injury. In fact, the French cavalry were repulsed; though an attempt was made to veil the discomfiture, by ascribing their want of success to the nature of the ground.

In the mean time,general Van Essen harassed the French corps that was opposed to him by frequent detachments; and though the country occupied by that corps, was defended by the natural fortresses of woods and morasses, carried off, at diffcrent times, numbers of prisoners. When he received intelligence that Buonaparte had set out from Warsaw, and marched against general Bennigsen, at the head of a force greatly superior to that of the Rus. sians, being desirous of making a diversion in favour of the main army, he attacked the French, February 3, on the whole extent of their line, defeated them at all points, and drove the generals Savary, Suchet, and Becker, back on the Narew*.

On the night of the 4th of February, Buonaparte slept at Schlett, but his advanced guard pushed on to Deppen. On the 5th, the whole French army was again in motion. While this advanced, the enemy constantly retreated, falling back by the way of Arensdorff and Lands. berg, in the direction of the Pregel; except one column, which had not passed the river Alla, and was thus cut off from the main body of the Russian, by the left of the French army. The emperor therefore ordered the grand duke of Berg, with the marshals Soult and Davoust, to follow the main body of the enemy; and marshal Ney, with one division of light cavalry, and another of dragoons, to attack the cut-off column.

The grand duke on the heights of Waterdorf, fell in with seven or eight thousand of Russian cavalry; which, after sustaining and repelling several charges, were at last forced to retreat.

Ney came up at Deppen with the advanced guard of the column just mentioned, which, finding itself to be surrounded, adopted the bold resolution of cutting their way through the French corps, but met death on the points of their bayonets. The other part of the columu, learning the fate of the advanced guard, retreated in confusion with the loss of their standards, cannon, and baggage.

On the morning of February 6, the French army marched in pursuit of the enemy; the grand duke of Berg, with marshal Soult's corps, in the direction to Landsberg, that of marshal Daroust towards Heilsberg, and that of marshal Ney, to prevent the escape of the Russian corps that had been cut off from the main army at Deppen.

The grand duke of Berg came up with the rear guard of the Russians, commanded by general Barclay de Tolly, between Glandau and Hoff, and immediately attacked it. For the support of this, several lines of cavalry were drawn up, with the heights of Landsberg in front; and their right and their left were flanked on the one side by a small conical bill, and on the other by a wood. After repeated attacks on these two wings had been repulsed, the French dragoons and cuiras siers of general Hautpoult's division, fiercely charged, overthrew, and destroyed two regiments of Russian

infantry.

infantry. Their cannon and colours were taken, with all their colonels, and the greater part of their officers, The main Russian army made a movement for the support of the rear guard. The French corps under marshal Soult and marshal Au. gereau, took a position on the left of the enemy, and occupied the vil lage of Hoff. The Russian general perceiving the advantage of this po. sition, sent ten battalions to retake it, But the grand duke of Berg, making a second charge with his cuirassiers, attacked this party in flank, and cut them to pieces. The Russians filed off in the night.

This is the French account of the affair. It is scarcely possible, how ever, that the advantages gained are not greatly exaggerated, for it is noticed in the same bulletin, as a remarkable circumstance, that part of the two armies passed the night between the 6th and 7th in the presence of each other. It appears pretty evidently, that this engagement of Hoff was a drawn battle, the Russians never quitted the field the day on which they fought. If the main army had filed off in the night, leaving only a post quite close to, and in the very presence of the enemy, as a forlorn hope, that post, separated from the rest of the army, must have fallen into the hands of the enemy, which would have been announced as a matter of great triumph.-From the moment that general Bennigsen ascertained the great numerical force opposed to him, he prudently adopted the plan of retreating on the Pregel, which he did, fighting all the way, though not without very great loss, yet with invincible valour and resolution.

In pursuance of this plan, on the morning of the 7th of Febru. ary, before break of day, the whole Russian army filed off to take up a new and advantageous position, at the little town of Eylau. Between this town and the wood near Hoff, just mentioned, the rear-guard of the Russians was attacked by the French, and a part of it made prisoners. The van-guard of the French, pursuing their advantage, discovered that the Russians had posted themselves behind the town. Both sides prepared for battle. At the distance of a quarter of a league from this place, is a rising ground or flattish hill, which, in the military phraseology of the French, is called a plateau*, which commands the entrance into the plain or valley ja which it is situated. This eminence was defended by three Rus sian regiments. These three regi ments were attacked by an equal number of French. A column of Russian cavalry took the assailants in flank, and threw one of their bat, talions into great confusion. Some squadrons of dragoons, commanded by general Klein, came up in time for the relief of this disordered co lump. The Russians however main. tained their ground on the eminence.

