THE CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA. m.t •U/-' ll. 4i ' U.^dwin . 7 7 NARRATIYE OF THE CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA, DURING THE YEAR 1812. BY SIR ROBERT KER PORTER, BALTIMORE: PUBLISHED BY EDWARD J. COALE, WILLIAM FRY, PRINTER. 1814. COKTENT*. F'RENCH Preparations against the Russian Empire - li Russian Preparations to oppose the French =• - -IS Napoleon on the Vistula = - = » - -IS Emperor Alexander at Wilna = ° =■ = - If Napoleon begins the War by crossing the Neimen - " ^„ Situation of the French Army - - - ■» - 2 1 Situation of the Russian Army - = = - - 23 Prince Bragation's Movements - •= = - - 2S Russian Head-quarters at Drissa - - = •= - 34 Address to the City of Moscow - - - =. » 3S Address to the Nation =. = ... --4Ci Alexander*s Visit to Moscow - ■= = = - 44 Address of the Holy Synod .« = - = = 4€ Arming of the Russian People • = = - - 52 Barclay de Tolly at Vitepsk - - - - - -54 Vigtenstein's Movements against Oudinot - = - 64 Bragation crosses the Berezina - = = - - 68 PlatofTs Movements --.»».» 73 Peace with Turkey „-.-_ = . 75 Admiral TchitchagofT takes the Command of the Army of the Danube =..-» = -7g Surrender of Kobrine to the Russians - - - - 78 Affair of Podubrie - - - - - - - -81 Essen at Riga -.-.=, = „» 37 Peace with England ». = «_. =95 Russian hatred of the French - - - = - -9S Battle of Gamzeleva - - •= - - - -100 Battle of Polotzk - - - - - = - «105 Battle of Smolenzk - -• . . ^ . - lOS vi CONTENTS. Page Napoleon enters Smolenzk - - - - - - 116 The French pass the Dneiper _ _ . - - 122 Junction of the First and Second Russian Armies - - 131 ^Prince Koutousoff Commander-in-Chief ... 135 {.Battle of Borodino 139 Koutousoff made Field-Marshal - ... - 155 Koutousoff passes through Moscow and takes a position on the Kalouga road - - - - - - 158 Moscow entered by the French - - - - - 163 Moscow in their Possession - - ^ » - - 167 Buonaparte at the Barrier - - - - ■> - 173 Buonaparte's Entrance - - - - - --174 Outrages on the Inhabitants - - - - - - 177 Russian Position on the Kalouga Road - - - - 185 Vinzingorode's Movements from Twer - - - - 190 Moscow surrounded by Russian troops - - - - 191 Buonaparte offers Peace - - - - - -194 Distress of the French Troops .... - 195 Final Rejection of Buonaparte's proffered Terms of Peace 200 Request and Refusal of an Armistice . _ - . 202 Buonaparte retires to the palace of Petrofsky - - - 204 Orders issued for the Destruction of Moscow - - - 207 Buonaparte's Attempt to burn the Kremlin - - - 214 Vinzingorode victorious before Moscow ... 223 Vinzingorode and Narishkin seized by the French - - 226 Iloviasky saves the Kremlin .-.»-- 228 Moscow recovered to Russia „ •• - = « . 229 Essen's Advance to Mittau - - - - - - 237 Movement on Polotzk .-.--- 242 General Steingel defeats Macdonald's Corps - - - 246 General St. Cyr wounded ...... 247 Capture of Polotzk ...--.- 250 French defeated by Bragation and Buckovden, near Tour- govitch -..----- 255 Pinsk abandoned by the Austrians . - - - . 260 Koutousoff's Account of the relative State of the Hostile Armies .-.-»-.- 266 French defeated by Dorochoff between Semlevoand Wiazma 269 Battle of Wiazma - - - = - - - - 275 Murat defeated - . - ™ ~ ^ „ « 27f CONTENTS. vil Page Buonaparte's dreadful situation after the Battle of Wiazma 280 Buonaparte quits Moscow — his Head-quarters at Borosk - 282 The Advanced-guard of Sebastiani entirely defeated by Prince KoudaschefF - - - - - -283 Horrible State of the French Army - ,- - -284 Buonaparte forsakes the Army and flies to France - - 286 French defeated by Platoff near the Monastery of Kolotsk 288 Platoft's Description of the French Retreat - - -291 Davoust, Ney, and Beauharnois, defeated by Miloradovitch 293 Sufferings ot the French ------ 295 The Russian Winter sets in- - - - - -296 Description of the Misery of the French Army - - 297 Platoff pursues Beauharnois - - - - - -301 Double Defeat of Beauharnois ----- 303 Letters of the Vice-Roy of Italy to the Prince of Neuf- chatel 304, 305 Miloradovitch defeats the French and occupies Dorogobouche 3 10 Augereau, with his whole Division, capitulates to Count Orloff-Denizoff 312 Buonaparte establishes his Head-quarters at Smolenzk - 314 Inhuman Execution of the Patriot Engelhart - - - 315 Letter of Berthier to Davoust - - - - - 318 Devastation of Smolenzk - - - - - - 319 Davoust defeated near Krasnoy - - - - - 321 Buonaparte's shameful Flight from the Field of Krasnoy - 323 Defeat of Ney 326 The Remainder of the French army capitulates - - 327 Steingel and Sassonoff having formed a junction, defeat the Enemy at Ouschatch - - ■= - - -331 Vitepsk taken by the Russians .=,--- 335 Victor defeated by Vigtenstein — Colonel Tchernicheff joins Count Vigtenstein ------ 339 Victor and Oudinot prepare to evacuate the Russian Ter- ritory - - - -341 Minsk taken by the Russians ------ 342 Buonaparte reaches Orcha - - - - - -345 Orcha evacuated by the French ----- 347 Ney defeated by Platoff 349 The Main Army of the Russians reaches Zezeringa - 350 Victor and his Army capitulate - - - - -354 viii . CX)NTENTS, Battle of Lembisco = - =. - - = -355 Hoi-ribte State of the French after the BattI© ^ ^ ~ 35 § Buonaparte crosses the Berezina - . - = . 359 Oudinot killed— -Buonaparte retreats to Pletchinlchaii - 36B Buonaparfe deserts his Army =.»„=,=, S6B Muse de Guerre of Maret = = »=.=.= 364 Buonaparte appotnts Murat Lieutenant-General and com- mander-in-chief of the army-— 'his final Departure from his Army -.,», = - 370 Wilna occupied by the Russians » » = _ . 372 Proclamation of the Emperor of Russia .= » o =381 ■NoTESi * '*■ » = *■ £> =^.=- « 38;S CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA. 1 HE late War between the Russian Empire and that of France, which closed in the Peace of Tilsit, is too much alive in the recollection of Europe to need a narration here of the particular events which led to its commencement, and accelerated its conclusion. The necessity which compelled the Emperor Alex- ander to make that Treaty, there is little doubt origi- nated in the nonfulfilment of promises, made by powers in alliance with him, to give their support to a warfare which involved not more the safety of Russia than that of all the civilized world. Though an ally only, (on the destruction of the Prussian force, and the de- cided apathetical tardiness of Austria,) he found him- self, left to bear the whole weight of the contest as a principal. Though thus abandoned, and placed in a situation, to maintain which, it being unexpected, he had not provided resources, he nevertheless receded not a step; but in the field and in the cabinet continued to assert, to the extremest point of his empire's ex- istence, the liberty of Europe. It is well known, from what passed between the Courts of London and St, 10 Petersburgh, how anxious he was (in spite of disap- pointments) to retain the friendship of England, and her active co-operation in the Great Cause. At length the Russian Monarch's patience was exhausted; and and on the 7th of July, 1807, the Peace of Tilsit was signed. From the date of this event six years elapsed; and during the whole period the face of Europe never ceased being deluged with blood. Austria, who had neglected the past favourable moment to defend her rights, was at last aroused; and became involved, and alone too, in a desperate and unsuccessful contest with Napoleon. Spain burst forth against the tyrant, with the spirit of her ancestors. And England, (however those at times in power may have committed political errors) continued, in principle, true to the grand cause by feeding the flame in the Peninsula; and thus kept up that fire with which the far- spreading torch of the North now lights the rest of Europe to Emancipation and Peace. The negative kind of amity, a body without a soul, which the Treaty of Tilsit established between the Empires of Russia and France, (and which endured little more than four years) gave time and occasion to Alexander to be fully aware of the ultimate views of his Gallic friend; who lost not an opportunity of en- deavouring by every species of intrigue to pave the way for an easy conquest over the arms and allegiance of the subjects of his august and honourable ally. 11 The machinations of Napoleon have ever been as much against the principles, as the personal liberties of men. Former conquerors were content vi^ith sub- jecting nations by the power of the sword. His aim is a deeper destruction: he attacks the moral principle. He subdues, by seduction, from the rule of law, from the standard of conscience; and having, like the arch- fiend, trammelled the souls of his captives, he hopes to keep them in perpetual, because desperate, slavery. I need not particularize the objects in Russia, of this his system of mental vassalage: some few fell victims to his spells, but the many, the worthy of the name of Russians, remained impregnable to the most deter- mined, most wily assaults of his art. The impatience of Napoleon to compel every state under his influence to adopt what he calls The Conti- nental System^ and which means the exclusion of all commerce with England, exciting him to extraordi- nary and imperative demands of Russia: the insolent declarations of his power to enforce obedience to his will, alarmed the independent spirit of the Emperor Alexander; and made him wisely prepare, in silencCy for a rupture which no flatteries of the tyrant, nor suggestions from the world's panic, could persuade him to compromise. The Common Disturber of Europe soon learned from his agents in Russia, that it was their opinion the people was not to be corrupted; and that his favourite System could not, by any method whatever, be forced upon the ruler of such a people. Napoleon laughed at 12 these representations. A man without houourj believes the integrity of all others impugnable. He is a very Proteus in politics. Again and again every subtilty was tried, every temptation offered; but Alexander frowned on the vain art, and repulsed it. Napoleon continued to dissemble and to intrigue; for the moment of unfolding his ultimate plans was not yet arrived: and with a semblance of the most ardent friendship, grasping at the most intimate bonds of connexion, he essayed to cajole the unsullied faith of the Emperor Alexander. Even while his serpent tongue wove this Machiavelian net, with hands more numerous than those of Briareus, he was secretly pre- paring the means of subverting the Russian Empire^ and establishing upon its ruins and those of Europe a dominion that would command the sovereignty of the world. Russia now saw clearly the impending storm; and no exertion was neglected on her part, to prepare against its rage. Her troops, by degrees, spread them- selves along her vast frontier; and took up the best positions that the probable circumstances of her situa- tion could point out. A force of four hundred thou- sand strong, public report said was then extended from the shores of the Baltic to the extremity of Vol- hynia; but as the casualties incident to a Russian armament are numerous, we cannot confidently rate this body of men, at the commencement of the cam- paign, at more than two hundred thousand effective soldiers. 13 While Alexander was silently drawing these lines of circumvallation around his frontiers; lines of brave men, more impregnable than bulwarks of stone or iron; Napoleon, conscious that it had never been his intention to fulfil his engagements in the Treaty of Tilsit, and perceiving that Russia was now aware of his premeditated breach of faith and determined future hostility, endeavoured, through the medium of his ambassadors at the Court of St. Petersburgh, to cast an insidious gloze on all that had passed; and by mis- representation, falsehood, and sophistry, to throw the blame of the approaching rupture upon the Northern Emperor. Even in the third year (1810) of this hollow peace^ France was seen to manifest serious designs of in- vading the Russian dominions. Napoleon was com- pelled to understand that, in spite of his menaces, Russia would have a commerce with England; that she would not, in consenting to him as an ally, yield her own equal rights of maintaining her people, and replenishing her treasury, by those honest arts which give to peace a value beyond that of mere personal security. He saw that ukases were repeatedly issued to encourage a commerce with England: and more and more irritated by the steady policy of Alexander, he decided, not only on the destruction of that princCj, but on the annihilation of his empire. Notwithstanding these sentiments of each other, and the preparations which both were quietly making, the one to commit, and the other to resist violence^ 14 diplomatic civilities passed between the two courts. Alexander maintained a dignified silence; and Napo- leon, carefully masking his face when turned to Rus- sia, was moving all his engines in other countries, to excite their armies to assist his in overwhelming her with ruin. During the year 1811, his agent at Con- stantinople, pursuant to this scheme, exerted every nerve to keep up a war against Russia on the side of Turkey. No alarm was left unsounded, no promises spared, which might persuade the Grand Seignior to believe that the boasted Genius of France was fated to be also the prophet and protector of the Ottoman Im- perial line. The co-operation of Sweden was solicited by simi- lar means. Provided she would engage to march a large army towards the Russian frontier on her side^ while a French force should invade the empire on the quarters of Poland and Prussia, Napoleon proffered her, as an indemnification, all Finland, and vast acces- sions to her Pomeranian territories. Treaties of defensive alliance were concluded with Austria and Prussia. Dantzic was reinforced, and pro- vided with stores of all kinds. And the rest of the strong Prussian fortresses which, according to articles in the Treaty of Tilsit, ought to have been evacuated by the French troops, had, on the contrary, their gar- risons considerably augmented. Columns of troops from France, as well as from the various states which comprised the Confederation of the Rhine, were knov/n to be on their march towards the Vistula. 15 Such military preparations, together with the rati- fication of treaties of the most intimate alliances be- tween France, Austria, and Prussia, left no doubt in the mind of the Emperor Alexander as to the object of their proceedings. He saw that the time was now come to take his station at the head of the army his precaution had so wisely provided; and quitting his capital about the 22d of April, 1812, he arrived on the 26th at Wilna, where he established his head- quarters. The army of Napoleon was all in motion. The con- federate princes of Germany had sent their tributary powers; and a reluctant remnant, of about ten thousand Spaniards and Portuguese, had been pressed into the service. Not less than four hundred thousand men were ranged under the despot's standard; and by the beginning of May, 1812, the banks of the Vistula were overshadowed by his thronging legions. Napoleon left Paris in May, and found himself at the head of his grand army on the 16th of June. A finer or more complete force never was marshalled by the destructive abilities of man. It possessed the elite y not only of the French nation, but that of all her confederates; and, to give efficiency to so formi- dable a strength, was commanded by the most cele- brated captain of the age. This mighty array had been a work of deliberation. Its ambitious leader had long sought to make a vassal of his imperial ally, or to push him to the extremity of a rupture. Through the medium of Prince Koura- kin, Napoleon, while at Paris, had precipitated that decision from St. Petersburgh, which he looked for to give him an excuse for the meditated invasion. His demands were, that Russia must immediately adopt, without any reservation, the continental system, to the exclusion and destruction of all commerce whatever with England. The style of this message, as well as its purport, was in a strain to offend the dignity, as well as the just political views of the Emperor Alex- ander; but he treated it so far with forbearance as to commission his ambassador at Paris, while he refused compliance to the extent required, to use every means, consistent with the character of the Russian nation, to preserve the peace. The demand was repeated without any softening terms; and Alexander's reply was still in the same spirit. Much as he wished to maintain a friendship with France, nothing should induce him to attempt it at so dear a price, as compromising the ultimate good of his country, by the sacrifice of its commerce. To this resolution, he added a protest against the French occupation of the Duchy of OJdenberg. This resolu- tion, aY)d thi^ protest, were immediately construed by Napoleon into demands "arrogant and extraordinary!"" 17 and announced by him as equivalent to a declaration of war. Still, however, his hypocrisy was not satisfied with the part it had already acted; he must have ano= ther scene of fawning, yet insulting, overtures of re= cementing an alliance which it was his own determined object to break. To this purpose he dispatched his aide-de-camp. General Narbonne, to Wilna, to know whether the Emperor Alexander would at last withdraw his ex- traordinary demands. The General was heard and an- swered; and, after a very short stay at the Russian head-quarters, carried back this reply, — That his Im- perial Majesty would negociate with Napoleon, as soon as ever he had withdrawn his troops from the Polish and Prussian frontiers. This message, and the information that General Lauriston had been refused permission to visit Wilna for the purpose of having an interview with Alexan- der, so enraged Napoleon, that he exclaimed — " The conquered assume the tone of conquerors — Fate leads them on — Let their destiny be accomplished!" He spoke a Delphic oracle in these words; for they certainly are accomplished, though in a manner directly contrary to his translation of their meaning. Without a moment's delay, at the same instant he issued orders to cross the Niemen, and to send forth the following address to his troops. 18 " SOLDIERS! " The second Polish war is commenced. The first was terminated at Friedland and Tilsit. At Tilsit Russia swore eternal alliance with France, and as eternal a war with England. She now violates her oaths. She declares she will give no explanation of her strange conduct, until the French eagles have re- passed the Rhine; leaving, by that abandonment, our allies at her discretion. '* Russia is led on by a fatality. Her destiny must be fulfilled! " Does she believe us degenerated? Are we no longer the soldiers of Austerlitz? She places us be- tween dishonour and war. The choice is not doubtful. We march forward! we pass the Niemen! and will carry war into the heart of her territory. The second Polish war will be as glorious to the arms of France as was the first. But the peace which we shall con- clude will carry its own guarantee: it will annihilate that proud and over-bearing influence which, for fifty years, Russia has exercised over the affairs of Eu- rope." " Head-quarters, Wilhowiski, June22d, 1812." On the twenty -third of the same month, the head- quarters of Napoleon were removed to the neighbour- hood of Kovna, v/ithin a league of the Niemen. After visiting the line of posts on that river, and throwing across three bridges at the several points selected for 19 the passage, at an early hour in the evening the army was in motion; and by eleven at night the three columns had reached the opposite shore. The light troops arriving at Kovna in great force, and falling unexpectedly on a body of Cossacs, who occupied that town, drove them out with terrible slaughter. Thus, in this spot, were hostilities commenced! The news soon reached the Russian head-quarters; and the aggression was of too deep a dye to allow of any farther forbearance. That his people might not be ignorant of the end to which this treacherous act (committed in the very hour of negociation) was to lead, the Emperor addressed to them the following declaration. ** We have long observed the hostile intentions of the Emperor of the French against Russia. But we hoped, by our forbearance, to allay the adverse spirit; and to convince him, by our moderation, of the policy as well as justice of not seeking to overwhelm all Eu- rope by the weight of one power. \ " Our amicable efforts were repeatedly disappoint- ed; and, at last, seeing that our patience rather invited insult, than persuaded to confidence, we found our- selves obliged to resign our wish of preserving the tranquillity of our people, (if that might be called tranquillity, which must have been purchased by the sacrifice of all their dearest interests]) and to fiy to arms. Though brought even to this point, that the enemy might have no excuse for the violation of his 20 faith, we refused not to fisten to the embassies he continued to send to our quarters; still shewing our will to avoid a rupture, though we kept our station on the frontiers, ready to maintain the peace or to support a war. " But neither moderation nor forbearance had other effect on the French Emperor, than to give him time in which to act his premeditated breach of all honour. While the pacific words of his aide-de-camp, the Count Narbonne, were yet sounding in our ear, he crossed the Niemen, attacked Kovna! and thus, by a deed of the basest and most sanguinary aggression, began the war. *< The hope of peace, without a contest, is at an end; and we have now no other resource than to op- pose our brave soldiers to the invader, and to invoke the Supreme Judge of all, to bless the Righteous Cause! " We have no occasion to remind our Generals, or Commanders of regiments, or our troops in general, what is either their duty or their honour. The blood of the Sclavonians, so illustrious by their virtues and their victories, flows in their veins. Soldiers! you de- fend your Faith, your Country, and your Liberty! Your Emperor marches at your head, and the God of Jus- tice is against the Aggressor! " Alexander." ^« Wilna, 1 3th of June, 1 8 1 2, O. S. 25th of June, 1812, N. S." 21 Independent of this manifesto, the Emperor ad- dressed an official letter to Marshal Count Soltikoff, president of the imperial council of state, in which he repeats the substance of what he had addressed to the nation; but, entering into more particular details of the French subtilties and dishonour, concludes the communication with these magnanimous words: " My brave people, attacked in their very homes, know well how to defend them with a perseverance that will never ground its arms till the independence of the nation terminates the war. And for myself, I will never sheath the sword while a single enemy re- mains within the precincts of the empire." The trumpet of hostilities having been now sound= ed from both camps, the adverse armies put them- selves in general motion. The force employed by France to draw down upon Russia her *' inevitable destiny," was thus divided and commanded. A leading corps, composed chiefly of cavalry and flying artillery, was under the orders of Murat (King of Naples). The first corps. Marshal Davoust (Prince of Eck- muhl). 22 The second corps. Marshal Oudinot (Duke of Reggio). The third corps. Marshal Ney (Duke of Elchin- gen). The fourth and sixth corps. Beauharnois (Viceroy of Italy). The fifth and seventh (the seventh being Regnier, Saxons, and Dombrossky's corps), and the eighth, were under the orders of Jerome Buonaparte (King of Westphalia). The ninth corps, Victor (Duke of Belluno). The tenth corps (composed of French and Prus- sians). Macdonald (Duke of Tarento). The corps of Marshals Davoust, Ney, Oudinot, Macdonald, the Prince Poniatoffsky, and that of the guards, passed the Niemen, almost at the same time, at Jourboorg, Kovna, Olitta, and Mercez. This ad- vance commenced on the 28d of June, when the French troops completely established themselves on the right bank of the Niemen; and, by the 26th, they had pushed their light cavalry to within nine or ten leagues of Wilna. When Alexander received information of these movements, he gave orders for the immediate reunion of his army at Drissa. But that point of concentration being at a considerable distance from the frontiers; and those frontiers stretching to an immense extent on all sides; and along which the troops had been ne- cessarily spread to defend them; (as it was not to be 23 divined at what part the enemy would first oppose himself); a complete obedience to this command must take time to accomplish. When the Emperor issued this order, the Russian army occupied the following places: Head-quarters were at Wilna, where were stationed a part of the Imperial guards. A reserve of that corps was at Swantziany. The whole was commanded by Barclay de Tolly in chief. The right of the first division, consisting of thirty thousand men, stretching from Chawli to Telch and Wilkomir, was commanded by Count Vigtenstein. The second division, consisting of twenty-five thou- sand men; which had previously occupied Kovna, but on the approach of the enemy to the banks of the Niemen, had fallen back to Schirving, between Wil- komir and Wilna, was under General Baggavout. The third and fourth divisions of Generals Shou- valoff and ToutchkoflP, each amounting to twenty-six thousand men, occupied Novtroky, and from thence to Lida. These divisions were called the First Army. A part of General Dochtorroff 's, (or the Fifth di- vision, amounting to tv/enty thousand men), under Count Palhen, occupied Grodno. Dochtorroff had, some short time before, been detached from the Se- cond Army^ which consisted of sixty thousand men, and was commanded by Prince Bragation, then sta- tioned at Bainstock and Wilkowiski, together with a large body of Cossacs under Platoff. 24 A corps of observation, amounting to twenty-five thousand men, under the command of General Tor- mozofF, was left at Loutzk. And Generals Essen and Steingel, commanded in and near Riga, a body of twenty thousand. In the event of a rupture, the plan of the campaign, determined on by the Emperor Alexander and his military council, was, as a first measure, that of re- tiring to the banks of the Dwina; where a strengthen- ed position was preparing, at Drissa, to receive the whole concentrated force of the Russians. Experience had taught them, from the late wars, and by the bril- liant example in the western Peninsula, that the only mode of ensuring ultimate success against the present enemy, was that of a protracted warfare. To this plan, they added that of laying waste the intermediate country; sacrificing a province of their own empire, even to the demolition of towns and villages, that the enemy might have no means of subsistence, no shelter for his troops. Drissa was the point of re-union, and accordingly every branch of the extended Russian army moved towards it. On the 28th of June, the rear of the main body left the city of Wilna, after having destroyed nearly every thing in the magazines which might have been of service to the enemy. It crossed the Vilia with a trifling loss, burning the wooden bridge by which they passed that river. Count Vigtenstein left Wilkomir and its neighbour- hood, proceeding to Breslau, where he arrived on the 25 7th of July. The reserve of guards stationed at Swent- ziany, moved forward to pass the Dvvina; whilst the corps of Baggavout, Toutchkoff, and SchouvalofF, formed their union at the same time in and about Widzy. By these movements it was hoped the com- munication was ensured with the division of Dochtor- 1 -off, which was in the neighbourhood of Weleyka. Without losing a moment, when Prince Bragation w as apprised that the enemy had effected the passage of the Niemen, he set his army in motion, to effect a junction with the main body at Drissa. To cover this march, which he foresaw would be traversed by innu- merable difficulties, he ordered Platoff to move upon Groclno. During these movements the French followed the steps of their adversary with eager activity; and, it was plainly perceptible that the object of Napoleon was to turn the right flank of the Russians, and to cut off the re-union of Dochtorroff. Could he effect this final st^paration, he would completely throw himself between the first and the second armies, and so Alex- ander's plan of defence would be destroyed. The official reports of the French leader relating to this period of the campaign, would lead us to attach some blame to the Russian Commander in chief, Bar- clay de l^olly, for the precipitancy of the retreat from Wilna to Drissa; and also for leaving General Doch- torroff several days without orders, and Prince Bra- gation in total ignorance of the steps that had been D 26 taken to form a junction of the two armies on the op- posite shore of the Dwina. With respect to DochtorrofF, it was well known that on the 30th his corps reached Ochmiani, and that the Prince had, according to the exigency of the mo- ment, put himself in full advance to approach the cen-/ tre of the main army. DochtorroiF, although foUowecf: up by a force of the enemy far superior in numberfi to his own, so well disposed his cavalry and ligl/it troops, that he reached Borodino, with a very triflir/ig loss, on the 4th of July; having sustained the repeat/ed attacks of the different corps of Borde, Soult, Nan- souty, and Pajol. Thus, by his courage and activ/ity, he gained the left shore of the Dwina, and secured his passage of the river. , Meanwhile the right of the army, covered By its cavalry and light troops, with intrepid resolution, con- tinued its movements upon Drissa. On the 6th of July, the rear guard, under the command of I^/Iajor- Generals Korff and Koutaitzoff, was attacked n«!iar the river Dziasna, by the troops of Murat,suppor|1;ed by a strong corps of flying artillery under the command of General Montebrune. The Russian dragoons re- ceived the charge with their usual steadiness^ and at- tacking in their turn with a regiment of Polisl:^ Hulans, and the Cossacs of the guards, aided by several pieces of light artillery, completely repulsed the enejmy; who left in the hands of the victors several officers; amongst whom was Prince Hohenloe-kirchberg, in the service of the King of Wirtemburg. Tiiere were 27 also fifty or sixty soldiers. This advantage allowed the Russian troops to gain the opposite side of the river without farther molestation; and to destroy the bridges. On the 8th of July the main body passed the Dwi- na at Dinaburg, leaving the rear guard at the distance of a short march; and on the 9th, most of the divisions entered the entrenched camp at Drissa. Thus was effected this momentous movement, after a rapid and severe march of eleven days, during which the troops never relaxed their usual firmness and dis- cipline. Indeed their loss was comparatively inconsi- derable; for, from the commencement of their falling back from Wilna, until they entered Drissa, it did not exceed in killed, wounded, and prisoners, six hundred men. The enemy suffered equally, if not in a greater proportion; the Russians having made, in casual skir- mishes during this retreat, above three hundred priso- ners. The weather had been extremely hot, and was suc- ceeded by a sharp cold, accompanied with very heavy rains. This circumstance was an auxiliary to Russia, for Napoleon complains of it, as having greatly retard- ed his advance; although it so little affected the expe- rienced sons of the North, that they gained their entrenchments without the loss of a single piecje of artillery. Owing to indisposition, arising from the late extra- ordinary fatigues, Count Schouvaloff found himself obliged to withdraw from the army; and the command 28 of his division was given to General Cqurit Ostermaii Tolstoy, an officer of the first military talents, and who, at that time, was in the suite of his Emperor. The Imperial Alexander, setting the true example of a hero, that of sharing with his soldiers their seve- rest toils, never quitted his troops one hour during the whole of their rigorous march; and his hardihood was rewarded, for he had constant opportunities of being assured of their animated loyalty to his person, and of their impatience to be led against the enemy. Great as was the satisfaction he felt at these demon- strations, he was obliged to check their ardour, until the moment should arrive when circumstances would permit him to give it way to advantage. On taking possession of the fortified camp at Dris- sa, his majesty addressed his army, in the general or- ders of the day, in these terms: "RUSSIAN WARIUORS! " You have at length reached the object towards which we directed our views. When the enemy dared to pass the boundaries of our Empire, you were upon its frontiers in order to protect them; but until a com- plete reunion of our troops could be effected, it be- came necessary to curb your intrepid courage; and to fall back to our present position. We came here to as- semble and to concentrate our forces. Our calcula- tions have been propitious. The whole of the first army is now on this spoto 29 " Soldiers! The field is open to that valour so nobly obedient to restraint, so eager to maintain the renown already given to its name. You will now gather lau- rels worthy of yourselves, and of your ancestors. This day, already signalised by the battle of Pultowa, will recall to you the exploits of your forefathers. The re- membrance of their valour, the voice of their fame, summon you to surpass both by the glory of your deeds! Their vigorous arms ever knew the enemies of their country. Go, then! in the spirit of your fathers, annihilate that enemy who dares to attack your faith, your honour, even your hearths, surround- ed by your wives and children! " God! witness of the justice of your cause, will sanctify your arms with his divine benediction! " Camp at Drissa, 27th June, 1812, O. S. 9th July, 1812, N. S." The army of Prince Bragation (usually called the Second Army) continued its advance towards Wilna; but on reaching the environs of the town of Ivie, he found his intended line of march already occupied by the enemy, and that it would be a desperate sacrifice of his troops to attempt by force a passage to the left of the main army. He knew that army must now be too far distant to afford him any hope, (even could he 30 penetrate the enemy's columns,) to reach it before it must have passed the Dwina. No doubt being left in his mind of his being, for the present, effectually separated from the main army, he judged it best to direct his march towards Minsk. But again he was intercepted: on his approach to that city, he discovered that it was already in the posses- sion of Davoust. Before the French could take any advantage of his dilemma, the Prince made a retro- gade and well ordered movement on the road to Sioutsk; hoping from thence to reach Mohiloff, and then to gain Vitepsk, time enough to elude the seve- ral detachments of the enemy, now on the alert to cut him off. In order to cover Bragation*s designs. General Pla- toif, with his Cossacs and light artillery, left Lida, and passed through Novogrodeck towards Mire and Nes- wick. On the 7th of July, at Korelistchi, he was met by the advanced guard of Jerome Buonaparte's army, consisting of three columns of cavalry, which the brave Hetman drove back with considerable slaughter. The next day he was again attacked (having pre- viously occupied the suburbs of Mire) by an aug- mented force, under the command of the Polish Gene- ral Rosnitsky. The combat continued several hours, and was sustained with obstinacy on both sides, till at last the persevering courage of the Russians prevailed, and three regiments of Polish Hulans were completely destroyed. Their General Tournou, was the only man who escaped. The victory was so decisive that the 31 enemy abandoned the field of battle, leaving upwards of one thousand six hundred killed, and three hundred and fifty prisoners in the hands of their conquerors. The loss on the Russian side did not exceed six hundred, including officers, amongst whom, though all were brave, there was none of distinction. After this advantage, PlatofF directed his troops towards Romanoff: but there a fresh rencontre awaited him, with a body yet more formidable than either of those he had so lately defeated. The French bore down upon him with tremendous force and numbers; but the invincible Cossac was immoveable. He sus- tained the impetuosity of their fire, and then over- whelmed them with the fury of his own. They fled before him for more than three leagues, leaving the first regiment of chasseurs a cheval, and also the gre- nadiers a cheval (some of the most prized troops in Napoleon's service) dead on the field. Platoff made prisoners in this brilliant affair, two colonels, sixteen officers, and three hundred men. Returning from pur- suit, he retraced his steps to Romanoff, in order to keep up with the movements of Bragation, who was advancing by forced marches upon Mohiloff. That Prince having displayed consummate skill, and made almost unexampled exertions, to form a junction with the main army, felt the bitterest disap- pointment at finding himself still so far distant from that great object. And yet when we reflect on the ex- tended frontier of six hundred wersts, menaced at all points of attack by an army nearly double in numbers 32 to that of the Russians, it is not surprising that the body of troops forming the Russian left, having a vast line of country to traverse, should be prevented making a re-union with its main army. Notwithstanding every art being adopted by Na- poleon, to impose upon the Emperor Alexander; and to throw him off his guard, by the flattering negocia- tions of General Narbonne; though he even stooped to the treachery of passing his troops over the Nie- men, while he affected to proffer peace, yet he failed to find the dupe he expected in the Russian Emperor: Alexander had been taught a lesson in politics by this wily usurper, which, though he disdained to bring it into his own actions, yet furnished him with a talisman by which he untwisted the truth from the falsehood in the proceedings of his adversary. The knowledge of a poison suggests its antidote: and the Russian monarch lost no time in preparing against the treache- rous arrows of the French leader. The Rubicon of honour had long been passed by Napoleon, before he plunged his hostile troops into the waters of the Niemen. The affair of Kovna afford- ed him a bloody sacrifice to propitiate the furies to whom his soul was devoted. And Alexander, aware of the hatred, as well as ambition, which impelled his career, made every prompt movement to accelerate the concentration of the Russian forces at a station of advantage. Even the officers of the invading army could not help bearing testimony to the fine order in which this 33 rapid retreat was made; and Napoleon himself is com- pelled to give it his share of praise, by not venturing to fabricate a boast, in any of his reports at this time, of having gained even the smallest advantage over the retiring army. Could he have discovered in their steps the minutest traces of any of the natural calamities in- cident to ill-ordered retrograde movements, there is no doubt that the pen he dictates would have magnified the most trifling disasters into shapes of misery and destruction. The only remark we find concerning the events of this memorable retreat, is as follows: " Ten days after the opening of the campaign, our advanced posts are upon the banks of the Dwina! Al- most all Lithuania, a country containing four millions of inhabitants, is conquered! The movements of the army commenced on the Vistula. The projects of the Emperor were then revealed; and there was not an instant to be lost in putting them into execution. The Russians were engaged in concentrating their force at Drissa. They announced a determination there to await our approach, and give us battle. They now talk of fighting, after having abandoned, without a stroke, their Polish possessions! Perhaps they adopted that peaceable mode of evacuation, as an act of justice; by way of making some restitution to a country which they had acquired neither by treaty, nor by the right of conquest." E 34 If it were possible that Napoleon could really ima- gine that " to make restitution" was the motive of this retreat of the Russians, we might be led to con- ceive (on reviewing the ground they passed over), what would be his marks of restitution^ were he in- duced, in a fit of remorse, to vacate any of the coun- tries which he now possesses " neither by treaty, nor by the right of conquest!" It was Alexander's wise policy to leave a desart in the path of the French leader. It was no wanton exercise of power, no exul- tation in human miseries, which made him lay waste the country from the Vistula to the banks of the Dwi- na; but to compel nature to be his auxiliary against the most subtle and ruthless invader that ever tram- pled upon her rights. In extraordinary cases, extraor-^ dinary means must be resorted to: and where the properties, lives, liberties, and consciences of men are at stake, the purchase is comparatively small which surrenders the first, and puts the second to hazard, to secure, in the remainder, all that is most valuable to the true character of man. Alexander and his brave people have acted upon this principle; and the grand result has claimed the admiration and the gratitude of unfettered Europe. The first army having successfully gained the en- trenchments at Drissa, the Commander-in-chief hoped that Bragation, though not able to reach that point, might gain Vitepsk; and by that means come in upon his left. In this expectation the main army remained 35 in its guarded position; intending not to offer battle till supported by its second army. The enemy's column under the command of Mar- shal Oudinot, having reached the neighbourhood of Dunaboorg, on the morning of the 18th, vigorously attacked the head of the bridge, where the Russians had constructed some works. Major-General Oulanoff received the charge with great presence of mind, and drove them back with a rapidity which occasioned them no small surprise. However, they renewed the affair next day; and again were repulsed, and so de- cisively that their commander found it expedient to move off his right towards Drouya, whilst the cavalry under Murat took possession of Dissna. Count Vitgenstein (whose present military reputa- tion was then presaged by the hopes of the people), observing that the French posts on the opposite shore were negligently guarded, ordered Major-General Koulneff, with the regiment of Grodno, and a few squadrons of Cossacs, to pass the river. A flying bridge was instantly constructed; and before the enemy were aware, the Russian force had not only gained the left bank of the Dwina, but had fallen upon them; and in a very short time drove them several wersts beyond their posts; leaving six hundred of their killed on the ground, and taking many prisoners. The French General of brigade, Saint Genies (who was wounded), with numerous officers, and two hun- dred men, were among the latter. 