while speaking of this audacious attack of Vandamme that the Emperor used
this expression, which has been so justly admired, "For a retreating
enemy it is necessary to make a bridge of gold, or oppose a wall of
brass." The Emperor heard with his usual imperturbability the
particulars of the loss he had just experienced, but nevertheless
repeatedly expressed his astonishment at the deplorable recklessness of
Vandamme, and said he could not comprehend how this experienced general
could have allowed himself to be drawn away from his position. But the
deed was done, and in such instances the Emperor never lost time in
useless recriminations. "Come," said he, addressing the Duke of Bassano,
"you have just heard--that means war from early in the morning until late
in the evening."

After giving various orders to the army and his chiefs, the Emperor left
Dresden on the evening of the 3d of September, with the intention of
regaining what he had lost from the audacious imprudence of General
Vandamme. But this defeat, the first we had sustained since the
resumption of hostilities, became the forerunner of the long series of
reverses which awaited us. It might have been said that victory, having
made one last effort in our favor at Dresden, had finally grown weary;
for the remainder of the campaign was but a succession of disasters,
aggravated by treachery of every description, and ending in the horrible
catastrophe at Leipzig. Before leaving Dresden we had learned of the
desertion to the enemy of a Westphalian regiment, with arms and baggage.

The Emperor left Marshal Saint-Cyr in Dresden with thirty thousand men,
with orders to hold it to the last extremity, since the Emperor wished to
preserve this capital at any price. The month of September was spent in
marches and countermarches around this city, with no events of decided
importance. Alas! the Emperor was never again to see the garrison of
Dresden. Circumstances becoming still more embarrassed, imperiously
demanded that his Majesty should promptly oppose some obstacle to the
progress of the allies. The King of Saxony, furnishing an example of
fidelity rare among kings, determined to accompany the Emperor, and
entered his carriage in company with the queen and the Princess Augusta,
having the headquarters' staff as escort. Two days after his departure
the Saxon troops joined the French army at Eilenburg, on the banks of the
Mulda. The Emperor exhorted these allies, whom he be