During these operations in Champagne, the corps of Macdonald having been recalled from the Lower Rhine, in pursuance of Bonaparte's general plan of concentration, hastened, by forced marches through Liege and Namur, to join the main army. To prevent this junction General Von York's corps was dispatched to the northward. They met on the 5th of February, at La Chaussée; and Macdonald being worsted in an action, which took place there, retired to Chalons, pursued by Von York, who bombarded the town. It surrendered the following day, by capitulation, in consequence of which, Macdonald, with his corps and those of Sebastiani and Arrighi, was allowed to evacuate Chalons and to retire to the left bank of the Marne.

On the 6th Marshal Blucher's head-quarters were at Sandron, and no the 8th at Etoges. At the same date the corps of Sacken, Von York, and Kleist, were respectively at Montmirail, Chateau Thierry, and Chalons, the whole advancing upon the retiring force under Macdonald. Bonaparte, it seems, determined to oppose their movements. On the 10th the Russian corps of General Alsuffief was attacked by a very superior force from Sezanne and compelled after an obstinate resistance, to retire with considerable loss. According to the accounts of the French, the general himself was among the prisoners taken by them on this occasion. On the 11th the corps of Sacken and Von York, marching upon Montmirail, fell in with Bonaparte himself. A severe engagement followed; the village of Marchais was thrice taken and recovered, and General Sacken lost 4 pieces of cannon. Both armies maintained their positions; but, two days afterwards the allied chiefs thought it advisable to retire behind the Marne. At this time Marmont's corps, amounting to about 10,000 men, were at Etoges. Blucher advanced to attack him; but the French general, not prepared to cope with such a powerful antagonist, fell back, closely pursued by the allied 'troops, to Janvillieres. Here, however, he was joined, on the 14th, by Bonaparte, who in the night had made a forced

march with all his guards, and a considerable corps of cavalry. A severe action took place; when Blucher finding himself opposed to a greatly superior force, formed his infantry into squares and maintained the unequal contest during a retreat of near four leagues. The most furious charges of Bonaparte's cavalry were successfully resisted; the veteran forced his way through a corps which attempted to intercept him, and, at length, towards night reached Etoges in safety. His loss in this movement was estimated at 3,500 killed, wounded, and prisoners, and that of the French was reported to have been considerable from the tremendous fire of artillery, in which Blucher was superior. The latter subsequently retired to Chalons, where he was joined on the 16th by Sacken and Von York. At this date the corps of Langeron and St. Priest having reduced Bonn, Cologne, Juliers, and other towns, were rapidly advancing to bring a great accession to the force under this active and enterprising leader. His troops, between 50 and 60,000 strong, on the 20th, marched southward to join the grand army at Troyes.

On

The grand army had in the mean time sustained some reverses. On the 11th, Sens was taken by assault by the Prince of Wurtemberg: the French abandoned the left bank of the Seine, and Prince Schwartzenberg, after repairing the bridges broken down by them, established himself on that river, while the corps of Wrede, Wittgenstein, and Bianchi, pressed forward on the other side to Melun, and Fontainbleau. the 17th, this last town was stormed by Hardegg, Thurn, and Platoff, and the advanced posts of the allies pushed on towards Paris, to which they must of course have made a near approach. The vigilance of Bonaparte, however, prevented their farther advance. With a large corps of cavalry he met the van of Wittgenstein's corps, which was pressing forward in concert with Blucher's movement beyond Etoges, but was repulsed with considerable loss both of men and artillery. This check, and as it may be presumed the intimation of Blucher's retreat, determined Prince Schwartzenberg to

withdraw his army behind the Seine. On the 19th, Bonaparte made a desperate attack on the corps of the Prince of Wurtemberg, posted at Montereau, and charged with the defence of the bridge at that place. In three assaults he was repulsed with loss; but late in the evening he succeeded in carrying the position, and made himself master of the bridge, over which a considerable part of the army passed. Prince Schwartzenberg in consequence deemed it expedient to continue his retreat to Troyes, in order to join the army of Blucher.

REMARKS

CHAP. XLIX.

