. It now became more

certain than ever that the 16th would be the great day that should

decide the fate of Germany. I expressed my conjectures to several French

officers, that, according to all appearance, fresh armies of the allies

were on their march toward Leipzig. They contradicted me point-blank;

partly because, as they said, the crown-prince of Sweden and general

Bluecher had been obliged to retreat precipitately across the Elbe, as an

immense French army was in full march upon Berlin; and partly because

they were convinced that the reinforcements which might be coming up

could be of no great consequence; and were confident, that, at all

events, they should be perfectly prepared to receive the enemy. Never

did they make so sure of the most complete victory as they did

previously to the then approaching engagement. Besides the French in

garrison in the city, there were many German troops, who expressed

little hope, and, on the other hand, declared their resolution to make

no resistance, but to pass over to the allies, as many of their comrades

had already done; and there was no reason to doubt their

sincerity.--Thus passed the second day, between hope and fear.

The dawn of the 16th of October was enveloped in a thick fog. It was

gloomy, rainy, and cold. It was imagined that the hostile armies, though

so eager for the combat, would restrain their ardour to engage till the

fog should have cleared away. Soon after six, however, the thunder of

the artillery began to roll from Liebertwolkwitz. It grew more violent,

and approached nearer;--this was probably the moment when the Austrians

stormed that place. The firing _en pelotons_ was already heard. From our

elevated position we could discern nothing, the dense fog concealing

every object at the distance of one hundred paces. About ten, the

artillery thundered along the whole line of battle. The atmosphere

became clearer, and the clouds dispersed. Every flash from the cannon

was distinctly visible on the side of Konnewitz. Already a thousand

engines of death hurled destruction among the contending armies. The

fire of jaegers and sharp-shooters rattled on all sides, and we soon

discovered whole ranges of battalions and regiments. It was a general

engagement;--that was evident enough to every one, even though he had

never before heard a cannon fired in all his life. On the side of the

Halle and Ranstaedt gates all was yet quiet, and I began to imagine that

my rockets had deceived me. For six hours the guns had roared, and all

the lines were enveloped in clouds of smoke, through which the flashes

incessantly darted like lightning. As yet neither party seemed to have

receded an inch. The thunders of the artillery still continued to

proceed from the same spot. No longer could the firing of single guns

be distinguished; hundreds were every moment discharged, and united in

one single protracted roar. How many victims must already have strewed

the field!--At length, about eleven o'clock, a considerable change

seemed to have taken place. The firing did not appear more distant, but

became less general; single shots were heard, and the combatants seemed

disposed to make a pause in the work of death. All on a sudden a new and

tremendous cannonade commenced beyond Lindenau, towards Luetzen, not much

more than half a league from the city. The batteries of the allies

seemed to fire from Kleinschocher: those of the French were posted on

the heights of Lindenau. The corps of count Giulay had arrived there,

and now it appeared that my interpretation of the rockets was correct. I

then turned my eyes quickly towards the north, in the direction of

Halle, where before there was little or nothing to be seen. How was I

astonished when I now beheld lines of soldiers stretching farther than

the eye could reach, and fresh columns advancing behind them. It

appeared as if the troops which had been so furiously engaged the whole

morning were but the advanced guards of the immense armies that now

extended themselves more and more before me. Whence the French lines

which were so rapidly ranged opposite to them could have sprung, I am

yet at a loss to conceive: an hour before, I should have estimated them

at scarcely 10,000 men; and, what I now saw, my inexperienced eye

computed at more than 200,000 on both sides. This prodigious army seemed

about to form in order of battle. A few cannon-shot which it fired were

probably designed only to announce its arrival to the other chiefs.

Immediately afterwards, the cannonade beyond Lindenau, which had lasted

about two hours, entirely ceased. On the left wing of the French the

action was still very vigorously continued. It was about twelve o'clock

when we descended, to learn what accounts had meanwhile been received in

the city, that our relations with the lower world might not be totally

suspended. Before the residence of our sovereign there was a crowd of

officers of all ranks. The city-guard was drawn out on parade as well as

the grenadier-guard. A full band was playing, by French order, though

nobody could conceive what was the meaning of all this, while the cannon

were yet thundering before the city. We soon learned that the allies had

sustained a total defeat; that an Austrian prince, the archduke

Ferdinand, had lost an arm, and been taken prisoner with 40,000 men; and

that an immense quantity of artillery had been captured. This

intelligence had been forwarded by marshal Ney from the field of battle,

and preparations were instantly made to celebrate the victory. A

regiment of the French guards marched to the promenade before the

city--now, alas! an offensive sewer,--and, agreeably to command,

expressed their exultation in the acquisition of these new laurels by a

loud _Vive l'empereur!_ Of the citizens, but a very small portion took

part in their joy; for what else could they have expected from such a

victory than inevitable death by famine? The more intelligent shook

their heads; and in truth there were but too many reasons to suspect the

truth of the account. If you asked the wounded, who in troops either

hobbled or were carried in at the gates, the answer, was, _Les Cossaques

ont encore la meme position_--(The Cossacks are still in the same

position). None of them had heard any thing about captured cannon, but

they well knew that they had themselves lost five pieces that morning. I

was unable to comprehend how the French commander-in-chief, possessing

in so eminent a degree the quality of a correct military _coup d'oeil_,

could so early announce that he had won the battle, when such numerous

armies of the allies had but just arrived upon the field, and had not

yet fired a single shot. Country-people, who had fled from the

neighbourhood of Grimma, declared that a fresh army of Russians, under

general Bennigsen, was in full march towards that place. In truth, only

a small part of the allied forces had yet been engaged. Bennigsen, the

crown-prince of Sweden, and field-marshal Bluecher, had not yet entered

the lists. If this fiction was intended merely to pacify our king at the

expense of truth, it was evident that this object could not be attained

without compromising him;--a kind of treatment wholly unmerited by a

prince who was never guilty of wilful falsehood[4].

