sian corps were situated at Blankenfelde. The Swedish army was posted at Ruhlsdorf; and the Russian army was in its rear. The Cossacks and light infantry, under the command of General Czernicheff, who had distinguished himself by the extreme rapidity of his movements, were directed to hover round the rear of the French columns.

The battle commenced, on the morning of the 22d, by the French attacking one of the advanced posts of the crown prince's army: as they were greatly superior in numbers, the Swedish troops retired; and the enemy advanced and occupied a large space covered by woods and flanked by marshes. In the morning of the 25th, Bertrand made a desperate attack on the 4th Prussian corps; but he was repulsed, and some prisoners were taken. The principal scene of contest, however, this day, was the village of Grosberen: against it the 7th French corps and a strong reserve proceeded; but here also the 4th Prussian corps were successful, and the village was retaken. By the occupation of this village, the French were at the distance of 1000 toises from the centre of the camp. The crown prince sent orders to General Bulow to attack it: in executing these orders, the Prussian forces proved that they were the worthy descendants of the soldiers of Frederick the Great: for some hours the cannonade was warm; but the Prussians advancing under protection of the artillery, charged the 7th French corps with the bayonet, and put them to the route. Hitherto the engagement had been principally between the Prussians and the French; for, the other corps of the French remaining in the woods, there had been no occasion for the Swedes and Russians to move from their position in front of the camp. About this time, however, the village of Ruhlsdorf, which was situated in front of the camp, was threatened by the French; and the crown prince deemed it necessary to order some battalions of the Swedes, along with a few pieces of artillery, to reinforce the advanced posts, while the enemy were taken in flank with a battalion of flying artillery. These operations completely decided the fate of the

battle: the crown prince was victorious; and, as the result of his victory, obtained possession of 26 pieces of cannon, 1500 prisoners, among whom were 40 officers, and a great quantity of baggage. The French retreated beyond Trebbin, whither they were closely pursued by the light Russian cavalry.

Bonaparte was extremely chagrined at the result of this engagement: besides the mortification of having his troops beaten by the Crown Prince of Sweden, the result of this battle disarranged all his plans, and exposed part of his army to the attack of the victorious troops; for, Berlin being now safe, the crown prince, if he were not kept in check, would advance to co-operate with the allies in the vicinity of Dresden. It was therefore necessary to send another general to replace Oudinot, who had commanded the French forces in the battle with the crown prince; and Bonaparte selected Ney for that purpose. He had under him 70,000 men; and as the Prussian army, at this period, was at some distance from that of the crown prince, the French general hoped to surprise it before the latter could advance to its assistance.The Prussian army under Bulow was only 40,000 strong; yet they sustained, undaunted, and unmoved, the attacks of Ney's corps. General Bulow, before the French came up with him at Juterboch, had received information of their approach, and he accordingly announced the circumstance to the crown prince, who had just begun to move for the purpose of crossing the river Elbe and marching towards Leipsic. But as soon as he heard that the Prussians were likely to be attacked, he changed his route, and arrived at Juterboch, by forced marches, just as the Prussian army, after having sustained the unequal combat for a long time, were nearly overpowered by the French. For a moment the Russians and Swedes halted, in order to form in the order of battle: as soon as this was accomplished, 70 battalions and 10,000 horse, supported by 150 pieces of artillery, advanced in columns of attack; 4000 Russian and Swedish cavalry having preceded

