On the 20th, at four o'clock in the morning, began the grand attack. The three corps of Oudinot, Macdonald, and Marmont, forced the passage of the Spree opposite Bautzen, an operation which was attended with considerable loss. The intention of the enemy in forcing the Spree river was to pass to some heights on the right, thus threatening General Miloradovitch's rear, and gaining advantageous ground, by which his artillery could sweep the main position of the allies, and, under cover of whose fire, he might make his dispositions for a general attack on the following morning. The battle commenced on the left wing of the Allies; but this, as it afterwards appeared, was merely a feint: a more impetuous onset was made on the centre of the Allies, but made in vain; the artillery of the latter was so well served that it frustrated all the attacks of the enemy: the action was bravely contested. A Russian battalion, and some Prussian lancers, under cover of a battery, boldly advanced, and contested alone the heights, in spite of the enemy's powerful efforts, until they were supported by General Klaist's corps. In the mean time, on the extreme right, the enemy's corps followed Generals Barclay de Tolly and D'Yorck, in their retrograde movement from their expedition against Lauriston. General D'York's corps entered the position in the evening, but the whole of Barclay de Tolly's did not effect it till the following morning.-General Miloradovitch repulsed the repeated efforts of the French that were vigorously made to force him on the left, and the columns of the enemy, that had attempted to pass into the mountains, were kept in check. The superior numbers of the French, however, so far prevailed, that after seven hours hard fighting, the Allies found themselves obliged to withdraw on their second position, which was too strongly entrenched to allow the French at that time a hope of forcing it. Thus terminated the battle of Bautzen; in which the French obtained not a single trophy, and only purchased the barren honour of occupying Bautzen, at an expense of lives and blood probably far beyond its real importance. The failure of the 19th was sensibly felt by Buonaparte on the 20th. Ney, Lauriston, and Reynier, who had received orders to turn the enemy's right, were unable to approach it. Bertrand was alike incapacitated from communicating with them. He had passed one of the arms of the Spree; but still found himself intercepted by the Allies, who kept the heights on his right, and maintained themselves between him and Ney during the night.

The 21st was a day of the most bloody and obstinate conflict re

corded in military annals.-The Allied Army under the orders of Count Wittgenstein, in position, in advance of Wurschen and Hochkirch, was attacked by the enemy at day-break, commanded by Buonaparte in person, who had assembled all his forces for this effort. The ground selected by the Allies to resist the enemy's approach, on the great roads to Silesia and the Oder, was bounded on the left by a range of mountains which separates Lusatia from Bohemia, through which Marshal Daun marched to the battle and victory of Hochkirch.

Some strong commanding heights, on which batteries had been constructed, near the village of Jackowitz, and separated from the chain of mountains by streams and marshy ground, formed the appui to the left flank of the position. Beyond, and in front of it, many batteries were pushed forward, defended by infantfy and cavalry, on a ridge that projected into the low ground, near the Spree River. It then extended to the right, through villages which were strongly entrenched, across the great roads leading from Bautzen to Hochkirch and Gorlitz; from thence, in front of the village of Bourthewitz, to three or four commanding hills, which rise abruptly in a conical shape, and form strong features; these, with the high ground of Kreckwitz, were strengthened by batteries, and were considered the right point of the line. The ground in the front was favourable for cavalry, except in some marshy and uneven parts, where it would impede its operations. Fleshes were constructed, and entrenchments thrown up at advantageous distances on the plain, along the front of which ran a deep boggy rivulet, which extended round the right of the position. On the extreme right, the country was flat and woody, intersected by roads bearing towards the Bober and the Oder. General Barclay de Tolly's corps was stationed here, as a manoeuvring corps, placed to guard against the enemy's attempts on the right and rear of the Allies; the extent of the whole line was between three and four English miles.-The different corps occupying it were as follows: General Kleist's and General D'Yorck's corps in echellon, and in reserve, on the right; General Blucher's, Count Wittgenstein's, and General Miloradovitch's, formed on the left; and the guards and grenadiers, and all the Russian cavalry, were stationed in reserve in the centre.

The enemy evinced, early in the action, a determination to press the flanks of the Allies; he had thrown a very strong corps into the mountains on the left of the Allies, which favoured his species of warfare; but General Miloradovitch was prepared here, having

detached Prince Carchikoff and Count Asterman, with ten battalions of light troops, and a large corps of Cossacks, with their artillery, under Colonel Davidoff, to occupy these hills. After a very strong tirallade in this quarter, and a distant cannonading on the right of the Allies, which commenced the action, the enemy began to develope his forces, and to move his different columns of attack to their stations. The contest in the mountains became gradually warmer, and he supported it by a very powerful line of artillery. The Prince of Wirtemberg's and General St. Priest's divisions of General Miloradovitch's corps were here sharply engaged, and a charge of cavalry succeeded against some guns of the enemy, one of which was taken.