36 Sebastiani commanded in chief during this unex» pected encounter, which happened a Pimproviste un- doubtedly, as the words of the French bulletin express it. And so far it speaks true; but to palliate the effects of this un military carelessness on the part of the French General, he represents Koulneff's force to amount to eighteen thousand men, a number beyond the power of the most expert calculator to extract from a single regiment of hussars, and a few squadrons of Cossacs. But accuracy is not a quality much prized in the school of Napoleon. The enemy, finding that no impression could be made on the right of the first army, and that the works it occupied on the opposite bank were too for- midable to be attempted, determined to push forward to Vitepsk, to which point the corps of Beauharnois, Davoust, and Mortier, were already approaching. To keep pace with these movements, the left flank of the Russians made a rapid advance towards Po- lotzk. And as there now remained no probability of an immediate re-union with Prince Bragation's troops, the Commander-in-chief determined to retire to Smo- lensk; where, he hoped, no doubt could be entertain- ed, that the first and second armies would reach head- quarters about the same time. This happy junction would enable him to await with sufficient confidence the event of a battle. 37 It has before been remarked that when hostilities commenced on the banks of the Vistula, the total effective force of the Russians did not amount to more than two hundred and forty thousand men; whilst that of the French allied armies counted full four hundred thousand. Besides which, the activity of Napoleon was making vast preparations for yet further augmen- tations under the Generals Augereau and Victor. The Emperor Alexander, finding the great supe- riority of his adversary's numbers, and being aware that the fate of Europe depended on the success of the Northern War, determined on breasting the occa- sion with his whole strength. For this purpose, he turned himself to call forth the energies of his people; and make every exertion in his own power, to provide instant reinforcements for the army. He foresaw that even the wished-for junction of his first and second armies, could not, though crowned with victory in the expected gre^t battle, present a force at all equal to follow to advantage the glory of the day. He now stood forth, single-handed, against the united powers of the continent; and those commanded by a man hitherto deemed invincible. This was not a contest, whose reward might be a brilliant action, and its ter- mination a compromising treaty. Its victories must lead to the annihilation of the enemy; its end must be the liberty and peace of Europe. Such was the great 38 commission which the Emperor of Russia felt he was delegated to fulfil; and with the eloquence of a soul inspired with its cause, he thus addresses his people. He first speaks to his subjects of Moscow, and then to the nation at large. " TO OUR ANCIENT CITY AND IVIETROPOLIS OF MOSCOW! "The enemy, with unparalleled perfidy, and a force equal to his boundless ambition, has entered the frontiers of Russia. His design is the ruin of our country. The Russian armies burn with impatience to throw themselves upon his battalions, and chastise, at the expense of their lives, this treacherous invasion. But our paternal tenderness for our faithful subjects, will not allow of so desperate a sacrifice. We will not suiFer our brave soldiers to bleed on the altars of this Moloch. W^ must meet him in the field, man to man, in equal combat; he for his ambition, we for our country! " Fully informed of the malignant intentions of our enemy, and of the ample means with which he has provided himself to execute those intentions, we do not hesitate to declare to our people the danger in which the Empire is placed; and to call upon them to disappoint, by their patriotic exertions, the advantages which the invader now hopes to gain by our present inferiority of numbers. " Necessity commands that we should assemble a new force, in the interior, to support that which is 39 now face to face with the enemy, and determined to perish or remain a barrier between him and the liber- ties of their country. To collect this new army, we address ourself to the ancient capital of our ancestors, to the city of Moscow. She has always been the sove- reign city of all the Russias; and the first, in every case of public danger, to send forth from her arms her darling sons, to defend the honour of the Empire. As the blood invariably rushes to the hero's heart, there to summon every energy of the determined soul; so do the children of our country rush towards her from each surrounding province, seeking in her bosom the principle of that defence which must now shield the babe at its mother's breast, and guard from sacrilege the tombs of our fathers. " The very existence of our name in the map of nations is menaced. The enemy denounces DE- STRUCTION TO RUSSIA! *' The security of our Holy Church, the safety of the throne of the Tzars, the independence of the an- cient Muscovite Empire, all call aloud, that the ob- ject of this appeal may be received by our loyal subjects as a sacred decree! " We hasten to present ourself amidst our faithful people of Moscow; and from that centre will visit other parts of our Empire, to counsel and to direct the armaments. " May the hearts of our nobles, and those of all the other orders of the state, breathe forth the spirit of this Holy War, which is blessed by God, and fought 40 under the banners of His Christian Church! May the filial ardour spread itself from Moscow to the extre- mities of our dominions! And a force will then as- semble around their Monarch, that may defy the thousand legions of our treacherous invader. The ills which he has prepared for us, will then fall on his own head; and Europe, delivered from vassalage, may then celebrate the Name of — RUSSIA. (Signed) "Alexander," « Camp at Polotzk, July 6th, 1812, O. S. July 18th, 1812, N.S." The second address is, « TO THE NATION AT LARGE! " The enemy has passed our frontiers, and carries his arms into the interior of Russia. If perfidy cannot destroy an empire, which has existed with increasing dignity for so many ages, he has determined to assail it by force; and to storm the dominion of the Tzars with the collected powers of continental Europe. *' With treason in his heart, and fidelity on his lips, he courts the credulous ear, and binds the hands in chains: and when the virtue of the captive discovers the fetter under the wreath, then the spirit of bondage makes itself manifest, and summons war to rivet the spells of treachery! But Russia penetrates the wiles. The way of truth is open before her: she has invoked the protection of God. She opposes to the machina- tions of her enemy an army vehement in courage; and 41 eager to drive from her territory a race of locusts that burthen the earth; and whom that earth would reject from finding graves in her outraged bosom. " We call for armies sufficient to annihilate this enemy. Our soldiers, now in arms, are bold as lions rushing on their prey; but we disguise not from our loyal subjects, that the dauntless courage of our war- riors requires to be supported by an interior line of troops. The means ought to be proportioned to the end; and the end before us is to overwhelm the tyrant, who would overwhelm all the world. " We have called upon our ancient city of Moscow, the first metropolis in our empire, to take the lead, as she is wont to do, in bringing forth her sons to the Imperial aid. We next call upon all our subjects, in Europe and Asia, to assemble themselves together in the cause of Mankind! We call upon all our com- munities, Civil and Ecclesiastical, to co-operate with us in one general levy against the universal tyrant! " Wherever, in this empire, he may advance his invading foot, we are assured he will meet native sub- jects to rise upon his treachery; to disdain his flattery and his falsehoods; and, with the indignation of insult- ed virtue, trample upon his gold; and palsy, by the touch of true honour, his enslaved legions. In each Russian nobleman he will find a Pojarskoi (1*), in each ecclesiastic a Palitzin (2), and in each peasant a Minin (3)! * Notes to these marks will bo found at the end of the Volume- 42 " Nobles! you were, in every age, the defenders of your country! Holy Synod! and you, the members of our Church! have at all periods, by your intercessions, called down upon our empire the divine protectionl Russian people! intrepid posterity of the SclavoniansI it is not the first time that you have torn the teeth from the heads of the lions who have rushed upon you as prey, and met in the grasp their own destruc- tion! — Unite! carry the cross in your hearts, and the iron in your hands; and no human force can pre- vail against you! *' The organization of the new forces we delegate to the nobility of each province: and the care of as- sembling the brave patriots who present themselves for their country's defence, we leave to the gentlemen; amongst whom their officers may be chosen. The ag- gregate numbers must be sent to Moscow, where the whole will be duly marshalled. (Signed) "Alexander." " Given at our camp at Polotzk, July 6th, 1812, O. S. July 18th, 1812, N. S." The effect of these manifestoes was that of electri- city. The animating fire seemed to shoot at once through the veins of the whole empire; and with one according spirit every separate government vied with each other, which should be most prompt in sending out its most effective men to serve the general cause. Cities poured forth the choice of their youth, and vil- lages swarmed with sturdy peasants arming for the imperial legions. In these levies it was not necessary 43 to compel or to persuade. The impulse was in every Russian heart: his country's danger sounded the charge, and needed no other trumpet to plant him in the front of its array. Besides those who entered themselves to serve in the armies; many individuals evinced their zeal by large donations, both in money and diamonds, towards providing for the necessities of the war. Others raised whole regiments at their own private expence, arming, clothing, and mounting them. Several of the regi- ments contained one thousand two hundred men in each; and some of them were respectively commanded by the noblemen who had given them to their coun- try. As one instance, we find in the St. Petersburg!! Gazette of this time, " Count Soltikoff, a captain of the guards, retired from the Imperial service; Count Demetrius Momo- nofF, procureur of the Imperial senate; Demidoff, privy counsellor actuel; and Prince Gagarin, are desirous, from love to their country, to contribute in a particu- lar manner to the national armaments. They demand of his Imperial Majesty permission to raise, arm, and support, at their own charge, each a regiment. The first gives a regiment of hussars; the second, a regi- ment of Cossacs; the third, a regiment of chasseurs; and the fourth, a regiment of infantry. " The Emperor highly appreciates these proofs of affection towards himself, and love for their country!" And the offer was accepted. Alexander left his army to fulfil his promise to the ancient capital of the Empire, of soon appearing in that venerable scat of his ancestors. The inhabitants received him with the joy due to his virtues. He pro- ceeded, first to the cathedral of the Kremlin, where he returned thanks to heaven for the protection hitherto granted to his people, and invoked the Almighty aid in the present awful hour. He then went to the palace of the Tzars. Had it been necessary to animate his heart by the spirit of departed ages, there the shades of Peter the Great and the august Katherine would have met him, to nerve his imperial arm against the base, though formidable power which now conspired, by every means of perfidy and violence, to destroy the happiness and being of an Empire which they had erected at such expence of anxiety and labovir. But Alexander did not require the stimulus of this kind of sensibility. His just mind saw the danger of Eu- rope, it felt the peril of his own empire; and, with an undeviating resolution, to effect the deliverance of the one, and to set an example to the other, of a deter- mined hostility to the usurping ambition of Napoleon, he moved straight onward to his object: obtaining a power sufficient to meet, on something like equal terms, the invader of his coimtry. The day after his Majesty arrived in Moscow, a deputation of nobles waited upon him with a report 45 of the force which they voluntarily proposed to raise and equip for his imperial armies. They brought con- tributions of money also, and of every necessary which they thought possible for troops to require. The town and government of Moscow alone, engaged to send forth one hundred thousand men, armed and clothed, and disciplined as far as the short time would allow. The rest of the Russian governments according to their respective populations, hastened to follow the example of the sovereign city; and all sent out columns of armed patriots, quite independent of the regular re- quisitions to recruit the armies. Both levies went on with equal spirit — for one spirit seemed to animate the whole people. Merchants and tradesmen eagerly pressed forward with their gold. As one proof of which, we need only mention that the citizens of No- vogorode gave two hundred thousand rubles towards the expences of the war. In Russia, religion is a principle which pervades the palace and the cottage; elevating the commonest actions of the peasant, and sanctifying the solemnities of the state, with a constant reference to the Supreme Being. No transaction of any consequence, no great enterprise, is undertaken without an invocation to the Almighty Disposer of Events: and, when success is given, the first impulse of the favoured person is to go to the church, and there utter his pious thanks- givings. The earliest lessons which a Russian learns, both by precept and example, are his duty towards his God and his Emperor. And Alexander has well 46 shown the loyal Russian that the interest of his Em- peror and his Country are one. Anxious to engage every energy of his subjects in a contest which required the whole powers of the man to ensure the issue; and convinced of the justice of his cause, it was with no vain pretensions that he sought the co-operation of the church, to add its holy flame to the patriotic fire now kindled amongst his people. The religious principle being once introduced into the spirit of patriotism, is as the breath of immortal life breathed into its nostrils; and Alexander found he had not only acted according to his own feelings in bringing the influence of religion into the war, but had adopted the most politic measure, in lighting a train in the minds of his people, which would in a moment set the whole mass in a blaze. The Holy Synod accorded, hand and conscience, with the Emperor, and thus nobly seconded his pro- clamations: " From the hour in which the French nation, be- wildered by a demoniac phantom of liberty, overthrew the altars of God, and trampled on the throne of his anointed, the hand of the Divine vengeance has over- shadowed that people. It is not good to follow the multitude to do evil; and the nations which have pur- sued the destructive steps of France, share in the judgments which befal her. To the horrors of anarchy succeeded those of oppression, one struggle followed 47 that of another, and even peace had not power to give her repose. " The Church and the Empire of Russia, preserved by the goodness of God, as witnesses of his glory and mercy, have long been compassionate spectators of the miseries plucked by the nations on their own heads, by having deserted the protection of the Most High. Awful is the spectacle; and with devotion do we receive the warning, to strengthen our confidence in the Living God, and steadfastly to believe and act on the conviction, that where His displeasure falls no powers can avert the judgment, and where His favour rests, no machinations can prevail against it. " Let us then, in the hour of danger, array our- selves in the panoply of a holy courage! and, Russians! that hour is come! " An enemy, ambitious and insatiable, violating every sacred oath, and every bond of honour, forced himself into the bosom of your country. Despising the holy altars, while uttering the envenomed language of hypocrisy; breathing words of tender humanity, while his deeds are those of cruelty and murder; ap- proaching countries with the blandishments of friend- ship, and entering them with fire and sword, famine, pestilence, and death, in his train: such is the tyrant we call upon you to oppose. " Dear children of our church and of our country, arm! Defend the faith of your fathers; and, in your- selves, preserve from the foot of usurpation the unsul- lied loyalty which was their boast. Give freely, and 48 with gratitude to your God and his Vicegerent, part of what you hold of the empire and of heaven. Spare not your existence in this life, in the defence of the homes of your children, and of the church, whose charge is your eternal home, and your everlasting peace! " Recall to memory the times of your dauntless ancestors, who, in the name of God and his Divine Son, exposed themselves to every assault of infidelity in arms; and, with the weapons of faith and of cou- rage, fought and conquered. Recall to mind the days of Judea! For all that was written aforetime, was writ- ten for our example. It is as a beacon to our eyes! " We call upon you, ye of the higher ranks of the state, who have both the power and the right to claim the attention of your fellow subjects. We call upon you to take the lead in the path of honour! The eyes of the people are fixed upon you, and will follow your footsteps. May the God of Justice animate in you a new race of Joshuas, to go forth and overcome this second Amalek! May another race of judges, like unto them who saved Judea; and a succession of Maccabees, who humbled the confederacies against Israel, arise amongst your people to overwhelm the present enemy of mankind! " Above all, we sound the trumpet unto you, ye Ministers of the Holy Altar. By the example of Mo- ses, who, on the day of battle with Amalek, withdrew not his hands stretched forth unto the Lord; clasp your's in ardent prayer, until the arms of the adversary 49 have lost their strength, and he cry aloud unto the victors for mercy and for peace. " Inspire our warriors with a firm hope in the God of armies. Fortify, by the words of truth, men of feebler minds, whom ignorance exposes to the artifice of imposture. Instruct every order both by precept and action, to respect, above all things, their faith and their country. And should one of the sons of the priesthood, who may not have yet been consecrated to the sanctuary, burn with zeal to grasp the sword of patriotism, do ye bless him in the name of the church, and let him follow the filial impulse. *' Soldiers! while we thus call you to the field of war, we exhort, we supplicate you never to forp-et that it is also the field of justice. Abstain from all actions unworthy your great cause. Abhor every dis- order or license that would bring down on your heads the wrath of a Being who is not more the God of Re-= tribution, than the God of Mercy. We recommend to you the love of your neighbour, and the love of concord. And by such proof of virtue, you will fulfil the vows and the hopes of the ANOINTED of the Lord, the JUST ALEXANDER! " Convinced of the anti-christian intentions of the enemy, the Holy Church will unceasingly invoke the Lord of our strength to crown with the blessings of his peace, the heads of our victorious warriors; and that he will graciously accord to the heroes who fall in the defence of their country, an imperishable re- ward of happiness in the Eternal World! G 50 " FROM GOD FLOWS ALL GLORY AND ALL GOOD! " May these holy words be to the future, what they have been to the past — The strength and the war-cry of Russia!" By this subhme appeal to the noblest principle in man, the war, in fact, became a religious war; a cru- sade in which the redemption of all that is dear to the patriot, and to the christian, (who regards all mankind as brethren), was involved. They fought, not for the Holy Land, but for the Liberties and Consciences of men, a ground much more sanctified than Sinai or Sion; for man alone is the temple made by God for his own image to dwell in! Man in liberty; man ac- knowledging no superior but the laws of heaven, and the laws of human wisdom delegated by heaven. The yoke of a tyrant, is the yoke of baseness, and of crime; for the slave of a tyrant has no will but that of his lord. And how the will of a tyrant dictates, we have only to read the annals of French usurpations within these fifteen years; of French devastations; of French assassinations. The shades of D'Enghien, of Palm, of the murdered citizens of Moscow, and of many other countries over which Napoleon had no lawful con- troul, but where he shed innocent blood, rise up to sanctify the steel that is raised against him. Immediately on the promulgation of the address of the holy synod to the people of Moscow, the sons of the clergy offered themselves to bear arms in the war. 51 This was an event unprecedented in the history of Russia. They felt that the call was^no common one» 'they felt, as the sons of Levi, that* the ark of their faith was in danger; and while their fathers knelt in the sanctuary, they grasped the sword of Gideon and of David. Such a general and extraordinary spirit of opposi- tion, never came within the calculation of Napoleon, He must be a patriot himself, to comprehend the ex- tent of the sacrifices which a patriot will make for the good of his country. Ambition leads a man to the brink of a precipice; but patriotism stops not there; he, if need be, will leap the gulph: and there guardian angels meet him. Nothing, on this earth, is too mighty for determined virtue to achieve. Napoleon has shown the wide grasp of ambition. Alexander unfolds to mankind, how far beyond it philanthropy may stretch its arms. Napoleon, when he entered Russia, pictured to himself, (or others did so for him, whose knowledge of the Russian nation ought to have been better), that the peasantry were impatient to shake oiF the power of their lords; and to abjure thecontroul of the priest- hood over their consciences. Whether the sway of their lords have been tyrannic, or the influence of the priests extended to superstition, the reception which these supposed slaves gave to the flattering seductions of the French, has made manifest. In vain did the dictator of kingdoms look for traitors amongst the descendants of a people whom neither the arms of the 52 Macedonian Alexander, nor the Ccesars of Rome, could make bencL to their eagles! Thousands flew to the respective standards of their governments: and* every town, and every village, resounded with impre- cations against the invaders; and expressions of un- shaken fidelity to their church, their Emperor, and their lords. Moscow honoured the confidence which the state had placed in her zeal, and set a glorious example to the rest of the Empire, by raising, in the course of a few days, some thousands of men, armed and clothed for the armies. The roads in all directions from the numerous Russian governments, were covered with patriots fully accoutred, according to the manner of their country. These brave people were neither dressed nor armed in the usual European style. The regular levies, being now so immense, it was found impossible to furnish a sufficient number of muskets for these volunteers. Consequently each nobleman was obliged to arm his people with a more simple weapon; and the pike was chosen as the most efficient of the kind. Their uniform was a grey caftan, made in the national fashion, with loose trowsers of the same, and a cap of a similar colour and taste. On the front of the cap was a brazen cross, surmounting an imperial crown over the letter A. They wore a crimson sash round their waists, in which was stuck a hatchet; a weapon which is so constantly seen with every Russian peasant that it seems a part of themselves; and they use it with a 53 dexterity and power that, in description, would ap- pear incredible. I am thus particular in describing the peculiar ha- bits of these people, because I wish to give an exact picture of a race to whom Russia and Europe owe so much. Like the militia of Great Britain, which is its grand reserve of military strength, these Russian volunteers may be considered to have been the ex- haustless resource of the regular Imperial troops. Reinforcements from their body, constantly supplied the casual deficiencies of the main army. It was they who at Polotzk, Smolensk, and Borodino, stood, as if they had been legions of iron, not to be penetrated; and when the veterans fell, they, like the teeth of Ja- son's dragon, presented themselves a renovated band of heroes not to be subdued. The whole empire seemed to rise at once; and, with one animating sentiment, turned its gigantic force against the enemy. The brave Sovereign of these brave people, had already pledged himself " never to sheath his sword, while one of the foe re- mained within the limits of the empire!" and his sub- jects, from the prince to the peasant, came nobly forward with their arms and their fortunes, to seal, if need be, the glorious resolution with their blood. 54 While these vast preparations were in progress, the first and second armies continued daily to approach each other. Barclay de Tolly's force broke up from the entrenched camp on the 19th of July; and, after rapid marches through Polotzk and Vitepsk, (there passing the Dwina), he took a position in front of the latter city. This was effected on the 24th of the month, leaving Count Vigtenstein, with an independent command, (who had previously been reinforced by some bat- talions from the reserve), to occupy the ground be- tween Sebeche and Drissa, in order to cover the city of Pskoff, which leads directly to St. Petersburgh, and to keep in check the divisions of Oudinot and Mac- donald. Barclay de Tolly was well assured that the enemy would not lose an instant in pushing on to Smolensk, that he might effectually destroy any hopes of Prince Bragation coming up with the main army. Indeed great doubt prevailed of this momentous junction taking place without yet many preventions, as no in- telligence had been received from that General for a considerable time. Under such uncertainty it became the duty of the Commander-in-chief to act with pecu- liar caution and promptitude. His determinations in this state of affairs, were founded on his confidence in the military abilities of Bragation; which, he hoped, would at last conquer the difficulties of a forced 55 march, over so vast a track of country, infested by an active and formidable enemy. To impede the already so rapid advance of that enemy, and give more time for the brave Prince to effect the re-union, the only thing that could now be done, was to make immediate demonstrations for a general battle. In order to decide advantageously upon the move- ments towards this point, reconnoitring parties were despatched on all sidesj and one of them discovered patrolesof the enemy, on the road leading toBeschen- kovitch. No time was lost in sending Count Oster- man 'I'olstoy, with the troops under his command, to advance in that direction. General Dochtoroff had previously been left on the right bank of the Dwina, to observe the French on the opposite shore; and with orders, should he perceive their troops preparing to go forward, to retard them by every means in his power, while he must maintain a situation that would ensure his return to the main army at Vitepsk, when- ever the re-union might be deemed necessary. Count Osterman commenced his march by day- break on the 25th of July. His advance was formed of several squadrons of the imperial hussars of the guards. Having passed Ostrovna, at the distance of three wersts from that town, they fell in with a strong body of the enemy, consisting totally of cavalry. They attacked it with vigour, and were met by a resistance proportionate to the magnitude of its force. However, the resolution and eager valour of the Russians pre- 56 vailed, and the French, giving ground, retired with precipitation. The error, which has so often been committed and deplored by victorious armies, of following up without caution the hour of success, was now exhibited in the impetuosity of the Russians, who, pursuing the flying enemy with a headlong ardour, came suddenly upon a formidable mass of the enemy's cavalry; and they attacking in their turn, and at a great advantage, the now detached corps of the triumphant Russians, drove them back, with loss, quite to the head of their own infantry. This affair impeded the advance of Osterman, who halted to take a position that might check the conse- quences of this minor defeat. Beauharnois pressed forward to improve the advan- tage gained, and before dawn next morning, the Rus- sian piquets were driven in. The French followed up their success, by advancing in three heavy columns, covered by immense bodies of cavalry led on by Murat. The right of the Russian troops was posted upon the Dwina. Their centre crossed the great road leading to Vitepskj and their left was covered by a wood in which were stationed a considerable quantity of artillery and infantry. The right of the enemy, supported by a strong body of dragoons, began the attack on this part of the Rus- sian position, and attempted, with unwearied perse- verance, to get possession of the wood. They were 57 frustrated in every effort by the M^ell-directed fire of the guns, and that of the light troops. The other two columns were equally unsuccessful on the centre and on the right; and, after a terrible carnage maintained on both sides, the continued superiority of numbers (constantly renewed) on the part of the French, not even shaking the steady line of the Russians; the for- mer, at last relinquishing a contest which had been sustained so determinately for many hours, left the Russians in possession of the disputed field. The loss on the part of the French was from three to four thousand; killed and wounded; and that of the Rus- sians fell not far short of the same number. Notwithstanding the enemy having yielded ground in this aifair, Count Osterman saw the advantage of re-uniting himself with the main army. But, before he took this step, he detached in front Lieutenant General Konovnitzen with a force sufficient to keep the French, a short time at least, at their present dis- tance, that the Commander-in-chief might not lose, by a hasty rencontre, the advantage of receiving in- formation, and of adequately preparing for a grand conflict with an enemy who, though formidable, had already so sharply experienced the metal of the Rus- sian sword. The officer intrusted with this post of honour, maintained it so effectually, that, although the whole of the day of the 27th of July was passed in repelling frequent and vigorous attacks from the French, he yet could not be forced to recede one single foot of H 58 ground. On the same spot where Osterman Tolstoy- had stationed them, there did Konovnitzen and his brave litde band remain, a breast- work of the most impregnable fabric, between the main army and its enemies, until the summons of the Commander-in- chief called them off during the night, to fall in with the grand line he was forming to meet, what he now deemed inevitable, a general battle. The corps of General Dochtoroff also, returned according to orders, but not until he had defeated a detachment of the enemy which had crossed the Dwina, killing the aide- de-camp of Beauharnois, and taking several prisoners. Whilst every preparation was making to stand the event of a great attack from the French, and every heart in the Russian army beat with eagerness for the moment to charge, Barclay de Tolly received a dis- patch from Prince Bragation. It informed his Excel- lency that the Prince, finding Mohiloff powerfully occupied by the enemy, had altered his course, and meant to proceed, by the way of Mastisloif, to Smo- lensk. General PlatofF had arrived within two marches of this city. The effect of this intelligence was, to change the determination of the commander-in-chief with regard to giving immediate battle; and, instead of remaining in the environs of Vitcpsk, he resolved on approach- ing Smolensk, and there draw out his line against the enemy. He dispatched a courier to Bragation with these dispositions, and another to Platoff, command- ing him to place himself before Smolensk, in order 59 to cover the march of the first army from the probable molestation of Davoust's division, which must now have nearly reached that town. The Commander-in-chief's present plan began by forming his army into three columns: the second and third moving upon Porechia; the first, covering their march, by bearing upon Leznia and Roudnia. The command of the troops, which were to protect this general movement, was given to Count Palhen; who, very judiciously, placed his detachments along the banks of the Loutchessa, a small river in front of the main army, which occupied the plain before Vitepsk. As was expected, the enemy advanced, and attacked this covering force; but Count Palhen foiled him in all his attempts to pass the river. The Russian light artillery did great execution amongst their