St. Mary's beacon., 1861-05-30

~ u At Gyi2u tnat HVrSt Always ap.
pears in his nost terrible aspect This
battle fought 10 mid winter. in 1907, Mss
the most important and bloody one 'l'st
had then occurred France aud Russia
had never before opposed such streng'h
Ia each other, and y complete victory on
either 3 de would have settled the fate of
Europe; Bonaparte remained in possession
of the field. and that was all; no victory
WAS ever 30 like defeat. :.
The field Of Eylxu was covered with
snow. and the little ponds that lay s.st-
tered over il were froxen sufficiently hard
to bear the artillery. Seventy-one thou
sand men on one side. and eighty five
thousand on the other. arose from the
frozen field on which they hads'slept the
night Of February, without tent or cover
ing, 10 battle for . continent. Angurea,
on ;ae left, was utterly routed iu the
morning. Advancing through a snow
Storm SO thick he could not see the enc
my, the Russian cannon moved down bis
ranks with their destructive fire, while
the Cossack cavalry, which were ordered
to charge. came laundering On. almost
hitting the French infantry with their
long lances before they were visible
through the storm. - FL. ...
Hcmmcd in and ovcrthrown. the whole
division. composed of 1000 MN. with
the exception Of 800. were captured or
slain. just then the snow storm clearing
up, revealed to Napoleon the peril to
which he was brought, sud he i,nmedi-
ascly ordered grand charge by the l,.
pcrial Guard aud the whole cavalry.
Nothing was further from Bonaparte's
wishes Or expectation, than the bringing
Il his reserve into the engagement at
this early stage Of the battle. but there
was no other resource left him.
Murat sustained his high reputation on
this occasion. and proved himself. for the
huudredth time. worthy vi the great Con-
6drnce Napoleon placed in hi'u. Moth
ing could be more imposing than the bat
tle-feld ut this moIi,ens. Bonapar'e and
the Empire uemblcd in The balance.
while Mnrat prepared to lead down his
cavalry to save them. Seventy squad
rous, making in all 900 well amounted
men, began to move over the slope. with
the Old Guard marching sternly behind
Bonaparte. il is said. was more agitated
at this crisis than when, moment before,
he was so near being captured by the Rus
slams But as be saw those seventy squad
rons come down on a plunging trot. pres
sing hard after the white plnn,e Of Murst.
shat stresmed through the snow storm far
IN front. smile passed over his countc-
asnce.
The earth groaned and trembled as they
passed. and the sabres. above the dark and
angry mass below. looked like the foam of
= rea-wave as it crcsts on the deep. The
rafting of their sruor. aud the unified
thunder of their tread. drowned all the
roar Of battle. as with firm. set array, and
swift steady motion. they bore down with
their terrible front on the foe.
The shock Of that immense host was
like . falling 'nountain. and the front line
of the Russian army went down Ike FROST
work before It, Then commenced 4 pro-
tracted fight Of hand to hand. and sword
to sword. as in the cavalry action at
Eckmuhl. The FLASHING of steel was like
the ringing Of countless hammers, aud
horses and riders were blended In wild
confusion together; the Russian reserve
were ordered mp. and on these Musst Cell
with his ferce horsemen. crushing and
,sampling them down BY thoussnds. But
the sbssinits Russiane disdainsd 10 ~,
aud rallied again and again. 20 thai l. vas
no longer cavalry charging on infantry,
but sqoadrous Of horse gaslop;sg ,h,rougb