ON BONAPARTE'S CRITICAL SITUATION-NEGOCIATIONS AT CHATILLON-TROYES RETAKEN BY BONAPARTE-MOVEMENTS OF BLUCHER-DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH AT LAON-ADVANCE OF SCHWARTZENBERGWELLINGTON DEFEATS SOULT-PASSES THE ADOUR-SIR W. BERESFORD ENTERS BOURDEAUX-REVOLUTION IN FAVOUR OF THE HOUSE OF BOURBON.

BONAPARTE, even by his most inveterate enemies, has always been ranked amongst the first captains of his age, and now when he was called upon to defend his crown, and even his life, there can be no doubt but that he must have exerted bis utmost abilities. Indeed his activity was almost incredible. He was scarcely ever off horseback, and he seems to have inspired his old companions in arms, with a considerable degree of his own ardour. Yet it was evident to every reflecting mind, that he was now engaged in the same disastrous game, which he played at Dresden and at Leipsic. The Austrians, the Russians, and the Prussians, were hemming him in more and more, on the east and south-east, whilst the Crown Prince

of Sweden, relieved by the treaty with Denmark, was proceeding from the north with a formidable force. The centre of his army under Wiuzingerode, had already reached the scene of action and stormed Soissons. In the mean time the allies were organizing large armies of reserve, and immense bodies of Russian troops were traversing Germany with great rapidity in order to join the grand army.

During these active operations, Caulincourt, Bonaparte's minister, was engaged with the ministers of the allied powers in negociations at Chatillon sur Seine, and which were continued with great apparent activity.

No sooner had Blucher arrived on the 21st of February, at Mery on the Seine, and relieved Wittgenstein's corps, which had been posted there, than the place was attacked by two corps of the French under Oudinot, from the opposite side of the river. During the action, the town itself fell a prey to the flames, but nothing decisive ensued, and Blucher maintained his position. The reasons which induced the Prussian marshal to proceed so far southward to join Schwartzenberg, and having effected that junction, to separate so hastily again, have not been explained. It was, perhaps, a feint to draw off the attention of the French from the reinforcements arriving in a more northern direction, and tended at any rate to cover the retrogade movement of the grand army, which was weakened by a detachment to the southward against Augereau.

On the 21st the head-quarters of the French were at Nogent, and on the 23d the city of Troyes was invested by Bonaparte. The Austrian generalissimo threatened to set fire to the town for the purpose of securing his retreat, upon which it was agreed that he should evacuate it unmolested in the night of the 23d. The next morning Bonaparte entered the city, and having issued a decree for the occasion against persons convicted of assuming the badges of the ancient dynasty, caused a poor emigrant officer to be shot, because he had worn the cross of St. Louis during the occupation of the

city by the allies. Prince Schwartzenberg continued his retrogade movement as far as the Aube and Chaumont, to which places the head-quarters were withdrawn.

Blucher had, in the mean time, received advice of the approach of the different corps by which he expected to be joined, and learned that Marmont, emboldened by his absence, had advanced to Sezanne. He broke up from Mery in consequence of this information, and having made a march in the night between the 23d and 24th, without being observed, he threw three bridges over the Aube at Auglure, and went to meet Marmont, whose object apparently was to get in the rear of the allies. At his approach he retired to La Ferté sous Jouarra, on the Marne, where he was joined by the corps under Mortier, who had previously been stationed at Chateau Thierry, to observe General Winzingerode. Their united force amounted to near 20,000 men. By a skilful demonstration upon Meaux, which was occupied on the 27th by the advanced guard of General Sacken's corps, Blucher menaced the communication of the French with Paris, and compelled them to evacuate La Ferte, where he crossed the Marne without opposition on the 29th. At Soissons, which had previously been retaken by the French and again recovered, the army of Silesia as it was still denominated, accomplished its junction with the corps of Winzingerode and Bülow on the 3d of March.

This army, though already thrice annihilated, according to the official reports of Bonaparte, whose modesty and love of truth was now displayed as conspicuous as ever, seems to have been an object of his jealous attention. Being apprised of its movements, he hastened from Troyes on the 27th with the flower of his troops, leaving a force to observe the grand army of the allies. On the 4th of March he arrived on the Aisne, and on the following day endeavoured to regain possession of Soissons. Repulsed in this attempt with great slaughter by a body of 10,000 Russians, to whom the defence of the town was entrusted, he moved off to the right, and on the 9th suc