adversa- ries; and the Count, directing every motion of his troops, seemed to be in every part of the field at once. His presence of mind and active bravery, gave time to the several divisions of the main body to move forward in perfect security. This accomplished, he threw himself into the great road, by the way of Aga- ponovchina, where he erected so efficient a battery at the entrance of the town, that its fire destroyed, in succession^ upwards of five entire squadrons of French cavalry which attempted to follow him. This shower of balls beat so heavily in the faces of all who dared to pursue the dangerous steps of their comrades, that the chace was abandoned, and the dauntless PalheKk 60 completed the remainder of his march without tiit sound of a bullet. The Commander-in-chief, on the arrival of the three columns at their destined points, detached General Baron Vinzingorode, with a strong body, to Weliche, and gave orders for General KrosnofF to retire from Porechia, and concentrate his force near Roudnia. Having thus secured his right flank, the main of the army advanced towards a village called Volokva, resting its right on the lake Kasplen, while its front was protected by the small river Vodra. Its left ex- tended to Novoseltzi. In this position the whole were to remain until the second army should form its junc- tion. From the reports of Baron Vinzingorode, the Gom- mander-in-chief was informed that the great force of the French had entered Vitepsk, where they were making dispositions for a stay of some time, only sending out strong detachments of cavalry to forage and terrify the inhabitants of the adjacent country from Veliche and Nevel, and on the road to Roudnia. It now became evident that, even so early as this, Napoleon found the demands of the campaign, both with regard to resources and animal strength, beyond the expectations and the power of his men. Although his bulletins vaunt of the numerous magazines which fell into his possession during this rapid march, the situation of his troops could not but contradict these assertions. Their privations and consequent exhaus- tion, compelled that truth to appear in fact, which he 61 denied in language; and we find this army, whose unfailing spirits, unabated vigour, and repletion in every necessary, were so largely the theme of his boast, reduced to the alternative of sacrificing, to rest, a part of that time so essencial to the final success of the invasion. The harassed troops halted ten days; and, that the delay might not excite doubts in France of their health and triumphant hopes, their leader represents in his reports, not that his men needed renovation from wants and extraordinary fatigues, but that the heat of the season made a temporary retirement into quarters necessary! This excuse to cover the hard- ships into which his ambition had led the army of infatuated France, and the best troops of so many abused countries, seems almost too flimsy for the blindest partiality not to penetrate. Who could be made to believe seriously that a halt of nearly a fort- night was indispensable to preserve from the excessive heat of a northern summer, a soldiery who, not only were in full possession of unfailing spirits^ unabated vigour^ and every necessary^ but who must have pre- viously been inured to excessive heat, under the al- most unceasing burning suns of southern climates? During this halt of the enemy, and while Barclay de Tolly was awaiting the arrival of Bragation, the corps of Vigtenstein actively employed themselves in the neighbourhood of Polotzk. That general, having been assured by a courier from the Commander-in- chief of the certain prospect of the first and second 62 army's re-union, in order to keep the attention of the enemy as much as possible from the point of this anticipated junction, continued to harass their troops in every direction. He had never left his position near Drissa, and from that advantageous ground made con- siderable impression on the enemy, taking many pri- soners, and forcing Napoleon to send reinforcements to his troops in that quarter. Macdonald still kept in the vicinity of Dinaburg, where he was narrowly watched by a detachment from the Russian main army, under Colonel Bediaga. This active officer gave information to the Commander-in- chief that the French General had passed the Dwina at Yacobstadt, and, after leaving a force at Dinaburg, was marching to Loutzen with the hope of joining Oudinot, and by that measure cutting off all commu- nication between the imperial armies and St. Peters- burgh. Vigtenstein was detached to prevent this danger- ous junction. On the evening of the eleventh of Au- gust, he fell in with a part of Oudinot's cavalry near Kochanova; he drove them back, but found them so strongly supported, as to deem it prudent to make arrangements for the recommencement of the contest next day. By the account of a prisoner he had taken, he learnt that it was not only the intention of Oudinot to cut off the communication with St. Petersburgh, but to march thither and take possession of it in the name of Napoleon, while that usurper would proceed 63 in person to Moscow, and place himself in the ancient throne of the Tzars. This plan was so entirely the offspring of Napo- leon's own mind; so completely did it spring, armed cap-a-pee, from the head of its projector, that he deemed it not less the decree of fate, than if his own brows had been those of Jove, to stamp with their awful nod the seal of destiny. Napoleon and his For- tunes^ carried a divine power with them as victorious as those of Caesar! at least so he believed; and plant- ing these fortunes on a system of universal falsehood, he doubted not but his arms, potent as they were, would not have more agency in giving the empire into his hands, than the intrigue and sophistry with which he sought to persuade the people that he came to rescue them from obedience to their Emperor and Lords. He told them they were slaves, and he came to make them free! Such was the freedom with which the Devil in Paradise endowed the human race. The exchange was between the yoke of virtue and that of vice. Whether they obey the laws of a sovereign emi- nent for every amiable and heroic quality, or a tyrant who knows no law, human or divine, but his own ca- pricious and imperious will. The Russian race were too clear sighted to hesitate in their choice. Their in- terest, as well as their affection for their Emperor, nerved every arm, and with the cry in their hearts of *' God and the laws of our ancestors!" they prepared to show Napoleon that a whole people, unanimous in 64 defence of their birthrights, may be extirpated, but never can be subdued. The military talents of Vigtenstein, as well as the determination of his troops, stood too firmly in the way of Oudinot, for him to accomplish the St. Peters- burgh part of his master's design. His advanced corps being driven in by the Russians on the ele- venth, he had the mortification of seeing their General augment his numbers by drawing troops from Osvia, and then proceed in a formidable position from Ko- clianova, defeating in his path every enemy which dared oppose his progress. Thus enforcing respect to the Russian arms, he moved on to Valensouti, which town he strengthened with a competent detachment of men. Oudinot, finding he could make no impression on the Osvia road, ordered his army to concentrate itself near Polotzk, and form an union with some new troops of Wirtemburghers and Bavarians, which had just arrived under the command of Gouvion St. Cyr. When thus reinforced he determined to again press on towards his grand object, and do it by the way of Kliastitzy and Sebeche. His resolution strengthened with his augmented forces, and sanguine of the event, he commenced the movements which he hoped would certainly lead him to the gates of St. Petersburgh. Vigtenstein, whose penetrating mind seemed mas- ter of all the enemy's counsels, was aware of Oudinot's designs, aud made dispositions against them almost as soon as they were conceived. He lost no time in moving towards Yacobova, to which place the enemy had advanced, and where he found them so well ap- prised of his motions as to be drawn up in line of battle. The Russians were in no way dismayed at this formidable front, or at its supporting back-ground, a heavy battery; but impelled by that resistless cou- rage which, like the lightning, pierces the most com- pact bodies, they rushed upon the enemy, bore down the whole of his left, and then pressing with equal vehemence upon the centre, after a resistance on its part of more than six hours, compelled it to give way under the unremitted storm of their valour; and, shel- tered by the darkness which had closed upon the combatants, the discomfited French fell back towards Kliastitzy. Vigtenstein remembered well the pledge of his Emperor, " not to sheath his sword while one of the enemy remained within the limits of the Russian em- pire!" and in the same spirit, he followed up the suc^ cess of his first encounter with Oudinot. Next day he attacked him again. The French General had made good dispositions of his troops during the few hours of night, and received the assault with firmness. He had chosen his ground well; and obstinately, though with great loss, maintained the fight till midnight. It was not until the third day, that Vigtenstein entirely overthrew his resolute enemy, and in that act covered himself and his soldiers with immortal glory. The greater part of the army of Oudinot was now destroyed, T 66 and the remnant was flying in blood and confusion towards the French lines under the walls of Polotzk. In his report, Count Vigtenstein speaks of the af- fair in these terms: — " During the three days of attack, the corps I have the honour to command performed prodigies of va- lour. Their resolution was not to be shaken, and their ardour, like a devouring flanrie, consumed all before them. The particular acts of their dauntless and per- severing heroism I can neither describe nor sufficient- ly praise. The artillery and the bayonet were equally the instruments of their zeal; for where the one fell short of the mark, the other was pushed forward with a resolution that overthrew whole ranks of the enemy. Even the most solid columns of the infantry, and batteries of cannon, wer& compelled to give way to the intrepid motions of our tvoops." Indeed it appeared as if they knew no other move- ment, when an enemy was in their p^th, but to go forward, and make a passage for themselves through the hearts of the hostile ranks. The whole country, from Yacobova to Biala, was strewn with the bodies of the vanquished, to the num- ber of five thousand; and upwards of three thousand prisoners were taken in the field, besides stragglers brought in from having taken refuge in the woods. Two pieces of artillery, and the whole of the waggons of ammunition, also became the spoil of the Russians. Their loss did not amount to more than two thou- sand men, and the only officer of note that fell, was General KoulnefF. Having so far crippled one member of their giant enemy, Vigtenstein was making dispositions to attack another in the person of Macdonald; but, learning that that general had assumed a retrogade motion, he pre- ferred keeping in front of the French lines at Polotzk, (which still held an advancing position) to following the steps of an enemy on his retreat. While the campaign in this quarter was prosecuted with so much vigour, General Essen remained in his camp in the neighbourhood of Riga. It might be called a post of observation only, for nothing more was done there, as the lassitude of the Prussian auxi- liaries gave no higher tone to the contest. Prince Bragation continued to pursue his peril- ous march with an indefatigable spirit that support- ed the courage of his men through every hardship, and taught them, by his example, that the least part of a soldier's bravery is that which is evinced in the field of battle. The proof of a thorough soldier, the true military hero, is found in the toilsome and length- ened march, the ceaseless midnight watch, the endur- ance of cold and heat, the privation of food and rest; 68 and all to be borne, not only without a murmur, but with a soul resolved to suffer — to proceed— to con- quer — or to die! With such a resolution, Bragation and his brave troops pressed on, crossing the river Berezina at Bo- broiisk; and, proceeding to Novi-Bikoff, kept on the right bank of the Dneiper, with the hope of reaching Mohiloff without falling in with the enemy. That point once gained, his junction with the first army might be effected without any farther anxiety. General Reifsky, who commanded a part of the Princess advanced guard, arrived at Dashkova on the 21st, and on the morning of the 22d he pushed forvi^ard on the road to Mohiloff. Here he was surprised by the sudden appearance of an immense body of French chasseurs, who drew themselves up to stop his pro- gress. He halted not a moment, he had but one path, and he took it; he charged through them, and dis- persing them to the right and left, and driving them beyond Novoleski, made a great slaughter, and took upwards of one hundred and fifty prisoners. From these men he learnt that their discomfited corps was the advance of the division of the grand army, given to the commands of Marshals Davoust and Mortier, who then occupied Mohiloff and its neighbourhood. Reifsky dispatched this information to Bragation. That Prince thought the best measure, under these circumstances, would be to open to himself a nearer road to Barclay de Tolly, by attacking the enemy. Great as the effort must prove to bring to immediate 69 battle troops so fatigued as his were, yet the dangers of a beset and procrastinated march appeared to him so much more formidable, that he did not hesitate, between the opinions, and decided for the field. Accordingly he formed hi line into two columnsj one he placed on the right, to stretch along the great road; and the other on the left, was to skirt a wood, and, by crossing a deep ravine, endeavour to come in. on the enemy's right, and force him to leave open the direct communication with MohilofF. In conformity to these orders, the troops passed Novoliski, and ad- vanced upon a small village situated on a wet ravine^ Here the enemy had posted himself in great force. A corps of his infantry occupied a bridge that crossed this hollow, and was supported by a larger detachment, with several pieces of artillery on its right and left. At the head of this bridge was a large mill, besides other buildings, which the French im= mediately occupied with a force they deemed suffi- cient to check, with their musquetry, the approach of the Russians. The Russians advanced, and began the attack. It was supported by the French with an impetuous fire that made the contest at this juncture very hot. They pressed in redoubled numbers upon the assailants, but the head of the Russian column met them with a persevering resolution that drove them, at the point of the bayonet, back upon the bridge. The mill and the adjoining houses were carried, and those who had garrisoned them put to the sword. Twelve pieces of 70 cannon were placed, by the order of Bragation, upon a commanding spot near the mill, and instantly open- ing upon the enemy, who attempted to come to the relief of his troops on the bridge, made a great slaugh- ter. This cannonade, and the active valour of the Russians, which pressed the enemy in every quarter, at last prevailed, and drove him, not only from the bridge, but from his post on the opposite bank. Marshal Davoust finding himself thus forced, and even his cannon seized, feared the effect of this day's battle on his master's cause. He saw how far the un- shaken determination of Bragation had brought the second army on its way to join the imperial standard. He felt the power of that Prince's arm, when brought to action, and the victory which had now crowned him, filled Davoust with apprehension that Bragation, (unless stopped by extraordinary exertions), would march to the point of re-union over the dead bodies of every Frenchman in the field. To check an ad- vance, so destructive of Napoleon's designs, and to frustrate the hopes of a Prince whose intrepid steps had ever pressed forward from victory to victory, he dispatched immediate orders for an immense reinforce- ment to join him from the reserve. The Russians, aware of their adversary's intentions, formed themselves under the protection of their guns. Their disposition was good, and their resolution strong; but the career of the enemy's cavalry came on with such an overwhelming force, and the infantry advanced in so consolidated a body, that they bore 71 along before them the comparatively small corps of the Russians, as the influx of the sea would contend with and drive back upon its bed the stream of a river. The Russians, tracking their retrograde steps with their blood, found themselves obliged to relinquish their position, and to abandon the guns they had just taken. But they kept the ground which had been first disputed, and by a heavy and well-directed fire from their artillery, prevented the enemy's regaining the head of the bridge. Marshal Davoust seeing the impossibility of mak- ing the impression he wished, while his adversary was supported by so efficient a battery, directed a column of infantry to pass the ravine higher up to the right, and, by coming in upon Bragation's left, seize the artillery at the point of the bayonet. While this was transacting, the Marshal intended to take the Prince in his confusion, and push across the bridge. The French division moved upon the ravine, but, unexpectedly to itself, fell in with the forces which Bragation had ordered to skirt the wood and keep the hollow way. Soon after reaching its opposite side, the enemy being thus surprised, was driven back with great loss; but arriving at a very strong line of his troops, he there made a stand. The conflict now became tremendous on both sides; the Russians fought with so fearless an intrepidity, that one might have thought they deemed themselves invulnerable, and 72 the French continued pouring in their numbers as if they were infinite. The Prince found that his troops on the left were possessed of the opposite bank, but seeing the proba- bility of their being overpowered, if he should fail in driving back the enemy, he made so vigorous a charge, that for one moment the vast body before him seemed shook to its centre, but in the next, its overwhelming ranks rushed forward, and their wide extent fast clos- ing around him, he saw no other resource but to fall back. To this end he called off his left column, which was maintaining its ground with the most brilliant acts of bravery, and, ordering a retrograde movement along all his lines, drew off his artillery, and covered his motions with his light troops and cavalry. The latter, from the nature of the ground, during the con- test had never been brought into action. This hard struggle had lasted ten hours. The Prince marched in good order to Stary Bickoff, there cross- ing the Dneiper, whilst Platoff advanced with all ra- pidity, to gain the road leading from Mohiloff to Mastilow. His object was to prevent Davoust from incommoding his left on this route. The loss of the Russians on this day was not less than three thousand killed and wounded, and that of the enemy might be between three or four thousand, with about five hundred prisoners who were taken early in the contest. Bragation now proceeded without molestation. On the 6th of August he reached the Dneiper at Katane, 73 where he passed it, and, taking up a position at Nadva, thus formed the left of the great army. In his way, he had left detachments at Krasnoy, under the com- mand of General Neverofsky, to intercept the enemy, in case he should push on to Smolensk by that road. PlatofF had, some time before, crossed to the right bank of the Boristhenes and joined the covering army of Count Palhen on the Lubavitch and Inkovo roads. The former, with his usual activity, never allowing any occasion to pass of annoying the enemy, disco- vered a French force in the vicinity of his new quar- ters, which he attacked and defeated, taking upwards of five hundred prisoners, and leaving dead on the field a number not inferior. It proved to be a party of Murat's corps, commanded by General Sebastiani, and stationed at Inkovo. The Russian General speaks of this affair, in his reports, with little emphasis; he merely notes it as an advantage en train; but from the discomfited enemy's account, we find that it was a matter of more consequence; he acknowledges that it forced him to retreat a whole day, and that, besides a loss at once, in prisoners, of half a battalion, above twelve hundred fell, killed and wounded, in the field, Platoff's loss did not amount, in all, to three hun^ dred. It had been the first intention of the Commander- in-chief, Barclay de Tolly, that the first and second armies, after their junction, should occupy the coun- try on the right bank of the river; but the enemy having moved several of his corps towards Teolino^ K and others being in the act of passing the river at Dubrovna in their way to Laidy, it became necessary for the Russians to make an opposing movement. Accordingly, the second army was ordered to re- pass the Dneiper, which it did on the 10th without a moment's delay, at Katane. Bragation then leaned his right upon that river, stretching across the main road, and occupying Bol- kovo, Lukerchino, and Abrazivo. He also sent rein- forcements to his advance at Krasnoy and its neigh- bourhood. In this position he hoped to repose his wearied troops for at least a few hours. His late march had been long, anxious, and harassing. War had followed, surrounded, and met him: through all this he had persisted in his progress, and, necessarily fighting his way in many actions with the enemy, his troops, now come to the point of junction, needed and expected a little time in which to recruit their exhausted strength. His army had suffered materially in many respects. It now amounted to no more than five-and-thirty thousand menj a great reduction from its numbers at the commencement of the campaign. In the first place, a detachment of eight thousand men, finding their station untenable, and the impossi- bility of rejoining their main body under Bragation, were forced to attach themselves to the division of General Tormazoff. To subtract still more from the Prince's marching strength, a disaffection prevailed amongst the Poles under his command, and at various times and opportunities, more than ten thousand of 75 these men deserted the Russian standard. Then the loss in killed, wounded, and casualties, was by no means inconsiderable; and, in consequence of all these circumstances, notwithstanding his care, his courage, and his prudence, the Prince could not bring up more than half of his original army to the banks of the Dneiper. This force, and Barclay de Tolly's together, did not present an army of more than one hundred and thirty thousand men, to oppose the countless legions of the French now in their front, and who were head- ed by Napoleon himself. The French leader had re- freshed his troops by a long rest, and exulting in their vast superiority of numbers, and the promises of his own ambition, he seemed preparing for an immediate victory. His head quarters were still at Vitepsk, where was also planted a very strong reserve. The other divi- sions occupied the following places: On his left was Beauharnois, stationed at Sourache. His advance was at Vetiche, Poryatchi, and Osveath, Marshal Ney was at Leuzna. Murat's corps of cavalry, light artillery, &c. were in advance at Nicolino, Rudnia, and Inkovo. Davoust and Mortier were on the left bank of the Dneiper, at Dubrova. Prince Poniatofsky had orders to move from his post at MohilofF, and remain at Romanoff to strengtlien Davoust. Thus stood the two opposing armies on the ele= vcnth of August, 76 During these respective movements, the Emperor Alexander's attention was engaged in providing rein- forcements from his own empire to support its arma- ment, and in strengthening its position by treaties of peace and alliance. Turkey signed its deed of pacifi- cation, notwithstanding the Machiavellian exertions of the French to prevent it; and, in spite of every in- trigue from the same quarter, the re-union with Eng- land was proclaimed. The happy conclusion of the tedious, but to Russia, glorious war with the Ottoman, was received by Alexander at the close of the month of July, and the respective bonds of amity were exchanged at Buche- rest. The country was not more indebted for the ac- celeration of this event, to the arms than to the wis- dom of General Count Koutousoff, the successful commander of the army of the Danube. The emperor shewed the estimation in which such services should be held, by conferring on him the title of Prince of the Russian empire. This venerable hero, full of age and of glory, having so honourable terminated the Turkish war, and feeling that nature required reno- vation after the fatigues of so many arduous cam- paigns, quitted the cares of a camp, and retired to St. Petersburgh, there to repose in the bosom of his family, and to enjoy with virtuous satisfaction the gratitude and the congratulations of his countrymen. On this illustrious veteran's resignation, the army 77 of the Danube devolved on Admiral Tchichagoff. He had been deputed by the Emperor to assist in the negociation for peace with Turkey, and that point being gained, when KoutousofF retired, his Imperial Majesty commissioned the gallant Admiral to fill that General's military station. It may seem extraordinary that a seaman should be placed in so eminent a post in the land service. But the comprehensive talents of Tchichagoff, the wide grasp of his abilities and ac- quirements in all that relates to the art of war, whe- ther on the ocean or in the field; and his known pre- sence of mind and activity in situations of difficulty, were sufficient to justify to the whole empire the choice of the Emperor in this respect. Tchichagoff had scarcely been in possession of his new duties, when circumstances called upon him to put to the proof his talents for a command so totally different from any he had hitherto held; and to accom- plish which requires the most perfect military skill, viz. a long march, and all the various movements of armies. He received orders to lose no time in bring- ing his troops up from the banks of the Danube and the Prout, to those of the Boug. The enemy had a strong corps on the Boug, chiefly composed of Austrians under Prince Swartzenberg, and Saxons under Renier; the whole, probably, amounting to forty thousand men. The Austrians having passed the river in the vicinity of Droggitchin, advanced to Proujany and Pinsk, and moving thence through SlQutz, by slow marches approached Minsk. 78 Renier and his Saxons, on the retreat of Bragation, moved on to Slonim, and occupied that town, and also Proujany and Kobrine. It has already been mentioned that a body of troops, amomiting to eight thousand men, under the com- mand of General Kamenskoy, had been cut off from the second army, and that the General, seeing no alternative, determined on making an attempt to join the troops of Tormozoff, who, he judged, must then be at Loutzk. Being aware that every moment, in the prosecution of this enterprize, was of inestimable value, and finding that the enemy were in possession of the whole of the country on his left, he saw the probability of their pushing forward to block up the ground between Brest-LitofF and Kobrine. This would completely ruin his project. And not to give them time for such a movement, he advanced with all the rapidity in his power, and to his glad surprise, on approaching Kobrine on the 26th of July, fell in with a small detachment from the army of observation, under Count de Lambert. This fortunate junction not only placed him in security, but enabled him and his new colleague to form a plan of advancing together^ and of driving the enemy from Kobrine. Their reconnoitering parties, as well as the pea- santry, brought them information that the town was occupied by the advanced guard of the Saxons, but in no very great force, under the command of General Klingel. When the Russian forces drew near the enemy's 79 quarters, they observed the negligence of the Saxons in guarding the town, in short they seemed in the most perfect security against the idea of any attack. Kamenskoy instantly issued orders that the whole of the troops should cross the small river Monyavitz, and that the assault should be made in three different points. The command was no sooner given, than obeyed. The attack began by the Russians charging the de- tachment on the bridge, and making them prisoners. This post was about a werst from the city. Having gained this advantage without opposition, the little army advanced. One division, of four thousand men, proceeded on the high road, directly to the town, where it met with, and drove back a party of the enemy, who by this time had taken alarm. The rest of the Russian troops moved to the right and left, coming in upon the great roads leading towards Brest-Lotoffsky and Pinzk. The enemy was now assaulted at all points, and being thus hemmed in so unexpectedly, a most desperate and sanguinary con- flict ensued, which lasted nine hours. The various acts of extraordinary bravery displayed on both sides, pro- duced a terrible carnage, the horrors of which became more conspicuous from the narrowness of the ground on which the combatants contended. General Klingel, seeing the greater part of his forces either killed or wounded, and his best officers falling around him, determined to save the rest by an immediate surrender to the victors. 80 Thus was the day won. And the fruits of it to the Russians were eight pieces of cannon, with four stan- dards; and the commander of the Saxon division, with seventy officers, and two thousand five hundred men, taken prisoners. The enemy had more than a thou- sand killed and wounded. The Russian troops also suffered, but not so severely, losing only three or four hundred men, including one colonel and ten officers. Not many days after the achievement of this bril- liant affair. Major General Tchaplitz entered Kobrine at the head of a considerable corps; beint^ the advance of the main body under Tormozoff. He had been apprized of the Austriarjs having moved towards Minzk; and determining to attack the corps of Saxons left to occupy the country they had quitted, he direct- ed his march to Kobrine: and there found his inten- tions had been most advantageously prevented by the execution of the same plan, by the brave Kamenskoy and de Lambert. To pursue this success, he ordered Tchaplitz to hasten his march, and in conjunction with the two victorious generals, proceed upon Slo- nim. Tormozoff would then follow with the remain- der as quickly as possible. According to these orders, the united divisions put themselves in motion; and advanced, without moles- tation, to within a few wersts of the city, where they discovered the enemy in great strength. Renier, on being acquainted with the discomfiture of General Klingel, dispatched a courier to Prince Swartzenbergj directing him instantly to measure 81 back his steps; that a sufficient force might be collect- ed to oppose the successf^;! Russians. The re- union being made, the army put itself in motion; and falling upon the Russian advance, compelled it to take a backward direction. Meanwhile, General Tormozoff had proceeded as he intended, and taken up a position on a line of heights between Kobrine and Proujany. In his front, and on his right, he had a deep morass apparently impassable. At the edge of it was situated the village of Goro- ditzka; from which projected a long dyke that led to the foot of the Russian position. His left stretched towards the little town of Podubrie, being strengthen- ed by nearly thirty pieces of cannon. These artillery at the same time commanded this approach, and ano- ther of a similar nature, which, crossing the morass near Podubrie, ran into a defile leading to the road which communicated with that of Kobrine. Thus protected, Tormozoff judged himself so advantage- ously situated as to be enabled to destroy the greater part of the enemy, should they attempt to attack him by these avenues. In order to give more security to his left, and to act as a reserve in case of necessity, he posted, at some distance in his rear, several battalions of infantry, a large body of cavalry, and most of his light artillery. Having made these commanding dispositions, he did not see occasion to occupy the town of Podubrie^ which was situated at some distance on the opposite defile; neither did he place any forces in a wood, L 82 which was a little in its rear, and stretching along the back of the high road leading to Kobrine, occupied a considerable portion of ground. He supposed that both places were sufficiently safe from any attempt of the enemy; as the commanding situation of the heights he filled, and the domineering station of his artillery, seemed to denounce destruction on even the most distant approach of a hostile force. The allied troops, at this point, were as determined as the Russians were resolute. They steadily took possession of the village of Goroditzka, and the mouths of the defiles leading to the dykes. Their right was commanded by Renier, and their left by Prince Swartzenberg. The former soon learnt from his reconnoitering parties that the Russian General had neglected to occupy Podubrie, as well as the wood covering the high road to Kobrine. Renier lost no time in profiting by this oversight; and taking pos= session of both, filled the former with cavalry, and the latter with formidable bodies of infantry and artil- lery. While these orders were obeying, he apprised Swartzenberg of the omission on the ♦part of the op- posing General, and begged instant reinforcements, to enable him to attack the Russian left, and drive it from its elevated position. The whole of the day of the eleventh of August was thus employed by the allied troops, in seizing the neglected advantages; and marching with the greatest caution towards the point which they deemed the most vulnerable on their ad- versary's side. 83 From the concentrated position of General Tormo- zofF, and his supposed security in that position, the enemy found little diificulty in making all his move- ments unobserved. He placed a strong force on the left of the Russians, destined to issue from the wood at different points, and to form on the intervening ground; whence they were to advance in firm battalion to put in execution the whole of their general's plan. Accordingly, at day-break, on the twelfth of the month, Tormozoff was astonished bythe information that the enemy was approaching from the wood on his left, and endeavouring to form on the low ground. The surprise was only that of a moment; for the Russian General immediately seized on the only means to remedy the consequences of his too great confidence in his position; and ordering a heavy bat- tery to open upon the collecting ranks of the allies, sent to his reserve to advance in rear of his left, afid present an intimidating front to the enemy. Even this he did not deem sufficient for the occasion, but he strengthened his line with troops from his right. These dispositions were prompt. A tremendous fire from the Russian guns, and their infantry, poured upon the heads of the allied forces; yet they stood all with firmness; formed, and advanced confidently to the attack, supported by light artillery and horse. Their courage met with as brave a reception, and the charges on both sides were sustained and renewed with the most unshaken obstinacy. Incalculable num- bers now appeared to issue from the wood in every direction; and notwithstanding the incessant cannonade from the Russian battery mowed down hundreds as they emerged from the trees, the survivors rushed on, dauntless, to the succour of the foremost legions, who were already falling beneath the bayonet and musketry of their opponents. The conflict, on this spot, was that of man to man; every heart as well as arm, seemed engaged in the contest, and to shed its last drop to purchase the victory. But reinforcements thronged in on the side of the French; they seemed endless: and the Russians, calling up a double portion of spirit to oppose so great a superiority in body, exerted them- selves to almost preternatural strength, to drive their adversaries back into the wood. They were received with as resolute a courage; and the combatants parted not on this spot, till both were mingled in wounds and death on the same earth. While General Renier thus determinately pursued his object, nothing doubting that it would finally lead him to the possession of the heii>hts; Prince Swart- zenberg, perceiving that the Russians directed their chief attention to the defence of their left, thought it well to distract their movements, by making an at- tempt to pass the morass. To this duty he detached a considerable body of infantry, but the project failed. The men sunk at every step, and became so entangled in the boggy ground as to be unable either to advance or return; and thus fell an easy prey to the well- directed fire of the Russian musketry. 85 Notwithstanding the disappointment of this rash measure, the hopes of the enemy were not in the least damped; he continued the most unintermitted endea- vours to turn the Russian left; and, by means of fresh troops, extended his own right far enough, he be- lieved, to outflank his adversary. In fact, nearly the whole of the allied forces had been successively brought up to this object. Finding that the enemy was thus powerfully ena- bled to continue the attack, the Russian General thought it prudent to change his front. To effect this, he called out several strong divisions to his support, from his right; and also brought up fresh cavalry and artillery, which he ordered to march on the left of the unbroken reserve; and present, by these manceuvres, a very extended flank. This menacing line he made yet more formidable, by strengthening it with every corps he could safely spare from his centre and his right. Renier, seeing that the Russian General was not backward in preparing means to counterbalance his augmented powers, redoubled his efforts to win the day at any sacrifice; and, if possible, the battle became more desperate and sanguinary. He attempted, at the point of the bayonet, to dislodge the Russians from the new position they had assumed, but in vain. A great part of the French artillery was dismounted by the retaliation of their enemy; and after many fruitless efforts of the allied troops to make an impression, they were forced back with a slaughter that was horrible. 