them, at full speed, for the purpose of supporting some points against which Ney directed his attacks. At the sight of this immense army coming up to the assistance of a foe against whom they had scarcely made any impression, the French first wavered, and then fled with the utmost precipitation: the allied cavalry charged them, as they retreated, with great impetuosity, and threw them into the utmost disorder. The result of the battle of Juterboch was upwards of 5,000 prisoners, 3 standards, 30 pieces of cannon, and 200 ammunition waggons. On the field of battle 6,000 of the French lay dead. They endeavoured in vain to rally, or even to effect their retreat in tolerable order: besides the prisoners taken in the battle, upwards of 2,500 were taken on the evening of the day on which it was fought, in a village on the road to Dresden: so that, before they completely effected their escape, it was calculated that they lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, from 16,000 to 18,000 men, more than 50 pieces of cannon, and 400 ammunition waggons. The loss of the Prussians was severe, amounting in killed and wounded to upwards of 5,000. The crown prince, in his official account of this battle, mentions, that General Regnier remained a long time exposed to the fire of the sharp-shooters in the situation of a man desirous of death. He, as well as most other of the French generals, must have been convinced, that the rank and fortune which they had acquired, as well as their military glory and conquests, were placed in the utmost jeopardy by the insane obstinacy of the emperor.

CHAP. XLV.

BONAPARTE'S CRITICAL SITUATION-HARASSED BY THE REGULAR ADVANCE AND RETREAT OF THE ALLIESHIS COMMUNICATION WITH FRANCE INTERCEPTEDBRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE WAR ON THE SIDE OF ITALY— AND IN MECKLENBURGH-BONAPARTE STILL OBSTINATELY CLINGS TO DRESDEN-REMARKS ON HIS CONDUCTEXTRAORDINARY MEETING OF THE FRENCH SENATE FRESH CONSCRIPTIONS CALLED FOR-BONAPARTE AT LENGTH LEAVES DRESDEN-THE ALLIES COMPLETELY BETWEEN HIM AND FRANCE-BATTLE OF LEIPSIC THE FRENCH COMPLETELY DEFEATED-DEFECTION OF THEIR ALLIES DURING THE BATTLE-BONAPARTE'S ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE.

THE situation of Bonaparte was now every day becoming more critical; and yet he did not seem to be sensible of his danger, but still continued at Dresden. The allies, having been defeated in their attempt to take that city, altered their plan; but it was still a plan of the most consummate skill, and it was carried into execution with the most creditable activity, and promptitude. Their grand object was to gather all their forces in the route between Dresden and Leipsic; or, if this could not be effected, to unite before Leipsic, so as completely to cut off Bonaparte's retreat into France. But, in order to carry this plan into execution, it was necessary to distract the attention and the forces of their adversary: and this they accomplished most effectually; for by advancing from the valley of Toplitz, on the side of Bohemia, towards Dresden, and another time from the side of Silesia towards

the same place, they obliged Bonaparte to weaken and harass his troops; and as soon as he came nearly up with them they retreated. While he was in pursuit of one branch of the allied army, another threatened Dresden; so that at last his troops were completely exhausted. In the mean time, the allies were receiving great reinforcements, especially from Russia; the Emperor Alexander exerted himself to the utmost to bring the campaign to a successful termination. Besides large bodies of regular troops, the Cossacks were greatly reinforced; and in the situation of the French army they were of most essential service, intercepting the communication with France, and cutting off their supplies. At this time, and by their means, many letters from the French officers to their relations and friends in France were intercepted, in all of which a most deplorable picture was drawn of their distressed situation: most of them, indeed, represented their condition as equally dreadful with what it had been in the Russian campaign; nor did they hold out any prospect of extricating themselves from it.

Nor were the affairs of Bonaparte more prosperous in Italy; Beauharnois had collected a large army, but it was dispirited; the people of the country where it was stationed manifested strong symptons of dissatisfaction: and when the Austrian General Nugent advanced, he found himself compelled, after some ineffectual attempts to keep his ground, to retire from the head of the Adriatic towards Venice. Davoust, also, who had advanced from the vicinity of Hamburgh into Schwerin, probably for the purpose of co-operating with Oudinot, being held in check by Count Walmoden, and having learnt the fate of Oudinot's army, deemed it expedient to commence his

retreat.

These, however, which in ordinary times would have been considered as important events, in the present situation of the continent scarcely attracted the attention of the public; all thought and conjecture being absorbed on what was likely to •happen in the vicinity of Dresden; for that city Bonaparte