ceived by the genius of man since the age of Alexander's conquest of India, fixed all regards, absorbed all ideas, and transcended the calculations of reason.

Towards the Nieman, as if that river had become the sole centre of all action, men, horses, carriages, provisions, baggage of every description, were directed from all points of the European continent. The army of Napoleon was not composed solely of French, nor of those troops drawn from countries subjected to her immediate influence, as Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and the Confederation. Neither Prussia nor Austria possessed the courage, or, rather, could claim the power of remaining neutral; the former supplied a contingent of 15,000 men under General Yorck, and Austria an army of 90,000 troops, commanded by Prince Schwartzenburg, who nevertheless retained his station of ambassador to the French imperial court, or rather head-quarters. From Dresden, whither the Empress had accompanied Napoleon, she returned to Paris, and Buonaparte sped forward without delay towards Smolensk. On the 24th June he crossed the Nieman, and on the 27th arrived at the advanced posts and put the army in motion for the purpose of approaching Wilna; and, should the Russians be inclined to defend that place, to attack them on the 28th. At daybreak on the 28th the King of Naples (Murat) put himself in motion with the advanced guard of light cavalry. The Prince of Eckmühl supported him with his corps. The Russians everywhere retired, crossed the Wilna in haste, burnt the bridge, and set fire to the immense magazines collected in the town and valued at several millions of rubles. At mid-day Napoleon entered Wilna; on the 29th, several skirmishes took place between different corps of the two armies. The Russians, however, still continued to retreat, and in doing so set fire to their extensive magazines at Wilkomer. The head-quarters of Napoleon were now in the place where the Emperor Alexander had previously held his court for six weeks. The Russian army was still posted in a most advantageous manner, and consisted of upwards of 140,000 men; but notwithstanding they had this immense force opposed to them, the French army still continued to advance, and the Russians to retreat, destroying all their magazines and everything in their way. Torrents of rain at this time fell for a space of thirty-six hours, and the weather changed

from extreme heat to extreme cold. Several thousand horses perished in consequence of this change; convoys of artillery were stopped by the mud, and the march of the French army was greatly retarded. The battles of Dresse and Riga followed hard on each other; and each terminated in the continued retreat of the Russians. In the battle of Mohilow, which took place on the 3d of July, the French claimed the victory; but on a subsequent affair, which occurred on the 25th, they were obliged to retire with the loss of 8000 men. On the same day the Russian main army was attacked, and its assailants were again obliged to retire with the loss of 6000 killed and wounded. Several other conflicts took place previous to the grand encounter at Smolensk, which point it was obviously Napoleon's object to gain, as appeared by all his movements. The policy of the Russians appeared to be retreat, still contesting every foot of ground, and by these continued skirmishes to weaken the enemy's forces, to draw him further from his resources, and to destroy his confidence in victory. On the 17th commenced the battle of Smolensk, and after two days' hard fighting the French obtained possession of the place. On the 5th September was fought the great and important battle of Borodino, in which the Russians lost 25,000 men in killed and wounded, and the French loss it was estimated was even still greater. Two days after the Russian general retired, leaving the French at liberty to enter Moscow, which they did on the 14th. The Russians, however, before they withdrew had set fire to the city.

In the possession of Moscow, Napoleon had hoped to secure for his army good winter-quarters and abundant supplies. For the attainment of the first object enough of the city still remained; but for the second, the statement in the bulletin, that Moscow contained provisions for eight months, was entirely false. Disappointed in the hopes which he had formed in this respect, Napoleon soon became fully aware of the difficulties he had to encounter, amongst the most serious of which was the daily diminution of his army by sickness, the effect of a climate to which the troops were wholly unaccustomed; and whilst on the one hand the French army was thus becoming hourly weaker and less efficient, the Russians were daily adding to their strength by the arrival of re-enforcements. Napoleon entered Moscow on the 14th Sep

