he auguries seem favourable.
The men are full of ardour: the line of march is itself an
inspiration; and the veterans cheer the young conscripts with tales of
the great day of Jena and Auerstadt.

At the close of April the military situation was as follows. Eugene
Beauharnais, who commanded the relics of the Grand Army, after
suffering a reverse at Mockern, had retired to the line of the Elbe;
and French garrisons were thus left isolated in Danzig, Modlin,
Zamosc, Glogau, Kuestrin, and Stettin.[294] Napoleon's first plan of an
advance direct to Stettin and Danzig having miscarried, he now sought
to gather an immense force as secretly as possible near the Main,
speedily to reinforce Eugene, crush the heads of the enemy's columns,
and, rolling them up in disorder, carry the war to the banks of the
Oder, and relieve his beleaguered garrisons by way of Leipzig and
Torgau. The plan would have the further advantage of bringing a
formidable force near to the Austrian frontier, and holding fast the
Hapsburgs and Saxons to the French alliance.

Meanwhile the allied army was pressing westwards with no less
determination. The Czar and King had addressed a menacing summons to
the King of Saxony to join them, but, receiving no response, invaded
his States. Thereupon Frederick Augustus fled into Bohemia, relying on
an offer from Vienna which guaranteed him his German lands if he would
join the Hapsburgs in their armed mediation.[295] For the present,
however, Saxony was to be the battlefield of the two contending
principles of nationality and Napoleonic Imperialism.

They clashed together on the historic ground of Luetzen. Not only the
associations of the place, but the reputation of the leaders helped to
kindle the enthusiasm of the rank and file. On the one side was the
great conqueror himself, with faculties and prestige undimmed even by
the greatest disaster recorded in the annals of civilized nations. He
was opposed by men no less determined than himself. The illness and
finally the death of the obstinate old Kutusoff had stopped the
intrigues of the Slav peace party, hitherto strong in the Russian
camp: and the command now devolved on Wittgenstein, a more energetic
man, whose heart was in his work.

But the most inspiring influence was that of Bluecher. The staunch
patriot seemed to embody the best qualities of the old _regime_ and of
the new era. The rigour learnt in the school of Frederick the Great
was vivified by the f