was no wonder that he should grow more jealous of these Princes, and more attentive to their pro ceedings. In In consequence of this mistrust, he twice demanded that Prince Ferdinand should retire from the Austrian service; and, in 1810, that Prince Leopold also should quit the Russian army, in which he had been a General ever since the year 1803.

Whoever knows the power with which such demands were calculated to operate at that time on a German Prince, will not fail to admire the firmness of Prince Leopold, who still hoped that he should not be obliged to leave the Russian service, and went to Paris to remonstrate on the subject. He there found the government highly incensed, and was bluntly assured, that in case of his farther refusal to comply, Napoleon would be necessitated to take the possessions of the House of Cobourg from his brother, the reigning Duke. The affections of the Prince were not proof against this threat; it produced the desired effect, and Leopold sacrificed his own inclination and his military prospects to the welfare of his family. The Emperor of Russia granted his request,-that he might tacitly retain his military rank, till better times should permit him publicly to resume it.

When, towards the end of 1811, the political horizon began to be once more overcast, and a new prospect of a happier result was afforded, Prince Leopold, unable any longer to endure his constrained inactivity, again tendered his services to the Emperor of Russia; but Alexander, apprehensive lest a premature step might endanger his family, begged to defer the fulfilment of his wish to a more seasonable time..

In 1813, Prince Leopold went to Munich, to pave the way for happy changes, and in February proceeded to Poland, to the Emperor of Russia, who received him with cordial friendship. Here

he communicated to Field-marshal Kutosoff much important information respecting the state of things in Germany, and the condition of the French army; and thus acquired the honour of being the first Prince of the then-existing Confederation of the Rhine, who openly declared against France.

The allied army now marched from Poland to Silesia and Saxony. On the 2d of May, Prince Leopold was in the battle of Lutzen, and the following day with the Russian cavalry formed part of the rear-guard. The Prince was afterwards sent in forced marches toward the Elbe, to the support of the Prussian General Kleist; but his destination was changed, and he returned to Lusatia.

On the 19th of May, the Prince marched to the support of General Barclay, but was recalled to assist on the 20th and 21st in the battle of Bautzen. In this engagement he was employed in supporting the line on various points, and in the evening of the second day, he covered the retreat, amidst the hottest fire, with that serenity which is the property of genuine courage. After the battle, he retired to Silesia, with the corps of cavalry to which he was attached.

During the armistice, and the negociations at Prague, Prince Leopold repaired, with the consent of the Emperor of Russia, to that city, and was the only stranger who was there admitted to several interviews with the Emperor Francis.

On the expiration of the armistice, the Prince proceeded with the army to Bohemia, and thence to the frontiers of Saxony. The main force of the allies was already before Dresden, while the cavalry reserve was engaged in the more difficult march across the mountains. On the 26th of August, Vandamme briskly attacked the corps posted near the fortress of Konigstein to cover the rear of the grand army, and the principal com

munications with Bohemia, and commanded by Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg. This General urgently solicited a reinforcement of cavalry, that he might be enabled to maintain his highly important position against a very superior enemy; and about noon, Prince Leopold was in consequence detached with his cuirassiers to his assistance. Scarcely had the Prince joined the corps, when the enemy commenced the attack. The infantry, on account of its weakness, was posted on the wings, and supported upon two villages; while Prince Leopold and his cavalry formed the centre. This precarious position Prince Leopold maintained during a contest of five hours against a foe three or four times as numerous, (and after the two wings of the corps were almost completely surrounded,) with such unshaken intrepidity, that night came on before the enemy had been able to gain any decisive advantage, or force the position. Eugene paid that tribute to the Prince which he amply deserved; for by his firmness he had not only saved the whole corps, but rendered it impossible for Vandamme to make an attack, either in flank or rear, on the main army of the allies engaged on the 27th of August with the assault of Dresden, which would necessarily have been attended with the most disastrous consequences.

On the 27th of August, the corps took a position on the other side of Pirna. As the importance of the action of the 26th, and the possibility of a less fortunate result was sensibly felt at the headquarters; the first division of the Russian guards, under the brave General Yermolof, and the regiment of hussars of the guard, were sent to reinforce the corps at Pirna. The whole was placed under the orders of Count Ostermann, who gave to Prince Leopold the command of the cavalry of the combined corps.

The enemy stormed Pirna, and sought with his

cavalry to extend himself upon the level ground near the Elbe, when Prince Leopold met and drove him back into the town, from which he did not again attempt to debouch; as the dreadful weather, which was one cause of the retreat of the grand army, prevented any thing more decisive than an incessant skirmishing.

Count Ostermann, being informed of the retreat of the grand army towards Bohemia, found his corps was in a very perilous situation; he therefore ordered Prince Leopold to proceed, if possible, with his cavalry through the defile, upon which the right wing was supported, and to occupy and maintain a plain near Great Cotta, which is traversed by the main road to the woody range of mountains. Leopold executed the movement with such rapidity, that the enemy had not time to occupy this plain in sufficient force; he drove him from it, and maintained his position there till the main body of the corps, with the infantry and all the artillery, had effected its retreat. The enemy had, meanwhile, reached, by a shorter route, and occupied some of the heights and passes in the mountains, and thus almost intercepted the Prince and his cavalry; but with great difficulty he forced his way through, and on this occasion rescued many wounded of the infantry of the Russian guard, who had heroically stormed the passes.

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The position of Peterswalde was the last that Ostermann's corps could take in the mountains, to afford time for the retreat of the main army; and it was therefore successfully maintained, though not without considerable effort. Here the assembled Generals received intelligence that the main army was still in the mountains, and that the grand head-quarters of the allies were yet at Altenberg, in Saxony. It was therefore determined to cover the road to Töplitz, in order to gain the grand army as much time as possible for debouching.

On the 29th of August the troops were accordingly to have continued their march at a very early hour; but before they could break up, the French cavalry, supported by a very considerable division of infantry, attacked the village of Peterswalde, which was occupied as the advanced guard of the line of encampment, with infantry, pushed forward through it, and was on the point of falling upon the columns that were about to march, when Prince Leopold came up with his cavalry, and drove back the enemy into the defile. He then maintained the little plain near Peterswalde, till the infantry and artillery had retired to the position of Nollendorf, and then caused his cavalry to fall back en echelons. He was himself nearly taken, with the last division; but he cut his way through, and rejoined the main body of the corps, which, but for the successful attack of the Prince, would probably have been totally intercepted. This action, doubtless, gave rise to the false report in one of Napoleon's bulletins, subsequent to the affairs near Dresden, that Prince Leopold had been made prisoner by the French.

Ostermann's corps, though considerably diminished, now proceeded in the best order down the declivity of the mountains into the plains of Bohemia. The left wing, which was supported upon the mountains, was formed by the infantry; in the centre, through which ran the high road, was stationed the greatest part of the artillery; and the right wing, composed of Prince Leopold's cavalry, occupied an open plain. As the chief object was to gain time, every advantageous spot of ground, which was capable of detaining the enemy ever so little, was defended with the utmost obstinacy. Prince Leopold therefore manoeuvred with his cavalry en echequier, and never withdrew to a new position, which it was necessary to take every sixty or a hundred paces, till the tirailleurs of the in