In the midst of these rejoicings for the victory, the thunder of the

artillery was again heard from Lindenau. The tremendous roar was almost

immediately repeated from Taucha, Wiederitsch, and Breitenfeld. The

Swedish army and that of Bluecher were now engaged. We again repaired to

our lofty station. There was not a point round the city where the fatal

engines were not dealing forth destruction. We knew not which way first

to direct the glass. "Only look here," cried one. "Oh! that's nothing at

all," replied another, "you must come this way."--"You none of you see

any thing," exclaimed a third: "you must look yonder--there the cavalry

are cutting away--and hark how the fresh artillery is beginning to

fire." It was singular enough that just at the very point where the

allies were reported to have sustained so signal a defeat, that is to

say, on their left wing, at Liebertwolkwitz, the cannonade again became

the most violent. Fresh troops, with artillery, including a large body

of Polish cavalry, were seen hastening out by the Ranstaedt gate towards

Lindenau. Napoleon himself rode with the king of Naples along the

causeway to the Kuhthurm (cow-tower), as it is called, probably to

observe how things were going on. The allies strove to make themselves

masters of the pass near Lindenau. Their infantry had actually

penetrated into the village, but was driven back, and this was succeeded

by a tremendous fire of riflemen, which was near enough for us to

distinguish the discharge of every single piece. I remarked on this

occasion the incredible exertions of the French _voltigeurs_, who

defended a ditch near the Kuhthurm, ran to and fro on the bank with

inconceivable agility, availed themselves of the protection afforded by

every tree and every hedge, and fired away as briskly as though they

had carried with them the confederation of the Rhine, as their own

property, in their cartouch-boxes. Cannon-balls and shells had fallen in

the village itself, which was set on fire in several places. Whether

friend or enemy had the advantage it was impossible to judge, on account

of the broken nature of the ground and the woods, behind which the

engagement was the hottest It was evident that one party exerted itself

as strenuously to defend as the other did to take this important

position. The French retained it; therefore the prize of victory in this

instance must be adjudged to them. At Breitenfeld, Lindenthal, and

Wiederitsch, the fortune of the day was different. There the lines of

the allies evidently advanced. The cannonade was an infallible

barometer. The French artillery receded, and was already driven back so

close upon Gohlis and Eutritzsch, that the balls of their opponents fell

in both villages. Night drew on: the vast field of battle became

gradually enveloped in darkness, and the horizon was now illumined by

the flashes of the guns alone, followed at long intervals by the low

thunder of the report. The battle had lasted the whole day all round the

city. The church-clocks struck six; and, as if all parties had

unanimously agreed to suspend at this moment the horrid work of

slaughter, the last cannon-shot was fired beyond Lindenau. The fire of

small arms, however, was yet kept up; but, as though the mortal struggle

became more and more faint, that too gradually ceased. Nothing now was

seen around the horizon but one immense circle of many thousand

watch-fires. In all directions appeared blazing villages, and from their

number might be inferred the havoc occasioned by this arduous day. Its

effects were still more plainly manifested when we descended into the

streets. Thousands of wounded had poured in at all the gates, and every

moment increased their numbers. Many had lost an arm or a leg, and yet

limped along with pitiable moans. As for a dressing for their wounds,

that was a thing which could not yet be thought of; the poor wretches

had themselves bound them up with some old rag or other as well as they

were able. All of them were seeking hospitals, the arrangements for

which had, in truth, been most miserably neglected by the French. Upon

the whole, I have had occasion to remark that the soldier, who has been

crippled in the service, and incapacitated for further warfare, has

nowhere so little regard paid to his situation as in the French army. At

least such is the case just at the moment when he has most need of

attention, that is to say, just after he is wounded. No carriages or

other conveyances were provided for the removal of these mangled and

mutilated soldiers, though the lives of thousands might perhaps have

been preserved by such a precaution. When the combined Russian and

Prussian army marched six months before to Luetzen, and prepared for

battle, the amplest provision was made in regard to this point; and it

is well known that their army was thus enabled to carry off by far the

greater part of the wounded, and to afford them medical relief. Such, on

the contrary, were the arrangements of the French, that, five days after

that engagement, soldiers with their wounds still undressed, and near

perishing for want of sustenance, were found on the field of battle, and

at last owed their preservation chiefly to the surgeons and inhabitants

of this city. To each French column are attached a great number of

_ambulances_, but they are never to be found where they are most

wanted. It is universally asserted that the French army surgeons are

very skilful men; but, as they seem to consult their own convenience in

a very high degree, and their number is too small--for a complete

regiment has but five--the arrangements for hospitals in a campaign

during which several great battles take place, and in which it is found

necessary to crowd the sick and wounded much too closely together, as

was the case in Saxony, are always most deplorable. But to return from

this digression:--

For the reception of the wounded, in this instance, orders had been

given to clear out the corn-magazine, which is capable of accommodating

about 2,500. Each of these poor fellows received a written ticket at the

outer gate of the city, and was directed to that hospital. The persons

who superintended this business never gave it a thought to distribute

only such a number of these billets as the building would hold of sick,

but continued to send all that came to the corn-magazine, long after it

was too full to admit another individual. Overjoyed on having at last

found the spot, the wretched cripple exerted his last remains of

strength, that he might obtain relief as speedily as possible at the

hands of the surgeons. Judge then of the feelings of the unfortunate man

when his hopes were here most cruelly disappointed; when he found many

hundreds of his fellow-sufferers moaning with anguish on the wet stones,

without straw to lie upon, without shelter of any kind, without medical

or surgical attendance, nay, even without a drop of water, for which

they so often and so earnestly petitioned;--when he was peremptorily

refused admittance at the door, and he too had no other resource than to

seek a couch like the rest upon the hard pavement, which his wounds

very often were unable to endure. No more attention was here paid to

him than the stones on which he gave vent to his anguish. Many hobbled

farther in quest of something to appease the cravings of hunger and

thirst. But who could give it them? Extreme want had long prevailed in

the city; the very inhabitants had great trouble and difficulty to

obtain for money sufficient to make a scanty meal for themselves and

their families. The fainting soldier might think himself fortunate if

his solicitations procured him a crust of bread or an apple. Thousands

were not so lucky.--Such was the state of things at the magazine; such

was the spectacle exhibited in all the streets, and especially in the

market-place, where every corner provided with a shelter was converted

into an hospital. The consequences were inevitable. Many; as might

naturally be expected, perished, in the night, of hunger, agony, and

cold. Their lot was enviable--they no longer needed any human

assistance. What heart would not have bled at such scenes of

horror!--and yet it was the very countrymen of these unfortunate

wretches who seemed to care the least about them, and passed by with the

most frigid indifference, probably because they are so familiarized with

such spectacles. O ye mothers, ye fathers, ye sisters of France, had ye

here beheld your agonized sons and brothers, the sight, like a hideous

phantom, would surely have haunted you to the last moment of your lives.

The laurels acquired by your nation have indeed been purchased at a most

exorbitant price.

I have forgotten to mention a circumstance worthy of notice in the

history of this day. It is this; that in the midst of the cannonade all

round Leipzig--when the whole city shook with the thunders of the

artillery, and the general engagement had, strictly speaking, but just

commenced--all the bells of the churches were rung by French command, to

celebrate the victory won in the forenoon. Such an instance was

certainly never afforded by any battle which had scarcely begun, and

terminated in the total and decisive overthrow of him who had already

fancied himself mounted in triumph upon the car of victory. This day,

however, the engagement still remained undecided, according to the

reports of those who returned from different points of the field of

battle. The French had stood as if rooted to the spot--the allies, like

rocks of granite. The former had fought like men, the latter like lions.

Both parties, inspired with mutual respect, desisted from hostilities

during the night.

The combined troops, who had not been able in two sanguinary days to

bring the contest to an issue, had, however, during that time gained

several essential advantages. They had ascertained the strength of their

antagonist, and made themselves acquainted with the nature of the

ground. They knew what points were the most vulnerable, and could thence

infer how the enemy would manoeuvre. They were enabled to make their own

dispositions accordingly, and to give to the plan of the grand

engagement that perfection by which it is so peculiarly characterized.

In this point of view the allies had, without our suspecting it,

advanced a considerable step on the night of the third day.

According to the general opinion of the inhabitants of Leipzig, the 17th

was destined to be the important day on which the last act of the great

tragedy was to be performed. We were, however, mistaken. The morning

came, and we heard nothing from either side. We had long ceased to take

notice of single shots. The French lines occupied Probstheide, and all

the points where they had the preceding day been posted. The order of

battle had, however, been considerably changed. The vast armies which

had been drawn up to the west and north had almost entirely disappeared.

In the forenoon a cannonade commenced about Gohlis, but soon ceased

again. In the meadows between the city and Lindenau were posted some

cavalry. At a greater distance but few troops were to be seen; and the

allies seemed to have renounced any farther attempts on that pass. The

left wing of the French grand army extended to Abtnaundorf, and had

strong corps posted as far as Taucha; the centre stretched behind the

Kohlgaerten and Stoetteritz to Probstheide, and the right wing reached

beyond Konnewitz to the wood and the Elster. Several lines were advanced

to Markleeberg. The combined army occupied parallel positions. You will

not expect me to say more respecting the order of battle, especially as

a circumstantial account of it has already appeared. The motives which

occasioned a kind of truce to be observed during the whole of this day

are unknown to me. This phenomenon was, the more surprising, as Napoleon

is not accustomed long to defer business of such importance. From what I

can learn, there was no parleying, as has been asserted, between the

contending parties. Several Frenchmen assigned, as a reason, that the

emperor expected a strong reinforcement of three corps, and therefore

undertook nothing on this day. On all sides columns of smoke were yet

seen rising from the villages that were reduced to ashes. All at once

the church of Probstheide also appeared in flames. It soon fell in, and

is now totally demolished. This fire is said to have been occasioned by

negligence.

