th; bivouacs, hidden
in the Woods thereabouts, in cold damp weather; stealthily reconnoitres
the Prussian Villages ahead, and trims himself for assault, at sound
of the two cannons to-morrow. But there came no cannon-signal on the
morrow; far other signallings and messagings to-morrow, and next
day, and next, from the Konigstein and neighborhood! "Wait, Excellency
Feldmarschall [writes Bruhl to him, Note after Note, instead of
signalling from the Konigstein]: do wait a very little! You run no
risk in waiting; we, even if we MUST yield, will make that our first
stipulation!" "YOU will?" grumbles Browne; and waits, naturally, with
extreme impatience. But the truth is, the Adventure, on the Saxon side
of it, has already altogether misgone; and becomes, from this point
onwards, a mere series of failures, futilities and disastrous miseries,
tragical to think of. Worth some record here, since there are
Documents abundant;--especially as Feldmarschall Rutowski (who is
General-in-Chief, an old, not esteemed, friend of ours) has produced, or
caused to be produced, a Narrative, which illuminates the Business
from within as well. [PRECIS, &c. (just cited); compare TAGEBUCH DER
EINSCHLIESSUNG DES SACHSISCHEN LAGERS BEY PIRNA ("Diary," &c., which is
the Prussian Account: in Seyfarth, BEYLAGEN), ii. 22-48.] The latter is
our main Document here:--

I know not how much of the blame was General Rutowski's: one could
surmise some laxity of effort, and a rather slovenly-survey of facts, in
that quarter. The Enterprise, from the first, was flatly impossible, say
judges; and it is certain, poor Rutowski's execution was not first-rate.
"How get across the Elbe?" Rutowski had said to himself, perhaps not
quite with the due rigor of candor proportionate to the rigorous fact:
"How get across the Elbe? We have copper pontoons at Pirna; but they
will be difficult to cart. Or we might have a boat-bridge; boats planked
together two and two. At Pirna are plenty of boats; and by oar and
track-rope, the River itself might be a road for them? Boats or pontoons
to Konigstein, by water or land, they must be got. Eight miles of
abysmal roads, our horses all extenuated? Impossible to cart these
pontoons!" said Rutowski to himself.--Pity he had not tried it. He had
a week to do those eight bad miles in; and 2,000 lean horses, picking
grass or brown leaves, while their riders threshed. "We will drag our
pontoons by water, by the Elbe tow-path," thought Rutow