ground they had won. On the morning of the 19th the king of Saxony sent a flag of truce to the emperor Alexander, requesting him to spare the town of Leipzic; but that sovereign, considering it as a feint to gain time, ordered an immediate assault. Leipzic was taken after a short resistance, the allies entering it at eleven, two hours after Napoleon had made his escape. There were captured with it the king of Saxony with all his court, the garrison and rear-guard of the French army, amounting to 30,000, all the sick and wounded, computed at 22,000, the magazines, artillery and stores. Nothing could be more complete than this success. The emperor of Russia, the king of Prussia, and the Crown Prince of Sweden, each at the head of their respective troops, made their entry from different points, and met in the great square, amidst the universal acclamations of the people, which were doubtless sincere, since that unfortunate town had been a dreadful sufferer from being made the great hospital of the French army; and the Saxons had long manifested an impatience to be delivered from that thraldom to which their sovereign's engage ments with the French had consigned them. General Blucher's great services were rewarded by the rank of field marshal; and marshal prince Schwartzenberg was decorated with orders by the emperors of Austria and Russia, and the king of Prussia.

The retreat of the French army was full of confusion and disorder, and the pursuers were daily mak ing prisoners, and capturing cannon and other accompaniments of an army. It was conducted across the Saale by Weissenfels, thence to

Erfurt, Gotha, and Eisenbach, general D'Yorck closely attending their march, and taking every op portunity of harassing them. The following particulars are copied from a report of the operations of the Silesian army in pursuit.

"An advanced corps of marshal Blucher's came up with the rear of the enemy at the entrance of the defiles in the mountains, within about a German mile of Eisenach; the blowing up of several ammunition waggons, the destruction or abandonment of baggage, and the capture of several stragglers, was the immediate consequence; but the enemy had penetrated far into the defiles, where the ground was not favourable for the advance of cavalry, and it was only by following his march for the three subsequent days, that the precipitancy and disasters of his flight became obvious. For an extent of nearly fifty English miles, from Eisenach to Fulda, carcases of dead and dying horses, without number; dead bodies of men, who had been either killed or perished through hunger, sickness, or fatigue, lying on the roads or in the ditches; parties of prisoners and stragglers brought in by the Cossacks; blown up or destroyed ammunition, and baggage waggons, in such numbers as absolutely to obstruct the road, sufficiently attested the sufferings of the enemy; whilst pillaged and burning towns and villages marked, at the same time, the ferocity with which he had conducted himself. The number of the dead bodies on the road had been considerably augmented, from a resolution that had been taken to carry off all the sick and wounded, not resulting surely from any principle of humanity, but probably as matter of boast, in

the relations that might be given to the world of the event, as several of these men were found abandoned on the road, in the last gasp of hunger and disease, the dead and the dying frequently mixed together, lying in groups of six or eight, by half-extinguished fires on the road side. Several of these men must have been compelled to move on foot, as their bodies were found on the road with the sticks with which they had endeavoured to support their march, lying by their sides. The number of dead bodies might have been counted by hundreds, and in the space from Eisenach to Fulda, could certainly not have amounted to much less than a thousand. The enemy continued to be closely pursued during the three days' march from Eisenach to Vach Hunfeld and Fulda, and frequent cannonading ensued at the head of the advanced guard; but the nature of the country not permitting the cavalry to act, the enemy escaped with only such losses as have been enumerated."

The combined Austrian and Bavarian army under General Wrede, after taking Wurtzburg, posted itself at Hanau to intercept Napoleon on his retreat to Frankfort. On October 29th the advanced guards of each came to action, and the French are stated to have had 4,000 made prisoners, with two generals and two pieces of cannon. On the 30th Wrede made a reconnoissance, by which it was ascertained that the French emperor

had with him from 60 to 80,000 men; and as the allies, in consequence of detachments, were much inferior in number, their general found that he should be unable to prevent the enemy from reaching Frankfort. In order, however, to impede their march, he drew up his troops before Hanau, where they were attacked by Napoleon with all his force. A bloody engagement ensued, of the respective losses in which very different accounts are given by the opposite parties. The French certainly took a considerable number of prisoners from the allies, who themselves acknowledge a loss of 7,000 in killed and wounded; general Wrede being among the latter; and it appears that they evacuated Hanau, which was entered by the French. The latter, however, were driven out again, and continued their retreat in great disorder to Frankfort, which was their headquarters on the 31st; and on Nov. 2nd Napoleon arrived in security at Mentz. His dispatches boast of his having brought back 100,000 men out of the hosts which he led to the Elbe and Oder. This is probably a great exaggeration ; yet his countenance at Hanau was undoubtedly such as could scarcely have been expected after the disasters at Leipzic. In this state we shall leave the history of the war on the Germanic quarter, and proceed to take up the series of events in another and scarcely less interesting theatre of military operations.

CHAPTER

quarters at Toledo. Thus all the central part of Spain remained in possession of the invaders.