All the large edifices in the city were now selected for the purpose of

being converted into hospitals. The number of the wounded kept

continually augmenting, and by far the greatest part of them had still

no other shelter than the streets. Many, though after three days of

suffering, were yet unable to obtain any assistance. The king resolutely

remained in the city, in order, as the event shewed, there to await his

fate, whatever it might be. Our condition became every moment more

alarming; and, in proportion as our anxiety grew more painful, our hopes

diminished. What will become of us before this time to-morrow? was the

general question on the evening of that day, and we looked forward with

dejection and despondency to the morrow's dawn. We felt much less

anxiety in the midst of the thunder of the artillery than we did at the

close of this fourth day. It resembled the dead calm which precedes the

impending storm. The combined troops took their leave of us for the

night, as they had done on the preceding, with the discharge of three

cannon. It had been Sunday, and you might almost have imagined that the

contending parties had suffered it to pass thus peaceably, out of

respect to the commandment--_Thou shalt keep the sabbath-day holy._

The 18th of October at length appeared. It was a day equal in importance

to many a century; and the fewer History can produce that deserve to be

classed along with it, the more memorable it will remain. All that

preceded it had merely opened the way, and there were yet almost

inaccessible cliffs to climb before we could flatter ourselves with the

hope of reaching the wished-for goal. The leaders of the allies had

already shewn the ablest French generals, in several grand engagements,

that they possessed sufficient means and talents to dissolve the charm

of their invincibility. They were now about to enter the lists with the

hero whom a thousand panegyrists, during a period of near twenty years,

had extolled far above the greatest generals of ancient and modern

times; whose enemies had to boast of but one victory over him at most--a

victory which he himself did not admit, as he ascribed the total

destruction of his army in Russia to physical causes alone. It was the

conqueror of Marengo, Austerlitz, Friedland, Ratisbon, Wagram, and

Mojaisk. Fresh laurels entwined his brow at Luetzen, Bautzen, and

Dresden. Here at Leipzig the allies attempted to wrest them from him who

grasps so firmly. It was easy to foresee that with unshaken resolution

he would risk all, in order, as on former occasions, to gain all, and to

put an end to the campaign with a single blow. He seemed to contemplate

nothing less than the utter annihilation of the allies, as all the

bridges far and near were broken down to cut off their retreat. Whether

the situation in which he had placed himself was such as to justify

these hopes, I shall leave to the decision of those who are better

qualified to judge. His confidence in victory must, however, have been

very strong, as he had made such inadequate preparations for his own

retreat.

The action commenced in the centre of the French army beyond

Probstheide, probably with the storming of the villages in its front,

for we afterwards learned that they were several times taken and

recovered. They have been more or less reduced to heaps of rubbish. That

the work of slaughter might be completed on this day, it had been begun

with the first dawn of morning. So early as nine o'clock all the immense

lines from Taucha to Konnewitz were engaged. As the latter village lay

nearest to us, we could see what was passing there the most distinctly.

From Loesnig, a village situated beyond Konnewitz, a hollow, about two

thousand paces in length, runs from north-west to south-east. It is

bordered with a narrow skirt of wood, consisting of alders, limes, and

oaks, and forms an angle with the village. Beyond this line were

advanced several French batteries, the incessant movements of which, as

well as every single shot, might be clearly distinguished with our

glasses. To make myself better acquainted with this neighbourhood, I

explored two days afterwards this part of the field of battle, and found

that the French artillery must there have formed an open triangle; for

the road which runs straight from Leipzig, behind Konnewitz through

Dehlis and Loesnig, of course from north to south, was also lined by

French batteries. The houses of those villages had served them for a

_point d'appui_ in the rear, and were most of them dreadfully shattered

by the balls of the Austrians. The artillery of the latter seems to have

had a great advantage in regard to the ground. The French cannon brought

into the line from Konnewitz to Dehlis and Loesnig stood in a

hollow--those of the Austrians on eminences. These last had moreover the

advantage of enfilading the two angles formed by the batteries of the

French. That this had actually been the case was evident from the

numbers of French cannoniers and horses lying dead in rows in the line

of the above-mentioned villages, where they had been swept down by the

guns of their opponents. On the eminences where the hostile cannon were

planted the number of dead was much smaller, and these were apparently

not artillery-men, but infantry, who were probably engaged in covering

those batteries. The firearms which lay beside them confirmed the

conjecture. This pass must nevertheless have been obstinately defended,

as it was not taken the whole day. The fire of musketry grew more and

more brisk--a proof that the combatants were already in close action.

The French _tirailleurs_ could not be driven out of the woods, on which

their right wing was supported. We remarked frequent charges of cavalry,

which seemed to decide nothing. All the villages lying beyond Konnewitz,

on the road to Borna, as far as Markleeberg, were on fire. The thunder

from the French centre, as well as from the left wing, gradually

approached nearer to the city. The seventh corps, under general Reynier,

was in the left wing, and posted towards Taucha. It was principally

composed of Saxons. They had just come into action, and the allies had

already brought up a great number of guns against them. To the no small

astonishment and consternation of their leader, they suddenly shouldered

their arms, marched forward in close files with their artillery, and

went over to the enemy. Several French battalions, misled by this

movement, joined them, and were immediately disarmed and made prisoners

by the allies. The French cuirassiers, suspecting the design of the

Saxons, followed, apparently with the intention of falling upon them.

The Saxons faced about, and compelled them, by a smart fire of musketry,

to return. A volley of small arms was discharged after them, but with no

more effect--it did them no injury. Their horse-artillery turned about,

and soon dismounted that of the French. They were greeted with a joyful

_hurrah!_ by the Cossacks, who cordially shook hands with their new

comrades. The Saxons desired to be immediately led back to the attack of

the French. The hearts of these soldiers individually had long glowed

with revenge for all the devastations committed in their native land by

their allies and companions in arms, for whom they had so often shed

their blood in torrents. The generals of the allies refused on very good

grounds to comply with their desire. The Saxons marched a league into

the rear of the field of battle, and there bivouacked. Their artillery

only was afterwards invited to take part in the engagement, and did

great execution. This circumstance had an essential influence on the

issue of the contest, inasmuch as the defection of a body of more than

8000 men facilitated the advance of the right wing of the allies. But

for this step the Saxons would have fared very badly, as their opponents

had already ranged upwards of thirty pieces of cannon against their

line, and were bringing up still more to the attack. These now proved

the more galling to the ranks of the French, who were driven back almost

to the Kohlgaerten. From my position this advance of the allies was not

to be perceived except by the approach of the thunder of the artillery.

The French centre yet stood immoveable; at least we could not observe

from the city any change which denoted a retrograde movement. The

sanguinary character of this tremendous conflict might be inferred from

the thousands of wounded, who hobbled, crawled, and were carried in at

the gates. Among the latter were many officers of rank. If you inquired

of those who returned from the field, how the battle was going on, the

reply almost invariably was--"Badly enough,--the enemy is very strong."

A Saxon cuirassier declared, without reserve, that it might be

considered as decided, adding, "We have lost a deal of ground

already."--Stoetteritz and Schoenefeld were stormed the same evening. All

the streets were covered with wounded, and fortunate were they who

could find a shelter. As for surgical aid and refreshments, these were

not to be thought of. A far greater number of those miserable wretches

were yet left behind in the villages, as might be seen from the detached

limbs, which were piled in heaps, especially at Probstheide.

Had any of the allied corps succeeded this day in penetrating on any

side into our city, nothing less than the total destruction of the

French army would probably have been the consequence; since it might

from this place, as from the centre of the field of battle, have fallen

upon the rear of any part of the French force, and have hemmed in both

the centre and the wings. This misfortune Napoleon had taken good care

to prevent. He now felt, however, that his strength was broken, and that

he was no longer in a condition to maintain the contest. He resolved

upon retreat, but carefully sought to conceal this intention from his

enemies. Though night had come on; yet the cannon thundered as furiously

as in the morning, and the fire of musketry was brisker than ever. A

long column, with an endless train of artillery, was seen defiling from

Probstheide to Konnewitz. Again I trembled for the cause of the allies.

