of marshy meadows interfused with the numerous branches of the Pleiss and the Elster, through which lies the only road to France.  Napoleon having made all his preparations, reconnoitred every outpost in person, and distributed eagles, in great form, to some new regiments which had just joined him.  The ceremonial was splendid:  the soldiers knelt before the Emperor, and in presence of all the line:  military mass was performed, and the young warriors swore to die rather than witness the dishonour of France.  Upon this scene the sun descended; and with it the star of Napoleon went down for ever.

At midnight three rockets, emitting a brilliant white light, sprung into the heavens to the south of the city; these marked the position on which Schwartzenberg (having now with him the Emperor of Austria, as well as Alexander and Frederick William) had fixed his headquarters.  They were answered by four rockets of a deep red colour, ascending on the instant from the northern horizon; and Napoleon doubted not that he was to sustain on the morrow the assault of Blucher and Bernadotte, as well as of the grand army of the Allies.  Blucher was indeed ready to co-operate with Schwartzenberg; and though the Crown Prince had not yet reached his ground, the numerical superiority of the enemy was very great.  Buonaparte had with him, to defend the line of villages to the south and north of Leipsig, 136,000 men; while, even in the absence of Bernadotte, who might be hourly looked for, the Allies mustered not less than 230,000.

The battle commenced on the southern side, at daybreak of the 16th.  The Allies charged the French line there six times in succession, and were as often repelled.  Napoleon then charged in his turn, and with such effect, that Murat’s cavalry were at one time in possession of a great gap between the two wings of the enemy.  The Cossacks of the Russian imperial guard, however, encountered the French horse, and pushed them back again.  The combat raged without intermission until nightfall:  three cannon shots, discharged at the extremity of either line, then marked as if preconcertedly, the pause of battle; and both armies bivouacked exactly where the morning light had found them.  Such was the issue on the south, where Napoleon himself commanded.  Marmont, his lieutenant on the northern side, had been less fortunate.  Blucher attacked him with a vast superiority of numbers:  nothing could be more obstinate than his defence; but he lost many prisoners and guns, was driven from his original ground, and occupied, when the day closed, a new line of positions, much nearer the walls of the city.