But in Eylau, where the Russians wished to maintain themselves, but which the French were eager to possess, before the commencement of the general battle, the contest was most bloody. The Russians had placed some regiments in a church and the yard around it. There they made a most obstinate resistance, and the post was not taken till after a dreadful carnage on both sides, at ten o'clock at night. The night was spent by the two armies under the

bare canopy of heaven, facing each other. One division of the French army, under Le Grand, was posted in front of the village; and one under Saint-Hilaire, on its right. The corps of Augereau was placed on its left. That of Davoust had been de. tached in the evening, to stretch beyond Eylau, and to come round and fall on the left flank of the Russians, if they should not have changed their position. Marshal Ney was like wise in motion to outflank and fall on them on the right.

On the following morning, (February 8) the Russians commenced the attack with a brisk cannonade on the village of Eylau, and by the division under Saint Hilaire. The emperor, with his guards, took post in the church and burying-ground, which the Russians had so well de fended the day before.

To the military eye of Buonaparte, the hill commanding the entrance into the plain, which the French had failed to carry the day before, presented itself still as the most important object of attack. Till this should be carried the centre of his army could not act offensively against the enemy: for, in order to do this, it was necessary that it should stretch into the plain. Marshal Augereau was therefore ordered to advance with his corps, and to open a cannonade against this commanding spot, with 40 pieces of artillery belonging to the imperial guard. A terrible cannonade ensued on both sides. The armies being within half a gun-shot of each other, every shot took effect, and the slaughter on both sides was dreadful. At one time it appeared, from the movements of the Russians, that, impa. tient of suffering so much without any decisive result, they had a mind

to outflank the French on their left wing. But, in the same instant, marshal Davoust, with his sharpshooters, appeared, and fell on their

rear.

Upon this, Augereau's corps filed off in columns to attack and occupy the centre of the Russian army, which might otherwise have overwhelmed Davoust with superior numbers. At the same time, the division under Saint Hilaire, filed off to the right to support Davonst, and eventually to facilitate a junction between Davoust and Auge reau, should his assistance become necessary.

No sooner had these movements commenced, than so thick a fall of snow covered the two armies, that they could not see beyond the dis. tance of two feet. The point of direction was lost, and the French columns, inclining too much to the left, wandered about in uncertainty. This darkness lasted half an hour. When the weather cleared up, 20,000 Russian infantry, supported by cavalry and artillery, by beginning to turn, threatened the division of Saint Hilaire with excision.-At this moment, when destruction hovered over the French army, the greater part of which was straggling in columns, incapable of supporting one another, the cavalry under Murat, supported by the imperial guard under under Bessieres, coming round about the division of Saint Hilaire, extricated the French from their critical situation, by making a desperate and successful charge on the formidable mass of the Russian infantry. The Russian cavalry, who endeavoured to oppose this manœuvre, were routed with great slaughter. Two lines of infantry were broken; the third falling back, supported themselves on a wood.

The

The character and result of the most bloody battle of Eylau, seem to be exhibited with great candour in a letter written by a Russian officer of the army, three days after the battle*. "Our army has performed prodigies of valour; though our loss has been very great. It is generally agreed, that it was a miracle we did not lose more which is ascribed to the excellent discipline and order, which prevailed even in the hottest of the action, and in the midst of such a fire, as was never perhaps witnessed before. For these three days we have been enquiring of each other, On which side the victory lay? This question may appear singular: but in truth it is impossible for me to say, which of the two armics fought with the greatest courage and obstinacy, and did the greatest mischief to the other." It is a very remarkable circumstance, in the battle of Eylau, that there was little or no engagement between the infantry of the two armies. The battle was fought by the artillery and cavalry. The day after the battle presented a horrid scene of dead and dying men: to bury all the dead, required immense labour. A great number of Russian slain, were found with the insignia of their orders. Forty-eight hours after the battle, there were still upwards of 5,000 wounded Russians, whom the French had not been able to carry off. Brandy and bread were carried to them, and they were successively carried to the ambulance, or train of carriages. On the space of a square league were seen 9 or 10,000 dead bodies; 4 or 5,000 horses killed;

whole lines of Russian knapsacks; broken pieces of muskets and sabres; the ground covered with cannon-balls, howitzer shells, and ammunition; twenty-four pieces of cannon, near which lay the bodies of their drivers, killed at the moment when they were endeavouring to carry them off. All this was the more conspicuous, as the ground was covered with snow. The 5,000 wounded Russians were all conveyed in sledges to Thorn, and to the French hospitals, on the left bank of the Vistula. The surgeons observed with astonishment, that the fatigue of this conveyance did no harm to the wounded +.

At the same time that marshal Davoust attacked the elevated ground, the possession of which was so warmly disputed, marshal Ney came round by Altorf, driving before him the same column which he had attacked at Deppen, and, in the evening, occu. pied the village of Schoneditton. The Russian general therefore, harassed on his flanks by Davoust and Ney, who threatened to cut off his rear. guard, ordered several battalions of grenadiers to make an attack on Schoneditton; which was accordingly made at 8 o'clock at night, but without effect. The next day, (February 9) the Russians were pursued as far as the river Frischeling, while they retreated behind the Pregel. The French gazette says in conclusion, "This expedition is ended. The enemy is beaten and driven back eighty leagues from the Vistula. The French army is going to return to its winter quarters."

That