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330 LEISLER 60,000 strong, and after an obstinate conflict drove Marmont out of the village of Mockern. On the 17th, a Sunday, both armies by tacit agreement rested, and Napoleon, conscious of his weakness, made an ineffectual attempt to procure an armistice. The 18th found his forces, about 160,000 in number, arranged in a semi- circle around the north, east, and south of the city; while to oppose him Schwarzenberg, strengthened by the arrival of the Russian reserves under Benningsen and Bernadotte's army of the north, brought into the field 300,- 000 men and nearly 1,400 cannon. Against these odds the French fought with heroic courage, and their artillery, amounting to 800 pieces, was played with a rapidity and effect which for a long time kept their assailants in check. Gradually their circle of defence was narrowed, and at a critical period of the day they were weakened by the defection of large bodies of Saxon and Wiirtemberg troops, who immediately turned their guns against their former comrades. The allies having at length penetrated into the suburb of Schonfeld, Na- poleon became convinced that the city* was no longer tenable, and, taking advantage of a ces- sation of hostilities at nightfall, commenced a retreat; Amid a scene of fearful confusion the French filed off through Lindenau. Early on the morning of the 19th the allies forced an entrance into the city, and a terrible conflict ensued with the French rear guard, who were encumbered with immense trains of baggage and artillery and crowds of wounded. In the height of the melee the bridge of Lindenau, the only outlet of retreat over the river Elster, was prematurely blown up, leaving 12,000 sol- diers, besides 25,000 sick and wounded, in the hands of the allies. Marshal Macdonald by great exertion succeeded in swimming his horse across the river, but Prince Poniatowski in attempting the passage was drowned. The total loss of the French during the three days of fighting was more than 60,000 ; that of the allies 50,000. At 2 P. M. on the 19th the car- nage ceased, and Napoleon was in full retreat toward the Rhine. LEISLER, Jaeob, an American adventurer, born in Frankfort, Germany, executed in New York, May 16, 1691. He came to America in 1660 as a soldier in the service of the Dutch West India company. Leaving the army soon after his arrival, he engaged in the Indian trade, and became a comparatively wealthy man. In 1674 he was appointed a commis- sioner of the forced loan imposed by Colve. While on a voyage to Europe in 1678 he was captured by Moorish pirates, and was com- pelled to pay a ransom of 2,050 pieces of eight to obtain his freedom. Previous to this voy- age he was a resident of Albany, and had been involved in the ecclesiastical difficulties of that city in 1676, in which he suffered both in char- acter and purse, having been mulcted in the entire cost of the litigation which was insti- tuted by him and Jacob Milborne, who after- ward became his son-in-law as well as his sec- retary and fellow sufferer. Under Dongan's administration in 1683 he was appointed one of the judges, or "commissioners" as they were styled, of the court of admiralty in New York. In 1688 Gov. Dongan was succeeded by Lieut. Gov. Francis Nicholson, who was in command of the colony when Jacob Leisler, supported by the mass of the lower orders of the inhabi- tants, seized the fort and the public funds on the last of May, 1689, for "the preservation of the Protestant religion." On June 2 Leisler with his own train band of 49 men took pos- session of the fort, and resolved, as he expressed it himself, not to leave until he had brought all the train bands fully to join with him. On the next day he declared for the prince of Orange. A committee of safety was then formed, who on June 8 commissioned Leisler as " captain of the fort." In this capacity he at once began to repair the fort, and strength- ened it with a "battery" of six guns beyond its walls, which was the origin of that public park still known as the Battery. Nicholson and the council of the province, with the au- thorities of the city, headed by Stephanus van Cortlandt the mayor, attempted by pacific means to prevent the uprising, but without effect. Becoming finally alarmed for their own safety, the lieutenant governor sailed for Eng- land, and the mayor with the other officials re- tired to Albany. On Aug. 16 the committee of safety appointed Leisler " commander-in-chief of the province," with the full power of a governor in all matters civil and military. He now attempted to reduce Albany and the north- ern parts of the colony, which from the first had refused to recognize his authority, although that city, as well as the whole province, had acknowledged William and Mary immediately on the arrival of the news of the great revolu- tion in England. Milborne was sent in Novem- ber with an armed force to Albany, to assist in its defence against some Indian hostilities which were threatened, but directed by Leis- ler to withhold it unless his own authority was recognized. This was refused, and Milborne returned unsuccessful. In December arrived a despatch from William and Mary directed " to Francis Nicholson, Esq., or in his absence to such as for the time being takes care for pre- serving the peace and administering the laws in his majesty's province of New York." This Leisler construed as an appointment of himself as the king's lieutenant governor. He there- fore dissolved the committee of safety, swore in a council, and assumed the style of a royal lieutenant governor and commander-in-chief. After the massacre at Schenectady in February, 1690, he engaged with great vigor in the ex- peditions against the French, and equipped and despatched against Quebec the first fleet of men-of-war sent forth from the port of New York. A few months later Major Ingoldesby arrived with the news of Sloughter's appoint- ment as governor, and demanded possession of