and there were yet almost
inaccessible cliffs to climb before we could flatter ourselves with the
hope of reaching the wished-for goal. The leaders of the allies had
already shewn the ablest French generals, in several grand engagements,
that they possessed sufficient means and talents to dissolve the charm
of their invincibility. They were now about to enter the lists with the
hero whom a thousand panegyrists, during a period of near twenty years,
had extolled far above the greatest generals of ancient and modern
times; whose enemies had to boast of but one victory over him at most--a
victory which he himself did not admit, as he ascribed the total
destruction of his army in Russia to physical causes alone. It was the
conqueror of Marengo, Austerlitz, Friedland, Ratisbon, Wagram, and
Mojaisk. Fresh laurels entwined his brow at Luetzen, Bautzen, and
Dresden. Here at Leipzig the allies attempted to wrest them from him who
grasps so firmly. It was easy to foresee that with unshaken resolution
he would risk all, in order, as on former occasions, to gain all, and to
put an end to the campaign with a single blow. He seemed to contemplate
nothing less than the utter annihilation of the allies, as all the
bridges far and near were broken down to cut off their retreat. Whether
the situation in which he had placed himself was such as to justify
these hopes, I shall leave to the decision of those who are better
qualified to judge. His confidence in victory must, however, have been
very strong, as he had made such inadequate preparations for his own
retreat.

The action commenced in the centre of the French army beyond
Probstheide, probably with the storming of the villages in its front,
for we afterwards learned that they were several times taken and
recovered. They have been more or less reduced to heaps of rubbish. That
the work of slaughter might be completed on this day, it had been begun
with the first dawn of morning. So early as nine o'clock all the immense
lines from Taucha to Konnewitz were engaged. As the latter village lay
nearest to us, we could see what was passing there the most distinctly.
From Loesnig, a village situated beyond Konnewitz, a hollow, about two
thousand paces in length, runs from north-west to south-east. It is
bordered with a narrow skirt of wood, consisting of alders, limes, and
oaks, and forms an angle with the village. Beyond this line were
advanced several French batteries, the incessant moveme