86 The Russian cavalry, not failing to take advantage of this, charged them to the very skirts of the wood. The day began to close fast. Yet the losses of the enemy only seemed to add to the determination of their general. Renier again advanced with the remains of his discomfited troops; but he did not bring them alone. They were supported by six fresh battalions of infantry, and several regiments of Austrian hulans, hussars, and Saxon horse; and so efficient an acces- sion to his strength, filled him with confidence that before darkness should cover the dreadful events of the day, he should be able to overpower his conque- rors, and not merely drive, but precipitate them from the long- contested heights. Again the carnage was renewed. The Russian artillery seemed to rain fire upon the last effort of their still struggling enemy; and nothing but night separated the combatants. The allies took up their former position at Podu- brie: and General Tormozoff, having repulsed the enemy in so many attacks, decided upon retiring to Kobrine. To effect this before dawn, orders were issued to draw off the artillery, and to put the whole army into motion, leaving a strong detachment on the field to cover their movements, in case, when morning broke, the enemy should venture to renew hostilities. Tormozoff's measures were taken so well that his troops reached their place of destination within the time; and the rear guard joined them with the rising sun, without having met more annoyance from the allies than seeing their hovering squadrons at a dis- 87 tance. Renier no sooner perceived that Tormozoff had left the heights, than he made a show of following him; but from the severe proof he had already re- ceived of Russian resistance, he did not attempt any- thing serious to impede his advance. Tormozoff and his brave legions therefore arrived, without firing another musket, on the banks of the Machawitz. After passing over the bridge on that river, they de- stroyed it in spite of the exertions of the enemy, who, the moment he was aware of the Russian design, brought up a few pieces of artillery; but without effect, as Tormozoff saw his men proceed and accom- plish their work with determined coolness. The loss of the Russians on this memorable twelfth of August, amounted to four thousand killed and wounded; and that of the enemy under Renier and Prince Swartzenberg to upwards of five thousand men, besides three hundred that were taken prisoners. Several officers of rank were wounded on both sides, but none fell of particular note. General Essen, who commanded the army of Riga, had long since put that fine city into a state of preparation to stand a siege. Its magnificent suburbs were levelled with the ground; and every obstacle dis- placed that could impede the fire from its fortifications, 88 or facilitate the approaches of an enemy. The garrison had been greatly augmented; and as strong a force as could be spared, was stationed under the orders of Essen himself, as a covering army, in the environs. To give additional strength to these dispositions, he sent General Lewis, with several battalions of in- fantry, a considerable corps of artillery, a regiment of hulans, a body of Cossacs, and a heavy force of dra- goons, to occupy Eckau, and to post themselves in the neighbourhood of Bouske. The Prussians had been stationed between Mittau and Riga, under the immediate command of General Grawart, and formed a part of General Macdonald's division, whose head quarters were then at Yacob- stadt. Finding that the Russians had advanced and possessed themselves of Eckau, Grawart feared that their force might so accumulate as to cut oif his direct communication with Macdonald. To prevent this, he determined to attack them before their reinforcements could arrive; and, if possible, compel them to fall back upon Riga. With this intention, he ordered a chosen corps of his troops to proceed to the quarter occupied by the Russians. On the morning of the eighteenth of July, several bodies of Prussian hussars were discovered reconnoitering close to the outposts of General Lewis. They were no sooner perceived than attacked by a few squadrons of hulans, who obliged them to retire, leaving many prisoners in their hands. 89 This rencontre gave information to the Russians of the formidable advance of the enemy; for it was im= mediately followed by the knowledge of the great strength in which he was approaching. One division, from the neighbourhood of Kanken, and covered by General Kliest, came on to the left, and seemed de- termined by its menacing position, to take possession of the ground occupied by the Russians. x\nother division posted itself on the high road leading to Eckau, whence it was to move at a certain time upon their right and centre. General Essen was not intimidated by these threat- ening demonstrations, but redoubling his preparations for resistance, awaited the attack with an eager cou- rage, impatient of delay. No sooner had the Prussian left column presented itself to the contest, than it was greeted by a sweeping fire from a strong battery on a height that covered the right flank of the Russians. At the same instant their cavalry rushed forward, and charged a party of hu- lans, who were stationed near the entrance of a narrow defile, to prevent the Russian horse falling on the Prussian infantry. The cannonade doing much execution on the Prussian left column, General Kliest thought it ne- cessary to begin his closer movements by falling suddenly upon the Russian left. The firmness with which he was received, rather checked the force of his charge; but he persisted again and again to renew the attack, till an assault, continued for several hours, M 90 and as resolutely repulsed, proved to him that to shake the firm station his adversary had assumed was impossible. Every foot of ground was disputed in every part of the field, with an admirable resolution. But General Lewis, finding his right very hardly pressed by a division of the enemy just freshened by new reinforcements, thought it prudent to draw off his troops, and take a post nearer Riga. This he effected in such good order, and with so commanding a front, that the Prussian General did not venture to follow him. He took up his station at Dalenkirge. This was the first affair in which the Prussians were complied to enter the lists against their ancient ally; and the rencontre had been of a kind, (although the Russians left them in quiet possession of the dis- puted ground), that gave them no wish to hurry again into a similar trial of martial prowess. The loss on this occasion was not great on either side. The Russians had about six hundred killed and*- wounded; and the Prussians lost nearly the same number. After this affair, the troops of both states, remained for nearly a month without any action of consequence taking place between them. Meanwhile the French forces in the vicinity of Schlock, received augmenta- tions; and reports were in circulation that the besieg- ing train of heavy artillery from Dantzic was on its march, in order to commence immediate operations against Riga. Indeed General Essen received posi- tive information that a corps from the French reserve in Germany, had set out towards his station, to attack 91 him, and assist in the proposed siege. He was also told that this detachment was so strong as to render the presence of the Prussians no longer necessary; and that, on its arrival, they were to proceed to Dinaburg to join Macdonald. Essen, aware that should the French reinforcement come up while the Prussians remained unbroken in their present position, he should be constrained to fight at a terrible disadvantage, determined to, at least, disconcert part of the plan, by immediately at- tacking the Prussians, and to leave no effort unexerted to drive them back upon Mittau, and to the opposite bank of the Aa. The enemy had stationed himself well. The situa- tion was particularly commanding on his right, being at a short distance from the town of Eckau, and crossing the high road near Draken, which place was occupied by his troops. The position was rendered still stronger by entrenchments well furnished with artillery. His centre was equally well secured; as its left was flanked by the Mouss, a branch of the river Aa. There was also a considerable corps placed be- tween these stations and the Lake Babite; thus form- ing a link of communication with those near Schlock. The Prussians being thus marshalled, General Essen deemed the most successful point of attack would be on their right, and to this he directed his whole manoeuvres. He ordered a corps under the command of General Viliamoff, to make a false charge upon the centre; hoping, by this stroke, to 92 induce the enemy to dispatch troops from his flanks, to its support. Meanwhile he had directed that a for- midable division of gun-boals, filled with troops, (which had arrived a few days before from Dina- mond, under Admiral Von Moller), should disembark part of their men, who were to assist in dislodging the Prussians from Schlock, whilst the flotilla should proceed up the river to take them in flank and in rear. With such arrangements General Essen promised himself the completion of his most sanguine hopesj and his army, sympathizing with their Commander, on the 23d of August, advanced in the highest spirits to the attack. It began from the left with great fury: and in defiance of all the defences of art and of bravery, the Prussian entrenchments were carried by the Rus- sians at the point of the bayonet. But here again was to be made manifest the error of a headlong pursuit! The intrepid Russians, as eager in victory, as resolute in acquiring it, leaping the works they had so bravely won, and following up with breathless ardour their retreating foe, laid open their own ranks; and a large body of Prussian cavalry perceiving the advantage, rushed in upon them, and taking them in the disorder incident to a pursuit, made a terrible slaughter. Not- withstanding the surprise of this assault, and the great power of a fresh body of troops, over a corps of in- fantry fatigued from their late achievement, though full of exultmg bravery, the Russians receded not from the field of their victory till it was strewed with tlieir bleeding bodies; and then, with a constant con- 93 test, though a backward step, they gallantly and slowly retreated beyond their lines of defence. This turn in favour of the enemy, gave him time to rally through all his ranks, and to return to his guns. His right, which had suffered so severely, was now supported by an addition of eight pieces of flying ar- tillery, which General Grawart brought up with ad- mirable promptitude. Battle was again offered, and with an air of triumph, by the allies, which only roused the valour of the Russians to redoubled exer- tions. The fight recommenced with fury. The Prus- sians conducted themselves with bravery and skill, but the Russian energy at last fully prevailed; and, crowned with complete success, they saw the discom- fited flank of the enemy assume a retrograde move- ment, and then fairly abandon the field. It was soon followed by the Prussian centre, which had suffered but little, having been only slightly engaged, and that with the feint of General Viliamoff". At this juncture news was brought to General Essen, that circumstances had proved so adverse to the Commander of the flotilla, he could not proceed further with his forces than Schlock; but that he had obliged the enemy to retire from that place, and had now taken possession of it himself, as he found it im- possible to carry his boats farther up the Aa. By this failure on his part, (though not his fault), the assist- ance of the flotilla being denied to General Essen, one part of that officer's plan was frustrated. His intended operations on the enemy's right were entirely prevent- ed; but as those on his left had succeeded in driving him back to Mittau, Essen was reconciled to the dis- appointment of one part, by the glorious success of the other. The Russians in this affair took six hundred and fifty prisoners, besides a great many officers not in- cluded in that number. The total loss, in killed and wounded, of the enemy, amounted to nearly one thou- sand five hundred; and on the part of Russia, about six hundred killed and wounded. It is a singular fact that although no official declara- tion of peace between Great Britain and the Russian Empire had at this time been published, nor even publicly rumoured, yet arrangements were carrying on between the countries as if in the full confidence of such an amity. We find British armed vessels act- ing in concert with those of Russia, ever since the 20th of July, 1812; and in the report made by Admi- ral Von Moller, to General Essen, on that expedition, and during his contest with Swartzenberg and Renicr, he says, " There were six armed English vessels, un- der the command of Captain Stuart, detached up the river Aa, while ten of our gun-boats landed a thou- sand troops to attack the enemy who occupied the town of Schlock and its environs.'* Whatever secresy, with regard to the grand object, had been maintained during the time of negociation, this circumstance was a sufficient advertisement to the public that such kindly dispositions were afloat be- tween the two states, as must, ere long proclaim to 9S the world a re-union, which has ever been the wish, as it is the interest, of both people. Sweden was the scene of this happy adjustment. Mr. Thornton, our Minister at that court, was to act for England in that momentous discussion; and the event has shown how well he merited the trust reposed in his abilities. General Von Suckteline appeared on the part of his Imperial Majesty Alexander. And these two distinguished individuals, (empowered by their respective royal masters to restore, on the foundation of truth and honour, the ancient friendship between their countries, from its late suspension), had the hap- piness to fulfil their high mission to the satisfaction of their sovereigns, and with the gratulations of all their fellow-subjects. As soon as this re-union, on which the liberties of Europe seem to have depended, was brought to its accomplishment, the happy tidings were made public by the following ukase, which was dispatched to St. Petersburg, to Moscow, and to all the cities of the Imperial dominions: " The PEACE WITH ENGLAND, so generally and so long desired, is at length re-established. We hasten to announce it, knowing that it has been as ardently the wish of our faithful subjects, as of Eng- land herself. Feeling acutely for the decay into which our commerce fell by the disunion of the two coun- tries, we lose not a moment in seeking to revive it to new energies, by the proclamation of an amity so rich 96 in benefits to both parties. Nay, we even go before forms, in our tenderness for the public good and the public anxiety; and, without waiting for the official ratification of the deed of peace, we thus open before our people all its advantages. Unwilling that more of the summer should pass away, without having yielded those fruits to the two nations, which only commerce can bring; We order, from this day, that all our ports on the Baltic sea, on the White sea, and on the Black sea, shall be thrown open to the English vessels; and that every commercial relationship may instantly re- commence between our empire and that of Great Britain. (Signed) "Alexander." « Given at St. Petersburgh, Aug. 4th, O. S. 1812. Aug. 16th, N. S. 1812." It is not possible to describe the universal joy with which this proclamation was received. The higher or- ders celebrated the event with every species of social gratulation; and the lower ranks, from the trader to the peasant, evinced their gratitude in honest trans- ports; which made the Emperor feel that, in signing the peace with England, he had bestowed a benefit on his country which penetrated to the hearts of all his people. By entering into amicable connections with the Porte, he had liberated the army of the Danube, and could now turn its strength upon the common enemy; and by renewing his friendship with Great Britain, he 97 had opened to his subjects and his treasury all the re- sources of industry and an extended commerce. These were blessings to which Alexander was as sensible as his subjects; and the joy he gave, he participated. Nothing seemed wanting to perfect the happiness of his people, but the driving back, to the utmost limits of the empire, the invader who now so audaciously menaced its independence. And, to effect this the Emperor, the lord, and the vassal, ceased not day nor night to join with one interest in accumulating the armies of patriots which were to complete the delive- rance of their country. Every werst the enemy advanced within the Rus- sian empire, encreased the hatred of the peasantry towards him. And every act of affected conciliation; every offer which his agents proffered of enfranchise- ment from the command of their lords; every promise of liberty, rewards, and honours from the Great JVa- poleon, only filled the brave sons of ancient Scythia with indignation against the seductions of the tyrant, and with a firmer devotion to their native lords. The spirit of war which the Corsican has introduced, is one which was never before known in Christendom! A spirit of universal destruction; a spirit of merciless devastation; a spirit which emulates heathen butche- ries, and alike slaughters men in arms, and men with- out them, feeble age, and helpless woman, and infancy in vain stretching its innocent hands for pity. This in- human mode of warfare roused the unhappy Tyrolese against their murderer; this sanguinary persecution N ' called forth the heavy vengeance of the Spaniard; and this exterminating system, constrained the Russian to repel its attacks with a sword ruthless as its own. It frequently happened that when the prisoners, taken in these several rencontres, were on their way to be conveyed for security into the interior, their guards could hardly preserve them from the vehement revenge of the peasantry. And one instance where their indignant enthusiasm was allowed to take the reins, I cannot forbear recording. A detachment of French prisoners, conducted by a very small escort, having arrived in a village in the government of Twer, and bordering upon that of Smolensk, had the address, by superiority of numbers and subtilty of contrivance, to overpower their guard, and seizing their arms, would have extirpated them on the spot, had not the peasantry risen to their rescue. While one company of hardy rustics flew to the suc- cour of the soldiers, another rang the alarm-bell of the village; and the military, finding themselves again armed with the little arsenal of the village, and backed by its intrepid sons, soon compelled their treacherous adversaries to cry for quarter; which was not allowed to be granted till most of them had fallen a sacrifice to their desperate act of folly. But the consequences of this minor battle did not end here. The noise of the tocsin spread the alarm throughout the neighbour- hood, and thence to the whole government. Nothing less was believed than that the French had entered the district in great power. The more formidable the 99 report, the more eager was the zeal to oppose them. ^Multitudes flocked towards the scene of action from iill quarters; and before the evening closed, nearly nine thousand well armed men were arranged under the standards of their respective lords. Being under the conviction that the French had really reached their province, it was witli the greatest difficulty that this magnanimous people were prevented setting fire to their crops of standing corn: " If they are not to be for us," cried they, "they shall not be left for the enemy!" Instances of this kind daily presented themselves; proving that there is no policy so good in the end, even to the most selfish man, as a perfectly disinte- rested conduct in times of public calamity; a sordid attention to individual interest, in these critical pe- riods, never fails, by dividing what ought to form the collected strength of the whole body, to leave the weak parts so exposed to an enemy that he has very little trouble in making them his own. It is indeed strange, that we see so few instances of this only true political wisdom. We find many nations talk of loyalty, of liberty, of patriotism; we hear individuals pronounce orations on these themes; but who has proved these subjects like the Russian? It is not every where that men are called upon to preserve their country by the burning of their harvests, and the conflagration of their cities; but every man has it in his power to sacrifice his luxuries to the public good, to immolate his pre- judices before the laws and their ministers; and to forget every short-sighted interest, either of his own 100 or his country's, in that of the great object which now agitates the world — the independence of more than Europe from the yoke of a tyrant! The army of Count Vigtenstein continued to occupy the ground it had taken up after the affairs of the tenth and eleventh of August. But on his having been re- inforced by several battalions from Dunabourg, he determined no longer to allow Davoust quietly to augment his force in the position he at present held close to Polotzk, and which was daily strengthening by the judicious labours of his engineers. This Gene- ral was hourly receiving fresh corps of Bavarians and Saxons, and no inconsiderable detachments from the army of Macdonald. When Vigtenstein calculated that his numbers were at all adequate to the attack he meditated, he put his army in motion. It was on the seventeenth of August that he marched them forward in two columns. One took the Bielo road, and the other the Smolianovo, that they might make themselves masters of the ad- vantageous ground on the left of the former. This was executed by pursuing a path not far from the small town of Gamzeleva, where the face of the country becomes elevated, and intersected by deep defiles. Through these the troops were obliged to pass, to 101 form themselves in order of battle. A very few hours brought both columns to the desired station. On the enemy learning the advance of the Russians, they moved from their lines of defence, and hastened to give him a check before he could reach the vantage point, which they judged was his object. But in this they were disappointed; however Oudinot lost no time in forming his dispositions, as he wished to make head against the Russians already formed, and prevent those still in the defiles from gaining their line. The penetrating eye of Vigtenstein frustrated these intentions, by dispatching a considerable corps of ar- tillery and light troops to cover the march of his peo- ple through the defiles; and to clear the openings of the enemy, while he moved onward with his left sup- ported by some regiments of cavalry. The rapidity with which the Russian soldiers obeyed the prompt suggestions of their General's mind was so amazing, that Oudinot found himself baffled in every mancEuvre. In a favourable moment Vigtenstein ordered a heavy fire to be opened upon the unformed masses of the enemy; and they, being in a very ex-, posed situation, found themselves obliged to recoil on each other; thus, gaining a temporary escape at the expence of throwing their rear into no inconsiderable disorder. Meanwhile, Vigtenstein having brought up a division of flying artillery on his extreme flank, it did its duty so effectually as to render the confusion of the French, in that part of the line, almost desperate. His next movement was to order the cavalry to attackj 102 and the shock they gave to the only firm body of the enemy, completely laid his flank open to the operations of the Russians. Vigtenstein pursued the advantage, and making the signal to his heroes they charged with their whole force. At this crisis, amidst the multitudes that fell, Marshal Oudinot received a dangerous wound in the shoulder, and was carried off the field. His wound M^as felt to the farthest ranks of his army, for a com- plete confusion and carnage ensued along this part of the line, which spread dismay to the centre; and com- municating to the left, filled all with a consternation so extreme, that nothing seemed left but to retire upon their lines of defence. It was now a flight rather than a retreat; disorder was in every rank, fear in every breast; and as they precipitately abandoned the field, hundreds fell beneath the sabres and bayonets of their pursuers, whilst the discharge of grape from the artil- lery swept down all before it with a tremendous havoc. This victory was achieved by the Russians with very little loss on their side, but that of the enemy was immense. Count Vigtenstein having driven them far beyond their entrenchments, chose to occupy that strong ground himself; and on this commanding situation, make able dispositions to meet succeeding conflicts. When Oudinot was wounded, the command de- volved upon General Gouvion St. Cyr; who, being ambitious to have the credit of retrieving the honour of the division, lost by the failure of his predecessor, 103 determined to renew the attack the next day. To this end he called up every succour within his reach, and brought forward every soldier at all capable of bearing arms after the sanguinary contest of the preceding day. The Bavarians, under Count VVrede, were placed on the right. Saint Cyr took the command of the centre in person; giving the left to General Mai- son, who had succeeded General Verdeir; the latter officer having been severely wounded in the late affair. Though prepared for the enemy, yet, having just chastised him so completely, Count Vigtenstein did not mean to provoke him to resume hostilities imme- diately; but preferred remaining within his lines. He had detached a sufficient force to prevent Macdonald from advancing on him from Dinabourg. That city, from its comparatively insignificant importance at the present juncture, had been evacuated by the Russians; but not before they had destroyed every article within it that could be of use to the enemy. By withdrawing from that town, a valuable accession of troops was enabled to join the army on the Dwina. And, owing to the situation of the Prussians in the vicinity of Riga, Macdonald dared not with safety break up his means of communication either with that corps or the troops of Oudinot; one of which he must have cut off^ had he formed a junction with either. About twelve o'clock at noon on the 18th, Saint Cyr began to move, under cover of a strong battery of artillery. Thus protected, he formed his line, and 104 proceeded to the attack. Count Vigtenstein allowed him to make these demonstrations without interrup- tion. The French General then ordered the Bavarians to begin the battle on the right with their guns. This was the signal for the cannonade to run down the whole line. Both armies being so near, and in such complete array for the contest, a discharge from the whole of the French infantry followed the thunder of their artillery. It was answered by the Russians with equal energy. The enemy had added to the strength of his left a well appointed battery on the bank of the Dwina, which now began its play upon the adverse troops. However, the brave Russians regarded it not, but charged to the very mouths of the guns, and with the points of their bayonets drove the enemy in that quarter back to their reserve. This bold attack was supported by several squadrons of dragoons, who fol- lowed the advantage, trampling down, and destroying the French infantry, who now but faintly defended themselves. The rest fled to their entrenchments. Vigtenstein, meanwhile, plied the centre; but here the conflict was very severe. It repelled all his efforts with the greatest bravery for a considerable time, but the persevering heroism of the Russians at last made them give ground, and they too fell back towards their lines of defence. The right being yet unbroken, de- fended itself well, and many acts of individual bravery were here distinguished; but General Wredc seeing all his exertions unavailing, and that none of the dis- persed French troops attempted to return to the at- 105 tack, felt himself obliged, after so long and gallant a resistance, to follow the retreating legions; and, like them, take refuge beyond their lines. The flight of St. Cyr's army gained its fugitives no safety. The Russians, incensed at the audacity of the French general, in presuming to attack them in the manner he did, so immediately on their signal victory over his predecessor, pursued his disgrace with a frightful carnage. So fierce was their continued charge upon the flying squadrons, that they not only passed the French lines, putting all to death who re- sisted, but drove the enemy before them into the very suburbs of Polotzk, and put them to the sword in the streets. Bioody, as great was this victory. When night's obscurity rather increased than concealed its horrors. Count Vigtenstein commanded the deathful work to cease. The battle had lasted more than twelve hours, when he ordered his troops to draw off, and retire to his old position. The prisoners amounted to three thousand men, besides thirty officers of various ranks, amongst whom were two colonels. The enemy left two thousand five hundred killed and wounded on the field of battle, independent of those who fell in the lines. Fifteen pieces of cannon were also abandon- ed to the victors. The loss on the Russian side, during the two days fighting, amounted to one thou- sand in all, hors de combat; besides Generals Berg, Hamen, and Kazatichkovsky, who were wounded. Thus ended two desperate attempts of two Gene- rals of Napoleon, to accomplish his great object of O 106 opening a passage for his troops to St. Petersburghl one of them, with the loss of half his army, had been wounded almost mortally; whilst the other, in rashly adventuring to repair his discomfiture, only heaped accumulated defeat and disgrace on the arms of his master! Napoleon having fully refreshed his troops at Vi- tepsk, and also having received information of the approach of new reinforcements from Tilsit, to Wil- na, again put himself in motion. He ordered the corps of Beauharnois, and of Murat, to march upon the Boresthenes on the 13th of August; the first was to cross that river opposite to Rassasna, and the latter to pass the Beressvvinya river and to cross the Borest- henes near Hiyomina. Having thus concentrated his force, he meditated an immediate advance upon Smo- lenzk. Barclay de Tolly being informed that the enemy was in this manner drawing together his most efficient powers in the vicinity of Doubrovna and Rassasna, ordered Prince Bragation to fall back, and pass through the city to the Moscow road, and there halt at a few wersts distance to await further directions. Meanwhile, the commander-in-chief would himself, on the 14th of August, break up his own position. 107 and retire to the high ground which commanded the town on the right bank of the Dneiper. Scarcely had he executed this movement ere he heard from the Generals Rajefsky, and Neverofsky, (both of whom had been left at Krasnoy), that they had been obliged to assume a retrograde motion to within seven wersts of Smolenzk; and that the aug- mented force of the enemy were coming on to offer battle. These generals reported also that, early on the 14th, their advanced post at Laidy, consisting of Cos- sacs, had been driven in, and pursued even to their head-quarters. To do this, a large detachment from the enemy's army had been sent under the commands of Ney and Murat. They reached Krasnoy without difficulty, and fell upon the Russian division stationed in its neighbourhood. The defence made on the part of the Russians was, as usual, bloody and gallant; but the vast superiority of the enemy's numbers carried every thing before them, and Krasnoy was gained at the point of the bayonet. General Rajefsky retreated to Essennaya, and from that place dispatched information to the Commanderr in-chief, of his disaster. The amount of Rajefsky's force before this affair was about seven'thousand men, including two thousand five hundred cavalry. He had also twelve pieces of cannon. His loss was greatr being upwards of two thousand men, in killed, wound- ed, and prisoners, besides several guns. On this intelligence Barclay de Tolly reinforced the garrison of Smolenzk, and ordered the shattered 108 remains of Rajefsky's corps, on the approach of the enemy, to retire within the fortified lines in front of the extensive suburbs. The city, having been long in preparation to repel an attack, various batteries had been constructed, and every means adopted which could add strength to a position so favourably situated to check the advance of the invader. Prince Bragation, in obedience to the commands of the Commander-in-chief, passed on to the high road leading to Moscow through Dorogabotiche, where he halted as directed; but at the same time kept detach- ments of light troops in the neighbourhood of Elnia and Koslavli, to stop the advance of the enemy, should he attempt to cutoff the Prince's communication with the metropolis on that side. Barclay de Tolly having thus disposed his Gene- rals of divisions, intended to await alone the approach of his adversary; and, with this view, he placed his army on the line of heights which cover Smolenzk on the right bank of the Boresthenes. The city was de- fended by about thirty thousand men, who held com- munication with his main army by three bridges which crossed that river. From the ancient character of the walls which en- circled Smolenzk, they were found but indifferently suited to modern warfare, being flanked and bulwark- ed at different points by high and ill-fashioned towers; however, to turn even these to advantage, the Rus- sians planted them with several pieces of heavy ord- 109 nance, sufficient to command most of the ways leading through the fauxbourgs. The French army continued to approach the town in a very menacing attitude, having been recently augmented by the division under Prince Poniatofsky, which had joined them from Mohiloff, by the way of Romanoff, on the 15th. By this junction, the whole force of the enemy was directed against this city. The possession of it would involve many advantages on the side of the French. Its acquisition must dislodge the Russians from their present commanding station; which was, unquestionably, the most favourable ground on which they could make a stand between the Boresthenes and Moscow; and, when they were driven away, the road would be left free for the ad- vance of Napoleon to the capital of the Tzars. Dear has ever been the tax of pre-eminence. Smo- lenzk was always regarded as a post of the highest importance to rival powers. In former ages it had been the object of many hot contentions, and had known all the evils of war. But for a long lapse of time, like a toil-worn hero resting amid his offspring, it lay in tranquillity and comfort, enjoying its distinc- tion and its repose. Thus was the venerable city of Smolenzk, when the blast of invasion reached its walls, and its peaceful inhabitants saw the hills which surmounted them embattled with the protecting ranks of their country. Age is the season of timidity. The old, and the feeble, woman and child, thought they beheld their so lately happy city, overclouded by all 110 the horrors of war; and, fearful of being exposed to its cruel consequences, they fled the place in every direction. Some sought security in Moscow, some at Twer, some at Yarrowslaff; and thousands took re- fuge with the army on the heights. Intending from those eminences to remam sad spectators of the awful moment that was approaching to make their beloved city the theatre of bloody contest. It might be the field of combat, but the wisdom of its veterans had taken care that it should not be that of spoil; for im- mediately on hearing of the approach of the French towards their quarters, they ransacked the town for all its valuables, even to the treasures of the churches, and sent them under a strong convoy to a place of safety. By this precaution private property, as well as public, was preserved to the rightful owners; and the enemy was deprived of the resources he always looked for in plunder. Buonaparte had quitted Vitepsk on the 13th of August. He reached Korwitinia on the 15th; and on the following day was at the head of his army before Smolenzk. He lost no time in reconnoitering both the town and the position which the Russians held on the opposite bank of the river. He also acquainted him- self with the strength of the force which had been left to defend the city. This he intended to carry imme- diately; and, therefore, gave orders for an assault to commence at the entrenched suburbs, whilst he should endeavour to cut off, by the destruction of the three bridges, all succours to the Russians from their com- Ill fades on the heights. He had little doubt of the city soon falling into his hands, and of that advantage being followed by the possession of the heights; as he concluded, from the Russian General not having occu- pied the left bank of the Dneiper, he would, on the loss of the town, abandon the hills, and continue his march, in order to seek a more favourable spot for a general battle. According to these deductions, directions were given to Marshal Ney that he should form his divi- sions, taking up the ground on the left, and support- ing his flank on the Dneiper. Davoust, planted his division as the centre; and Prince Poniatofsky sta- tioned his on the right. Two reserves of cavalry and of guards were posted in the rear. With the former was Murat and Beauharnois; and with the latter, Na- poleon. The army, thus formed, moved forward close upon the Russian front. On the morning of August the seventeenth there was an awful pause. The armies of two vast empires stood gazing on each other as if studying where to strike the mortal blow: at length the silence of medita- ted death was broken. From the extreme point of the Russian right, to that of their left, fire from a hundred cannon poured destruction amid the enemy's ranks. Rapid discharges of musketry, which ran along their front, seconded the guns with a horrible carnage. The attack of the French was not less vigorous or terrific. Their numerous artillery gave bloody answer to that on the Russian position; whilst their multitude. 