Buonaparte was now visible on a commanding spot directing the battle. He deployed in front of the town of Bautzen his guards, cavalry, and lancers, and shewed heavy columns of infantry on the esplanade before it, bringing up besides a number of brigades of artillery, with which he occupied some advantageous heights between the Allies position and Bautzen, that were favourable to support his attacks. These demonstrations denoted an effort in this direction, and a disposition was accordingly made with General Blucher's corps and the cavalry to meet it: but an increasing fire, and a more lively cannonade on the right, made it ultimately no longer doubtful where his chief attempt was aimed. Columns of attack, under cover of a heavy fire, were now in motion from the enemy's left, while others were filing to gain the right of the Allies, and General Barclay de Tolly was attacked by a very superior force under Marshal Ney and General Lauriston; and, notwithstanding the most gallant efforts, was forced to abandon the villages of Klutz and Cannervitz.

General Barclay de Tolly had orders, if outnumbered, to change the ground he occupied in front of Cannervitz and Prieslitz, and to place himself on the heights surrounding the villages of Rachel and Baruth, by which the army would change its position on the left, and cover the main roads through Wurtzen and Hochkirch to the rear; but the enemy outflanked him on the right, while they warmly engaged him in front, and occupied those heights before him, which determined him to throw himself on the right of Wurschen, where the Imperial head-quarters had been, and which equally answered his object. When it was perceived that General Barclay de Tolly was pressed by immense odds, Gen. Blucher was ordered to move to his right, and attack the enemy in flank.

General Blucher was afterwards supported by Generals Kleist and D'Yorck, and here a most sanguinary contest ensued: these attacks succeeded in checking the enemy.-A charge of 4000 of the allied cavalry on columns of the enemy's infantry, which had carried the village of Kracknitz, completely repulsed him, and the Prussians again occupied it. Still these efforts were arrested by the enemy's bringing up fresh troops, and though partial successes were obtained, the general issue was in suspense.

A momentary advantage being gained by the enemy, in consequence of Gen. Barclay de Tolly's movements, he lost no time in making every exertion to push it to the utmost, renewing, at the same time, his attack on the Russian left flank, and assaulting the batteries that covered the conical heights, as also those of Kreckwitz on the right-he made himself master of the latter, and of one of the batteries of the Allies, which gave him, in some degree, the key of the position, as it commanded the low ground on the right and centre of it.

In every other part of the line the Allies firmly sustained the conflict-but it soon became apparent that the enemy had not only superior forces to fight them at all points, but he had also the means of prolonging his flank march on their right, thus threatening their communications, and menacing their rear.

It might have been easy, by a general assault of the grenadiers, and guards in reserve, to have recovered the heights of Kreckwitz, yet the pressure round the flank on Barclay de Tolly's corps would have again necessitated the abandonment of them, and when these troops moved to their point of attack, the centre, where the enemy still shewed a powerful force, would have been endangered. The Allies were therefore induced to change their position at five o'clock in the evening.

The determination being taken to place the Allied Army in a new position, the troops were in motion about seven o'clock in the evening, for the ground between Weissenberg and Hochkirch. The enemy opened immediately a tremendous fire from the heights of Kreckwitz and the village of Cannewitz, on the retiring columns; but every gun was withdrawn from the batteries, and the troops moved off in the greatest regularity. The corps of Generals Tolly, D'Yorck, Blucher and Kleist, marched off from their right to Weissenberg-those of Wittgenstein and Miloradovich from their left to Hochkirch. The retreat was made in echelon, covered by the cavalry; the enemy did not attempt to molest it, and it was con

ducted with the most perfect order. General Kleist's corps formed the rear guard to the corps moving on Weissenberg, and a battery of 40 pieces, planted by Count Wittgenstein on the heights of Wurtzen, impeded the enemy's advance, General Miloradovitch covered the retreat of the troops on Hochkirch, and the army were in their position at night. The force of the Allies, in this sanguinary contest, did not exceed 65,000 men; that of the enemy amounted to 120,000. In the different affairs which took place from the 19th to the 22d inclusive, the French only took 19 pieces of cannon.

On the 23d, the French cavalry were pushed forward in order to cut off, if possible, some part of the retreating artillery and baggage; but they did not experience much success. The first brigade of them was led by Lefebvre, and who, on this occasion, would probably have been made prisoner, had not Latour Maubourg, with all his four divisions, come up to his support.

The enemy stated their loss on the 20th and 21st at 11 or 12,000 men in killed and wounded, but from other accounts we have reason to believe it was much greater. Marshal Duke of Friuli and several officers of note were killed.

Thus the Allies, in a few weeks, gave two decided battles to infinitely superior numbers: no day passed without trophies of victory arriving at the head-quarters of the army-no day without affairs or skirmishes in which they uniformly had the advantage. Committed to a desperate battle at Lutzen, where they triumphantly stood and conquered, and from which the difficulty of getting up ammunition alone obliged them to retire, they had executed the passage of the Elbe, than which no more difficult operation can be conceived, in the presence of a superior enemy, and traversed an extent of country of nearly 300 miles, retiring, contending position after position, and carrying with them between 6 and 700 pieces of cannon, without losing a gun or sacrificing any of their baggage.

Concluded in the Supplement.