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"We have gained today, then, the battle of La Rothiere, and, what is still better, we have shown the French in their own country that Napoleon's invincibility is a myth, and that he can be beaten as well as any other general. But what is that? See there, Gneisenau! what sentinel is posted on the road yonder?"
His Majesty passed the night at the chateau of Brienne, and rose early to visit the field of la Rothiere, one of his favorite walks in former days. He revisited with the greatest pleasure those spots where his early youth had been passed, and pointed them out with a kind of pride, all his movements, all his reflections, seeming to say, "See whence I set out, and where I have arrived."
The first French success, that at Brienne, leads him to hope that the allies will now be ready to make peace. Even after the disaster at La Rothière, he believes that the mere arrival of Caulaincourt at the allied headquarters will foment the discords which there exist. His terms, it seems, are determined on beforehand.
"Gneisenau," he cried, "we must take the village, for La Rothiere is the key of the position. Halloo, pipe-master!" Hennomann was by his master's side. "There," said Blucher, taking the pipe from his mouth, and handing it to Christian, "take this pipe, and stay, do you hear, on this spot! I shall soon be back, and you will see to it that I then get a lighted pipe.
A government messenger had brought it post-haste. Holmes glanced at it and threw it over to me. There are numerous small fry, but few who would handle so big an affair. The only men worth considering are Adolph Mayer, of 13 Great George Street, Westminster; Louis La Rothiere, of Campden Mansions, Notting Hill; and Hugo Oberstein, 13 Caulfield Gardens, Kensington.
Nevertheless, though surprised by greatly superior numbers, the 40,000 French clung obstinately to the village of La Rothière until their thin lines were everywhere driven in or outflanked, with the loss of 73 cannon and more than 3,000 prisoners. Each side lost about 5,000 killed and wounded a mere trifle to the allies, but a grave disaster to the defenders. The Emperor was much discouraged.
It was there that the Emperor, when a child, had foreshadowed in his engagement with the scholars his gigantic combats. The engagement at La Rothiere was hotly contested; and the enemy obtained, only at the price of much blood, an advantage which they owed entirely to their numerical superiority. In the night which followed this unequal struggle, the Emperor ordered the retreat from Troves.
In the centre, Sacken's infantry will advance upon La Rothiere in two columns. The Austrians form the left, and will march on the town of Dionville. The hereditary Prince of Wurtemberg's corps, composing the right wing, will penetrate through the forest of Beaulieu, and take the village of La Gibrin.
The flames of the city, in which Napoleon had received his first military lessons, facilitated Blucher's retreat. Napoleon, however, neglecting to pursue him on the 30th of January, Blucher, reinforced by the crown prince of Wurtemberg and by Wrede, attacked him at La Rothiere with such superior forces as to put him completely to the rout. The French left seventy-three guns sticking in the mud.
That the Allies, after experiencing the effects of disunion at Brienne, and those of conjunction at La Rothiere, should have almost in the moment of victory again resolved on separating their forces, is a circumstance which no writer has as yet explained in any satisfactory manner.
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