pursued the right of the enemy | river; and yet there still remained as far as the river Narva with his left wing; if we may be allowed to call by that name about four thousand men who were in pursuit of near forty thousand. The bridge broke under the fugitives, and the river was immediately filled with dead carcases. The rest returned to their camp, without knowing whither they went; and finding some huts, they took post behind them. There they defended themselves for a while, as they were not able to make their escape; but at last their generals, Dolgorouky, Golloskin, and Federowitz, surrendered themselves to the king, and laid their arms at his feet; and while they were presenting them to him, the Duke de Croi came up and surrendered himself with thirty officers. Charles received all these prisoners of distinction with as much civility and politeness as if he had been paying them the honours of an entertainment in his own court. He detained none but the general officers. All the subalterns and common soldiers were disarmed and conducted to the river Narva, where they were supplied with boats for passing over, and allowed to return to their own country. In the meantime night came on, and the right wing of the Muscovites still continued the fight. The Swedes had not lost above six hundred men. Eight thousand Muscovites had been killed in their entrenchments; many were drowned; many had crossed the in the camp a sufficient number to cut off the Swedes to the last man. But the loss of battles is not so much owing to the number of the killed as to the timidity of those who survive. The king employed the small remains of the day in seizing upon the enemy's artillery. He took possession of an advantageous post between the camp and the city, where he slept a few hours upon the ground, wrapt up in his cloak, intending at daybreak to fall upon the left wing of the enemy, which was not yet entirely routed. But at two o'clock in the morning, General Wade, who commanded that wing, having heard of the gracious reception the king had given to the other generals, and of his having dismissed all the subaltern officers and soldiers, sent a messenger to him, begging he would grant him the same favour. The conqueror replied that he should have it, provided he would come at the head of his troops, and make them lay their arms and colours at his feet. Soon after the general appeared with his Muscovites, to the number of about thirty thousand. They marched, both soldiers and officers, with their heads uncovered, through less than seven thousand Swedes. The soldiers, as they passed the king, threw their guns and swords upon the ground, and the officers presented him with their ensigns and colours. He caused the whole of this multitude to be conducted over the river, without detaining a single soldier. Had he kept them, the number of prisoners would at least have been five times greater than that of the conquerors. After this, he entered victorious into Narva, accompanied by the Duke de Croi, and other general officers of the Muscovites. He ordered their swords to be restored to them all; and knowing that they wanted money, and that the merchants of Narva would not lend them any, he sent a thousand ducats to the Duke de Croi, and five hundred to every Muscovite officer, who could not sufficiently admire the civility of this treatment, of which they were incapable of forming the least conception. An account of the victory was immediately drawn up at Narva, in order to be sent to Stockholm, and to the allies of Sweden; but the king expunged with his own hand every circumstance in the relation that tended too much to his own honour, or seemed to reflect upon the Czar. His modesty, however, could not hinder them from striking at Stockholm several medals to perpetuate the memory of these events. Among others, they struck one which represented the king on one side, standing on a pedestal, to which were chained The Czar was advancing, by long marches, with a body of forty thousand Russians, in full hopes of surrounding his enemy on all sides; but before he had proceeded half-way, he received intelligence of the battle of Narva, and of the dispersion of his whole army. He was not so foolish as to think of attacking with his forty thousand raw and undisciplined troops a conqueror who had lately defeated eighty thousand men in their entrenchments. He returned home, with a determined resolution of disciplining his troops at the same time that he civilised his subjects. "I know," says he, "that the Swedes will beat us for a long time; but at last they will teach us to beat them." Moscow, his capital, was in the utmost terror and consternation at the news of this defeat. Such was the pride and ignorance of the people, that they actually imagined they had been conquered by a power more than human, and that the Swedes were so many magicians. THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. (Coxe's Life of Marlborough.) A.D. 1704. The two brigades of Wilkes and Rowe, which on the preceding evening had been stationed in advance at Dapfheim, were formed into a ninth column, and reinforced with eleven battalions from the first line, and fifteen squadrons of cavalry. This column was designed to cover the march of the English and Dutch artillery along the great road, and to attack the village of Blenheim, the possession of which would facilitate the passage of the main army over the Nebel, and open the right flank of the enemy. On the memorable 13th of August, |spective corps. The The troops of Marlborough were directed to form on the ground stretching from Welheim to Kremheim, while those of Eugene, passing along the skirts of the hills in the rear of Wolperstetten, Berghausen, and Schwenenbach, were to prolong the line to the extremity of the valley