Page:History of Napoleon Buonaparte.pdf/13

Rh About this time the news arrived of the battle of Trafalgar, an engagement fatal to the French marine; and it was on this occasion that Napoleon exhibited the advantage of his peculiar temperament; for, instead of being depressed, he appeared stimulated to more daring vigour. Leaving Vienna, he crossed the Danube, and advanced into Moravia, as far as Brunn. Between Brunn and Austerlitz the distance is two miles, and this space became his immediate study and his rallying point. His preparations were as follows:-the centre was composed of the cavalry and foot of Bernadotte and Murat; Lannes commanded the left wing ; Soult the right; the reserve, under Oudinot, including the imperial guard, was 20,000 strong. An evidence of the masterly skill of Napoleon in so disposing his troops as to take advantage of a probable imprudence in the enemy was his placing Davoust at Raygern with a strong division to the rear of the French right. Buonaparte threw himself by a watch-fire for an honr on the night of the 1st Dec., 1805—at one o'clock he was on horseback, and rode round his army in front. The sun rose brilliantly-it was the anniversary of his coronation, and his soldiers determined to celebrate it worthily. The battle began. Kutusoff, the Russian commander-in-chief, sent a large force to turn