ceived him from post to post with
shouts of enthusiasm. They reminded him that this was the anniversary of
his coronation, and assured him they would celebrate the day in a manner
worthy of its glory. "Only promise us," cried an old grenadier, "that
you will keep yourself out of the fire." "I will do so," answered
Napoleon, "I shall be with the reserve _until you need us._" This
pledge, which so completely ascertains the mutual confidence of the
leader and his soldiers, he repeated in a proclamation issued at
daybreak. The sun rose with uncommon brilliancy: on many an after-day
the French soldiery hailed a similar dawn with exultation as the sure
omen of victory, and "the Sun of Austerlitz" has passed into a proverb.

The Russian General-in-Chief, Kutusoff, fell into the snare laid for
him, and sent a large division of his army to turn the right of the
French. The troops detached for this purpose met with unexpected
resistance from Davoust, and were held in check at Raygern. Napoleon
immediately seized the opportunity. They had left a deep gap in the
line, and upon that space Soult forthwith poured a force, which entirely
destroyed the communication between the Russian centre and left. The
Czar perceived the fatal consequences of this movement, and his guards
rushed to beat back Soult. It was on an eminence, called the hill of
Pratzen, that the encounter took place. The Russians drove the French
infantry before them: Napoleon ordered Bessieres to hurry with the
imperial guard to their rescue. The Russians were in some disorder from
the impatience of victory. They resisted sternly, but were finally
broken, and fled. The Grand Duke Constantine, who had led them
gallantly, escaped by the fleetness of his horse.

The French centre now advanced, and the charges of its cavalry under
Murat were decisive. The Emperors of Russia and Germany beheld from the
heights of Austerlitz the total ruin of their centre, as they had
already of their left. Their right wing had hitherto contested well
against all the impetuosity of Lannes: but Napoleon could now gather
round them on all sides, and, his artillery plunging incessant fire on
them from the heights, they at length found it impossible to hold their
ground. They were forced down into a hollow, where some small frozen
lakes offered the only means of escape from the closing cannonade. The
French broke the ice about them by a storm of shot, and nearly 20,000
men died on the spot, some