where the Emperor was, and the Imperial Guard stopped the Russian column.  Nearly the whole French army was engaged in that battle-one of the most sanguinary ever fought in Europe.  The corps commanded by Bernadotte was not engaged, in the contest; it had been stationed on the left at Mohrungen, whence it menaced Dantzic.  The issue of the battle would have been very different had the four, divisions of infantry and the two of cavalry composing Bernadotte’s corps arrived in time; but unfortunately the officer instructed to convey orders to Bernadotte to march without delay on Preussich-Eylau was taken by a body of Cossacks; Bernadotte, therefore, did not arrive.  Bonaparte, who always liked to throw blame on some one if things did not turn out exactly as he wished, attributed the doubtful success of the day to the absence of Bernadotte; in this he was right; but to make his absence a reproach to that Marshal was a gross injustice.  Bernadotte was accused of not having been willing to march on Preussich-Eylau, though, as it was alleged, General d’Hautpoult had informed him of the necessity of his presence.  But how can that fact be ascertained, since General d’Hautpoult was killed on that same day?  Who can assure us that that General had been able to communicate with the Marshal?

Those who knew Bonaparte, his cunning, and the artful advantage he would sometimes take of words which he attributed to the dead, will easily solve the enigma.  The battle of Eylau was terrible.  Night came on—­Bernadotte’s corps was instantly, but in vain, expected; and after a great loss the French army had the melancholy honour of passing the night on the field of battle.  Bernadotte at length arrived, but too late.  He met the enemy, who were retreating without the fear of being molested towards Konigsberg, the only capital remaining to Prussia.  The King of Prussia was then at Memel, a small port on the Baltic, thirty leagues from Konigsberg.

After the battle of Eylau both sides remained stationary, and several days elapsed without anything remarkable taking place.  The offers of peace made by the Emperor, with very little earnestness it is true, were disdainfully rejected, as if a victory disputed with Napoleon was to be regarded as a triumph.  The battle of Eylau seemed to turn the heads of the Russians, who chanted Te Deum on the occasion.  But while the Emperor was making preparations to advance, his diplomacy was taking effect in a distant quarter, and raising up against Russia an old and formidable enemy.  Turkey declared war against her.  This was a powerful diversion, and obliged Russia to strip her western frontiers to secure a line of defence on the south.