tember, and by the 30th found himself in so critical a situation that it became necessary to adopt his old system of negociation, for the purpose of gaining time, if possible, to extricate himself. Accordingly on that day he dispatched Count Lauriston to the Russian head-quarters, with proposals for an armistice preparatory to opening negociations for peace. The Russian general, however, peremptorily refused to listen to any such proposal; no course, therefore, was left for Napoleon but to extricate himself in the best manner he could from his perilous situation by fighting his way through the enemy, who was now gradually enclosing him on every side. On the 18th of October a severe engagement took place between the advanced guards of the French and Russian armies near Moscow, in which the French under Murat were defeated with great loss. Moscow was re-occupied by the Russians. The French, in their precipitate retreat, left several thousand sick behind them. On the 24th October the Emperor in person attacked the Russians; the encounter was desperate, but the French were obliged to retreat. From this time to the 15th November there followed a continual succession of fighting, the French constantly defeated and retreating, and the Russians closely pursuing them. At length the rear of the French army was completely broken up; upwards of 12,000 men laid down their arms; the slaughter was dreadful; and the spoil which fell into the hands of the conquerors immense. Slowly, sadly, despairingly, the hitherto invincible legions of Napoleon defiled from the scene of carnage, and once more turned their faces towards Paris. The retreat from Russia needs no lengthened description, it is summed up in a few words. It was a dark and sanguinary chain of corpses for a thousand miles. Thousands laid down on the snow at night and never awoke; those who could bend their stiffened limbs to another day's march had to fight their way through the merciless slaughter of the Cossacks; the howl of the polar wolf mingled night by night with the dreams of the starving, freezing soldiers; and as fast as the wounded or the wearied fell they were devoured alive. At last a few stragglers, emaciated, worn and wounded, again stepped upon their native soil. Of the grand army which in all the confidence of victory and all the pride of chivalry and power had crossed the Nieman but a few months before, 125,000 had been slain, 130,000 had died by

famine or cold, 200,000 had become the prisoners of unrelenting foes; and among this vast multitude there were 50 generals and 3000 regimental officers. There are but few more victories of Napoleon's to record—his star was sinking for ever.

Buonaparte arrived in Paris on the 17th December; but his return on this occasion in nothing resembled former triumphal entries into his capital. All his efforts and exertions were now concentrated to repair his losses; a new artillery was created: men were called forth in masses: the eye of the Emperor was everywhere. Notwithstanding this activity, the disasters of the Russian campaign were daily pressing heavy on his cause. Prussia, constrained to play a part, now went over to the Russians. The moral effect produced by this desertion was far more to be dreaded than its real amount. The signal thus given, it was to be feared, would be speedily followed by other allies in Germany; Napoleon foresaw in the event all the misfortune which it foreboded for the future. Assembling a privy council, he demanded whether, in such a conjuncture, he ought to make overtures of peace, or prepare anew for war? Cambacères and Talleyrand argued in favour of peace; the contrary opinion prevailed generally, and the war proceeded.

All Napoleon's thoughts now lay beyond the Rhine. He was unfortunate, and the powers most nearly allied were falling away; nor was Austria the last to imitate the example of Prussia. Austria withheld her contingent,-a clear proof to Napoleon that she would soon assume more active hostility, and that ere long he would soon have the whole of Europe against him. A few of the princes of the Confederation still remained faithful, and his own preparations being finished, he was about to resume in person the command of the army thus miraculously renewed.

This time Napoleon appointed the Empress Regent, assisted by a Council of Regency; and convoking a new privy council, he presented Maria Louisa, in her new capacity, with all possible solemnity.

Napoleon quitted Paris on the 15th April, having under his standard a new army of 180,000 effective men, including guards of honour. With such physical resources, and the aid of his own genius, men rightly foresaw he could yet play a high game, and might perhaps prove the winner. On the 30th April, information

was received at the Russian head-quarters that Napoleon had arrived at the head of the French army. Upon the receipt of this intelligence the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia also joined the allies; both armies were now in the vicinity of each other, and the plain of Lutzen was doomed to be the stage of another sanguinary contest for empire. The engagement took place on the 2d May, the French being led on by the Emperor in person. The troops on both sides fought with desperation, each claiming victory, though the advantage was clearly with the French. The result of this battle was the retreat of the Allies, and eight days after the Emperor was in Dresden; not, as in the spring of the last year, like the sovereign of Western Europe surrounded by his grand vassals, yet still counting on his fortune.

The battle of Lutzen was followed by that of Wurtschen, which took place on the 21st May, in which the superiority of the French in number obliged the Russians to give way. In the mean time the conflict in the mountains had commenced with redoubled animosity, but the inflexible spirit and steady fire of the allied battalions, supported by the cavalry under the Prince of Wirtemberg, prevented the French from making any progress in that quarter. At length a division of the French, under General Ney, persevering in a heavy and destructive fire of musketry and artillery, obliged the Prussians, under Blücher, to retreat in the rear. The Russian commander-in-chief, finding the battle going against him, determined to decline the contest, and ordered a retreat. The loss on both sides equalled 20,000 men. The time had now arrived for Austria to declare herself, which she did by offering to mediate between the belligerent powers. This offer brought on the armistice of Plessnitz, and, subsequently, the Congress of Prague.

Towards the end of July Napoleon made an excursion to Mayence, where the Empress met him for a few days; thence he returned to Dresden, and allowed the armistice to expire on the 17th of August. The Congress at Prague having thus separated without attaining any result, hostilities recommenced on the 17th; and on the same day-a fatal blow for France-Austria declared against her the Emperor alleging to his son-in-law that the greater the number of his enemies, the greater was the chance of bringing him sooner to reasonable terms. This addition of 250,000