These, I imagined, were the French guards, marching to the attack of the

right wing. Now methought the moment had arrived when Napoleon would

strike the decisive blow, which he had so often deferred till the very

last hour. Soon afterwards the cannonade seemed to gain redoubled

vigour, and continued an hour without intermission, so that every house

in the city was shaken. As, however, it at length ceased without

removing to a greater distance, we naturally concluded that this last

attack had proved unsuccessful. More than ten great conflagrations

illumined the whole horizon amid the obscurity of night.

The excessive bustle in the city rendered it impossible for us to

observe that the retreat had in fact commenced. The greatest part of the

persons attached to the army had already left the city, while the others

were making all the requisite preparations for their departure. Most of

them had wonderfully changed the tone in which they had spoken the

preceding day. They now talked of the miseries of war, deplored the

sufferings of the people, and declared that peace would be the greatest

of blessings for all parties. The multitude of French officers here was

so great, that even those of high rank on the staff were obliged to put

up with the most wretched accommodations, for which they paid

handsomely, leaving their horses and equipages in the street, where the

former frequently ran away. One of these officers sought a night's

lodging in a mean house in the author's neighbourhood. He was called up

at midnight, and informed that his column had just begun to retreat. He

inquired whether the whole army was doing the same--the messenger

replied that he did not know. This circumstance first confirmed my

belief that the French had sustained a defeat, and rendered the

conjecture that their whole army was retreating highly probable. Many

French _employes_ and soldiers had, several days before, while they yet

had an opportunity, exchanged their uniform for the plainest attire,

that, under this peaceful aegis, they might the more calmly await the

issue of events; and that, in case the allies should come upon them too

unexpectedly, they might, under the disguise of honest citizens, hasten

away to their beloved Rhine without being challenged by the lances of

the Cossacks. With greater composure than any of them did general

Bertrand, the governor of the city, who, perhaps, as an intelligent

officer, was the least confident of victory, look forward to the event.

He abandoned not his post at the precipitate departure of the emperor,

and was in consequence made prisoner the following day.

Such was the conclusion of the fifth day. It beheld a field of battle,

of unparalleled extent, strewed with slain; and left one of the most

flourishing districts of Saxony, as it were, one general conflagration.

With anxious solicitude the people of Leipzig awaited its coming, and

with expectations unfulfilled they witnessed its close. Though it

appeared probable to us all, that, in this colossal engagement, victory

had wholly forsaken the Gallic eagles, still the fate of our city was

far from being decided. We were yet in the midst of the crater of the

tremendous volcano, which by one mighty effort might hurl us into atoms,

and leave behind scarcely a vestige of our existence. Napoleon had

received a severe blow; and now it behoved him to oppose an immediate

barrier to the impetuous course of the conquerors, and to prevent the

total loss of his yet remaining army, artillery, and baggage. The only

bulwark that he could employ for this purpose was Leipzig. All that art

had formerly done to render it a defensive position had long since

disappeared. Planks, hedges, and mud walls, were scarcely calculated to

resist the butt-end of a musket. This deficiency it was every where

necessary to supply by living walls, and that was in fact done in such a

way as filled us all with consternation.

At day-break on the 19th the allies put the finishing hand to the great

work. A considerable part of the French army, with an immense quantity

of artillery, had already passed through and into the city with great

precipitation. The troops that covered the retreat were furiously

attacked, and driven on all sides into the city. Napoleon attempted to

arrest the progress of victory by an expedient which had so often before

produced an extraordinary effect, that is, by negotiation. A proposal

was made to evacuate the city voluntarily, and to declare the Saxon

troops there as neutral, on condition that the retreating army should

have sufficient time allowed to withdraw from it with its artillery and

waggon-train, and to reach a certain specified point. The allies too

clearly perceived what an important advantage would in this case be

gained by the French army, which was less anxious for the fate of the

city than to effect its own escape. These terms were rejected, and

several hundred pieces of artillery began to play upon Leipzig. Our fate

would have been decided had the allied sovereigns cherished sentiments

less generous and humane than they did. It behoved them to gain

possession of Leipzig at any rate; and this object they might have

accomplished in the shortest way, and with inconsiderable loss to

themselves, if they had bombarded it for one single hour with shells,

red-hot balls, and Congreve rockets, with which an English battery that

accompanied them was provided. Their philanthropic spirits, on the

contrary, revolted at the idea of involving the innocent population of a

_German_ city in the fate of Moscow and Saragossa. They resolved to

storm the town, and to support the troops employed in this duty with

artillery no farther than was necessary to silence the enemy, and to

force their way through the palisaded avenues and gates. Meanwhile the

discharges of artillery, quite close to us, were so tremendous, that

each seemed sufficient to annihilate the city. The king of Saxony

himself sent flags of truce, entreating that it might be spared. The

allies replied that this should be done in as far as the defence of the

enemy might render it practicable: they promised, moreover, security to

persons and property after the place should be taken, and to enforce as

rigid discipline as it was possible on such an occasion. To these

assurances they annexed the condition that no French should be secreted

in the city, declaring that every house in which one or more of them

should be found would run the risk of being reduced to ashes. The

cannon, though only in a proportionably small number from the north and

east, immediately began to play. They were partly directed against the

palisades at the gates, partly against the French artillery which

defended the avenues. For more than two hours balls and shells from the

east and north frequently fell in the city itself, and in the suburbs.

Many a time I was filled with astonishment at the effects of one single

ball, which often penetrated through two thick walls, and pursued its

course still farther. Though they seldom fell in the streets, it was

impossible to venture abroad without imminent hazard of life, as these

tremendous visitors beat down large fragments of roofs, chimneys, and

walls, which, tumbling with a frightful crash, threatened to bury every

passenger beneath their ruins. Still greater havoc was made by the

shells, which, bursting as soon as they had descended, immediately set

their new habitations in flames. Fortunately for us, but few of these

guests were sent into the city. The most that fell came from the north,

that is, in the direction of Halle. Three times did fires break out in

the Bruehl, which, in a short consumed several back buildings contiguous

to the city wall, and nothing but the instantaneous measures adopted for

their extinction prevented farther damage. The allies had no other

object, in dispatching these ministers of destruction, than to shew the

retreating enemy, who, in the general confusion and bustle, could no

longer move either forward or backward, that, if they now forbore to

annihilate him, it was because the innocent citizens might be involved

in equal destruction with the fugitives. Pfaffendorf, a farm-house near

the north side of the city, had previously been set on fire, when the

Russian jaegers had penetrated thither through the Rosenthal, and was

consumed to the very walls. As this place had been converted into an

hospital, many poor fellows there fell a sacrifice to the flames.

You may easily conceive the sensations of the inhabitants of the upper

town when we beheld the black clouds of smoke rising from the lower,

while the incessant fire of the artillery rendered it impossible for us

to repair thither, to obtain information or to afford assistance. Here,

as every where else, the fears of the inhabitants were wound up to the

highest pitch. A cry was raised that several streets were already in

flames, and every one now hastened to his own house, that he might be at

hand in case a similar accident should happen there. It became more and

more dangerous to remain in the upper stories, which the inhabitants

accordingly quitted, and betook themselves to the kitchens and cellars.

If such were the terrors of the inmates, old and young, the fears and

anxiety of the French who chanced to be in the houses surpassed all

description. Many of them were seen weeping like children, and starting

convulsively at every report of the cannon. In the midst of this hideous

uproar I made another attempt to learn what was passing in the suburbs.

In the streets I found inexpressible confusion, people running in all

directions, officers driving their men to the gates. Cries and shouts

resounded from all quarters, though very few of the persons from whom

they proceeded knew what they would be at. At this time cartouch-boxes

and muskets were to be seen thrown away here and there in the streets.