112 and concentrating movements, bore along upon their adversary with a force that seemed formed to sweep all before them. The troops of Poniatofsky, assisted by corps of cavalry and light artillery, after a hard struggle, suc- ceeded in dislodging, from an excellent position, a considerable body of Russians. This advantage, so fortunate for the enemy, enabled them to throw up a battery on the spot; which they immediately opened upon the south bridge, with an effect answerable to their wishes. Tlie battle now raged with the most desperate fury. In spite of a dreadful fire from the Russian artillery, the enemy pushed on to the entrenched suburbs, and in the very mouths of the guns attacked the Russian troops at the point of the bayonet. The havoc on both sides was prodigious. The earth was covered with the wounded and the dead; but nothing seemed pos- sible to shake the firmness of the Russians. They stood like a rock before the repeated attempts of the French to break a way through them. For upwards of two hours this bloody contest was maintained. Every species of assault was levelled by the enemy against their undaunted adversaries; but nothing could prevail over their resolution not to yield but with their lives. At last their movements were impeded by the numbers of the slain; and finding that accessions of hostile troops pressed upon their thinned ranks, the Russians retired towards Smolenzk; disputing every 113 inch of ground, till the enemy was checked by the fire from its ancient towers. Barclay de Tolly, on seeing that the suburbs on the opposite quarter of the town were completely forced, and that the city itself was seriously threatened, deter- mined to defend it for, at least, several hours; in order to gain time for Bragation's army, then on the Mos- cow road, to move on to Dorogobouche, where the Commander-in-chief now decided on joining it. The Russian .batteries had been planted to great advantage all along the heights. One battery of fifteen pieces of cannon, did much execution upon the ene- my's right, and drove him from the ground he occu- pied with that part of his artillery which had poured so destructive a fire on the upper bridge. Another battery, of twenty pieces, checked the enemy in his advance through the suburb connected with the St. Petersburgh bridge. The city now became the immediate object of at- tack. The fire from its walls, as well as from a few loosely constructed works at their feet, kept the enemy at bay. But he lost not a moment in constructing breaching batteries at different points, and so well placed, that a short time only was necessary to oblige the troops who manned the trifling outworks to leave them to their fate. No resistance was now made to the assailants, but by the good old towers and vene- rable breastwork of the city,, A tremendous fire opened from the French batte- P 114 ries upon these antique battlements, and gave no pause, even when its flashes alone lit the terrible darkness of the night. The Russian general, meanwhile, ordered an active defence to be kept up, while he made arrangements for the march of the army to Dorogobouche. It was seven o'clock in the evening, when the first column was put in motion. It was commanded by General Touchkoff", and composed of three corps of infantry, and the first reserve of cavalry. It took the route to Bradichino. At nine, the second column, under the orders of General DochorofF, composed of two corps of infantry and two of cavalry, besides the remains of General Rajefsky, proceeded, in a nearly parallel di- rection, by the road leading to YalkofF-Postiloff. Gene- ral Korff, vvith a strong division that occupied the town, and the suburb of St. Petcrsburgh, was to form the great rear guard, and to defend himself against every attack, until he had advice that the rest of the army had cleared the French lines. He was then to destroy all that might be serviceable to the enemy, and evacuate the town. Platoff, with his Cossacs, was to follow this body; and form a chain of detached corps between Proudichi and Doukoflfachina. The dreadful hours of destruction rolled on; and the ruin and death of thousands became the horrible marks of French aggression. Invasion was without, patriotistn within; and hosts continued to fall on both sides. Many attempts were made by the enemy to carry by assault the walls, which were now beginning to give way; but what stone could not withstand, the courage of men breasted, and the assailants were re- pulsed at every attack. The interior of this once beautiful and flourishing capital of the government of Smolenzk, began to pre- sent a scene heart-rending to the eye of a common spectator, but glorious to that of the patriot. Every magazine was destroyed, every edifice fired, which could offer the means of resource to the enemy. The inhabitants, (at least all that chose to remain behind those who had retired to the heights), were the first to put their torches to this hard duty. The flames spread rapidly through every quarter; and the houses which were built of wood, quickly conducted its dire- ful influences over the whole extent of this once fine city, whose centre now blazed forth in vast volumes of fire and smoke. Napoleon in his report of this event, gives a perfect idea of its appearance, in these words:—" In the midst of a fine night in August, Smolenzk offered to the eyes of the French, the spectacle that presents itself to the inhabitants of Naples, during an irruption of Vesuvius." During the ever-memorable defence of the city against so superior a force as was then brought against it, no troops were more distinguished for their unre- ceding valour and effective service than a large body of the newly-raised Russian militia. Its intrepidity and discipline would have added fresh laurels to th^ most veteran brows. 116 Two hours after this tremendous conflagration commenced, General KorfF destroyed the communi- cation with the right bank of the Dneiper, and then followed the steps of the leading columns. The enemy perceiving that the Russian army was in full retreat, and that the firing from the walls had gradually sub- sided, advanced; and, without further resistance, took possession of the city in the morning of the 18th of August. No pen can describe the rage of Napoleon on be^ holding the spectacle which presented itself. The spacious streets were blocked up with ruined and falling houses, and magnificent buildings were blaz- ing in every direction, threatening the total consump- tion of those that remained yet uninjured. To pre- serve some means of quartering his troops, the French leader immediately ordered every exertion to stop the progress of the flames. The men employed in this service, gave themselves little trouble in their duty; and aware that the extent of the mischief already done would render their disobedience less observed, in- stead of attempting to extinguish the fires by which they were surrounded, they spread themselves all over the city wherever the burning destruction had not seized; and, entering the houses and the churches, pillaged whatever valuables they found, and mur- dered with the most unheard of cruelties, all whom accident or attachment to their native city had left in their passage. Time, therefore, was the sole extin- guisher of this immense conflagration; and it was not 117 until the eveninp: of the 19th, that the flames of this sacrifice expired, and Smolenzk became enshrouded in a veil of black smoke. Buonaparte had always considered the possession of this city as one of his first objects in the Russian invasion. Such a station would be full of advantage to his troops. Indeed he was so thoroughly aware of its utility, that he thus expresses himself on the sub- ject: " Smolenzk may be considered as one of the finest cities in Russia, and of the most commanding situa- tion. Had it not been for the circumstances of war, which involved it in flames, and consumed its maga- zines filled with merchandize, this city would now be regarded as one of the richest resources of our army. But even in its present ruined state, it puts us in pos- session of a formidable military post, and its remain- ing buildings afford excellent hospitals for the sick." The French leader was not more sensible of the value of the treasures contained in Smolenzk, than were its inhabitants; and to disappoint him of their use, what could not be removed, they sacrificed to the preservation of their country. To these patriots no- thing seemed too precious to resign for so dear a stake. Whether it be wealth or even the bread from their lips, or the roof that sheltered them, or the vital blood of their hearts, all were deemed as nought in comparison with the venerated laws of their empire, 118 their fealty to their lords, and their independence from threatened usurpation. What can man lay down more than his life, in evidence of his principle? And this the Russian, from the prince to the peasant, was ready, and did lay down, in the cause of the empire and of the world. Napoleon, in passing over the ashes of these sacri- fices at Smolenzk, was often heard to exclaim, " Never was a war prosecuted with such ferocity! Never did defence put on so hostile a shape against the common feelings of self-preservation! These people treat their own country as if they were its enemies!" But in some cases there is no defence unless we put all to the hazard, and immolate a part to preserve the whole. Narrow policy is the principle of ruin. The loss of human lives during this tremendous contest was immense. Not less than one hundred thousand men must have been engaged in the battle, and attack and defence of the town; and, from the obstinacy with which the combat was maintained, the deaths became very numerous. Four thousand fell on the Russian side, amongst whom were many brave officers, though none of distinguished name. Their wounded amounted to about two thousand. The Russian Commander-in-chief, in his report of this af- fair, observes — " Although our loss is so serious, yet we have reason to congratulate ourselves that it bears no proportion to the incalculable loss of the enemy, whose rashness during his repeated attacks, threw away 119 the lives of his men with an indifference not to be credited." The French account of their loss is absurdly tri- fling; and we can only wonder, when the circum- stances of the affair are considered, how the writer of it could have the folly to suppose it would be be- lieved. He states that Napoleon lost no more than seven hundred in killed! He allows of three thousand two hundred wounded; but closes the bulletin with the exaggeration that, while the French slain were so few, the Russians lost to the number of fourteen thou- sand, seven hundred men! This statement is made in the usual French style; and while we read it, and others, relating the small damage they incur in even the most sanguinary con- flicts, we can only be surprised at finding, in perhaps the next report, that this invulnerable band of heroes feel the necessity of being recruited. Possession of even the burning site of Smolenzk was not to be gained on such easy terms. The man- ner of the attack, and the determination of its defence^ are sufficient evidences that the assailing power must have suffered the greater loss in lives. The Russians, when the suburbs were attacked, were in a great de- gree covered by their entrenchments, while the ene- my's troops were advancing for a considerable length of time completely exposed to the galling and heavy fire of the artillery and small arms. It was here that the French fell in hundreds. But when the conflict took place in the lines, then the entrenchments be- 120 came heaped with their dead and dying. The French report cannot but give some shadow of the truth in this respect. It says, " the field of battle presented to the eyes of two hundred thousand persons, who can attest it, heaps of slain, where the body of one Frenchman lay upon the bleeding relics of seven or eiffht of his fallen enemies." o This representation has only to be reversed, and it will be found a true statement of the proportion of the slain, giving the greater numbers of the dead, as was the fact, to the French side. The information given by Spanish deserters, and prisoners taken at the time, leave it beyond a doubt that Napoleon lost far more men on that bloody day, than he deemed prudent to acknowledge in his bulletins. The true report would have been nearer thirteen thousand in killed and wounded, than three thousand; and in this number we do not include several Generals, three of whom Buonaparte owns to have fallen. Smolenzk was now in the hands of the invader. But all the trophies it yielded to his glory were its cannon, and the smouldering ashes of its once popu- lous streets. He and his Generals took up their resi- dence in the episcopal palace, which had escaped the flames; and the troops were ordered to seek repose in any buildings they might find standing. The churches that remained unhurt, were appropriated to the use of the cavalry. Had Napoleon entered Russia with the wishes of its inhabitants, this last measure would have been 121 sufficient to turn their good-will to detestation. The sight of a licentious soldiery bursting into the holy edifices, tearing down the decorations, breaking open the wardrobes, and violating the consecrated vest- ments and vessels of the altar, struck to their hearts with amaze and horror. But when they beheld the horses pass the sacred threshold, their vehement in- dignation is not to be described. Their expressions were answerable to their feelings; and the few, who yet survived the fate of their city, were made to shed their blood with their tears before the doors of their defiled churches. Such a zeal may appear extravagant to professors of a less enthusiastic religion; and many may turn from its emotions and its sacrifices with contempt. But it would be well to judge men, not by the light we ourselves have received, but by that which has been dispensed to them. Objects may be wrong, but yet the impulse right. The same spirit which con- firmed the protestant martyr at the stake, who died in evidence of the pure doctrines of Christianity, brought the pious son of the Greek church to resent, at the peril of his life, the pollution of the place con- secrated to the worship of his Creator. God said, " My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves." Such a sacrilege was not tole- rated by the founder of our religion; and it becomes not the disciple to pretend to more liberality on this subject than his divine Master. The honest Russian regards the temple of his God Q 122 with a reverence so great that nothing is suftered to approach its walls, that can defile them even in idea; and therefore it is not surprising that when the viola- tion of the churches of Smolenzk was known through- out the empire, the hatred of the people should be augmented a hundred fold against the invader and his sanguinary followers. The Russian army, covered by the corps of Gene- rals KorfF and PlatoiF, continued for many hours to move towards its destined point without molestation. The precaution of destroying the bridges across the Dneiper, for some time prevented the advance of the French in the same direction. But Napoleon, with his usual promptitude had, on observing the gradual withdrawing of the Russians from the heights, or- dered a bridge to be thrown over the river much higher than the site of the old ones, and considerably to the right of the town. The work was carried on with so much alacrity, that it was nearly completed at the same moment in which the last of Barclay de Tolly's rear guard were quitting the suburbs. When a communication was thus opened with the opposite bank, (and which Buonaparte rendered still more free by setting his men to repair, with all ex- peditioDj the demolished bridges;) the French passed 123 over in a strong body under the command of Marshal Ney. His orders were to overtake, and attack the re- tiring division of the Russians; while the corps of Junot and Davoust, supported by the whole of the cavalry under Murat and Beauharnois, were to move upon DouchofFachina, and proceed to the right bank by the newly constructed bridge, and then continue their march to the high road, between Valitina Gora and Lavachina, leading to Moscow. At this point they hoped to cut off the rear- guard of the Russians from the main army; and, in consequence of such a loss, reduce that army to such extremities as to throw it completely into their power. General Baron KorfF, in making his retiring move ments, marched along the heights in two columns, m a direction to the point where the two roads branched off. On these roads the Russian troops which preceded him, had taken their route; and on the spot where the ways separated, he was to station himself, that he might cover both. Not aware of the so rapid advance of the French upon this very track, the Baron was surprised to find his forward parties fall back. They explained their check by giving information that the enemy had gain» ed the right shore of the Boresthenes in great force, and were spreading themselves between him and his proposed line of march. In this critical situation, nothing was left but to endeavour to maintain his present position; not doubt- ing but that the Commander-in-chiefj on finding the 124 rear- guard had been attacked, would lose no time in sending troops to its support. According to this reso- lution, Korff ordered the right column to form on the ground where it then stood; and the left to station itself on a commanding point close to the town of Valitina. Prompt as the troops were in obeying these directions, they were not completely executed before another body of the enemy appeared on the Smolenzk side. These new corps waited not an instant, but attacked the Russians with a sudden and tremendous shock. This was the signal for a general assault in the other quarter. Ney's troops began the business, by charging the rear of the right column of the Russians before it had time to finish its formation. He made the onset with the bayonet; it being his design, by the surprise and impetuosity of his movement, to drive them from their ground. General Korff perceiving the difficulties of his situ- ation increase, judged it prudent to release himself, if possible, from these unequal and desperate encoun- ters, by making a junction with his left column, which was forming very rapidly, and had already opened a heavy fire upon the advancing bodies of the enemies. To this effect, he ordered two battalions, supported by several guns, to remain on his present ground, to cover his movement while retiring upon the other column. The brave men selected for this duty, performed it with unshaken firmness, notwithstanding the most 125 violent efforts to dislodge them: nor did they recede one step, until their general had gained his object; al- though to ensure it, nearly one half of their undaunted comrades sacrificed their lives. At this crisis the rear of the Russian main army was not farther distant from the scene of action than six wersts. When the Commander-in-chief heard the cannonade, he justly apprehended that his covering troops had been assailed, and, without loss of time he gave orders for Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, with a strong division of infantry and detachments of artil- lery, to return to the separation of the two roads where General Korff's corps had been left. Directions were also sent to Major- General Touchkoff, to march with a body of troops to the support of General Karpoff, who was at the village of Gedeonovo with a small corps, occupying the ground near the river, and close to the high road to Moscow. Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg executed his orders with great ability, defeating the enemy in every at- tempt to oppose his passage to the attainment of his object. General Korff, on seeing himself so powerfully re- inforced, and still maintaining his advantageous posi- tion, believed himself sufficiently strong to defy the utmost efforts of the enemy to dislodge him. The French, however, dared the enterprize; and a heavy column moved forwards towards the centre of the Russian front. It was supported by two others which, 126 on the opposing line being broken, was to close in and complete the destruction. Owing to the commanding situation of the Russian ground, its artillery had a terrible effect on the ad- vancing enemy, who, seeing his men fall in hundreds, and that General Gudin, by whom they had been led on, lay dead on the field, commanded a pause in the attack. He perceived, from what had just happened, how vain would be the attempt to force KorlF, who was now so well supported, from his formidable position; and trying another way, the French leader ordered a movement to his right; with the intention, by falling upon the little detachment of Karpoff, of getting pos- session of the road he protected; and of, probably, in- ducing KorfF either to come down from his present ground, or at least to weaken himself by dispatching troops to the aid of Karpoff 's division. The enemy advanced to this attack with a fury an- swerable to the magnitude of his ultimate object. Karpoff finding himself severely pressed, and nearly overwhelmed, began rapidly to fall back; but, happily, at this critical moment General Touchkoff appeared. A part of his fresh troops rushed on to the support of their retiring countrymen, and, checking the impe- tuosity of the French, enabled Karpoff to detach a considerable body of his cavalry to the succour of his left, and also to bring up the remainder of his ar- tillery. The enemy, though checked, was not repulsed; and, returning to the attack with renewed spirit, they 127 charged the Russians with their whole weight of cavalry. The combat was close and obstinate; many gallant acts were performed on both sides, but neither seemed to prevail. The French object was to open to themselves the great road, and to this end Marshals Davoust, Ney, and Murat, directed all their operations against the Russian left. Whilst this brave column stood its ground without yielding an inch, Baron KorfF, observing the direction in which the enemy was thickening his ranks, dis- patched a reinforcement to the division of KarpofF; and himself, at the same time made a movement on his left, parallel with that of the enemy. This he did, not only to support more effectually the gallant little corps of Karpoff, but to prevent the designs of the French to block up his line of march. After a conflict of many hours, the day was far ad- vanced, when part of Korff's troops, in following up their mancKuvres, came in upon the right of Touch- koff's troops. This happy junction, aided by a smart fire from a thick wood well lined with light infantry, (which had been posted there to protect the right,) had a decisive effect upon the opposite division of the enemy. Marshal Ney commanded in this quarter. Finding his troops so hotly received, he determined to make a strong effort to turn his adversary in his flank, by bringing up a column which had not yet been engaged. The advance was accordingly made, and supported by several squadrons of horse and ar- tillery, but all in vain. The strengthened corps of the 128 Russians so completely baffled his endeavours, that, after two successive attempts, he was obliged to aban- don the enterprize, and retire under the galling fire of his adversary. The contest, after this retrograde move- ment of the three Marshals, gradually subsided on the part of the French; and, by twelve o'clock at night (August 19th), the Russians were left in quiet pos- session of the disputed wsiv. The Generals KorfF, Touchkoff, and the Prince of Wirtemberg, finding themselves so entirely masters of the field as to be able to move to any point without opposition, decided on marching towards the Dneiper, meaning to pass that river near Slob-Pneva. This hard-fought day cost both armies many lives. The Russians calculate their own loss in killed to amount to one thousand. Their wounded might be numbered at three thousand. The French slain, (from the disadvantageous situations in which they made their attacks,) must have been double that of their adver- sary's. They lost during the day, upwards of thirteen hundred men, as prisoners to the Russians. Napoleon's reports, with their usual delusions, will not allow of this, but estimate the loss in their lines to be six hun- dred killed, two thousand six hundred wounded, but ivithout losing a man as a prisoner! This gallant stand, made by a corps of not more than forty thousand Russians, against a force of ninety thousand men, astonished the discomfited enemy, and filled the adjacent country with confidence. If so much could be done by so small a body of resolute soldiers^ 129 what might not be expected from the accumulated and concentrated force of the empire! As it is the custom of the French ruler always to claim the laurels of the field, it is not out of course that he should place upon his head the bloody wreath of this; but in the midst of his assumption he cannot forbear owning it as a hard-earned victory, as one of the most brilliant faits d'^armes ever recorded in military history. The plan of the Russians, in this campaign, of falling back into their country, until the time and the circumstances should unite by which they might pour certain destruction on their invaders, afforded Napoleon a ground for his assumption of every vic- tory, and assisted in the impositions his reports were framed to put on the world. At least, such was the effect on superficial observers. But a grand and com- prehensive and conclusive plan was that of Russia at this crisis; and to maintain it, they as readily left the field of triumph as of discomfiture. It is too much the practice to judge of men and schemes more in the de- tail, than by the great result; and hence come rash and unjust decisions. In the midst of all Napoleon's boasts of uninter- rupted victory, one circumstance was ever present to contradict him; the barrenness of his conquests! He found no pillage, no trophies with which to stimulate his soldiers, or to flatter the vanities of his people. He had told his troops that they should gather the riches of every province they passed over. But, instead of satiating themselves with rapine, they found wasted R 130 lands, and deserted villages. He cheered the disap- pointed multitude with the assurance that they should indemnify themselves by the wealth of Smolenzk. They advanced to its walls, and met only a heap of burning ruins. Impatience and discontent now began to murmur throughout the French soldiery. Many of them remembered the spoils of Italy and of Germany. All of them repeated the expectations with which they were filled on marching into Russia. Their fatigues and dangers were to be? rewarded with the harvests of the fields, the wealth of the cities, the treasures of the churches, and the abundance of the whole empire spread at their feet! Day after day passed away, and still no part of these grand promises was performed. Every step the French army advanced into the coun- try covered the earth with their bleeding bodies; and showed to the survivors, nothing but the traces of de- struction. The effects of the Russian mode of defence were seriously felt, even at Vitepsk, by the enemy. Many hundreds of his disappointed soldiers deserted to the army of Count Vigtenstein; and, it was not without the most extraordinary efforts that the French leader could check this disposition in his men, so ruinous, not only to his present scheme of aggrandisement, but to the stability of his power in general. Threats of the most tremendous punishments, were denounced on the delinquents; and the largest promises reiterated to them who would remain faithful. Moscow was mamed as the ultimate reward of the patience and per- 131 severing courage of his men. From the ancient palaces of that imperial city, he pledged himself that they should see him stand the dictator of peace or war, not only to the whole empire, but to all Europe. The glory of his achievement should be his reward; while they should find theirs in the accumulated riches of ages, the hoarded possessions of princes and nobles, the treasuries of the priesthood, and the spoil of the people at large. Thus did the genius of desolation hail on his myrmidons to follow his steps to the pillage of nations, the violation of women, the murder of infants, and the carnage of men. On the morning of the 20th of August, at about one o'clock, the Russians moved from their victorious field, and reached Slob-Pneva, a distance of thirty wersts, without being molested by even the sight of an enemy. In their march they took care to render the roads they passed over, impracticable to any who might wish to follow them. They destroyed no less than five bridges; and took every other precaution to impede the progress of the invader. On the 19th of August, the rear of the columns of the main army had crossed the Boristhenes at the same place, leaving a considerable party of light cavalry and irregular troops, on the right bank of the river, to keep up a communication with Baron Vinzingorode. That General had been detached, with eight thousand men, to the neighbourhood of DouchofFchina, there to watch the motions of the enemy; and be a check on him, in case he should be inclined to send a corps from that 132 town, in the direction of Bealoy and Zubtzoff, to threaten the city of Twer. When the first army reached the vicinity of Doro= gobouche, the Commander-in-chief took up his ground about ten wersts from that city, on the right bank of the river Onja, near the village of Ousviat. Here he made dispositions to oppose the progress of the enemy, should he not have been completely checked by the Russian rear guard. Prince Bragation had already arrived at Dorogo- bouche, but was ordered to resume his march, and to form upon Barclay de Tolly's left, close to the village of Savino. He was, however, directed to leave a very strong detachment, both of cavalry and infantry, on the right bank of the Dneiper, before Dorogobouche. Major-General Neveroffsky commanded this detach- mentc On the evening of the 23d of August, the rear guards gained the position occupied by the first and second armies now united. About three hours after this complete junction, very strong parties of the enemy were discovered; and their first appearance was soon followed by the threatening approach of a formidable body towards the Russian left flank. The enemy's intention seemed to be to turn this part of the imperial line, and so cut off its communication with the road on which it might mean to retire. The Commander-in-chief having gained the object of his waiting, (the arrival of his rear guard,) gave orders for the army to move, and fall back upon Do- 133 rogobouche. They obeyed, and were at the destined place about midnight. Here the ground was found as unfavourable, as that the army had just quitted, to turn any attack to advantage. Barclay de Tolly, there- fore, after strengthening his covering divisions, put all into motion again; and marshalling his army into three columns, ordered the centre to keep the great road towards Semlevo; the right under Bragation, to advance to Loujki by the way of Boyan; and the left to proceed through Konoushkino to Fanassievo. At these points they respectively arrived on the 26th of August, and then halted to observe the movements of the enemy. The corps under Baron Vinzingorode, finding the French advancing on them from DouchofFchina, im- mediately proceeded to Bealoy, and by occupying that place the more effectually secured their communica- tion with Twer. They also maintained a free inter- change with Wiazma, by the means of a detachment of Cossacs, and some regular troops under the com- mand of Major-General Krasnoff, who kept a vigilant watch over the road. After the retreat of the Russian rear- guard the enemy lost no time in following its steps. His ad- vanced parties found themselves close upon its heels, a few wersts from the Ouja; and, the rest of their army being in rapid march, they did not doubt but on this spot they would make Russia tremble. The French came on in three columns. The left was composed of the troops of Beauharnois; the cen- 134 tre, of those commanded by Marshals Davoust, Ney, and Miirat. The right was formed by the corps under Prince Poniatofsky. Scarcely a shot had been fired for many wersts. And, it was not until the covering corps of the Rus- sians arrived on the margin of the Osma, (which river crosses the main road behind Rouibki), that any fight- ing recommenced. But here a party of Murat's cavalry furiously charged two battalions of Russian infantry which occupied Rouibki, and obliged them to pass the river. At the same moment another detachment of the rear-guard was attacked at Snamenskoy by a superior force; but in spite of their disadvantage they maintained the post for several hours, and then, after a trifling loss, fell back in good order. On the 27th of August the first and second army again united near Wiazma, but still the Commander- in-chief did not judge the ground suitable to military operations. He gave orders that every magazine, and every article in the town that might be useful to the enemy, should be destroyed. Nearly the whole of its inhabitants, on hearing of the fate of Smolenzk, had collected their valuables, and like the natives of the fallen city, fled for refuge to places more remote from the foot of invasion. Flames now appeared in the de- populated streets, as another proof to the unsheltered French soldiery that they should find no roof of rest within the country they had filled with so many cala- mities. When the Russian rear-guard passed through the 135 devoted town, they put the final stroke to the eager hopes of their enemy, by destroying the bridges which cross the Wiazma river, as it traverses the city in three diiferent directions. The whole Russian force continued its march upon Zarevo-Zalomichi, where Barclay de Tolly command- ed his troops to halt, and posted both armies. On his left, he occupied Lomouy, and his right was stationed before the village of Trakova. He had also a strong avant-guard at Mittina, a village about eighteen wersts in his front. Thus was situated the Russian force, when Barclay de Tolly received a courier, announcing to his Ex- cellency, that the Prince Golenistsheff KoutousofFwas appointed in his stead. Commander-in-chief of the whole Imperial army. Prince Golenistsheff Koutousoff, whose military life has been crowned with the most merited success, was now called upon to head his country's heroes, and to lead them on to victory and immortal fame. The voice of the nation cried aloud for this great Captain again to command in that field where he had already gained so many laurels. The renewal of his services was claimed by the nobility and the people. And, although so short a time had elapsed since he sought repose 136 after closing with honour the toilsome war on the Danube, he was again appointed, by his Imperial Majesty Alexander, to assert the rights of the empire, and was sent, on the 20th of August, to sustain the chief command of the army opposed to Napoleon. The demonstration of universal joy, on the know- ledge of his appointment being made public, was unbounded; and the soldiery were not backward in expressing their feelings on the event. Under him many thousands of the veterans of the army had often been shown the road to victory, and now their hearts beat high with the hope of again proving themselves worthy the command of such a chief. This General was now of an age when, in the usual constitution of man, the energies of nature begin to feel the effects of a long and care-worn life; but he seemed privileged; as if heaven had destined him, to his latest hour, to enjoy, for the benefit of his country, all the ardours and activity of youth. More than se- venty years had passed over his head, years of severe service, in which he had been exposed to the most trying climates, and to every vicissitude of war, being several times dangerously wounded. But with all this, the powers of his mind were not lessened, nor the strength of his body impaired. He arrived from St. Petersburgh at head-quarters, on the 29th of August, when the command of the army was given up to him. That moment was hailed with acclamations by all ranks; and in the confide^ncc of his countrymen he received the dearest meed of his 137 high military talents, and the perils to which he had exposed himself in their use. His predecessor, Barclay de Tolly, took the command of a division. In Prince KoutousofF's journey from St. Peters- burgh he passed through Moscow, where he stopped a few hours, and had an interview with the military Governor Count Rastapchin. In this conference much momentous matter, relative to future measures, was settled; and the Governor was requested to hasten the reinforcements of new raised militia in the governments of Moscow and Kalouga. At this time a valuable corps of reserve, under General Miloradovitch, were on their march. The Prince directed that the whole should proceed upon Mojaisk. On the new Commander-in-chief's arrival at the Zarevo-Zalomitchi, he found that the Russian posi- tion there was very unfavourable for awaiting, to ad- vantage, the approach of the enemy. He saw that the troops were fatigued, and much weakened in physical strength, by their long and harassing marches, and by their continued fighting; and aware of the necessity of affording them some repose before he should bring them to the action he meditated, he put the whole army in motion, to seek some place of security where they might revive in rest, and await the junction of the expected reinforcements. On the morning of the 30th of August, Prince Koutousoff set his troops in motion. He advanced through