when he found many hundreds of his fellow-sufferers moaning with anguish on the wet stones, without straw to lie upon, without shelter of any kind, without medical or surgical attendance, nay, even without a drop of water, for which they so often and so earnestly petitioned;—­when he was peremptorily refused admittance at the door, and he too had no other resource than to seek a couch like the rest upon the hard pavement, which his wounds very often were unable to endure.  No more attention was here paid to him than the stones on which he gave vent to his anguish.  Many hobbled farther in quest of something to appease the cravings of hunger and thirst.  But who could give it them?  Extreme want had long prevailed in the city; the very inhabitants had great trouble and difficulty to obtain for money sufficient to make a scanty meal for themselves and their families.  The fainting soldier might think himself fortunate if his solicitations procured him a crust of bread or an apple.  Thousands were not so lucky.—­Such was the state of things at the magazine; such was the spectacle exhibited in all the streets, and especially in the market-place, where every corner provided with a shelter was converted into an hospital.  The consequences were inevitable.  Many; as might naturally be expected, perished, in the night, of hunger, agony, and cold.  Their lot was enviable—­they no longer needed any human assistance.  What heart would not have bled at such scenes of horror!—­and yet it was the very countrymen of these unfortunate wretches who seemed to care the least about them, and passed by with the most frigid indifference, probably because they are so familiarized with such spectacles.  O ye mothers, ye fathers, ye sisters of France, had ye here beheld your agonized sons and brothers, the sight, like a hideous phantom, would surely have haunted you to the last moment of your lives.  The laurels acquired by your nation have indeed been purchased at a most exorbitant price.

I have forgotten to mention a circumstance worthy of notice in the history of this day.  It is this; that in the midst of the cannonade all round Leipzig—­when the whole city shook with the thunders of the artillery, and the general engagement had, strictly speaking, but just commenced—­all the bells of the churches were rung by French command, to celebrate the victory won in the forenoon.  Such an instance was certainly never afforded by any battle which had scarcely begun, and terminated in the total and decisive overthrow of him who had already fancied himself mounted in triumph upon the car of victory.  This day, however, the engagement still remained undecided, according to the reports of those who returned from different points of the field of battle.  The French had stood as if rooted to the spot—­the allies, like rocks of granite.  The former had fought like men, the latter like lions.  Both parties, inspired with mutual respect, desisted from hostilities during the night.