xcept
by way of Austria. Wittgenstein lost his command, Barclay was fully
reinstated as commander-in-chief, and, to gain time for Austria to try
her vaunted mediation, a short armistice was proposed to Napoleon. Had
the latter known the weakness, the discord, the exhaustion of his foe,
wretched as was the state of his own army and depressed as were his
spirits, he might have refused, and even the monumental error of 1812
might now have been made good. As it was, the year 1813 is the date of
his one irreparable blunder, the initiation of his final disaster.
Other mistakes he had made, but they were all petty compared with the
great one to which he was now tempted. But his faithful officers were
falling like standing grain under a hail-storm; his boy soldiers,
though fighting like veterans, inspired little confidence, for there
was the same uneasiness among the humble privates as among the great
officers; he had neither cavalry nor artillery, and his available
force was reduced to a hundred and twenty thousand, men and boys;
Barclay might, as for a moment he contemplated doing, draw off into
the Russian steppes; the traitors in Paris were already stirring; in
short, the Emperor felt that he must at least consider. This was the
monumental blunder of his life because it put him at Austria's mercy
without her being forced to reveal her policy.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE NATIONS IN GRAND ARRAY[49]

[Footnote 49: References: Von Odeleben, Napoleons Feldzug in
Sachsen im Jahre 1813. Yorck, Napoleon als Feldherr. Weil,
Campagne de 1813.]

Condition of Affairs after Bautzen -- The Armistice of Poischwitz
-- Austria's New Terms -- Napoleon's Reliance on his Dynastic
Influence -- Intervention of British Agents -- Napoleon's
Interview with Metternich -- The Emperor's Wrath -- Metternich's
Determination -- Wellington's Victories -- Napoleon at Mainz --
The Coalition Completed -- Diplomatic Fencing -- Renewal of
Hostilities -- The Responsibility.

Napoleon determined, however, to deliberate on the strongest possible
vantage-ground, and for this reason continued his pursuit as far as
Breslau, which was occupied by the end of the month. Simultaneously
Berlin was threatened by Oudinot, Victor had relieved Glogau, and
Vandamme was marching to Davout's assistance, so that Hamburg was
safely in hand. The allied forces stood behind Schweidnitz, and by the
same marvelous st