Narrative of the Most Remarkable Events Which Occurred in and near Leipzig Immediately Before, During, and Subsequent to, the Sanguinary Series of Engagements Between the Allied Armies of the French, from the 14th to the 19th October, 1813Shoberl, Frederic
History
Narrative of the Most Remarkable Events Which Occurred in and near Leipzig Immediately Before, During, and Subsequent to, the Sanguinary Series of Engagements Between the Allied Armies of the French, from the 14th to the 19th October, 1813
Their fields have gained everlasting celebrity, for there the most
signal of victories was won for the good cause; but these fields, so
lately a paradise, are now, to the distance of from ten to twelve miles,
transformed into a desert. What the industry of many years had acquired
was annihilated in a few hours. All around is one wide waste. The
numerous villages and hamlets are almost all entirely or partially
reduced to ashes; the yet remaining buildings are perforated with balls,
in a most ruinous condition, and plundered of every thing; the barns,
cellars, and lofts, are despoiled, and stores of every kind carried off;
the implements of farming and domestic economy, for brewing and
distilling--in a word, for every purpose--the gardens, plantations, and
fruit-trees--are destroyed; the fuel collected for the winter, the
gates, the doors, the floors, the wood-work of every description, were
consumed in the watch-fires; the horses were taken away, together with
all the other cattle; and many families are deploring the loss of
beloved relatives, or are doomed to behold them afflicted with sickness
and destitute of relief.
The miserable condition of these deplorable victims to the thirst of
conquest, the distress which meets our view whenever we cross our
thresholds, no language is capable of describing. The horrid spectacle
wounds us to the very soul.
But all these unfortunate creatures look up to Leipzig, formerly the
source of their prosperity;--their eloquent looks supplicate our aid;
and the pang that wrings our bosoms arises from this consideration, that
neither the exhausted means of Leipzig nor those of our ruined country
are adequate to afford them that relief and support which may enable
them to rebuild their habitations, and to return to the exercise of
their respective trades and professions.
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