, where
victory was impossible and delay might place everything in jeopardy.

The retirement began late in the afternoon. Covered by the fire of a
powerful artillery from successive crests, and by the charges of their
dauntless cavalry, the allies beat off every effort of the French to
turn the retreat into a rout. In vain did Napoleon press the pursuit.
As at Luetzen, he had cause to mourn the loss in the plains of Russia
of those living waves that had swept his enemies from many a
battlefield. But now their columns refused to melt away. They filed
off, unbroken and defiant, under the covering wings of Uhlans and
Cossacks.[299]

The next day witnessed the same sight, the allies drawing steadily
back, showering shot from every post of vantage, and leaving not a
prisoner or a caisson in the conquerors' hands. "What!" said Napoleon,
"after such a butchery, no results? no prisoners?" Scarcely had he
spoken these words, when a cannon-ball tore through his staff, killing
one general outright, wounding another, and shattering the frame of
Duroc, Duc de Friuli. Napoleon was deeply affected by this occurrence.
He dismounted, went into the cottage where Duroc was taken, and for
some time pressed his hand in silence. Then he uttered the words:
"Duroc, there is another world where we shall meet again." To which
the Grand Marshal made reply: "Yes, sire; but it will be in thirty
years, when you have triumphed over your enemies and realized all the
hopes of your country." After a long pause of painful silence, the
Emperor mournfully left the man for whom he felt, perhaps, the
liveliest sympathy and affection he ever bestowed. Under Duroc's cold,
reserved exterior the Emperor knew that there beat a true heart,
devoted and loyal ever since they had first met at Toulon. He received
no one else for the rest of that night, and a hush of awe fell on the
camp at the unwonted signs of grief of their great leader.

Possibly this loss strengthened the Emperor's desire for a truce, a
feeling not lessened by a mishap befalling one of his divisions, which
fell into an ambush laid by the Prussians at Hainau, and lost 1,500
men and 18 guns.

For their part, the allies equally desired a suspension of arms. Their
forces were in much confusion. Alexander had superseded Wittgenstein
by Barclay, who now insisted on withdrawing the Russians into Poland.
To this the Prussian staff offered the most strenuous resistance. Such
a confession of weakness,