the city of Gchatz, and halted on the 1st of September, in the vicinity of the village of Borodino, S 138 about twelve wersts from the city of Mojaisk. He was now on the great road which leads direct to Moscow. On this ground his Excellency determined to form, and await the arrival of the enemy. He foresaw that longer to defer a battle would be impossible; and that he could not find a more advantageous field between him and the ancient capital of the empire. He was fully aware of what would be the ultimate effect on the great cause, of the issue of this first general con- test between the Emperor's and the Invader's armies. The whole experience of his veteran life, all the de- termination of his brave heart, and every exertion of exhortation and example were called forth to prepare his impatient troops to meet, not only with ardour, but wiih unreceding resolution the awful events of the expected day. The reinforcements had arrived, con- sisting of the militia, commanded by Count MarkofF, and the division of regular troops under General Miloradovitch, which were intended to recruit the regiments of the line that had suffered loss in the late affairs. I From the time the enemy learnt that the Comman- der-in-chief of the Russian army was Prince Koutou- soff", he became more circumspect in his movements; and, in consequence, the parties of his advance kept at a cautious distance from those of the Russian left* Nearly five days elapsed before the French leader was seen in any force. Prince Koutousoff" omitted not to take advantage of the awe with which he had in« spired his adversaries; and he employed this time of 139 their hesitation in refreshing his troops, equalizing the newly arrived, and strengthening with redoubts the vulnerable parts of his position. He assembled his Generals, and stating to them the dispositions he was about to make, found that their confidence was equal to his own in the intrepidity of the Russian soldier; and that their own examples would not be wanting to lead their men to the extremest point of heroic daring. The universal feeling declared that the day in which they should encounter the concentrated legions of France, should be one of immortal glory to Russia. The face of the country which surrounded the Russian position, was in general flat, but Koutousoff had chosen a ground which possessed considerable inequalities, and was covered at certain points with wood. The Commander-in-chief did not neglect these advantages. The village of Borodino is situated near the high road; and, at a short distance from it, runs a rather deep ravine, through which flows the small river Koloya that empties itself into the Moskva at three wersts distance. KoutousoflP fixed on this ravine as a protection to his right and centre, which were under the commands of Barclay de Tolly and Ben- ningsen. The Prince's left, given to the resolute valour of Bragation, was stationed so as to stretch to the village of Semenofka. This post was eminently that of danger, its natural position being much less secure than that of the right. It was liable to be easily turned, by the old road running from Smolenzk to Mojaisk. To remedy, as far as circumstances would 140 admit, this disadvantage, several redoubts and batte- ries were began to be constructed without loss of time. Some were to guard the left of the village, others were planted along the elevated ground in the rear of the line, and one was placed on a detached height about the distance of a cannon shot in the front. This last work was independent of the others, and merely intended to divert and keep the enemy from closing suddenly upon the Russian left. Should it be taken, the loss would not materially weaken the gene- ral strength of the protecting works, nor at all injure the great arrangements for the day; on the contrary, the seizure of the fort would cost the enemy both time, and the lives of many of his troops. The army was thus disposed on the 5th of Septem- ber. About two o'clock on that day, the enemy was seen advancing in great force. The defensive works of the Russians were scarcely completed, when the French reconnoitering parties were first observed, and these were succeeded by such heavy bodies of cavalry and infantry moving forward on the enemy's right, and opposed to the Russian left, that Koutousoff soon discovered hostilities would commence upon his most vulnerable quarter. Napoleon had reached Wiazma on the 30th of Au- gust. His army, continuing its march in three columns, passed through Gchatz on the 1st of September. They found the place in the same desolated state with the other cities, which their invading feet had profaned, But ruined as it was, they remained there, and in its 141 vicinity, until the 4th of the month. The French leader gives as a reason for this halt, that his troops had need of repose. But the real cause was his respect for the warlike abilities of the Russian Commander- in-chief, which obliged him now to consider every step that he took. On the morning of the 4th, he again moved for- ward, and posted himself near the village of Gredniva. At dawn, the succeeding day, he pursued the same course, and about noon on the 5th, came in sight of the Russian lines. Reconnoitering parties were sent out in all directions, and their information decided Napoleon to do, just what the Russian General wished, to commence hostilities by attacking the work in ad- vance of Prince Bragation's division. The rear-guard of Koutousoif had been confided to Lieutenant-General Konovnitzen, and the greater part of it was still at some short distance in front of the Russian left when the French commenced their operations. About two o'clock these troops found themselves warmly attacked by the avant-guard of the enemy, but they gave it a reception which hotly an- swered its charge, till they could fall back, under the cover of the redoubt, to the line of Bragation. The Commander-in-chief, observing these manoeuvres, dispatched a considerable body to strengthen the menaced work on the height, and likewise to well man the thicket by which it was surrounded. A corps of infantry and artillery was posted on the ground be- hind, to support their comrades in the redoubt, which 142 had not been quite completed, from the hardness of the ground impeding the workmen. The enemy, with formidable bodies of infantry and cavalry, pushed across the little stream of the Kaloya, and made their advances towards Bragation's line. The redoubt stood in their way; and the attack began at this point with fury on their side. It was sustained with firmness by the Russians, who looked with intre- pid coolness on the consolidated masses of their ene- mies advancing towards them with fixed bayonets. When the French came within gun-shot, a heavy fire from the Russian cannon and musketry in the re- doubt, a little checked their impetuosity. The wood was also attempted to be carried at the same time. Prince Poniatofsky, meanwhile, by a movement con- siderably to his right, gained the left of the point in dispute, and detached a force in advance, to make an assault in that quarter. But they were greeted, as their comrades had been, with heavy discharges of artillery and small arms. The first party which had been en» gaged and repulsed, took heart at the advance of Po- niatofsky, and renewed their charge. This double attack produced the most desperate resistance, and individual acts of valour worthy the brave Prince who posted them there. The enemy at last gained the unfinished and un- palisadoed fosse, and the fight became a contest be- tween man and man. Guns were overthrown: the cavalry became intermixed indiscriminately with the infantry: every soldier met his enemy breast to breast, 14a and grappled together till one or both of them sunk oppressed with wounds. Fresh troops arrived to the support of each, and the position was lost and retaken by Bragation*s soldiers four times. In the midst of this carnage, night separated the combatants, and left the bloody field in the possession of the enemy. The column in reserve had not remained an un- moved spectator of this noble defence; but dispatch- ing some of its troops, they made several brilliant charges, whilst the infantry attacking part of Ponia- tofsky's corps, completely succeeded in forcing them back, and to leave eight pieces of cannon in the hands of the Russians, besides many prisoners. On the enemy having succeeded against the re- doubt, KoutousofF ordered the left wing to fall back nearer to the heights, in order that their covering bat- teries might have more power in assisting this division should it be attacked next day. The whole of the 6th of September was spent by both parties in making preparations for the inevitable conflict; preparations which appeared rather meant for an extirpation than a battle. Napoleon, amidst his other dispositions, did not fail to turn to advantage his recently acquired possession of the redoubt in front of his enemy's left. He cover- ed the height on which it stood with artillery, and erected, during the night, two other batteries opposite the Russian centre. These works contained a hundred eannon in each. He also formed batteries on his left, which presented a range of four hundred guns ready 144 to open at a word. Besides these, detachments of artillery were distributed amongst the troops, which completed a complement of guns, amounting to more than a thousand. This prodigious mass of destructive implements, was more than equalled by the magnitude of the army with which it was supported. It appear- ed to blacken the land, and to stretch even to the horizon. Having thus strengthened his own left, Napoleon directed his chief attention towards the left of his ad- versary, which he rightly deemed the least protected of his line. In order to make the attack more effectual, he brought the great body of his troops, under his best Generals, up to his right, for he was well in- formed of the brave spirit he had to oppose in Prince Bragation, the commander of the division he so for- midably menaced. Prince Koutousoff was equally prompt. He op- posed the preparations which threatened his left, by drawing to its support his principal force. This array was quickly formed into two lines of infantry, strength- ened with artillery, and backed by nearly the whole of his cavalry. The squadrons of guards remained in reserve between the centre and the left, sustained by another division of infantry. At the extremity of the position on the left, was a low and thickset wood. In this a strong body of light troops, and part of the militia of Moscow, were stationed, with orders to act on the old Smolenzk road, by attacking the enemy on the right and rearj should he endeavour to turn 145 the Russian left. While making these dispositions in one quarter, this consummate General attended equal- ly to every part of the field; and, by his directions, the centre received an essential protection by the erection of a suite of heavy guns on a straight ridge in its vicinity, which was also connected with the fortified ground and batteries that covered Bragation's army. That Prince also received additional security from the completion of another redoubt in his neigh- bourhood, of thirty pieces of cannon. The day was fast closing, when the veteran hero, surrounded by his Generals, passed along the line. He had previously ordered the holy picture, so en- thusiastically revered, and which had been saved from the sacrilegious hands of the enemy at Smolenzk, to precede him, borne by the priests of the army. On its approach, every head was uncovered, the sacred form of the cross waved on the breasts of thousands along the extended line, and the most awful silence prevailed. Tears fell from the eyes of the soldiery. They were not tears of grief, but the tribute of that pure religious feeling, which, at times, elevates with heavenly emotions even the humblest Russian indivi- dual. By these consecrated mementos, the whole army inwardly vowed to maintain their country's rights to the last drop of their blood; and with one impulse they called upon the Divine Being, whose image they contemplated, to assist them in overthrow- ing their enemies. The feelings of the venerable Koutousoff can scarcely be expressed. His brave T 146 heart beat in true unison with those of his soldiers, and he thus addressed them: "BROTHERS AND FELLOW SOLDIERS! *' Behold before you, in those sacred representations of the holy objects of our worship, an appeal which calls aloud upon heaven to unite with man against the tyrannic troubler of the world. Not content with de- facing the image of God, in the persons of millions of his creatures; this universal tyrant, this arch-rebel to all laws human and divine, breaks into the sanc- tuary, pollutes it with blood, overthrows its altars, tramples on its rites, and exposes the very ark of the Lord, (consecrated in these holy insignia of our church), to all the profanations of accident, of the ele- ments, and of unsanctified hands. Fear not then, but that the God whose altars have been so insulted by the very worm his Almighty fiat had raised from the dust, fear not that He will not be with you! That He will not stretch forth His shield over your ranks; and with the sword of Michael fight against His enemies! " This is the faith in which I will fight and con- quer! This is the faith in which I would fight and fall, and still behold the final victory with my dying eyes. Soldiers! Do your part. Think on the burning sacri- fice of your cities — think of your wives, your chil- dren, looking to you for protection — think on your Emperor, your lords, regarding you as the sinews of their strength;— and, before to-morrow's sun sets, write your faith and your fealty on the field of your 147 country with the life's blood of the invader and his legions!" The shout which followed this address, assured the veteran that his brave troops only wanted the sig- nal to be given, to realize on that spot his most de- voted wishes for Russian safety and Russian glory. The night passed slowly over the wakeful heads of the impatient combatants. The morning of the 7th of September at length broke, and thousands beheld the dawn for the last time. The moment was arrived when the dreadful discharge of two thousand guns was to break the silence of expectation, and arouse at once all the horrors of war. The French give this picture of the opening of the day. " On the 7th, at two o'clock in the morning, the Emperor Napoleon, surrounded by his Marshals, appeared on the position taken up the evening before. It had then rained, but now the sun rose without clouds. It is the sun of Austerlitz! cried the Emperor; although but September, it is cold as December in Mo- ravia! " The army received the omen. The drums beat; and the order of the day was issued in these words: 148 "SOLDIERS! " Before you is the field you have so ardently de- sired! The victory depends upon you. It is necessary to you. It M'ill give you abundance, good winter quarters, and a quick return to your country. Con- duct yourselves as when at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Vitepsk, at Smolenzk, and the latest posterity will cite with pride your conduct on this day. They will say, He was in that great battle under the walls of MoscowP^ The cloudless sun, just described by Buonaparte, soon became enveloped in thick vapours; a circum- stance greatly to his advantage, since the work of death was to be begun by him, and the shadows of an indistinct light were favourable to his plan. He did not lose an instant, under cover of this veil, of putting it in execution. The Generals of his vast army (which amounted to one hundred and forty thousand men) were all in possession of his commands; and ready, at the signal, to obey them. At four o'clock in the morning, the divisions under Marshals Davoust and Prince Poniatofsky advanced, skirting the wood on which rested the left of the Rus- sian army. At six o'clock they commenced the at- tack, supported by seventy pieces of cannon. A dis- charge of musketry, on both sides, succeeded. They were rapidly repeated; and their vollies were soon ac- companied with the loud roaring of a heavy fire from the redoubt which the French had gained the evening 149 before. While the battle was thus opened on the Rus- sian left, the division of Marshal Ney bore down in a solid column upon the centre, covering his move- ments with the active service of a battery of sixty guns. Beauharnois, at the same time, made the battle general, by closing upon the troops on the right, which occupied Borodino. Koutousoff's line was firm, and well protected by its strengthened heights. The plans of attack and de- fence were simple; and it was soon seen that the day was to be won, more by undaunted courage than skil- ful manoeuvre. Where the powers of the head are equal in a contest, the victory must depend on the superiority of heart. General as the attack seemed, the corps of Prince Bragation had to sustain the accumulating weight of nearly half the French army; and the determination shown by its cavalry was so desperate that they charged even up to the very mouths of the Russian guns. Whole regiments of them, both horses and men, were swept down by the cannon shot; and all along the front of Bragation's line rose a breast- work of dead and dying. Napoleon, finding that although he had continued the attack for upwards of three hours, he was not yet able to make an impression, ordered up fifty addi- tional pieces of artillery, and a fresh division of in- fantry, with several regiments of dragoons, under Count Calincourt and Murat. This new force rushed on over the bodies of their fallen countrymen, and 150 did not allow themselves to be checked until they had reached the very parapets of the Russian works. Their vigorous onset overturned, with fierce slaugh- ter, every thing that opposed them, and obliged Bra- gation to fall back nearer to the second line of the army. Buonaparte, seeing the Russians compelled to this movement, determined to make it decisive of the for- tune of the day, by immediately bringing forward his right, and turning the few guns he had found on this part of the entrenchments upon their former masters. He also added to their strength by replacing those which Bragation, on finding his line so overpower- ingly pushed by numbers, had taken off with his re- tiring troops. Koutousoff, seeing his left so dangerously pressed, sent forward a formidable reinforcement from his second line, to support the dauntless front which Bragation still presented to the enemy. With this aid, which chiefly consisted of grenadiers from the reserve, and a body of cavalry composed of hulans and cui- rassiers, the brave Prince advanced rapidly towards the ground so lately wrested from him, and which he was determined to regain. The French observed his movement, and poured the thunder of their artillery upon the intrepid breasts of the Russian onset. But the spirit of their leader seemed to animate every heart, and urge them onward in spite of the roar of death which met their advancing steps. Again they were on the disputed ground; and the fortified line. 151 and a large redoubt became the theatre of battle. The contest was close, desperate, and sanguinary. There seemed but one resolution between the combatants, never to cease the strife till one or both should sink in the embrace of death. At this crisis, the militia and light troops under Touchkoff, were ordered to show themselves. These faithful patriots rushed from their ambush to second their brothers in arms, and and fell like lions on their prey. The pikes and hatch- ets of this newly-raised soldiery, were exerted with such fury and effect, that the carnage they made amongst the enemies of their country appeared more a sudden desolation from an invisible hand, than the deeds of human agency. This tremendous scene did not last long. The French gave way; and Napoleon had the mortification of beholding the choicest of his troops driven from their late acquired conquest, with immense loss, and in great confusion and dismay. Whilst this field of blood was exhibited from the Russian left to the centre, the right had its share also of the horrors of war. Beauharnois, supported by the division of Morand, had attempted to turn it, by tak- ing possession of Borodino. He also made an essay to carry the two redoubts which protected it; but both efforts were vain. He was driven back at all points; and finding no possibility of success, after sus- taining a great loss, abandoned the idea of renewing the attack. This despair of the enemy with regard to the Hus- 152 sian right, enabled KoutonsofF to withdraw part of its forces, to assist the Imperial guards, with hussars and other cavalry, to reinforce his centre. The rage of battle at this crisis was not to be de- scribed. The thunder of a thousand pieces of artillery was answered by the discharge of an equal number on the part of the Russians. A veil of smoke shut out the combatants from the sun, and left them no other light to pursue their work of death, than the flashes of the musketry which blazed in every direction. The sabres of forty thousand dragoons met each other, and clashed in the horrid gloom; and the bristling points of countless bayonets, bursting through the rolling vapour, strewed the earth with heaps of slain. Such was the scene for an extent of many wersts! and the dreadful contest continued without cessation, until the darkness of night, deepening the clouds of war, the enemy, discomfited in every quarter, took advantage of the double obscurity, and drew off from the ground. When no object remained visible, the groans of the dying marked to the victorious Rus- sians the extent of the disputed field. As they planted their night watches, they found at every step full proof that hereafter the renowned days of Preussich, Eylau, and Wagram, sanguinary as they were, must ever cede in blood and horror to the Battle of Borodino. Thus closed that memorable day, and with it ter- minated the lives of eighty thousand human beings. Hitherto the annals of modern military achievements have never detailed so terrible a slaughter. Well 153 might Buonaparte exclaim as as he abandoned the field, " Jamais on n'a vu pareii champ de bataille." The loss on both sides was immense. And the scene of triumph, even to the conquerors, presented a tre- mendous spectacle. The ground, covered with the dead bodies of men and horses, scattered arms, dis- mounted guns, and pieces of artillery left to the vic- tors, offered every uhere to the eye the wreck of what might alone have composed a great army. While the veteran Koutousoff rejoiced in this ac- cession to the glory of his country, he had to regret the expence at which it had been purchased. Many excellent officers had fallen, and, in the foremost rank, the inestimable Prince Bragation^His left leg had been completely shattered by a ball, in one of the most critical junctures of the battle; and, though mortally wounded, like our own immortal Wolfe, he refused to be removed from the tield until victory was declared for the great cause in which he shed his blood, with this gallant Prince fell other brave spirits worthy to accompany his to paradise; and, amongst the most conspicuous in that day's contest, were the Lieutenant-Generals Touchkoff, Garchikolf, and Ko- novitzenj In the number of dangerously, though not mortally, wounded, were found Major-Generals Backmetioff, Kretoff, and Rajefsky, whose respective actions claim- ed the gratitude of their country. Major- General Count VorronzofF also, received a severe bayonet wound whilst intrepidly leading forward a battalion U 154 of grenadiers to the charge. A great number of of- ficers of mferior ranks, bled on this fearful day; and, on the whole, no fewer than thirty thousand men could have fallen, killed and wounded, on the side of Russia. The French loss must have amounted to something beyond fifty thousand. The horses which lay on the ground from right to left, numbered full five-and- twenty thousand. This wide destruction cost both armies nearly the whole of their ammunition. The enemy states himself, that he discharged sixty thou- sand cartridges from his guns; and if Koutouboff an- swered them in the same proportion, one hundred and twenty thousand balls must have been hurled that day in the work of death, on the field of Boro- dino. Buonaparte lost amongst his killed, the Generals Calincourt and Monibrun. Twelve other Generals were dangerously wounded; and one left a prisoner in the hands of the Russians, with five thousand sol- diers, and thirty pieces of cannon in his train! The details given by the enemy, of this battle, are, as usual, fraught with incorrectness and falsehood. After being obliged to leave the field, and to pursue a rapid retreat without once halting, till he had reached the distance of twelve wersts from the victorious Kou- tousofF, Napoleon has the effrontery thus to claim the laurels of the day; " At two o'clock (says he) all hopes of success were abandoned by the Russians. The battle was 155 ended. It is true the cannonade continued; but their object was changed. They now fought for safety and retreat — no longer for victory." With the earliest dawn PlatofF was dispatched with his Cossacs in pursuit of the fugitives; but his com- mission was rather to harass and observe them, than to make any serious attack. The Russian troops were too much fatigued by the toil of their victory, to allow of a fiercer following up of their success at this mo- ment; and while the French fled, and the Cossacs pur- sued, Koutousoff employed himself in repairing the losses of his army, and rewarding with his praise the valour of its heroes. The general glory of the day, and the merits of each regiment, and individual soldier, by which it was achieved, were faithfully detailed by the Com- mander-in-chief in his dispatch to the Emperor Alex- ander. By a happy coincidence, the officer bearing the news arrived at St. Petersburgh on the anniversary of the Emperor's birth-day- He was told that the Impe- rial family were at their devotions in the Great Cathe- dral. He hurried thither; and presented his glad tidings to his Sovereign at the very moment when the Te Deum for the birth of that Sovereign was resounding through the church. Alexander read the report with acclamations of gratitude to heaven; and the victory being publicly declared, the Te Deum was again chanted, but every voice now united in the strain which gave glory to the God who had fought for 156 Russia, and covered her people with immortal ho- nours. The gracious disposition of the Emperor was not satisfied with barely expressing to the commander-in- chief his admiration of the prowess of the Russian patriots on the day of Borodino: but he commanded that his thanks should be given to the whole army; that badges of merit, to bear evidence to future gene- rations, of the daundess bravery of each individual present, should be distributed along the lines. Medals to the soldiery; and to the officers of higher ranks, swords of honour, crosses, and stars, and orders of knighthood. To the Commander-in-chief, the Empe- ror addressed the most affectionate acknowledgments, of his glorious perseverance and consummate skill, in defeating an enemy who had hitherto deemed himself above all human power. The Imperial Alexander added to these marks of honour, the rank of Field- marshal to Prince Koutousoff, with the addition of a hundred thousand roubles; and to each private soldier who had shared in the glories of that day, he gave a largess of five roubles. Thus were they rewarded who survived the hard- fought field. But for them who, with the brave Bra- gation, had laid down their laurelled heads in the dust of conquest and of death; for them, the tears of the Emperor flowed: and with him the nation wept, chas- tening their joy in victory, with the regrets due to the heroes who had given their lives for its purchase. 157 Great as was the advantage gained by the Russian arms in the field of Borodino, their Commander-in- chief only regarded it as the opening of a long day of military labours; and though he allowed his troops to refresh themselves during the intervals of toil, he saw the hour of rest was far distant, and they thought not of repose. With spirits alert, and the unsheathed blade still in their hands, they followed their magnanimous leader through every exertion in the cause of their country; and awaited with vigilant impatience the mo- ment when their ranks would be restored to sufficient strength to overthrow the new bodies of the eneni)^ which now threatened to approach their lines. Report informed Koutousoff that Napoleon had been reinforced with ten battalions of infantry, many regi- ments of cavalry, several hundred carts of ammuni- tion, and much artillery. The most formidable part of this army was directing its march towards the position of the Russian Commander-in-chief, while other de- tachments were filing off" to its left to Zwenigorod, leading to Moscow. The Russian parties in advance brought this intelligence; and Koutousoff", not having yet received the reinforcements he expected from Toula and Kalouga, forebore to press forward with an open front to check the French; who he heard were moving towards the road that crosses the country to 158 Veria and Borosk. To prevent these movements hemming in his flanks, he thought it well to retire on the Moscow road; and giving the necessary commands to his victorious Russians, they marched on in excel- lent order towards their ancient capital. Disdainful of a moment's repose while aught was yet to be done, they passed direct through the city; and turning to the right, by a rapid and masterly march, took up an advantageous position on the Kalouga road, not far from Podol. By this movement, so little understood by the world at that time, the road to the old capital became entirely open to the enemy. The snare was laid, and the prey was not long in rushing into the toil. Napoleon pursued the path of Koutousoffas far as the gates of Moscow, and halted before them about noon on the 14th of September. Various opinions were formed, even in Russia, of this situation of afl'airs; but none withdrew their con- fidence in the integrity of the Commander-in-chief. Steady in one principle of action, he gave this expla- nation to his emperor of a movement, which divided the empire between astonishment and admiration. « SIRE! " After the hard-fought day, and glorious victory of the 26th of August, O. S. (7th of September, N. S.) I judged it necessary to quit my position near Borodino. Some of my reasons for making this move- ment I have already had the honour of communicating isr' 159 to your Imperial Majesty; and I shall now add another, m the comparatively enfeebled state of the army after a battle in which every individual contended with the brave resolution of conquering or of dying. Many fell in the conflict; and the wounds and fatigues of the survivors, though embalmed with the laurels of vic- tory, rendered the hazard of another battle in their weakened situation, and with a reinforced enemy, an enterprize not of courage but of folly. To avoid such a rencontre I changed my position, and turned towards Moscow. During my march daily skirmishes took place between the troops and the enemy's advanced guard; but no vantage ground presenting itself in the short distance that separates the capital from Borodi- no, and my expected reinforcements not having come up, I still avoided a general attack, and proceeded on my way. " At this time I learnt that the enemy bad sent on two strong columns of fresh troops, the one by the road of Borosk, and the other by that of Zwenigorod, to act on our rear on the side of Moscow. To seek a battle under these disadvantages, would have been an useless prodigality of blood, and exposure of my brave troops to the disgrace of an overthrow. The risque, on my part, would have been unpardonable; for, though the reinforced army of Napoleon would now have counted more than double our numbers, yet in defeat there is ever a sense of dishonour as well as of inferiority: and, how far would I not lead the Russian soldier from any chance of incurring this appalling 160 feeling! Besides, to be beaten before the walls of Moscow, would expose the city to the lawless en- trance of the triumphant enemy; and its riches and its towers would become the strength of Buonaparte! " Foreseeing this, I held a consultation with my ablest Generals. I imparted to them what I anticipated must accrue from the relative state of the two armies; I informed them of the alternative^ between loyalty to their country and vassalage to the invader, which had been decided on in case of extremity by the noble inhabitants of the ancient city of the Tzars. I offered my opinion on these facts. Some of my Generals dis- sented from me; but most agreed with my advice; and we determined to allow the enemy to enter Moscow! *' Aware of the expediency of this measure, all ex- pedition had been previously made to remove to a place of safety the contents of the arsenal, and the treasures of the city, both public and private. With their property, most of the people departed; and Mos- cow was left a mere desert of walls and houses, with- out an inhabitant. Call to mind what the human body is when deserted by the soul! So is Moscow when abandoned by its citizens. The soul of an empire is its people; and wherever they are, there is Moscow, there is the empire of Russia. Hence, I boldly assure your most Gracious Majesty, that the entrance of the French into Moscow is not the conquest of Russia^ is not the subjugation of the capital of the Tzars. " I do not deny that the desperate alternative of sacrificing the venerable city of our ancestors, is a 161 wound to all our hearts, is a stroke that must pierce every Russian breast with unutterable regrets; but then it is a city for an empire; the immolation of a part to save the whole. " Already it affords me the means of preserving my army entire. I possess the Toula road; and cover, with the extended line of my troops, the store-house of our resources, the abundant provinces of the em- pire, which furnish our armies with their flocks and their harvests. Had I taken any other position, or per= sisted in maintaining Moscow, I must have abandon- ed these provinces to the enemy, and the consequence would have been the destruction of my army and the loss of the empire. " Now, I hold an unmolested communication with the armies of Tormozoff and Tchitchagoff; and am enabled to form a chain of union with my whole force, that empowers me, beginning from the Toula and Kalouga roads, to completely intersect the enemy's line of operations, which stretches from Smolenzk to Moscow. By this advantage I cut off every succour he may have in his rear; and, hope to compel him in the end to quit the capital, and to humble the proud direction of his plans. " Meanwhile, General Vinzingorode has received my orders to occupy Twer; and, at the same time to place a regiment of Cossacs on the road leading to Yarraslaff, to protect the inhabitants of that city from the incursions of the enemy's flying parties. For myself, stationed, as I before described, between the X 162 enemy and the fertile provinces, and at a short dis- tance from Moscow, I watch his movements, and guard the resources of the empire: for, I must repeat, that as long as the army of your Imperial Majesty exists, (and it will exist as long as there is a Russian alive to defend his country!) the loss of Moscow is not the loss of the empire! The invader will be compelled to evacuate the capital of the Tzars. Its ruins will be repaired, and the glory of the empire brightened by the very attempts that have been made to extinguish its existence. «« Dated fronx the village of Gilino, Sept. 4th, O. Si 1812. Sept. 16th, N. S. 1812." This communication made the plans of the Com- mander-in-chief clear to the Emperor. The people at large regarded the present measures with various sen- timents. Those who entered into the veteran's councils admired his consummate skill as a General; and those who knew them not, confiding in his character, await- ed with wondering suspense the result of movements so far beyond their comprehension. The information that Moscow was in the possession of the enemy, at its first report certainly struck horror into every breast. There is a principle of respect, a kind of filial attachment, which the Russian feels for all that is connected with his ancestors. To see, there- fore, the most venerable of their cities, the capital of the Tzars, and the residence of the descendants of their oldest princes; to see this place in the hands of 363 a foreign power, was more than the people could bear with patience. They felt indignation, not despair, at the usurpation; and as a sense of the insult pressed upon their minds, their courage rose in strength and greatness, and they who in tranquil times seemed but common men, in the season of conflict showed them- selves heroes. The Emperor, in unison with these feelings, and to encourage the patriotism of his subjects, by com- municating to them the answering sentiments of his own soul, ordered the following declaration to be dis- tributed throughout the empire: " Moscow was entered by the enemy on the 3d of September, O. S (the 15th, N. S.) At this intelli- gence it miglit be expected that consternation would appear in every countenance; but far from us be such pusillanimous despondency! Rather, let us swear to redouble our perseverance and our resolution; let us hope that fighting in a just cause, we shall hurl back upon the enemy all the evil with which he seeks to overwhelm us. Moscow indeed is occupied by French troops; but it has not become theirs in consequence of their having destroyed our armies. The Com- mander-in-chief, in concert with the most distinguish-- ed of our Generals, has deemed it wisest to bend for a moment to necessity. He recoils, only to give ad= ditional force to the weight with which he will fall on our enemy. Thus will the short triumph of the French leader lead to his inevitable destruction. 