The Saxon grenadier guards were drawn out with wonderful composure and

grounded arms, before the royal residence. Every unarmed person

anxiously sought to gain the nearest house, but commonly found it shut

against him. Several had already lost their lives or been severely

wounded by the balls which fell in all directions. Napoleon was still in

the city; he was at this moment with our king, with whom he had an

animated conversation, which lasted near an hour. Soon afterwards I saw

him, accompanied by the king of Naples, proceeding on horseback toward

the Ranstaedt gate. I had meanwhile taken the opportunity of slipping

into a house which overlooks that street, and now for the first time

beheld a French retreat in the height of its confusion. Not a vestige of

regularity was any where observable. The horse and foot guards poured

along in mingled disorder. They would probably have marched in quicker

time, had they been permitted by the waggons and cannon, which were

locked in one another, and obstructed the way. Between these they were

obliged to pass singly, and I really thought that it would be at least

six hours before they could all have effected their passage. Immense

droves of cattle were cooped up among the crowd. These seemed to be

objects of particular concern to the French. They sought out a space,

however narrow, along the town-ditch, by which they might drive forward

their horned favourites. Whoever was bold enough, and had any hopes of

being able to conduct these animals into his own habitation, had now an

opportunity of making an advantageous bargain. A few pieces of silver

might be carried off with much greater facility than a huge clumsy ox.

Notwithstanding all the efforts to preserve this valuable booty from the

general wreck, it was absolutely impossible to save the whole of it.

Many horned cattle and horses were left behind, and now innocently

sought a scanty repast by the city-walls. That, amidst all this

"confusion worse confounded," there was no want of shouting and

blustering, you may easily imagine, though nobody got forward any faster

for all this noise. On a sudden we saw at a distance the emperor

himself, with not a numerous retinue, advancing on horseback into the

midst of this chaos. He got through better than I expected. I afterwards

learned that he took a by-road through a garden to the outer Ranstaedt

gate. Prince Poniatowsky attempted, higher up, to ford the Elster. The

banks on each side are of considerable height, soft and swampy; the

current itself narrow, but in this part uncommonly deep and muddy. How

so expert a rider should have lost the management of his horse, I cannot

imagine. According to report, the animal plunged headlong into the water

with him, so that he could not possibly recover himself. He fell a

victim to his temerity, and was drowned. His body was found several days

afterwards, and interred with all the military honours due to his

rank[5].

As the commander-in-chief had so precipitately quitted the city, we

could no longer doubt the proximity of the enemy to our walls. The fire

of the artillery and musketry in the place, which gradually approached

nearer, was a much more convincing proof of this than we desired. The

men already began to cut away the traces, in order to save the horses.

The bustle among the soldiers augmented; a weak rearguard had taken post

in Reichel's garden, to keep the allies in check, in case they should

penetrate into the high road. We thought them still at a considerable

distance, when a confused cry suddenly proclaimed that the Russians had

stormed the outer Peter's gate, and were coming round from the

Rossplatz. The French were evidently alarmed. The Russian jaegers came

upon them all at once, at full speed, with tremendous huzzas and fixed

bayonets, and discharged their pieces singly, without stopping. I now

thought it advisable to quit my dangerous post, and hasten home with all

possible expedition. I was informed by the way that the Prussians had

that moment stormed the Grimma gate, and would be in the city in a few

minutes. On all sides was heard the firing of small arms, intermixed at

times with the reports of the artillery, already playing upon the

waggon-train in the suburbs. Musket-balls, passing over the city wall,

likewise whizzed through the streets; and, when I ventured to put my

head out of the window, I observed with horror, not far from my house,

two Prussian jaegers pursuing and firing at some Frenchmen who were

running away. Behind them I heard the storm-march, and huzzas and shouts

of _Long live Frederic William!_ from thousands of voices. A company of

Baden jaegers was charged with the defence of the inner Peter's gate.

These troops immediately abandoned their post, and ran as fast as their

legs would carry them to the market-place, where they halted, and, like

the Saxon grenadier guards, fired not a single shot.

Thus the so long feared and yet wished-for hour was at length arrived.

What we should never have expected after the 2nd of May, namely, to see

a single Prussian again at Leipzig, was nevertheless come to pass. They

had then left us as friends, and, by their exemplary conduct, had

acquired our highest respect. We bore them, as well as the Russians, in

the most honourable remembrance. They now appeared as enemies, whose

duty had imposed on them the task of storming the city. Our sons and

brothers had fought against them. What might not be our fate? We had not

forgotten that which befell Luebeck, seven years before, under similar

circumstances. But they were the warriors of Alexander, Francis,

Frederic William, and Charles John; terrible as destroying angels to the

foe, kind and generous to the defenceless citizen. As far as the

author's knowledge extends, not a man was guilty of the smallest excess

within our walls. They even paid in specie for bread, tobacco, and

brandy. The suburbs, indeed, fared not quite so well. There many an

inhabitant suffered severely; but how was it possible for the commanders

to be present every where, and to prevent all irregularities, after a

conflict which had raged in every corner of the city? Would you compare

the victors, upon the whole, with our late friends and protectors, go

through all Saxony, and then judge in whose favour the parallel must be

drawn.

It was half past one o'clock when the allies penetrated into the city.

The artillery had been but little used on this occasion, and in the

interior of the place not at all. Had not the allies shewn so much

tenderness for the town, they might have spared the sacrifice of some

hundreds of their brave soldiers. They employed infantry in the assault,

that the city might not be utterly destroyed. The grand work was now

nearly accomplished. Obstinately as the French in general defended

themselves, they were, nevertheless, unable to withstand the iron masses

of their assailants. They were overthrown in all quarters, and driven

out of the place. The streets, especially in the suburbs, were strewed

with dead. The writer often counted eight in a very small space. In

about an hour you might venture abroad without danger in all parts of

the town. But what sights now met the eye! Leipzig, including the

suburbs, cannot occupy an area of much less than one (German) square

mile. In this extent there was scarcely a spot not covered with houses

but bore evidence of the sanguinary conflict. The ground was covered

with carcasses, and the horses were particularly numerous. The nearer

you approached to the Ranstaedt gate, the thicker lay the dead bodies.

The Ranstaedt causeway, which is crossed by what is called the Muehlgraben

(mill-dam), exhibited a spectacle peculiarly horrid. Men and horses were

every where to be seen; driven into the water, they had found their

grave in it, and projected in hideous groups above its surface. Here the

storming columns from all the gates, guided by the fleeing foe, had for

the most part united, and had found a sure mark for every shot in the

closely crowded masses of the enemy. But the most dreadful sight of all

was that which presented itself in the beautiful Richter's garden, once

the ornament of the city, on that side where it joins the Elster. There

the cavalry must have been engaged; at least I there saw a great number

of French cuirasses lying about. All along the bank, heads, arms, and

feet, appeared above the water. Numbers, in attempting to ford the

treacherous river, had here perished. People were just then engaged in

collecting the arms that had been thrown away by the fugitives, and they

had already formed a pile of them far exceeding the height of a man.

The smoking ruins of whole villages and towns, or extensive tracts laid

waste by inundations, exhibit a melancholy spectacle; but a field of

battle is assuredly the most shocking sight that eye can ever behold.

Here all kinds of horrors are united; here Death reaps his richest

harvest, and revels amid a thousand different forms of human suffering.

