Vandamme continued the pursuit on the Pirna road.  Seduced by the enormous prize which lay before him at Toeplitz, where the chief magazines of the Allies had been established, and on which all their broken columns were now endeavouring to reassemble, this rude and hot-headed soldier incautiously advanced beyond the wooded heights of Peterswald into the valley of Culm.  A Russian corps suddenly turned on him, and formed in line of battle.  Their General, Count D’Osterman, assured them that the life of “their Father” depended on their steadfastness; and no effort could shake them.  The battle continued till night, when Vandamme ought undoubtedly to have retired to Peterswald.  He lingered till the morning of the 30th;—­when behind him, on those very heights, appeared the Prussian corps of Kleist, who had been wandering and lost their way amidst the forests.  The French rushed up the hill in despair, thinking they were intercepted by design.  The Prussians, on their part, doubted not that some other division of Napoleon’s force was hard behind them, and rushed down—­with the same fear, and the same impetuosity.  The Russians advanced and completed the disarray.  The field was covered with dead:  Vandamme and nearly 8000 men laid down their arms.  Many eagles were taken—­the rest of the army dispersed in utter confusion among the hills.

This news reached Napoleon still sick at Dresden.  “Such,” said he to Murat, “is the fortune of war—­high in the morning—­low ere night.  Between triumph and ruin there intervenes but a step.”  A map lay stretched on the table before him; he took his compasses, and measuring distances on it with an idle hand, repeated the lines of one of his favourite poets: 

    “J’ai servi, commande, vaincu quarante annees;
    Du monde, entre mes mains, j’ai vu les destinees;
    Et j’ai toujours connu qu’en chaque evenement
    Le destin des etats dependait d’un moment.”

Hard on the tidings of Culm followed others of the same complexion.  No sooner did Blucher perceive that Napoleon had retired from Silesia, than he resumed the offensive, and descended from the position he had taken up at Jauer.  He encountered Macdonald, who was by no means prepared for this boldness, on the plains between Wahlstadt and the river Katsbach, on the 26th of August, and after a hard fought day gained a complete victory.[64] The French lost 15,000 men and 100 guns, and fell back on Dresden.  Oudinot, meanwhile, had advanced from Leipsig towards Berlin, with the view of preventing Bernadotte from effecting a junction with Blucher, or overwhelming the French garrisons lower down the Elbe.  The Crown Prince, however, met and defeated him at Grossbeeren, on the 23rd of August; took Luckau, where 1000 men were in garrison, on the 28th; and continued to advance towards Wittemberg, under the walls of which city Oudinot at length concentrated all his forces.  Napoleon, perceiving the importance of this point,