164 " We know that it is painful to every true heart in Russia, to see the desolators of their country in the ancient capital of the empire. But its walls alone, have been suffered to fall into his hands. Deserted by its inhabitants, and dispossessed of its treasures, it offers a tomb, rather than a dwelling place, to the ruthless invader, who would there plant a new throne on the ruins of the empire. " This proud devastator of kingdoms, on his en- trance into Moscow, hoped to become the arbiter of our fates, and to prescribe peace to us upon his own terms. But the expectation is fallacious. He finds in Moscow, not only no means for domination, but no means of existence. Our forces, already surrounding Moscow, and to which every day is bringing acces- sion, will occupy all the roads, and destroy every detachment the enemy may send forth in search of provisions. Thus will he be fatally convinced of his error in calculating that the possession of Moscow would be the conquest of the empire; and necessity will at last obhge him to fly from famine, through the closing ranks of our intrepid army. " Behold the state of the enemy. He has entered Russia at the head of an army of three hundred thou- sand men. But whence do they come? Have they any natural union with his aggrandisement? No; the great- er number of them are of different nations who serve him, not from personal attachment, not for the ho- nour of their native land, but from a base and shame- ful fear. The disorganizing principle, in such a mix- 165 ture of people, has been already proved. One half of the invader's army, thus made up of troops that have no natural boRd of union, has been destroyed; some part, by the valour of our soldiers; another, by desertion, sickness, and famine; and, the miserable remainc/,i- is at Moscow. " Without doubt, the bold, or rather, it should be called, rash enterprise of penetrating into the bosom of Russia; nay, of occupying its ancient capital; feeds the pride of the supposed conqueror: but IT IS THE END WHICH CROWNS ALL! *' He has not yet penetrated into a country where one of his actions has diffused terror, or brought a single Russian to his feet. Russia clings to the pater- nal throne of a sovereign, who stretches over her the suardian arms of affection: she is not accustomed to the yoke of oppression: she will not endure sub- jection to a foreign power. She will never surrender the treasure of her laws, her religion, and her inde pendence; and we will shed all our blood in their defence! This principle is ardent and universal; and is manifested in the prompt and voluntary organiza- tion of the people under the sacred banner of patriot- ism. Protected by such an aegis, who is it that yields to degrading apprehension? Is there an individual in the empire so abject as to despond, when vengeance is breathed by every order of the state? When the enemy, deprived of all his resources, and exhausting his strength from day to day, sees himself in the midst of a powerful nation, encircled by her armies; one of which menaces him in front, and the other three watch 166 to intercept the arrival of ^succours, and to prevent his escape? Is this an object bf alarm to any true-born Russian? When Spain has broken her bonds, and advances to threaten the integrity ot the French em- pire? When the greatest part of Europe, degraded and despoiled by the French Ruler, serves »,lin with a revolting heart, and fixing her eyes upon us, awaits with impatience the signal for universal freedom! When even France herself wishes in vain, and dares not anticipate an end to the bloody war whose only motive is boundless ambition! When the oppressed world looks to us for an example and a stimulus, shall we shrink from the high commission? No; we bow before the hand that anoints us to be the leaders of the nations in the cause of freedom and of virtue. " Surely the afflictions of the human race have at length reached their utmost point! We have only to look round us on this spot, to behold the calamities of war, and the cruelties of ambition in their extrem- est horrors. But we brave them for our liberties; we brave them for mankind. We feel the blessed con- sciousness of acting right, and that immortal honour must be the meed of a nation who, by enduring the evils of a ruthless war and determinately resisting their perpetrator, compels a durable peace, not only for itself, but for the unhappy countries the tyrant had forced to fight in his cause! It is noble, it is worthy a great people, thus to return good for evil. " All-powerful God! The cause for which we fight, is it not just? Look down then with an eye of mercy 167 upon thy sacred church! Preserve the strength and the constancy of thy people! May they triumph over their adversary and thine! May they be instruments in thy hand for his destruction! and, in rescuing them- selves, may they rescue the liberty and the indepen- dence of nations and of kings! (Signed) "Alexander." Moscow, whose magnificence and hospitality had for ages been the admiration of Europe; she who had given laws to conquerors and seen nations suing to her for protection; she was fated to be trodden under foot, by a man of obscure birth; by a self-crowned despot, raised by his own daring spirit to the throne of Charlemagne. Not content with the power annexed to one diadem, his insatiable ambition hurried him from West to East, from South to North, to trample on the rights of sovereigns, and to make the liberties of every people his prey. The extended territories of Russia, the capital of her vast empire, excited his avidity; and spreading desolation in his path, he en- tered the city of the Tzars. The palaces and the peo- ple at once disappeared; and the scene became one spectacle of murder, devastation, and famine. From the day on which his Imperial Majesty had %'isited the ancient seat of his empire, to summon, 168 from the throne of his ancestors, his subjects to give their utmost support against the unparalleled aggres- sions of this war, Count Rastapchin, the military governor of the city, was unremitting in his labours to prepare for the worst. He armed, and organised every class of individuals, and issued timely orders for theremoval of every thing in the capital that might be an acceptable spoil to the enemy. The archives of the empire and the nobility, the treasures of the Krem- lin, and of the public institutions, were taken to places of safety. He likewise recommended to the princes, and other nobles resident in Moscow, that they should transport their valuables to a distance; and so, in case of disaster putting the city into the hands of the ene- my, he might derive no advantage from his conquest* The destruction of Smolenzk had filled many of the inhabitants of Moscow with apprehensions for the fate of the objects dearest to them; and they lost no time in dispatching their wives and families to distant pro= vinces, while they themselves remained, determined to stand by the tombs of their fathers to the last gasp of their lives. Count Rastapchin, whose intrepidity and personal sacrifices reflect so much honour on his patriotism, left nothing unsaid, or example untried, that might impart confidence to these disinterested men. While he frankly acknowledged the situation in which the city stood, he declared there was no cause for immediate apprehension; but he pledged himself that should it be imminently endangered, he would lose not a moment in giving full intimation to the in- 169 habitants. The feeble, from age and sex, might then retire to refuge; while he hoped the citizen, yet strong in manhood, would not require a second call to range himself under the banners of his sovereign, and to join the heroes who were resolved to repel the invader, or to die in the contest. During these preparations in the Imperial city, the French continued to advance. They arrived at Doro- gobouche, Wiazma, and Gchatz, and was even heard of on their way to Mojaisk. The effect of this intelli- gence, in spite of the precautionary encouragements of Rastapchin, infused an alarming panic into the women, and weaker characters amongst the people of Moscow. A thousand exaggerated reports were spread abroad, a thousand idle stories were invented to increase the dismay of the fearful; which at last became so dan- gerous as to demand a scrutiny; and then it was dis- covered that, notwithstanding the vigilance of the police, a band of secret emissaries from the invader had insinuated themselves into the circles of the capi- tal, and were the primary sources of these appalling fictions. The traitors were seized, and sent to repent of their treachery in Siberia; while the people, who had been terrified by their representations, either with* drew to distant cities, or reposed themselves on the word of the Governor, to acquaint them whenever danger should really approach. The happy appointment of Prince KoutousofF to be Commander-in-chief, supported the encouraging pro» Y 170 miscs of Rastapchin, and awakened double confidence in the people. The battle of Borodino was fought, and the victory won; but it was a victory drenched in blood; it was a victory that pointed from steep to steep: terrible were the perils yet to overcome. The preservation of the ,ia empire depended on one great decision. The onward path, in the judgment of most opinions, lay in main- * taining the possession of Moscow. KoutousofF found few to coincide with his alternative; but he had the magnanimity to throw his whole reputation, the re- nown of seventy years, into the scale of his country; and he resolved on sacrificing the capital of the Tzars, to the preservation of their empire. Dispatches to this effect were sent to Count Ras- tapchin. The fatal news spread through the whole town. No- thing can paint the confusion and distressing scenes which ensued. The houses echoed with shrieks and groans. Mothers and wives were separating them- selves from their sons and husbands, who were de- termined to follow the steps of their Governor, or to abide in their native city while one stone remained on another. Children were weeping their last adieus to their fathers; and the sick and the aged refused to be carried away, to die far distant from their paternal altars and their parents' tombs. The streets and the avenues were crowded with carts and carriages of all descriptions, filled with old and young; some lying prostrate, in insensibility after the struggles of sep;i- 171 ration; and others making the air re-echo with their cries against the tyrant whose invasion divorced them from their homes. Many thousand wretched beings who had not such means of seeking safety, were com- pelled to fly on foot from the expected advance of the pitiless foe. The so lately happy city of Moscow, now poured forth from her agonised bosom weeping mul- titudes of her desolate children. Some fled to friends at a distance; others knew not where to go, but sought a refuge from the enemy, in the compasssionate cha- rity of the neighbouring provinces. Many turned on their steps; some women, clinging to the objects of their tenderest vows, found it impossible to desert the spot which they staid to defend; and many old men, tot- tered back to their paternal sheds, exclaiming, " where we were born and nourished, there will we lay us down and die!" The final orders of the Military Governor were given. In vain he besought the remnant of the inha- bitants he still saw, to accompany his march; they wept their refusal, but were firm; and, the cause of his country forbidding his longer delay, he made the sig- nal, and, at the head of forty thousand brave citizens, completely armed, he quitted the city to join the army of the Commander-in-chief. The few who now remained, and had strength to assemble in one spot; the feeble from age, and the tender from affection, the devoted patriot, and the desperate avenger; they met in a little band, deter- mined to expire in the flames of the city, rather than 172 behold its sacred towers become the bulwarks of the assassins who had desolated their homes and murder- ed their peace. On the 14th of September, at mid-day, the enemy appeared before the walls of Moscow. His advanced guard, under the command of Murat and Beauhar- nois, entered the gates with all the pride and pomp of conquest. The troops moved towards the Kremlin. A part of the self-devoted citizens had taken refuge there; and, closing the gates, desperately attempted its defence by a discharge of their muskets. Feeble were barriers of stone and iron against a host: the gates were instantly forced, and the brave victims of patriotism massacred upon the floors of their ancient fortress. Scarcely had the murderous act been perpetrated, when the pyres of loyalty were lighted, and Moscow appeared at different quarters in flames. The French troops, as they poured into the devoted city, had spread themselves in every direction in search of plun- der; and in their progress they committed outrages so horrid on the persons of all whom they discovered, that fathers, desperate to save their children from pol- lution, would set fire to their place of refuge, and find a surer asylum in its flames. The streets, the houses, the cellars, flowed with blood, and were filled with violation and carnage. Manhood seemed to be lost in the French soldier; for nothing was to be discerned in him but the wild beast ravening for prey; or rather the fiend of hell, glutten-^ 173 ing himself in the commission of every horrible crime» The fires lit by the wantonness of these marauders, mingled with the burning sacrifices of the expiring people; and the ruflians passed like demons through the flames, sacking private dwellings, and public re- positories, and when these yielded no more, they turned their sacrilegious steps to the pillage of the churches. The horrors of Smolenzk were re-acted in the sanctuaries of Moscow. Altars were again soiled with blood; sacred vessels broken and carried away; the relics of saints profaned; and even the dead dis- turbed, in search of hidden treasures. Whilst these enormities were committing, Buona- parte remained at the barrier leading to the Smolenzk road, impatiently awaiting the circumstance which he had determined should precede his triumphant entry into Moscow. He deferred that pompous ceremony until the authorities of the city should arrive in depu- tation to invite his entrance! He looked again and again towards its walls; all seemed busy there, but nothing presented itself in the form he expected. The afternoon came, and yet no person appeared. He then took the resolution of sending a Polish General into the town, to suggest to the citizens the desired depu- tation. The General proceeded on his errand; and enquiring his way of a resident foreigner whom chance brought in his path, he was conducted by this stranger to the palace which had been the seat of government; then to the police-office,' and afterwards to the house of the Governor-general. In short he 174 made his guide lead him to every place where he might have any expectation of meeting a public func- tionary; but the search was in vain. He returned to Napoleon with the information, that no legal authori- ties remained in Moscow; that the city was already a desert, and would soon be a heap of ruins. This was the first time that the tyrant's expectations had been disappointed in the homage he anticipated from a captive city. No farce of a deputation, no keys pre- sented, 'no plaudits of the moderation of the conque- ror, were offered to the advancing Caesar! Not one shadow of respect presented itself, worthy a Bulletin or a Moniteur! However, the invader of Russia would not quite relinquish his preposterous hopes. He flat- tered himself that on the next day the resident foreigners at least, would collect some of the terrified natives, and uniting themselves with them in the form of a representation of the city, would furnish him with some materials for publishing a triumph. In this expectation he took up his quarters for that night in the Petrofsky palace, about a mile from the St. Petersburgh barrier. The wished-for morning broke, the noon succeeded it, and still no trace of a coming deputation could be discerned. Incensed at this double disappointment, he at last gave up the ex- pectation; and, giving orders for his guard to proceed, he entered the town in sullen silence. Without the beating of drums, the discharge of cannon, or any of the parade with which he usually gratified the pride of his army, he took possession of the capital of the 175 Tzars! The feelings attending the accomplishment of this long- anticipated enterprise, were like those of Satan on the destruction of Paradise. The fiend was received with hisses by his damned crewj and the desolator of Russia found no other acclaim, even from his own followers, than the shrieks of the un- happy victims they were immolating to their fury. He repaired to the Kremlin; and taking possession of the great fortress of the empire, with every venge- ful passion threatening from his countenance, he cal- led around him his most confidential officers, and expressed to them his indignation at the manner he had been received. These base sateUites, taking their tone from his rage, enlarged on the opposition his soldiers had to quell in the town; and pronounced the noble contempt with which the few remaining inhabi- tants had treated their master, as an affront that de- manded the most exemplary punishment. Scarcely had Napoleon arrived in the palace of the Tzars, when, in the midst of this bloody consultation, a fire was announced to have broken out close to its walls, in the very Kremlin. His fury now knew no bounds. He denounced the direst vengeance against the perpetrators; and ordered every person that could be suspected, or Russian found near the spot, to be seized and brought before him. One hundred brave Muscovites were soon in the power of his guards, and hurried to the presence of the tyrant, on the ground near the cathedral which fronts the palace. 176 They were interrogated respecting the deed, and who had prompted them to it. They were promised life, and an absolute pardon from all punishment, if they would confess to these questions, and swear al- legiance to Napoleon. A stern silence was observed by all. Again and again they were interrogated; and still, from them, not a word was spoken. The tyrant's patience was exhausted; and finding that neither threats nor promises could shake the fidelity of these men to their sovereign, he gave the order, and they were immediately butchered. In the moment of death each stepped before the other, first to receive the shaft that was to separate him from his companion. With calmness in their countenances, and fortitude in their demeanor, they simply made the sign of the cross upon their breast, and fell under the stroke of their assassins. The author of their fate dared not look upon them; but he listened with exul- tation to the firing of the hundred balls which, succes- sively, deprived the dauntless band of existence. This cruel massacre soon became known to the wretched remains of the inhabitants; and, while detes- tation of the act doubly envenomed their hatred of Napoleon, they repeated their oaths sooner to die than to acknowledge his authority. Both sexes joined in the vow; and then, with tears of despair they divided, to seek a temporary refuge in the cellars, and amongst the smoking ruins of their once happy dwellings. During the night they sometimes met to repledge 177 their faith to each other; but in the day, scarcely a native of the city was to be seen. Notwithstanding the terrific example which the French leader had made of the hundred Muscovites whom he supposed had set fire to the Kremlin, he yet feared a repetition of the attempt from others of the people; and, to take every precaution for his security, he ordered all the gates to be kept close shut, with the single exception of that which opens to the Nicolisky street, and by which no one should enter but the officers highest in his confidence. Thus did the dread of a few loyal spirits, (too few to emerge from their secret hiding places!) hold the invader of their coun- try a prisoner, even in the centre of his vaunted con- quests! Do we not in this, see that there are times in which even the most successful guilt will stand in awe of virtue? It is to be deplored that her power is not more often tried. The fire which had been lit in the Kremlin, found answering beacons throughout the whole range of the circles which comprised the city of Moscow. The conflagration continued to spread in every direction, and, with its devouring flames, augmented the horrors of the night. The soldiers, regardless of order or dis- cipline, and instigated by the example of too many of their officers, seized every occasion which these scenes presented, to pillage and destroy. Buonaparte beheld the increasing destruction with uneasiness, least the ungovernable progress of the flames should wrest from him the glory of possessing Z 178 Moscow, by the utter consumption of the city. To avert this blow to his pride, he commanded his Gene- rals to leave no means untried to extinguish the thou- sand fires by which he was enveloped. His orders were seduously obeyed; but it was not until the 20th of the month that the fierceness of the flames ceased to rage. The picture, drawn of the commencement of these calamities, by a sharer in them, and one who was an eye-witness of their horrors, is a faithful representa- tion, and I will subjoin it. " From the night of yesterday (September 14th) until that of the 19th, the fire blazed in all quarters. It first broke out near the Foundling Hospital, and then, almost immediately, on the side of the city close to the stone bridge, and in the neighbourhood of the place which the king of Naples selected for his resi- dence. A third, and more extensive fire, burst out and spread itself along the face of the centre of the town. The inhabitants beheld their burning houses with a resignation which could only proceed from the belief that they should not long survive their destruc- tion. The conviction that their losses would be de- privation to the enemy also; that in the flames perished his most important resources; was the tranquillizer of every regret. New fires broke forth where ever the French soldiers directed their ruthless steps. Women cast themselves into the flames to escape violation; 179 and the blood of the brave Muscovite was vainly shed to extinguish fires kindled by his patriot hands. " On the morning of the third day after the entrance of these robbers, a violent wind arose, and then in- deed the conflagration became general. In less than an hour the whole extent of the capital, for many wersts, seemed a sheet of flame. All the immense tract of land above the river, which used to be co- vered with houses, was one sea of fire; and the sky was hidden from our eyes by the tremendous volumes of smoke which rolled over the city. " Direful as was this calamity, though it even me- naced the lives of our destroyers, yet they felt no pity; not a touch of remorse came near their obdurate hearts. Still they pursued the search of plunder; still they heaped crime upon crime; and deepened, with every act of cruelty, the tremendous horrors of the scene. ** Surely the Almighty Judge, in His utmost wrath, never before presented so awful a spectacle to man- kind! " Through billows of fire, upon every elevated spot, hundreds of the blood-thirsty robbers were seen chacing their unhappy victims to nameless outrages, and to more welcome death. Where was there an asylum for suffering human- nature? Where for feeble age, shrinking from the impending torture? Where for the bleeding limbs of the young patriot? Where for the frantic maid flying from the grasp of the law- less ruffian? There was no refuge on earth: and guilt. 180 for a time, had its triumph. Napoleon, from the win- dows of the Kremlin, must have contemplated the progress of this deluge of destruction. While he shuddered, for his own sake, at the stormy ocean of fire swelling and sinking, and urging its waves to- wards him, he must assuredly have been visited by some thoughts to remind him that he was a vulnera- ble man; that an hour would come when he must ac- count for the scene before him, to the Being by whom himself, and all the creatures now perishing by his means, were alike created! If ever his conscience has spoken to him, if ever it has made itself heard, it was in one of these dreadful nights. The flames of Mos- cow, must have been to him, the torch of the furies." Whatever might have been the private feelings of this chief of banditti, he was aware of the necessity of preserving some place of shelter for his followers during the approaching inclement season; and to se- cure what had escaped the united devastation of sa- crifice and of rapine, he attempted to institute a civil authority and a police. He who had unyoked the de- mons of licentiousness and robbery, now felt alarm est the effects of their blind fury should recoil upon himself; and to ensure his own safety, he was at last obliged to fix limits to aggression on others. After making several ineffectual efforts, sometimes menacing, and at other times alluring by promises, he at length persuaded certain individuals to take on them so desperate a duty, and to form themselves 181 into a municipal body. Monsieur Lesseps, who had once been the French Consul-general at Saint Peters- burgh, (and whose exertions deserved the credit of having gained this point), was appointed Intendant of the Province of Moscow. Active as were the offi- cers of this necessary authority, it was so novel a thing that the objects of it hardly acknowledged its power; and robbery and murder continued to stalk abroad with as daring fronts as ever. Even these new magistrates, as they went about in discharge of their offices, were affronted, assailed, and beaten to their quarters with insult. Every corps of the army, marching in from the camp without the barriers, could prove the same right to plunder, as that which had been exercised by those whose good fortune had sent them first into the field of pillage. NAPOLEON HAD PROMISED THEM THE TREASURES OF MOSCOW! After the capture of Smolenzk, and the disappoint- ment sustained there by the removal of its riches, Napoleon had decided on making an attempt upon Moscow; and, should he carry the place, to devote the wealth of its princes and its people to the avidity of his soldiers. With this view, and to appease the murmurs that reached his ear respecting the unsatis- fied wants of the army, he announced to them that Moscow was his next object; that his troops should winter there; and that, from the bosom of its abun- dance, while his soldiers were imbibing new strength from its full stores, he would dictate terms of peace 182 to the Emperor Alexander, and fix the glory of France on a pinnacle that would irradiate the whole world. While on his march, and perceiving the spires and minarets of Moscow at a distance, he pointed to them and exclaimed to his followers: — " Behold the end of your campaign! Its gold, and its plenty, are yours." It was to these promises he owed his present em- barrassment. How could he chastise the ravages to which he had given his license? and how could he hope to conciliate any part of a people whose fellow- citizens he abandoned to the most wanton destruction? To extirpate is not to conquer. And the services of the conquered would be too useful to him in his pro- posed advances to the subjugation of the empire, to allow him to witness the calamities of Moscow with- out seeming to check their tide. To do it in reality was beyond even the power of Buonaparte; and, what he could not remedy, he sought to excuse by pub- lishing an apology for military robbery! This ma- noeuvre produced no other effect than to develop to all parties the convenient political morality of its au- thor. The fire was at last extinguished; but the work of desolation still continued in the sacking of the place, committing violences in the streets, and defying the civil authorities. To oppose this insubordination. Na- poleon had resort to placards and proclamations; and finding them despised, he went so far as to have two or three of the most atrocious offenders shot. When even this small show of justice appeared amongst 183 their enemies, some few of the poor inhabitants, pe- rishing with hunger, took heart, and crept from the obscure recesses in which they had lain concealed. But what a change had taken place during their short retreat! Moscow was no longer to be recognised. Nothing remained of this once magnificent city, but a vast plain, covered with ruins and smoking ashes! Every where the dilapidated streets were choked up with human bodies, and the carcases of dead horses. And yet there was a more direful spectacle to behold: wretched fathers and husbands, running to and fro, seeking from the murdered heaps the mangled re- mains of their wives and daughters! Others rushed wildly from their coverts, demanding something to appease the cravings of famishing nature! And some, exhausted by want and misery, without a murmur, or turning even an eye of supplication to their oppres- sors, fell extended on the earth, expiring on the na- tive soil to which they had devoted their existence. Thus, day after day, increased the distresses of this venerable city. But while tyranny trampled it in the dust, he did not escape feeling some part of the in- jury he inflicted. In the rencontres of licentiousness, and the assassination of the helpless people, the French soldiers forgot how to use their arms in the open field. Though full of threats and bombast, all their exploits, during their stay at Moscow, may be sum- med up in a few reconnoitering skirmishes, and tw© or three abortive attempts to procure provisions. 184 To have a clear apprehension of the succeeding transactions of the campaign, it will be necessary to recapitulate, en train, a few circumstances already no- ticed. After the battle of Borodino, Prince KoutousofF continued his march from the scene of his victory without any molestation; and on the 13th of Septem- ber halted about three wersts from Moscow, where he held a council of war; the decisions of which have been already stated in the paper he addressed from Gilino to his Imperial Majesty. Having balanced every sacrifice with its correspond- ing advantage, and settled all preliminaries to meet the necessity of abandoning the metropolis, early in the morning of the 14th he parted from its gallant Governor, the magnanimous Rastapchin, and march*- ed through the city to the barrier of Kalumna. He passed that boundary, and by affecting certain dispo- sitions amused the enemy, whilst in reality he took up the ground he had predetermined to occupy to the southward of the town. According to the arrangement between the Com- mander-in-chief and the Governor of Moscow, before the French approached the city the whole of the sick and wounded, who were able to bear motion, were taken away and carried to places of safety. Amongst these involuntary fugitives, was the brave and ever- 185 to- be- lamented Prince Bragation. He died as he had lived, amidst the glory of his actions, and was buried in the way to Yarraslaff with every mark of honour due to his virtues. Gallant and amiable Bragation! What has been said of the heroic Bayard may as truly be aifirmed of thee. " Thou wert without fear or re- proach!'* After the Russian army had made two movements by the way of Gilino, it crossed the river Moscva near Koulakova. At a distance of eight or nine wersts it began its flank dispositions by forced marches, and on the 18th of the month reached the city of Podol, The rear-guard, which had been left along the bank of the Pocra, had orders to follow the direction of the main army; but previously to detach a strong body of Cossacs to make such false demonstrations as would induce the enemy to imagine that the whole mass of troops were moving on Kalumna. This ma= noeuvre had the desired effect; for the French, be- lieving these Cossacs were the covering parties of the rear-guard, dispatched a formidable force towards them; and they conducted themselves with such abi» lity and resolution, that the movements of the main army were completely concealed, and the enemy so deceived by their demonstrations, that he directed his attention to no other point. So ably was this feint executed, that it lasted for several days, and allowed the Commander-in-chief to pass, without the smallest disturbance, to his selected position upon the ancient road leading to Kalouga, 2A 186 He arrived on this commanding line on the 23d, and stationed his head-quarters at the village of Kras- noy-Procra. By this position, his right stretched across the Toula road; his left, beyond the Kalouga new road; and his centre occupied the old Voad. This arrangement planted a bulwark of invincible patriots between the richest Russian provinces and the enemy; shutting him completely out from their abundant fields and opulent cities. The Orel also, by this ad- mirable position, was barred from him; and every long- cherished hope of drawing supplies from that quarter, he was obliged now to abandon. Besides these judicious stations for his main army, KoQtousoff detached a large body of troops under Major-general DochtorofF, towards Mojaisk, to act on the rear of the French. He also sent several corps of Cossacs and hussars to intercept the reinforcements and convoys that might be on their way to join the enemy in Moscow. Thus were the different divisions of the Russian army appointed at this awful crisis of the empire; and in the trying hour, happy were those whose courage was put to meet death alone. Agonies more severe than the most torturing deaths, did they endure, who bore the iron which entered their very souls, as they stood at their posts within sight of Moscow, and beheld the horrors of that devoted city. The account which the French bulletin gives of this movement of Koutousoff, is particularly curious; not for its military view of the matter, but from the turn which the writer wishes to give to the demeanor 187 of the Russian army on witnessing the conflagration of their ancient metropolis. " The Russian army," observes this journalist, " on evacuating the Kalomna road, made a tour of half the city, at a distance of six wersts. The wind setting in this direction, drove volumes of fire and smoke upon them. Our march^ a Russian officer is reported to have said, was a march of gloom; of smoke and of religion. Dismay filed every breast; and we became so penetrated with horror^ both officers and meuy that the most profound silence reigned throughout the army, a silence as if all were at prayer. ^^ If this remark were ever made, out of the pages in which we find it, the speaker must have been a Frenchman; for, no man in the Russian army could have mistaken the awful silence of that march. It was the silence of men, called upon to immolate the ob- jects dearest to them, for the preservation of their country. It was the silence of men witnessing the sacrifice of these objects in the raging fires of Mos- cow. There perished the homes of their fathers, the endearments of domestic love; all that is precious to the parent, to the husband, and to the friend! Can men have hearts, and mistake the cause of the pro- found silence of the Russian soldiers, as they moved on, and beheld this scene? Where is the superstition, (for this report would so insinuate of religion!) of breathing a prayer at such a moment? In beholding 188 this demoniac proof of man's ambitious enmity against man, where can the outraged spirit turn with more reason, than to invoke the God of mercy, for objects so dear? Awe, and not dismay; true religion, and not superstitious gloom, then occupied the minds of the Russian army: and, M'hile their prayers called on Hea- ven to pity the devoted city, they could hardly fail from adding a cry for retribution " on the heads of the^r^^ authors of all these miseries." The fall of Moscow, as the veteran Commander- in-chief expressed himself, was not that of the coun- try. The enemy's aim had been to strike at the heart of the empire, and he had made the blow, but the wound was not mortal. " Moscow is not Russia!" exclaimed every voice, " The empire exists in our- selves!" The Imperial Alexander, worthy of com- manding such a people, sympathized with their en- thusiasm; and seeing the salvation of the state in their heroic faith, reiterated the sentiment, " It is the end which crowns the toil!" The army of KoutousofF augmented its numbers every day; and in a few weeks the army of the inva- der was in a state of blockade. Every hand was raised against him, every device put in execution to reduce him to extremity. Thousands of brave men left their ploughs to range themselves under the banners of their country; and those who came not to the regular lines, armed themselves in the best manner they could; and, dispersing themselves over the roads and by-ways, the woods and the ravines, hunted out the 189 foraging parties of the enemy with the most deadly diligence and revenge. Hordes of troops were con- tinually arriving from the foot of the Caucasus, and from the shores of the Caspian. The farthest domi- nions of the empire pressed forward their sons to avenge the ruin of the Imperial City, and to convince its desolators that Alexander reigned in the hearts of all his people. Bashkirs, Calmucs, and Tartars, crowded from the east and the south to swell the glo- rious host destined to rid the empire of its proud in= vaders. The Cossacs of the Don, not satisfied with the proofs of loyalty they were already giving in the field under their brave Hetman, had prepared an armament of reserve from amongst the veterans who had served their limited time, and their youth of an age to bear arms. Twenty of these regiments, (the old, eager to renew the transports of victory; and the young, to be- gin the contest) w^ere ready to march at a few hours' notice. Six pieces of flying artillery were to accom- pany them to the field. Independent of this force, not only raised, but equipped, on the banks of their na- tive river, another was to be formed in the same quarter under the direction of the nobility of Novo- gorode. They presented them with fifteen hundred horses; and the Cossac merchants, residing in that city, made a subscription amongst themselves, amount- ing to ninety- three thousand six hundred roubles, to furnish arms for their brave countrymen. In fact, but one feeling seemed to animate the souls of every 190 Russian subject. To give all that he possessed on earth, in exchange for the liberty of the empire: his property, his affections, his life. Never did Europe, or the world, behold so determined, so universal, s© concentrated a spirit of patriotism. The French army, after having lost sight of the Russian force, (a body of one hundred and fifty thou- sand men!) for many days, at length, to their astonish^ ment, found it close to their rear; and made the dis- covery at the very time when their advanced parties were rambling about, at a considerable distance, in search of it. The General-aide-de-camp, Baron Vin- zingorode, being on the opposite side of Moscow, at Twer, had pushed his troops forward upon the roads in so many directions, that his right detach- ments reached the quarter of Mojaisk, and acted in concert with those which had been dispatched from the main army on the Kalouga road. By these able, prompt, and, to the enemy, unexpected manoeuvres, almost an entire circle was formed round the French at Moscow. While we feel the praise that ought to be given to the Russian General for these movements, we cannot easily comprehend how one of so renowned military abilities as Buonaparte, (and aided too, by such ex- 191 perienced officers), could have allowed himself to re- main in ignorance of motions so decisive of his fate. In this crisis, he appears to have lost the penetration of a General, which leads him to calculate with tole- rable certainty on the probable movements of his opponent. And, either he must have been strangely- negligent of seeking the necessary information, or, those he employed were very erroneous in their ob- servations and reports. The infatuation which some- times falls upon even the greatest men in the most critical juncture of their affairs, is often as wonderful to the observer as it is fatal to the subject of its in- fluence. On the discovery of the near neighbourhood of the Russian position, a considerable part of the French army formed itself close under the walls of Moscow, and placed strong divisions on the respective roads, from that of Kalumna to that of Saint Petersburgh. The advanced guard of Koutousoff's army was sta- tioned in a parallel direction to these positions of the enemy, about ten wersts in their front, and as far as the new Kalouga road. Thus were the French involved by the lines of Russia, as the tyger is entangled in the meshes of the snare by which he is caught. Moscow which was to be the palace from which the conqueror of the world had decreed he would issue his irreversible mandates, was now his prison; and, in the midst of his field- marshals and his legions, the Great Napoleon found himself out- generalled and a captive. Disappointment 192 and consternation spread throughout the invading army. Little else had they derived from the merciless sacking of the Russian capital, than blood and an ac- cession of guilt. Pressed with wants of every descrip- tion, in vain did they look with longing eyes towards that France so few of them were to see again; and on the way to which, they now saw nothing but Russian troops intercepting their couriers, their reinforce- ments, and their provisions. Thus, their military fame eclipsed, and their very existence menaced, by the foe they had so lately threatened to annihilate, they cried aloud for that peace, which their proud leader had promised them should be entreated by the conquered Russians at the gates of Moscow. Buonaparte, as he had waited at the barrier of the city for an invitation from its functionaries to bless them with his presence, now waited for the heads of the Russian government to beg at his hands the olive branch of peace. In both cases — he waited in vain. No flags of truce arrived. No symptoms whatever were evinced of a disposition in the nation to com- promise its glory and its independence. Nor could he find one friend, amongst the number he boasted to possess in the empire, to lead the way in bowing to the yoke of deception and slavery. No art was left untried, no temptation unpractised, to allure some in- dividual to set the base example; but disappointment waited upon every attempt; and the tyrant was forced to see that he had to do with a Sovereign and a people determined to die rather than to submit. 