o maintain the fire for two hours longer; and as the nearest supplies
were at Madgeburg and Erfurt, whence it would be impossible to obtain
help in time, retreat was rendered absolutely necessary.

Orders were therefore given for a retreat, which began next day, the
19th, at the end of a battle in which three hundred thousand men had
engaged in mortal combat, in a confined space not more than seven or
eight leagues in circumference. Before leaving Leipzig, the Emperor gave
to. Prince Poniatowski, who had just earned the baton of a marshal of
France, the defense of one of the faubourgs. "You will defend the
faubourg on the south," said his Majesty to him. "Sire," replied the
prince, "I have very few men."--"You will defend it with those you have."
"Ah, Sire, we will remain; we are all ready to die for your Majesty."
The Emperor, moved by these words, held out his arms to the prince, who
threw himself into them with tears in his eyes. It was really a farewell
scene, for this interview of the prince with the Emperor was their last;
and soon the nephew of the last king of Poland found, as we shall soon
see, a death equally as glorious as deplorable under the waves of the
Elster.

[Prince Joseph Anthony Poniatowski, born at Warsaw, 1762. Nephew
of Stanislas Augustus, the last king of Poland. He commanded the
Polish army against Russia, 1792, and served under Kosciuszko, 1794.
He led an army of Poles under Napoleon, 1807 and 1809, and commanded
a corps in the Russian campaign. Had Napoleon succeeded in that
campaign, Poniatowski would have been made king of Poland. Wounded,
and made a marshal at Liepzig, he was drowned on the retreat.]

At nine o'clock in the morning the Emperor took leave of the royal family
of Saxony. The interview was short, but distressing and most
affectionate on the part of each.

The king manifested the most profound indignation at the conduct of his
troops. "I could never have imagined it," said he; "I thought better of
my Saxons; they are only cowards;" and his grief was so intense that the
Emperor, notwithstanding the immense disadvantage which had accrued to
him from the desertion of the Saxons during the battle, sought to console
this excellent prince.

As his Majesty urged him to quit Leipzig in order that he might not be
exposed to the dangers attending the capitulation which had now become
absolutely necessary, this venerable prince replied, "No; you have
already done