Gallant as the behaviour of his troops had been, the result satisfied Napoleon that he must finally retreat from Leipsig; and he now made a sincere effort to obtain peace.  General Mehrfeldt, the same Austrian officer who had come to his headquarters after the battle of Austerlitz, to pray for an armistice on the part of the Emperor Francis, had been made prisoner in the course of the day, and Napoleon resolved to employ him as his messenger.  Mehrfeldt informed him that the King of Bavaria had at length acceded to the alliance.  This intelligence added to his perplexities, already sufficiently great, the prospect of finding a new enemy stationed on the line of his march to France.  He entreated the Austrian to request for him the personal intercession of Francis.  “I will renounce Poland and Illyria,” said he, “Holland, the Hanse Towns, and Spain.  I will consent to lose the sovereignty of the kingdom of Italy, provided that state remain as an independent one—­and I will evacuate all Germany.  Adieu!  Count Mehrfeldt, when on my part you name the word armistice to the two Emperors, I doubt not the sound will awaken many recollections.”

It was now too late:  the Allied Princes had sworn to each other to entertain no treaty while one French soldier remained on the Eastern side of the Rhine.  Napoleon received no answer to his message; and prepared for the difficult task of retreating with 100,000 men, through a crowded town, in presence of an enemy already twice as numerous, and in early expectation of being joined by a third great and victorious army.

During the 17th the battle was not renewed, except by a distant and partial cannonade.  The Allies were resolved to have the support of Bernadotte in the decisive contest.

At eight in the morning of the 18th it began, and continued until nightfall without intermission.  Buonaparte had contracted on the south, as well as on the north, the circuit of his defence; and never was his generalship, or the gallantry of his troops, more brilliantly displayed than throughout this terrible day.  Calm and collected, the Emperor again presided in person on the southern side, and again, where he was present, in spite of the vast superiority of the enemy’s numbers, the French maintained their ground to the end.  On the north, the arrival of Bernadotte enabled Blucher to push his advantages with irresistible effect; and the situation of Marmont and Ney (now also stationed on that side) was further perplexed by the shameful defection of 10,000 Saxons, who went over with all their artillery to the enemy, in the very midst of the battle.  The two marshals, therefore, were compelled to retire from point to point, and at nightfall lay almost close to the walls of Leipsig.  Three cannon shot, as before, marked the general termination of the battle.