The whole area has of itself a peculiar and repulsive physiognomy,

resulting from such a variety of heterogeneous objects as are no where

else found together. The relics of torches, the littered and trampled

straw, the bones and flesh of slaughtered animals, fragments of plates,

a thousand articles of leather, tattered cartouch-boxes, old rags,

clothes thrown away, all kinds of harness, broken muskets, shattered

waggons and carts, weapons of all sorts, thousands of dead and dying,

horribly mangled bodies of men and horses,--and all these

intermingled!--I shudder whenever I recall to memory this scene, which,

for the world, I would not again behold. Such, however, was the

spectacle that presented itself in all directions; so that a person, who

had before seen the beautiful environs of Leipzig, would not have known

them again in their present state. Barriers, gardens, parks, hedges, and

walks, were alike destroyed and swept away. These devastations were not

the consequence of this day's engagement, but of the previous

bivouacking of the French, who are now so habituated to conduct

themselves in such a manner that their bivouacs never fail to exhibit

the most deplorable attestations of their presence, as to admit no hopes

of a change. The appearance of Richter's garden was a fair specimen of

the aspect of all the others. Among these the beautiful one of Loehr was

particularly remarkable. Here French artillery had been stationed

towards Goehlis; and here both horses and men had suffered most severely.

The magnificent buildings, in the Grecian style, seemed mournfully to

overlook their late agreeable, now devastated, groves, enlivened in

spring by the warbling of hundreds of nightingales, but where now

nothing was to be heard, save the loud groans of the dying. The dark

alleys, summer-houses, and arbours, so often resorted to for recreation,

social pleasures, or silent meditation, were now the haunts of death,

the abode of agony and despair. The gardens, so late a paradise, were

transformed into the seat of corruption and pestilential putridity. A

similar spectacle was exhibited by Grosbosch's, Reichel's, and all the

other spacious gardens round the city, which the allies had been obliged

to storm.--The buildings which had suffered most were those at the outer

gates of the city. These were the habitations of the excise and other

officers stationed at the gates. Most of them were so perforated as

rather to resemble large cages, which you may see through, than solid

walls. All this, however, though more than a thousand balls must have

been fired at the city, bore no comparison to the mischiefs which might

have ensued, and which we had every reason to apprehend. We now look

forward to a happier futurity; the commerce of Leipzig will revive; and

the activity, industry, and good taste of its inhabitants, will,

doubtless, ere long, call forth from these ruins a new and more

beautiful creation.

I now summon your attention from these scenes of horror to others of a

different kind, the delineation of which is absolutely necessary to

complete the picture. Those hosts which had so long been the scourge of

Germany and Europe, and had left us this last hideous monument of their

presence, perhaps never to return, were now in precipitate flight, as

though hurried away by an impetuous torrent. The terrors of the Most

High had descended upon them. The conqueror had appeared to them at

Leipzig in the most terrific form, and with uplifted arm followed close

at their heels. About a league beyond the city the ardour of the pursuit

somewhat abated; at Markranstaedt the routed army first stopped to take

breath, and to form itself in some measure into a connected whole. The

booty taken by the allies was immense. The suburbs were crowded with

waggons and artillery, which the enemy had been obliged to abandon. It

was impossible for the most experienced eye to form any kind of estimate

of their numbers. The captors left them all just as they were, and

merely examined here and there the contents of the waggons. Many of them

were laden with rice, which was partly given away, especially by the

Prussians. Many a Frenchman probably missed the usual supply of it for

his scanty supper. All the streets were thronged with the allied troops,

who had fought dispersed, and now met to congratulate one another on the

important victory. Soon after the city was taken, their sovereigns made

their entry. The people pressed in crowds to behold their august and so

long wished-for deliverers. They appeared without any pomp in the

simplest officers' uniforms, attended by those heroes, a Bluecher, Buelow,

Platow, Barklay de Tolly, Schwarzenberg, Repnin, Sanders, &c. &c., whom

we had so long admired. The acclamations of the people were unbounded.

Tens of thousands of voices greeted them with _Huzzas_ and _Vivats_; and

white handkerchiefs,--symbols of peace,--waved from every window. Some

few indeed were too unhappy to take part in the general joy on this

memorable day. It was the only punishment, but truly a severe one, for

the abject wretches who have not German hearts in their bosoms. Never

did acclamations so sincere greet the ears of emperors and kings as

those which welcomed Alexander, Francis, Frederic William, and Charles

John. They were followed by long files of troops, who had so gloriously

sustained the arduous contest under their victorious banners. In the

midst of Cossacks, Prussian, Russian, Austrian, and Swedish hussars,

appeared also our gallant Saxon cavalry, resolved henceforward to fight

for the liberty of Germany, and the genuine interests of their native

land.

A great number of regiments immediately continued their march without

halting, and took some the road to Pegau, and others that to Merseburg,

in order to pursue the enemy in his left flank and in his rear.

Bluecher's army had the preceding day advanced to the neighbourhood of

Merseburg, where it was now posted in the right flank of the retreating

force. Leipzig had nothing more to fear. French officers and soldiers

were every where seen intermixed with their conquerors. It was only here

and there that they were collected together and conveyed away. Of the

greater part but little notice was taken in the first bustle, as all the

gates were well guarded, and it was scarcely possible for one of them to

escape. Numbers had fled during the assault from their quarters into the

suburbs. Many seemed to have left behind valuable effects and money, as

I should conjecture from various expressions used by some, who offered,

several Napoleon-d'ors to any person who could assist them to reach

their lodgings. For this, however, it was now too late. Strict orders

were issued against the secreting or entertaining of Frenchmen, and they

were therefore obliged to seek, for the moment, a refuge in the

hospitals.

Only a small part of the combined troops had gone in pursuit of the

French. By far the greatest portion reposed in countless ranks round the

town from the fatigues of the long and sanguinary conflict. Part of the

army equipage entered, and all the streets were soon crowded to such

excess that you could scarcely stir but at the risk of your life. The

allied monarchs alighted in the market-place, where the concourse of

guards and equipages was consequently immense. Here I saw the late

French commandant of the city coming on foot with a numerous retinue of

officers and commissaries, and advancing towards the Russian generals.

The fate of general Bertrand was certainly most to be pitied; he was a

truly honest man, who had no share in those inexpressible miseries in

which we had been for the last six months involved. I felt so much the

less for the commissaries, whom I have ever considered as the Pandora's

box of the French army, whence such numberless calamities have spread

over every country in which they have set foot. At the residence of our

sovereign I observed no other alteration than that a great number of

Saxon generals and officers were collected about it. The life

grenadier-guards were on duty as before, and a battalion of Russian

grenadiers was parading in front of the windows. No interview, that I

know of, took place between the king of Saxony the allied sovereigns.

The king of Prussia remained here longest in conversation with the

prince-royal. The emperors of Austria and Russia, as well as the

crown-prince of Sweden, returned early to the army. After the departure

of the Prussian monarch, our king set out under a strong escort of

Cossacks for Berlin, or, as some asserted, for Schwedt.

The French hospitals which we had constantly had here since the

beginning of the year, and which, since the battle of Luetzen and the

denunciation of the armistice, had increased to such a degree as to

contain upwards of 20,000 sick and wounded, may be considered as a

malignant cancer, that keeps eating farther and farther, and consuming

the vital juices. It was these that introduced among us a dreadfully

destructive nervous fever, which had increased the mortality of the

inhabitants to near double its usual amount. Regarded in this point of

view alone, they were one of the most terrible scourges of the city; but

they proved a still more serious evil, inasmuch as the whole expense of

them fell upon the circle. The French never inquired whence the

prodigious funds requisite for their maintenance were to be derived, nor

ever thought of making the smallest compensation. If we reckon, for six

months, 10,000 sick upon an average, and for each of them 12 groschen

per day (and, including all necessaries, they could scarcely be kept at

that rate), the amount for each day is 5000, and, for the six months,

the enormous sum of 900,000 dollars, which the exhausted coffers were

obliged to pay in specie. This calculation, however, is so far below the

truth, that it ought rather to be greatly augmented. A tolerable

aggregate must have been formed by proportionable contributions from all

our country towns, and this was for the service of the hospitals alone:

judge then of the rest.

