e. He will crush Bernadotte and
Bluecher, or throw them beyond the Elbe, and then, himself crossing the
Elbe, ascend its right bank, recross it at Torgau, and strike at
Schwarzenberg's rear near Leipzig.

The plan promised well, provided that his men were walking machines,
and that Schwarzenberg did nothing in the interval. But gradually the
truth dawns on him that, while he sits weaving plans and dictating
despatches--he sent off six in the small hours of October
12th--Bluecher and Schwarzenberg are drawing near to Leipzig. On that
day he prepared to fall back on that city, a resolve strengthened on
the morrow by the capture of one of the enemy's envoys, who reported
that they had great hopes of detaching Bavaria from the French cause.

The news was correct. Five days earlier, the King of Bavaria had come
to terms with Austria, offering to place 36,000 troops at her
disposal, while she, in return, guaranteed his complete sovereignty
and a full territorial indemnity for any districts that he might be
called on to restore to the Hapsburgs.[371] Napoleon knew not as yet
the full import of the news, and it is quite incorrect to allege, as
some heedless admirers have done, that this was the only thing that
stayed his conquering march northwards.[372] His retreat to Leipzig
was arranged before he heard the first rumour as to Bavaria's
defection. But the tidings saddened his men on their miry march
southwards; and, strange to say, the Emperor published it to all his
troops at Leipzig on the 15th, giving it as the cause why they were
about to fall back on the Rhine.

There was much to depress the Emperor when, on the 14th, he drew near
to Leipzig. With him came the King and Queen of Saxony, who during the
last days had resignedly moved along in the tail of this comet, which
had blasted their once smiling realm. Outside the city they parted,
the royal pair seeking shelter under its roofs, while the Emperor
pressed on to Murat's headquarters near Wachau. There, too the news
was doubtful. The King of Naples had not, on that day, shown his old
prowess. Though he disposed of larger masses of horsemen than those
which the allies sent out to reconnoitre, he chose his ground of
attack badly, and led his brigades in so loose an array that, after
long swayings to and fro, the fight closed with advantage to the
allies.[373] It was not without reason that Napoleon on that night
received his Marshals rather coolly at his modest quarters