all circle,
completely occupied by the French; while the Allies might be considered
as lying on part of a much wider circle beyond them. Napoleon had
evidently arranged his troops with a view of provoking his enemies to
make isolated assaults, and so beating them in detail. But he was now
opposed by generals well acquainted with his system of tactics, and who
had accordingly prepared a counter-scheme expressly calculated to baffle
the plan of arrangements on which he had reckoned. The commanders of the
three allied armies agreed--that whosoever of them should be first
assailed or pressed by the French, should on no account accept battle,
but retreat; thus tempting Napoleon in person to follow, leaving Dresden
open to the assault of some other great branch of their confederacy, and
so enabling them at once to seize all his magazines, to break the
communications between the remaining divisions of his army, and
interpose a hostile force in the rear of them all--between the Elbe and
the Rhine. The plan of the Allies is supposed to have been drawn up by
two generals who thoroughly understood the military system of
Napoleon--Bernadotte, the Crown Prince of Sweden and Moreau; who had
some time ere this accepted the invitation of the Emperor Alexander, and
returned from his American exile, to take part in the war--which now, in
the opinion of many Frenchmen, had for its object the emancipation of
France itself, as well as of the other countries of Europe. The conduct
of Moreau, in placing himself in the ranks of the Allies, will be
praised or condemned, according as men judge him to have been swayed by
patriotic motives, or by those of personal resentment and ambition.
There can be no question that his arrival brought a great accession of
military skill to their counsels.

Blucher made the first movement; and no sooner did Napoleon understand
that he was threatening the position of Macdonald than he quitted
Dresden (15th August) with his guard and a powerful force of cavalry,
and proceeded to the support of his lieutenant. The Prussian adhered
faithfully to the general plan, and retired across the Katsbach, in the
face of his enemies. Napoleon was still pursuing him in the direction of
the Neiss and Breslau, when he was informed that Schwartzenberg had
rushed down from the Bohemian hills. He instantly abandoned Blucher to
the care of Macdonald, and sent his guards back to Dresden, whither he
himself also began his journey early