Lord Wellington, with his habitual activity, was employed in visiting different parts occupied by the allied troops; and on Dec. 24th he arrived at Cadiz, where he was respectfully waited upon by a deputation from the Cortes. That at this time the Spanish govern ment experienced considerable opposition to its measures, may be inferred from a proposition sent from the Regency to the Cortes for suspending various articles of the constitution by which personal freedom, and the liberty of the press are guaranteed. The reason given was, that there existed a conspiracy to subvert the national representation and the government by a popular insurrection; but the committee of the Cortes, to which the proposition was referred, reported that there was no necessity for the suspension of any of the articles of the constitution, not even for a moment; and this report was approved of. Lord Wellington, after having transacted with the Spanish government the business which brought him thither, returned by Lisbon, at which capital he was honoured with a most triumphant reception. (See Chronicle). His lordship's visit to Cadiz was probably connected with a decree issued by the Cortes, dated Jan. 6th, for the purpose of rendering more efficient the powers of the commanders of armies, drawing the line between their authority and that of the civil governors and municipal councils of provinces, and providing for the maintenance of each army. On Jan. 17th, the Regency issued an

order for a section of the general staff to attend upon the duke of Ciudad Rodrigo (lord Wellington), to be the channel of commu❤ nication between the duke as com mander-in-chief, and all parts of the army.

The French cantoned about the Upper Tormes were in motion on Feb. 19th, and on the following day made an attack upon a post at Bejar, occupied by lieut.-colonel Harrison, under the command of sir Rowland Hill, but were repulsed with loss. Sir Rowland afterwards pushed forward a brigade from Coria to occupy Placencia. Not long after it appears that the revulsion of the war in Germany was felt by the French armies in Spain. Lord Wellington, on March 24th, communicates the information, that nearly all the French troops are withdrawn from La Mancha, and that the army of the south was concentrated between Talavera, Madrid, and Toledo. Joseph was supposed to have quitted Madrid. Col. Bourke reported from Corunna, on April 1st, that a division of the French army of Portugal, which had assembled at Valladolid, had marched for Burgos; that their garrison at Leon was diminished, and that they were strengthening Bilboa. These movements indicated an intention on their parts to retire from the central provinces, and take strong positions in the north and north-east, suitable to the contracted scale of their powers. From the allied army in Alicant, lieut. gen. sir John Murray sent a despatch, dated March 23rd, mentioning his having attacked in force the position of the French at Alcoy, and driven them some miles

out of the town, after which he had fixed his own head quarters at Castalla. He likewise reported some other partial successes of the alles. In consequence of his advance, Suchet had quitted Valencia, and assumed the command of the troops on the right bank of the Xucar.

The French were still moving from the Tagus to the Douro in the month of April. It was computed that in February and March, there had been drawn from their armies in Spain, and sent into France, above 1,200 officers, 6,000 corporals and sergeants, and 16,000 soldiers. Some conscripts had indeed arrived to supply their places, but the change must have materiallydiminished their strength. Little besides movements of troops occurred about this period in the northern parts of the Peninsula; but from Valencia, sir J. Murray, on April 14th, communicated to the commander-in-chief the result of an action of some importance. Suchet, it appears, had for some time been collecting all his disposable force, with which, on the 11th, he dislodged with some loss a Spanish corps, posted by general Elio, at Yecla. On the next day he advanced to Villena, and captured a Spanish garrison which defended its castle. He then fell upon the advance of the allied army under colonel Adam, which after a gallant contest with a much superior force, fell back upon Castella, where the main body was posted. On the 13th, Suchet made a general attack upon the allied army, which was drawn up in a long line, occupying a range of hills and other strong ground, protected by batteries. The

attack was vigorous, but was repulsed with equal spirit, and the enemy was foiled at every point. He sustained a severe loss, estimated at 3,000 in killed and wounded; but though he was pursued to some distance, he was so well supported by his reserve that no trophies were left in the hands of the victors. The loss on the part of the allies in killed and wounded amounted to about 600. Suchet, after the action, retreated to Villena, which he hastily quitted at midnight, to fall further back. He still, however, must have maintained a superiority of strength, since he was able soon after to detach a strong division against the Spanish general Villacampa, who had gained some advantages.

The French, who had been twice repulsed before the walls of Castro de Ordiales, a port in Biscay, reinvested it on the 25th of April with augmented forces, and on May 11th carried the place by storm. At length, after long expectation, the delay having doubtless arisen from the necessity of waiting for the recovery of the numerous sick, the arrival of reinforcements from England, and the many preparations requisite for opening a campaign, the army under the marquis of Wellington moved from its quarters at Freynada, and on May 26th arrived at Salamanca. A division of French infantry with some cavalry and cannon were still in the town, which they evacuated on his lordship's approach, but not in time to prevent a considerable loss from the British cavalry in their retreat. The troops under sir Rowland Hill came up on the two following days, and were established between