Previously to the battle of Leipzig the state of the inmates of these

pestilential dens, these abodes of misery, was deplorable enough, as

they were continually becoming more crowded and enlarged. Many of the

persons attached to them, and in particular many a valuable and

experienced medical man, carried from them the seeds of death into the

bosom of his family. With their want of accommodations, cleanliness was

a point which could not be attained, and it was impossible to pass them

without extreme disgust. As Leipzig was for a considerable time cut off

from the rest of the world by the vast circle of armies, like the

mariner cast upon a desert island, the wants of these hospitals became

from day to day more urgent. Provisions also at length began to fail.

The distress had arrived at its highest pitch, when the thousands from

the field of battle applied there for relief. Not even bread could any

longer be dispensed to these unfortunates. Many wandered about without

any kind of shelter. Then did we witness scenes which would have

thrilled the most obdurate cannibals with horror. No eye could have

beheld a sight more hideous at Smolensk, on the Berezyna, or on the road

to Wilna--there at least Death more speedily dispatched his victims.

Thousands of ghastly figures staggered along the streets, begging at

every window and at every door; and seldom indeed had Compassion the

power to give. These, however, were ordinary, familiar spectacles.

Neither was it rare to see one of these emaciated wretches picking up

the dirtiest bones, and eagerly gnawing them; nay, even the smallest

crumb of bread which had chanced to be thrown into the street, as well

as apple-parings and cabbage-stalks, were voraciously devoured. But

hunger did not confine itself within these disgusting limits. More than

twenty eye-witnesses can attest that wounded French soldiers crawled to

the already putrid carcasses of horses, with some blunt knife or other

contrived with their feeble hands to cut the flesh from the haunches,

and greedily regaled themselves with the carrion. They were glad to

appease their hunger with what the raven and the kite never feed on but

in cases of necessity. They even tore the flesh from human limbs, and

broiled it to satisfy the cravings of appetite; nay, what is almost

incredible, the very dunghills were searched for undigested fragments to

devour. You know me, and must certainly believe that I would not relate

as facts things which would be liable to be contradicted by the whole

city. Thus the hospitals became a hot-bed of pestilence, from which the

senses of hearing, smell, and sight, turned with disgust, and one of the

most fatal of those vampyres which had so profusely drained our vitals,

and now dispensed destruction to those who had fed them and to the sick

themselves.

The great church-yard exhibited a spectacle of peculiar horror. The

peaceful dead and their monuments had been spared no more than any other

corner of the city. Here also the king of terrors had reaped a rich

harvest. The slight walls had been converted into one great fort, and

loop-holes formed in them. Troops had long before bivouacked in this

spot, and the Prussian, Russian, and Austrian prisoners, were here

confined, frequently for several successive days, in the most

tempestuous weather and violent rain, without food, straw, or shelter.

These poor fellows had nevertheless spared the many handsome monuments

of the deceased, and only sought a refuge from the wet, or a lodging for

the night, in such vaults as they found open. This spacious ground,

which rather resembled a superbly embellished garden than a

burial-place, now fell under the all-desolating hands of the French. It

soon bore not the smallest resemblance to itself; what Art had, in the

space of a century, employed a thousand hands to produce, was in a short

time, and by very few, defaced and destroyed. The strongest iron doors

to the vaults were broken open, the walls stripped of their decorations

and emblems of mourning, the last tributes of grief and affection

annihilated, and every atom of wood thrown into the watch-fire; so that

the living could no longer know where to look for the remains of the

deceased objects of their love. The elegant rails, with which the

generality of the graves were encompassed, for the most part

disappeared, and the only vestiges of them to be found were their ashes,

or the relics of the reeking brands of the watch-fire. On the 19th this

wretched bulwark also was stormed, and thrown down as easily as a

fowler's net. The carcasses of horses now replaced upon the graves the

monuments of mourning for the peaceful dead. After the battle part of

the French prisoners were confined in this place. The church of St.

John, which stands in it, had, as early as the month of May, been

converted into an hospital, which, ever since the beginning of October,

was crowded with sick. It could hold no more; the sick and prisoners

were therefore intermingled, and lay down pell-mell among the graves.

What had hitherto been spared was now completely destroyed. In this

case, indeed, dire necessity pleaded a sufficient excuse. Who could find

fault with Distress and Despair if they resorted to the only means that

could afford them the slightest alleviation? Who could grudge them a

shelter in the cold autumnal nights, even though they sought it in the

dreary abode of mouldering corpses? Every vault which it was possible

for them to open was converted into a chamber and dwelling-place, which

at least was preferable to a couch between hillocks soaked with rain or

covered with hoar frost. They descended into the deepest graves, broke

open the coffins, and ejected their tenants, to procure fire-wood to

warm their frozen limbs. I myself saw a French soldier who had fallen

among a heap of coffins piled up to the height of more than twelve feet;

and, unable to clamber up again, had probably lain there several days,

and been added by Death to the number of his former victims. The

appearance of the skulls, before so carefully concealed from the view of

the living, now thrown out of the coffins into the graves, was truly

ghastly.

In spite of all the exertion of the new authorities, appointed by the

allies to alleviate the general misery, it was utterly impossible for

any human power to restore order in the horrid chaos which the French

had left behind them. A severe want of all necessaries was felt in the

city; the circumjacent villages, far and wide, were plundered and laid

waste. From them, of course, no supply could be obtained. More than

thirty hospitals were not capable of receiving all the sick and wounded

who applied for admission. Where were to be found buildings sufficiently

spacious, mattresses, bedding, utensils, provisions, and the prodigious

number of medical attendants, whose services were so urgently required

by these poor creatures? Every edifice at all adapted to the purpose had

long been occupied; and so completely had every thing been drained by

requisitions, that the hospital committee had for some time been unable

to collect even the necessary quantity of lint. Almost every barber's

apprentice was obliged to exercise his unskilful hands in the service of

the hospitals. It would have been impossible to procure any thing with

money, had it been ever so plentiful; and this resource, moreover, was

already completely exhausted. The most acute understanding and the most

invincible presence of mind were inadequate to the providing of a remedy

for these evils. No where was there to be seen either beginning or end.

The city was covered with carcasses, and the rivers obstructed with dead

bodies. Thousands of hands were necessary to remove and bury these

disgusting objects before any attention could be paid to the clearing of

the field of battle about Leipzig. As all sought relief, there was of

course none to afford it. It was difficult to decide whether first to

build, to slaughter, to brew, to bake, to bury the dead, or to assist

the wounded, as all these points demanded equally prompt attention.

In the city lay many thousands of newly-arrived troops, who came from

the fight, and were both hungry and thirsty. Notwithstanding their

moderation, some of these could obtain nothing, and others but a very

scanty supply. Gladly would every citizen have entertained them in the

best manner; but not even a glass of the worst beer or brandy was now to

be had. Many of them naturally ascribed this to ill will, and even

observed that every thing was denied them because they were not

Frenchmen. How little did they know of our real situation! In the house

where I live six of the Prussian foot-guards were quartered. They

complained when nothing was set before them but dry potatoes; but

listened with calmness to the excuses that were offered. Without making

any reply, four of them took up their arms, and departed. In about an

hour they returned, bringing with them two cows, which they had taken

from the French. These they presented to their host, and immediately

fell to work and killed then. In two hours the family was abundantly

supplied with meat, so that it could assist others; and, as great part

was pickled, it was supplied for a considerable time. Frenchmen would

certainly not have acted thus.

