whole camp was lighted up as if by enchantment, for each soldier put a bundle of straw on the end of his bayonet, and all these firebrands were kindled in less time than it takes to describe it.  The Emperor rode along the whole line, speaking to those soldiers whom he recognized.  “Be to-morrow what you have always been, my brave fellows,” said he, “and the Russians are ours; we have them!” The air resounded with cries of ‘Vive l’Empereur’, and there was neither officer nor soldier who did not count on a victory next day.

His Majesty, on visiting the line of battle, where there had been no provisions for forty-eight hours (for that day there had been distributed only one loaf of ammunition bread for every eight men), saw, while passing from bivouac to bivouac, soldiers roasting potatoes in the ashes.  Finding himself before the Fourth Regiment of the line, of which his brother was colonel, the Emperor said to a grenadier of the second battalion, as he took from the fire and ate one of the potatoes of the squad, “Are you satisfied with these pigeons?”—­“Humph!  They are at least better than nothing; though they are very much like Lenten food.”—­“Well, old fellow,” replied his Majesty to the soldier, pointing to the fires of the enemy, “help me to dislodge those rascals over there, and we will have a Mardi Gras at Vienna.”

The Emperor returned to his quarters, went to bed again, and slept until three o’clock in the morning, while his suite collected around a bivouac fire near his Majesty’s barracks, and slept on the ground, wrapped in their cloaks, for the night was extremely cold.  For four days I had not closed my eyes, and I was just falling asleep, when about three o’clock the Emperor asked me for punch.  I would have given the whole empire of Austria to have rested another hour; but notwithstanding this, I carried his Majesty the punch, which I made by the bivouac fire, and the Emperor insisted that Marshal Berthier should also partake of it; the remainder I divided with the attendants.  Between four and five o’clock the Emperor ordered the first movements of his army, and all were on foot in a few moments, and each at his post; aides-de-camp and orderly officers were seen galloping in all directions, and the battle was begun.

I will not enter into the details of this glorious day, which, according to the expression of the Emperor himself, terminated the campaign by a thunderbolt.  Not one of the plans of the Emperor failed in execution, and in a few hours the French were masters of the field of battle and of the whole of Germany.

The brave General Rapp was wounded at Austerlitz, as he was in every battle in which he took part, and was carried to the chateau of Austerlitz, where the Emperor visited him in the evening, and returned to pass the night in the chateau.

Two days after, the Emperor Francis sought an audience of his Majesty, to demand peace; and before the end of December a treaty was concluded, by which, the Elector of Bavaria and the Duke of Wurtemburg, faithful allies of the Emperor Napoleon, were made kings.  In return for this elevation, of which he alone was the author, his Majesty demanded and obtained for Prince Eugene, viceroy of Italy, the hand of the Princess Augusta Amelia of Bavaria.