as far as Eichberg. From these general arrangements it appears that the allied commanders intended to make their first efforts against Blenheim and Lutzingen, which covered the of the enemy. Deceived by the intelligence which they had obtained from the prisoners taken on the preceding evening, they detached their cavalry to forage; and being persuaded that the allies were falling back on Nordlingen, they considered the guard which attended Marlborough and Eugene as a body of cavalry pushed forward to cover this retrograde movement. But at seven, the fog dispersing, the heads of Eugene's columns were descried behind Berghausen, and the alarm was instantly given. Signal guns were fired to recall the foragers, and the advanced corps, committing Berghausen, Schwenenbach, and Welheim to the flames, fell back to the main body. Confusion pervaded the lines, the artillery was hurried forward, and the troops were observed hastening to form at the head of the camp. flanks of the enemy. The subsequent changes arose from the locality of the ground and the order adopted by their antagonists. After these preliminary dispositions, the troops resumed their march in silence. Meanwhile Marlborough and Eugene, escorted by forty squadrons, rode forward to observe the situation of the enemy; they were accompanied by the Prussian general, Natzmer, who had been made prisoner in the battle fought here between Stirm and Villars, in the preceding year, and was acquainted with the local peculiarities. About six they descried the advanced posts of the enemy, falling back on their approach, and at seven, reaching the higher ground near Wolperstetten, they came in full view of the hostile camp. From hence they could trace the course of the Nebel, and learned that it might be traversed at the houses and water-mills, near the right of the enemy; but that the islet, and the banks towards Oberglauh, were deemed too swampy to be passable. | encampment. The united troops They observed also that the ground on the hither side, as far as Unterglauh, was sufficiently high to protect the passage of the rivulet, but that the plain beyond the farther bank, on which the troops must form for the attack, was commanded by the eminence occupied by the enemy. To these peculiarities they adapted their plan. The morning being hitherto partially hazy, the Gallo-Bavarians did not even suspect the approach The Gallo-Bavarian army consisted of fifty-six thousand men, and was drawn up in front of the tents, according to the order of of the Elector and Marsin formed on the left, with the cavalry on their right; the army of Tallard on the right, with the cavalry on the left, so that the centre consisted of horse, and the wings of foot. This order was adopted on the supposition that the Nebel was impassable from Oberglauh to the mills. The lines extended from the commencement of the acclivity behind Blenheim, along the crest of the eminence to the rear of Oberglauh, and from thence, crossing a branch of the Nebel, to | drew up to the left of Blenheim, the woods above Lutzingen. | and from thence the line, includ| ing the right wing of the electoral army, amounting to about fifty squadrons, was prolonged to near Oberglauh. Behind this village was the infantry of Marsin, consisting of the brigades of Champagne and Bourbonnois, and the Irish brigade, in all about thirty battalions. Beyond were more battalions extending to the left, and covering the flank of the cavalry, who were drawn up in front of Lutzingen. Strong pickets of infantry occupied Oberglaul, and eighteen French and Bavarian battalions, who had at first been posted in Lutzingen, were drawn out to form an oblique flank among the woods, on the extreme left of the cavalry. The second line of the united troops, under the Elector and Marsin, was formed in the same order as the first, but in that of Tallard were stationed three brigades of infantry in the centre of the cavalry. Behind was a reserve of horse, which could not find a place in the lines. Tallard, observing the increasing mass of the allies in the centre, sent an aide-de-camp to his colleague, requesting that his reserve might likewise be posted behind the centre, to resist the attack which he foresaw was meditated on that point; but this proposal was declined by Marsin, from an apprehension that his whole force would be required to withstand the attack of Eugene. As every moment afforded fresh indications of the approaching contest, Tallard proceeded to make ulterior arrangements. Hastening to Blenheim, he ordered a brigade of dragoons, under the Count de Hautefeuille, to dismount, and form between the village and the Danube, behind a barricade of waggons. He then directed all the infantry of the first line, and part of the second, to enter the village, and placed the three brigades of Navarre, Artois, and Gueder, with their right joining the left of the dismounted dragoons, behind the pallisades which enclosed the gardens. The openings between the houses and gardens were closed with boards, carts, and gates. Behind the hedges, to the left of the village, he posted the brigade of Zurlauben; in the centre, among the houses, that of Languedoc, to the right; in the rear the royal brigade; and behind the Meulweyer that of Montroux, to act as a reserve. Two hundred men were also thrown into the castle and churchyard, and small bridges formed across the Meulweyer, to facilitate the communications. The mills on the Nebel and adjacent houses, which were likely to favour the approach of an enemy, were set on fire. A battalion of artillery was distributed on different points; and Lieutenant-General de Clerambault was enjoined to maintain the village to the last extremity. Eight squadrons of gens d'armes The artillery was distributed with judgment. Four twenty-four |