Among the thousands of facts which might be adduced to prove that it was

absolutely impossible for any thing whatever to be left in the town,

that its resources were completely exhausted, and that extreme want

could not but prevail, let one instance suffice. There were in the city

two granaries, one of which, in the palace of Pleissenburg, had been

filled at the king's cost, and the other, called the corn-magazine, at

the expense of the magistrates. The former had long been put in

requisition by French commissaries, and had been chiefly applied to the

provisioning of the French garrisons of Wittenberg and Torgau. As this

was the king's property, it was perhaps but right to demand it for the

fortresses which were to defend the country. The stores possessed by the

magistrates were purchased in those years when a scarcity of corn

prevailed in Saxony. To afford some relief the government had imported

great quantities from Russia, by way of the Baltic and the Elbe. The

magistrates of Leipzig had bought a considerable part of it, that they

might be able to relieve the wants of the citizens in case a similar

calamity should again occur. It was ground and put into casks, each

containing 450 pounds. They had in their magazine 4000 such casks, which

had been left untouched even in the year 1806, and were carefully

preserved, to be used only in cases of extreme necessity. This was

certainly a wise and truly paternal precaution. So valuable a store

would have been sufficient to protect the city from hunger for a

considerable time. As the French army behaved all over Saxony as though

it had been in an enemy's country, and consumed every thing far and

near, the most urgent want was the inevitable consequence. They forgot

the common maxim, that the bread of which you deprive the citizen and

the husbandman is in fact taken from yourself, and that the soldier can

have nothing where those who feed him have lost their all. The country

round Dresden was already exhausted. Soldiers and travellers coming from

that quarter could scarcely find terms to describe the distress. They

unanimously declared that the country from Oschatz to Leipzig was a real

paradise, in comparison with Lusatia and the circle of Misnia, as far as

the Elbe. Of this we soon had convincing proofs. It was necessary to

pick out a great number of horses from all the regiments, and to send

back numerous troops of soldiers to the depots. Don Quixote's Rosinante

was a superb animal compared with those which returned to Dresden. Most

of them had previously perished by the way. Here they covered all the

streets. The men sold them out of hand, partly for a few groschen. A

great number were publicly put up to auction by the French commissaries;

and you may form some idea what sorry beasts they must have been, when

you know that a lot of 26 was sold for 20 dollars. After some time the

whole of the horse-guards arrived here. They were computed at 5000 men,

all of whom were unfit for service. How changed! how lost was their once

imposing appearance! Scarcely could troops ever make so ludicrous, so

grotesque, and so miserable a figure. Gigantic grenadiers, with caps of

prodigious height, and heavy-armed cuirassiers, were seen riding upon

lean cows, which certainly did not cut many capers. It was wonderful

that the animals shewed no disposition to decline the singular honour.

Their knapsacks were fastened to the horns, so that you were puzzled to

make out what kind of a monstrous creature was approaching. Carbineers,

with cuirasses and helmets polished like mirrors, lay without boots and

stockings in wheelbarrows, to which a peasant had harnessed himself with

his dog, and thus transported the heroes. Few of the horses were yet

able to carry the knapsack, and much less the rider. The men were

therefore obliged to drag the jaded beasts by the bridle through the

deepest morasses, and thought themselves fortunate when at last the

animals dropped to rise no more. Compared with these endless caravans, a

band of strolling players might be considered as the triumphant

procession of a Roman emperor. All these men were proceeding to Erfurt

and Mentz.

These, and similar scenes which we had daily witnessed, were a natural

consequence of the French system of supply, and the prodigious bodies of

troops, which bore no proportion to the resources of a small tract of

country. Attempts had been made, but without success, to find other

provinces abounding in grain and forage. The fertile fields of Silesia

and Bohemia were beyond their reach. The angel with the fiery sword

vigilantly guarded the avenues to them against the fallen children of

Adam. It was now absolutely necessary to devise some expedient; and to

the French all means were alike. Some rice had been procured by way of

the Elbe and the Rhine. The stocks in the warehouses of the tradesmen of

Leipzig were now put in requisition, and sent off to the army; and I

shrewdly suspect that no part of them was paid for. These, however, were

but small privations; to relieve the general want required no less a

miracle than that by which 4000 men were fed with five small loaves. The

valuable stores in the city magazine had not yet been discovered. But

where is the door, however strong, through which their eagle eyes would

not at last penetrate? The flour was soon spied out, and forthwith

destined for the hungry stomachs of the French. The barrels were rolled

away with incredible expedition, and conveyed to the bakehouses. Each

baker was supplied with two a day, which he was obliged to make up with

all possible dispatch into bread, and to carry to the Cloth-hall. Here

the loaves were piled up in immense rows, and sent off to the famishing

army. From morning till night nothing was to be seen but waggons loading

and setting out. Not a morsel, however, was given to the soldiers

quartered upon the citizens; their superiors well knew that the patient

landlord had yet a penny left in his pocket to help himself out with.

Thus the fine magazine was stripped; and its valuable contents, which

would have kept twenty years longer without spoiling, and had been

preserved with such care, were dissipated in a moment. You may easily

conceive how severe a misfortune this loss proved to the city, and how

keenly it was felt, when you know that we were in a manner besieged for

several weeks, and that not a handful of flour was to be had even at the

mills themselves.

If you now take into the account the state of the city in a financial

point of view, you may judge how dreadful its condition in general must

have been. In no town is a better provision made for the indigent than

in Leipzig. Here were poor-houses, under most judicious regulations,

where food, fire, and lodging, were afforded. These buildings were

converted into hospitals, their inmates were obliged to turn out, and at

length the necessitous were deprived of their scanty allowance--the

funds were exhausted, and no fresh supplies received. The citizen sunk

under the weight of his burdens; it was impossible to lay any new ones

upon him. Among the different sources of income enjoyed by the city, the

author knows of one which at each of the two principal fairs commonly

produced 4000 dollars; whereas the receipts from it at the late

Michaelmas fair fell short of 100 dollars. All the other branches of

revenue, whether belonging to the king or to the city, fared no better.

Such was the state of a city, which a few years since might justly be

numbered among the most opulent in Germany, and whose resources appeared

inexhaustible. It may be considered as the heart of all Saxony, on

account of the manifold channels for trade, manufactures, and industry,

which here meet as in one common centre. Hence the commerce of Saxony

extends to every part of the globe. With the credit of Leipzig, that of

all Saxony could not fail to be in a great measure destroyed. Had this

state of things continued a little longer, absolute ruin would probably

have ensued, as the total suspension of trade would certainly have

occasioned the removal of all the yet remaining monied men. So low,

however, the city was not destined to fall. The fatal blow already

impended over Leipzig, which was on the point of being reduced to a heap

of ashes. Black storm-clouds gathered thick around it; but they passed

off; and a new sun, the cheering hope of better times, burst forth.

Large bodies of troops are yet within our walls; and they are a heavy

burden to the impoverished inhabitants, under their present

circumstances. We shall, however, be relieved of some part of it, on the

reduction of the fortresses upon the Elbe, which the enemy may yet

defend for some time, though without any other prospect than that of

final surrender, and of wielding for the last time his desolating arms

on the shores of that river. Symptoms of reviving trade and commerce

begin at least to appear. The gates are no longer beset with the Argus

eyes of French inspectors. The patient indeed, brought as he has been to

the very gates of death, is yet extremely weak, and requires the aid of

crutches. Long will it be before he is free from pain, but his recovery

is sure: he has quitted the close sick room, and is now consigned to

better care, to the hands of Prudence and Philanthropy, who are

acquainted with his condition, and will infallibly restore him to his

former health and vigour.

The confederation of the Rhine and the Continental system,--terms

synonymous with all the evils which have brought Germany and Europe to

the brink of destruction,--will in future have no other signification in

the vocabularies of the writers on political economy than that interval

of severe probation when Germany seemed to be annihilated, but yet rose

from her ruins with renewed energies, and, united more firmly than ever,

by new ties, with the other states of Europe, resumed her ancient

rights. The battle of Leipzig was the watch-word for this great

revolution. History, therefore, when partiality and passion shall have

long been silent, will not fail to class it among the most important

events recorded in her annals.

Here permit me to conclude my letters respecting those eventful days of

October, which must ever be so deeply impressed upon the memories of us

all. What may be called the military part of my narrative may be

imperfect; the names of the generals who commanded, the positions of

particular corps, and other circumstances of minor importance, may

perhaps be incorrect; yet the circumstantial details which I have given

will enable you to form to yourself in some measure a complete picture

of that memorable conflict.