193 Buonaparte, having allowed these vain expectations to usurp the time he might have actively used for the service of his ambition, saw with increased mortifica- tion that the delay had only augmented his embarrass- ments by doubling the distresses of the army. The vigilance of the Russian light troops continued to cut off all the convoys and succours which attempted to reach Moscow by the way of Smolenzk; and the small means of subsistence which had been found in the capital, being nearly exhausted, famine and disease began to stalk in visible shapes before his eyes. The French soldiers bore their privations at first with gloomy desperation. But when the sufferings of extreme hunger, and its attendant ills, assailed them, then their patience was exhausted; and their idolatrous adoration of the man who had brought them into these miseries, was changed to disrespect, to indignation, to loud demands for the promised reward of their mili- tary toils, yor Plenty^ or for Peace! No remonstrances, no flatteries, no threatenings, from the creatures of Napoleon, could longer hold the despairing army within the bounds of discipline. Mutiny and pillage broke every restriction. Every day thousands of fa- mishing soldiers left their camp, and entered the city, to break into houses and magazines, and seek by force for means to satisfy the cravings of hunger unto mad- ness. Others, in troops, without orders, and despising the commands that would withhold them, dispersed themselves over the country, marauding every where in search of bread. Blood tracked their steps; for scat- 2 B 194 tered in a hundred directions in quest of food or death, almost every where these unhappy wretches were lost. Those in remote places were sacrificed to the rage of the ambushed peasantry; and those who appeared in public ways, were cut down by the numerous Cossacs which scoured the roads. Necessity, at last, forced even the dominant pride of Napoleon; and finding that Russia would not take the part of the suppliant, he felt himself reduced to offer, what he wished should be asked as a boon; and making a show of particular concern for the peace of mankind, he condescended to dispatch General Lau- riston (the ci-devant ambassador at the Court of St. Petersburgh,) with a flag of truce to the Russian head -quarters. His errand was to attempt, at least, to open a negociation with Prince Koutousoff. He was received by the Russian Commander with every mark of politeness, but not with a cordiality to invite the unfolding of his mission. However, on being officially interrogated as to the purport of his visit, he told the Prince that he came in the name of the Emperor Na- poleon, who was actuated by considerations of huma- nity alone and a desire to stop the effusion of Russian blood, to communicate to their Commander-in-chief, that his Imperial Majesty of France was still willing to treat for a renewal of friendship between the two empires. The Prince replied, by telling Lauriston to say to his master, that with respect to sparing the effusion of Russian blood, every man born in Russian land, was 195 ready to shed his blood in support of the indepen- dence of the empire; and to maintain it, both his Im- perial Majesty Alexander, and the nation at large, were determined never to listen to one pacific word, whilst a foreign soldier remained within the frontiers of their country. Having received this answer, the French General was not permitted to press the subject farther; but, the safe conduct was given to him, and he returned full of chagrin to his master. Buonaparte would hardly listen to the end of the conference. He expressed violent indignation at what he termed the insolence of the Russian Commander; who, he expected, would have felt himself too much honoured by the overture, not at least to open a nego- ciation. However, great as was the French leader's resentment against KoutousofF, the necessity for not driving his troops quite to despair, was yet greater; and therefore he tried to flatter his Generals that the desired pacification would take place whenever his wish to that purpose should reach the Emperor Alex- ander. To soften to the soldiers the failure of this em- bassy, every means were resorted to that might inspire them with an idea that KoutousofF was acting beyond his credentials; and that Alexander, when informed of his arrogance to his old ally, (who, though now his enemy, was yet the Great Napoleon!) would punish his presumption by immediately sending peremptory orders that the French proposals should be discussed, and, probably, accepted. Nothing was omitted to be 196 said, which could cherish this illusion in the minds of the miserable inmates of the camp and of the town. The madness of desperation was to be averted at any rate; and, where truth would have unveiled to the eyes of the arm)'^, the gulph on which they stood, falsehood was called upon to spread over the wide destruction her betraying mists. Buonaparte invented, and caused to be circulated, the most agreeable re- ports, from day to day, throughout the city and the lines. Sometimes it was rumoured that Riga had been taken by assault; then that Macdonald had made his triumphant entry into St. Petersburgh. Another in- formant spoke of a considerable convoy that was known to be on its way from the French resources, and was bringing winter cloathing and other neces- saries for the army; and that it was so large, and so well protected, as to cover the road from Wilna to Smolenzk. Besides these ''flattering unctions" with which he sought to medicine the venom which had seized on his impatient and perishing troops, he gave out that Marshal Victor was advancing with strong reinforcements; and, to prove that the good star of Napoleon was still in the ascendant, the Russian army was enduring still greater privations than the French! It was dismembered by universal discontents! and the commanding officers, divided by intrigue and faction, were calling aloud for Peace on any terms. With these wild subterfuges did the invader of Russia seek to appease the murmurs of his disap- pointed followers. Many died of want, before the 197 falsehood of his several informations could be proved, by the non-appearance of the succours he promised. They, whose hardier constitutions yet contended vv^ith all the horrors of famine, and sometimes of disease, gave their credence a little longer to the tales which kept them from despair. Encouraged by the success of these artifices, he turned his attention towards con- ciliating the poor remnant of the inhabitants which remained alive in Moscow; and from them, he ex- tended his subtilties to the people of the villages that surrounded the capital. He issued proclamations, in which he set forward the brightness of his own vir- tues as a hero and a sovereign, and invited the dis- persed natives to return to their homes, and enjoy, in fraternity with the Great Nation^ the freedom and happiness of his protectio^i. Could a feeling of the ridiculous be united with a sense of outrage, the Russian people must have laughed at the absurdity of such an address from the ravager of their country. The houseless fugitives from Smolenzk, and the smoking ashes which tracked their destroyer's march, bore too strong evidences of the sort of protection and fraternal love intended by the Great Nation and its Rulery for the people to listen otherwise than with contempt as well as indignation to such an attempt upon their understandings. In cases of extremity, they •might become the victims of his cruelties; but they were not to be seduced by his promises. Napoleon at last was forced to see that the Russian nation was nei- ther to be subdued nor deceived. The most dreadful 198 calamities could not bow their spirit, nor the most magnificent temptations warp it. The people whom at a distance he had stigmatized with the names of slaves and barbarians, he was compelled to know as a race too noble to betray themselves, or those who confided in their virtue. While Buonaparte was thus occupying himself, to compass by the art of policy, what he could not ac- complish by that of war, the Russian Generals, at the head of their respective columns, relaxed not in their exertions to accumulate the distresses of the enemy. Dochtorofi', who was posted in observation on the Mojaisk road, sent in hourly information to the Com- mander-in-chief, of the various and successful opera- tions of annoyance made by the Emperor's troops against the French. On the night of the 22d he as- sembled his own detachment at the village of Schara- povo, and thence dispersed his parties, with orders to take or destroy every succour they might find ap- proaching Moscow. The Dragoons and Cossacs under his command were so constantly on the alert, night and day, as, from the 22d of September, to the 4th of October, to seize upwards of fifty-six carts and car- riages, charged with supplies from the French in Smolenzk to their brethren in the capital. Besides 199 this spoil, these vigilant troops took, at different times, two thousand prisoners, (including twenty- six officers, and an aide-de-camp of Marshal Ney's,) which had formed the escorts of the supplies. Baron Korff 's detachment did not halt behind that of Dochtoroff, in active service. It took many priso- ners, intercepted the couriers and correspondence of the enemy, and rescued two large packages of church plate which Napoleon was sending from the sacred treasures of Moscow. Miloradovitch, with his brave corps, watched the movements of Murat's advanced guard in the vicinity of Panskoy, on the banks of the Netra. This small river flows into the Moscva at the village of Kosro- guina, near the road leading to Voscreshinskoy. Baron Vinzingorode was equally well placed; and his troops having been reinforced by three thousand militia from Yarraslaff, he was enabled to strengthen his advance; the right of which occupied Tcherni- grease on the St. Petersburgh road; and the left held a good position near the town of Volokolamsk. He had also a formidable party on the Voscreshinskoy road, to connect his wings. He had previously sta- tioned Cossacs on the Dimitroff and Yarraslaff" roads to observe the enemy, who had not been slow in dis- patching strong detachments to oppose these move- ments. Every day produced skirmishes, in which the Russians not only took prisoners, but received hun- dreds of deserters from the French lines. The dis- tresses of the French camp became so unbearable. 200 that Germans, and whole regiments of Spaniards and Portuguese, whom the despot had forced into his service, fled at once from vassalage and famine, to the Russian protection. Every hour more and more impaired the vain hope of Napoleon of receiving a conciliatory application from the court of St. Petersburgh. Full time had elapsed for such an order to have arrived, and yet no messenger was seen from the Russian camp. The soldiery became violent, despairing. Disease was now augmenting the pangs of hunger; and they called aloud that they were deceived, that they were betray- ed to the most cruel of deaths. To quiet the increas- ing tumult, their ruler found it necessary, so far to humble his pride, as to send Count Lauriston again to the Russian head- quarters. His offers for a renewal of friendship between the two empires were the same as before, and the same answer was returned that he had received on his former visit. Aware of what would be the rage of his master when he should again carry back such a reply, the Count requested Prince Koutousoff, " since he refused himself to open an amicable correspondence with the Emperor Napoleon, to forward a letter from that Monarch to his Imperial Majesty Alexander." "I will do that," replied the Prince, " provided the word peace on the terms now offered is not expressed in that letter. I would not be a party in such an insult to my sovereign, as to have a hand in forwarding to him, what he would instantly order to be destroyed in his presence. You already 201 knoiv on what terms, and on them alone, will offers of peace be listened to. His Imperial Majesty, we know, will keep as firm to his resolves, as we shall stand stedfast in ours, to support the independence of the empire." Having said this, his Highness bade a polite fare- well to Lauriston, and begged him not to repeat visits which must be unavailing. The return of his messenger with this reply, in- censed Buonaparte to the most vehement expressions of indignation. He found himself treated with con- tempt as well as opposition, and had it not been that the critical situation of his army made the strictest caution necessary, it is probable the resentment with which he was filled, might have precipitated him to make some strong effort of revenge. But he too plainly saw in the persevering enmity of his adversa- ries, the situation to which he was reduced. He per- eeived that if, by some political finesse, or military manoeuvre, he did not extricate his army from the dreadful dilemma into which he had unwarily led itj he must forever abandon his designs on Russia, de- stroy the basis of his empire in France, and blast his reputation throughout Europe. No longer dazzled by the continued blaze of his victories, the kingdoms he had deluded to his sceptre would not only see the baseness of their vassalage, but how to recover their liberty; and he would have the mortifying conviction that the talisman of his good fortune had been broken by the firm virtue of the very people whom he had 2C 202 taught these subject nations to contemn as ignorant savages and hereditary slaves. After weighing both ways of escape, negociation still seemed the most feasible; for the wants of his troops, the spirit of desertion which prevailed amongst those who were foreigners, and the insubordination which disorganized even the French; made a military attempt at this moment a rashness not to be dared. Repugnant, therefore, as he was to again appear, in the person of his ambassador, at the levee of the Russian Commander-in-chief, he wished to persuade himself that Koutousoff might be induced to treat, were the evacuation of Moscow proposed as a pre- liminary measure. Grasping at this new expectation, he again called Lauriston into his presence, and order- ed him to repair once more to the Russian camp with this proffer, " which should contain his final offer of peace." In this offer, he desired it to be proposed that an armistice must first be agreed on, and then Moscow should be immediately restored to the Russian Em- peror. This done, the French army, with its artillery and baggage, would retire upon Wiazma; and there station themselves in a place, which they hoped would become the theatre of a future friendly pacific con- ference. No explanation need be offered of the ultimate views of Buonaparte, in this proposal. Nor is it re- quisite to make comments on what would have been the result to the Russians, had they been weak enough 203 to be caught by the bait of the re-possession of the capital. It must in common probability, have proved the destruction of their empire. Alexander would have been an Emperor in fee of the Great Napoleon; and the Russian people, a nation of slaves, plunged into a gulph of intellectual darkness, more barren of light than that of the remotest hyperborean hordes. Delusive as might be the hopes of their Destroyer, the Russian people remained firm to the independence of their empire; and to that sun of mental light and personal liberty, which rose with Alexander's natal star upon their country. Their answer spoke from the lips of KoutousoiF, and it was what might be na- turally anticipated from an upright and sincere people. KoutousofF was not slow in comprehending the views of Buonaparte in adding to these repeated applica- tions for a negociation of peace, a proposal for an arf mistice. " No," replied the Russian Commander, " it is not the time for us to grant either the one or the other, when the campaign is just opening on our part." Napoleon received this final blow to his diplomatic machinations with answerable emotions. He was com- pelled to see that no art could prevail on his present enemies to become the sport of his destiny; and fear- ing that, on the contrary, he might at last, be the victim of their's; his apprehensions became troubled with ten thousand foreboding images. He saw the gigantic spectre of his ambition falling before the ge- nius of Russia, and lying buried for ever under the 204 pale shroud of a northern winter; he beheld the sun of his glory darkened by storms; and its rays totally extinguished by the overwhelming ruin of his army, perishing amid the deserts they were invited to con- quer! From the apparitions of such direful *' coming events," it is not surprising that the French Dictator should be anxious to fly. By removing himself from the most prominent scene of his people's miseries, he hoped to escape some of the tormenting retrospec- tions to which they pointed; and leaving Moscow^ under some trifling excuse, he took up his residence at the palace of Petrofsky: the place where, a few weeks before, he had in vain awaited the visit of the municipality of the city. In this seat of his double mortification, truth so far shone into his mind, as to convince him that all his proud expectations of the Russian empire, must be laid down on this spot. But before he relinquished the idea of planting his uni- versal throne upon that of the Tzars, he determined that their ancient metropolis should for ever remem- ber that the foot of Napoleon was once upon its thres- hold. The destruction which the loyalty and despair of the Muscovites had begun, he was resolved should be so finished by the French soldiers, that nothing should remain of the golden palaces and shining mi- narets of Moscow, but the desolated plain on which they had stood. His principle has ever been, " Where I cannot reign, I will destroy/' and issuing his orders in con,- 205 formity to this principle, he found the habits of his followers' minds only too ready to execute his com- mands. While they aroused themselves with mutual and horrid emulations to pursue the work of destruc- tion, their officers found some difficulty in keeping the devastation within such limits as to allow of any vestige whatever being preserved, to carry to Paris as a trophy of Moscow! Whilst rapine, murder, and flames, re-awakened their uproar throughout this de- voted city, all that could be rescued for the purpose of a Parisian triumph^ were the gilded cross and cres- cent which Napoleon had ordered to be stripped from the high tower of the Great church of St. John; and the old standards from the Kremlin, which had been taken from the Turks by the Russians during their several wars with that state. These spoils were carefully packed up to be sent to Paris; and to enrich the warlike deposit, they were accompanied by whatever treasure had fallen to the Conqueror^s share! Owing to the confusion of the inhabitants, when quitting their habitations so abruptly on the approach of the French, some had left their plate behind them. Indeed a few of the churches had been left in pos- session of their sacred vessels. And, as may be sup- posed, it was not long after the entrance of these general robbers that the whole of these riches, private and public, became the property of the commanders of the diiferent divisions. They seized all that could be found, and melting the gold and silver into bars. 206 (to make them the easier for carriage), they loaded their baggage, and remained ready for a moment's mandate. These commanders were too well read in the progress of conquest, and in the consequence of disaster, not to have long foreseen their aban- donment of Moscow; and, therefore, without sur- prise they attended Napoleon's summons to the Pe- trofsky palace, and heard his final decision respecting the ancient capital of the Tzars. He commanded them to make it known to his army that, in spite of all his exertions, he found the barbarous system of warfare used by the Russians, had so destroyed Moscow, that his greatest efforts to restore it, either as a military position, or a place of political influence, had proved abortive. It was therefore become a station of equal unimportance to the enemy as to himself; and was totally unworthy the risque of passing a winter within its ruins. The weather, to be sure, was then (the be- ginning of October) warmer than, at that season of the year, they had it in France. But, as the climates were altogether different, with the succeeding month they must expect cold. On these considerations, it was his intention immediately to resign the boasted capital of the Tzars to the solitude that must be the consequence of its desolation; and to lead his brave troops without loss of time into a part of the country more friendly to his views, and where an overflowing plenty would be the reward of all their labours. In these abundant provinces he would establish his win- ter quarters, and ifj during that period, the Russian 207 empire should persist in refusing his offered pcace^ the spring should see him spread his legions over the whole country; and, creating a Duke of Smolenzk and of St. Petersburgh, he would efface the name of Russia from the list of European nations! The cry of havoc! spread from the palace of Pe- trofsky to the whole of the French army. It was now indeed that the demon of destruction was let loose to satiate itself with human misery. The soldiers of the camp and of the town rushed from all quarters to pursue their devastating task. Nothing was to be spared; neither church, nor palace, nor private dwell- ing, was to be left unsacked, undestroyed. The Foundling-hospital alone, (having been made the as- sylum of the French sick, and which now contained several thousand of the wounded soldiers), was to be exempt from the torch of annihilation. No objects presented themselves but multitudes of robbers scouring the streets, bursting open the doors and cellars of the houses which yet held an inhabitant; whether native or foreigner it was all the same to their rapacity; they penetrated to the remotest apart- ments, and dragging forth the wretched owners from their hiding-places, stripped them naked, that their clothes might add to the heaps of their plunder. Hun-^ dreds of fainting women, who had escaped the last horrors of the first outrages on Moscow, were violated, and murdered; and their bodies thrown out of their houses into the open street, to lay amidst the piles of 208 putrefying carcases of horses and men which starva- tion had deprived of existence. The blood-hounds of death but too well obeyed in every quarter, the voice of their inhuman leader. The air was filled with shrieks, and groans, and im- precations. It was a very Pandemonium; a congrega- tion of devils let loose to riot in human miseries, in human flesh j for scenes of blood and cruelties were transacted there which puts to nought the ravening of wild beasts, the horrid destruction of cannibals in the midst of their most savage orgies. How then must we start with horror when we un- derstand that all these refinements on barbarism were the effects of regular orders issued from Napoleon to his Generals, and from them to the individuals of the army! Thus sanctioned, the soldiery no longer con- sidered their rapine an unlawful act, but pursued their enormities with the confidence of men fulfilling a duty. One day it was the senior guards who pillaged; on the next it was the junior. The day following that, the division of Marshal Davoust took its turn. And so on, in regular course, till all the diiferent corps encamped around the city had their share in finishing the work of ruin. For eight days, without intermission, did this law of force continue. It is not possible for any imagina- tion that has not seen the acts then committed, to form any conception of their variety of wickedness; of their demoniac wantonness of cruelty. It would be 209 doing a violence to the human heart, even to recount them, or to read their register. Suffice it to say, that in the round of these eight days, the fierceness of the rage of the French legions at their defeats and mise- ries since they entered Russia, all fell upon the head of this devoted city. The soldiers who had crossed the Niemen gaily caparisoned, and high in hope of new glories; who had anticipated the sight of kneeling provinces at the feet of their leader, and the abun- dance of their produce to enrich themselves; when, instead of the realization of these expectations, they met with opposition, overthrow, and want; what could exceed the depth of their disappointment, the fury with which they gave it utterance? First, in threaten- ed mutiny against their leader; and now, in sanguinary atrocities against a poor remnant of the brave people they could not subdue! Thousands of these French ruffians, almost in a state of complete nakedness, without shoes, or any clothing on their limbs, and scarce a covering but a few filthy rags flying from their bodies, were met in every direction; more like the banditti their deeds imitated, than the soldier, whose noble profession their enormities stigmatized with disgrace. In thig wretched plight were all the followers of Buonaparte. His own personal guards were not better clad; having nothing in their appearance that spoke their military order but the arms they carried. Impelled by a sense of the hatred they deserved, and the contempt that had lately b^en show^n to their 2D 210 demands for peace, they sought food at the point of the bayonet, and clothed themselves with the raiment of the murdered. The officers themselves, being not much better furnished with apparel, found no shame in displaying an equal baseness of mind; and casting humanity off at once, followed their rapacious com- rades through all their rounds of violence and robbery. Some few indeed, whose rank in the army required some show of the gentleman at least, satisfied them- selves with sacking the houses in which they had at first taken up their quarters. Here, quietly, and at home, they stripped the rooms of all that they con- tained, leaving only bare walls, for the fire to con- sume, whenever Buonaparte should give the word for the final conflagration. The Generals, who represented their chief in their actions, as accurately as those of the Macedonian in- vader did their August Lord; they knew how to co- lour their avidity with the gloze of legal devices. Under the pretext of a requisition for the public ser- vice, they seized every article which suited their purpose; and when they had thus emptied one house, they moved on to another, with the same demands, and the same principle of unblushing robbery. While Napoleon stood as Nero did, watching the devastation of one of the finest cities in the world, the spirit of man that is in his bosom could not but whisper to him what would be the opinion of the world, when the unexampled barbarity of the sacking of Moscow should become generally known. Even 211 with the eiFects of his own orders blazing before his eyes, he tried to sink his destruction of the city, in the patriotic devotion which the Russians had made of its magazines, when they found it necessary to abandon it. It was that devotion which had deprived Napoleon of his needful resources. No ammunition, no bread for his men, no forage for his horses, presented them- selves. He found silver and gold, it is true, but no where the aliments of life. Not only the magazines of the city had been demolished, but when the magnani- mous Rastapchin left it, in his way to join the con- centrated army of the empire, he stopped before the walls of his summer-palace, (which stood in the ad- jacent country), and set fire to its stores and its har- vests with his own hand. This disinterested example was followed by hundreds; and the fields of Moscovy every where showed the smoking ashes of the yellow treasures of the year. Buonaparte had formed no idea of such a spirit of loyalty; he could not, therefore, prepare against it; and, though he saw himself seated in the ancient throne of the empire's wealth and power, he found his people were perishing in famine^ and his cavalry hourly wasting away. Where then was the plentiful winter quarters the JFrench leader had promised to his followers? He found only a few dying invalids, or a band of despe- rate patriots, with women devoted to their fates, deter- mined to abide by their native city to the last! It was 212 impoverished; it was become a circle of barren houses and walls! Napoleon for a time dissembled the excess of his disappointment, and the extreme of his danger, on the discovery of this desert, where a Mahometan paradise was expected. At last, rendered desperate by the miseries and rebellious state of his army, he form- ed the resolution to avenge them and himself upon the falling towers of Moscow. He had found it like Palmyra in the wilderness, noble in ruins: — he was determined to leave it a shapeless heap of stones. Such was the state of Moscow when Napoleon and his army entered it; such was the miserable situation of his soldiers; and yet, that the world may never want a criterion by which to judge of the truth of his representations, we have these bulletins of the jiou- fishing condition of the French legions, of the over- sowing abundance which met them at the city's gates. We have it thus, in the twentieth bulletin, which Buonaparte dates from Moscow, September 17th. ^^ The resources the army have found here are much diminished, by the attempts of the enemy to destroy them entirely; but our fortune has been supe- 21S rior to their contrivance; and we have gathered, and still continue to collect, a vast quantity of necessaries. " The cellars have not been touched by the fire; and, during the last twenty-four hours, the inhabitants have saved many valuable articles. Indeed, on the first discovery of the nobility's design to burn the city, these honest people endeavoured to arrest the progress of the flames; but in vain, for the governor had taken the horrible precaution to carry off" or de- stroy all the fire engines. " The army is recovering from its fatigues. We have bread in abundance, and potatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables; also meat, salted provisions, wine, brandy, sugar, coffee; in a word, provisions of every sort. " The temperature is yet that of autumn. The sol diers continually find numbers of pelisses and furs for winter. Moscow was the depot for these commodities." The next bulletin supplies any deficiency his troops might have in arms, cannon, or gunpowder; and shot and shells of every description, they found by hun- dreds, thousands, and tens of thousands. The twenty-second bulletin adds floods of wine and brandy, and whole magazines of furs, sugars, clothes, &c. &c. &c. These valuable articles continued to grow in plen- tiful crops out of the earth, so late as the 27th of September; and, during the extraordinary harvest, the French troops did not fail to revive in due vigour 214 from all their wants and toils. But, surprising to re^ late, on the 14th of October (only seventeen days after this great repletion!) we find all these abundant resources consumed and devoured! the ammunition expended! the provisions eaten up! the clothes and furs worn out! and the lately well- provided army re- duced at once, as if by a magician's wand, to famine and nakedness! The whole fabric had been a creature of Buona- parte's own imagination; and the wonder ceases, that the vision should dissolve, and leave not a wreck be- hind! It did dissolve, but the wreck was vast and many; the wreck, not of the riches he found, but of the ruin he rendered yet more desolate. After having wasted nearly five weeks in vain boasts, and as vain hopes, the French leader deemed it prudent to leave a place which only presented to his view the possible grave of his ambition, and a perpe- tual memento of the patriotic firmness of the Russian people. The sacking and burning of the city of Moscow, by this man of the earth, (to whom so many infatuated spirits, even at this hour, are ready to build altars,) was immediately followed by an attempt from the same godlike hand, to destroy the Kremlin. While he flattered himself with the probability of maintaining his possession of the Capital, he had employed some of his men in materially strengthening the military part of this great fortress. He now ordered it to be undermined, and filled with combustibles, and gun- 215 powder, ready for the fusee. We cannot better ex= press the comprehensive plan of this destruction, nor describe the eflects of the desolation he had already wrought, than by transcribing a few paragraphs from his own report on the subject. " When Moscow ceased to exist!" saith the Imperial amanuensis, " the Emperor had determined to aban- don the mass of ruins, and to occupy the Kremlin with three thousand men. But, after a hard labour of fifteen days, to improve its military works, it was thought not to have sufficient strength to maintain itself with such a garrison, and without outward aid, for even the short term of twenty or thirty days, against any attacking force. Besides, the detachment would have weakened and embarrassed the army, without promising any ade- quate advantage. If we attempt to protect Moscow against the beggars and plunderers, who are watching to re-enter what were once its walls, it must be by a garrison of twenty thousand men. The idea is vain, for Moscow is now no more. What was the city, is become a depopulated region of noxious matter, where pestilence and death brood continually over the reek- ing mass. " A desperate multitude; two hundred thousand houseless wretches, who all day wander in the neigh- bouring woods perishing with hunger, appear in troops at night amid the rubbish of the suburbs, seeking in their heaps, for some means to sustain famishing na^ ture, some solitary vegetable, in the exhausted gar- dens. 216 " When we view the desert, and its miserable in- habitants, it appears useless to compromise any of our own advantages for such an object. The site of Mos« cow, is no longer a place of military importance, or a point of political interest. " Ail the adjoining buildings having been emptied with great care; and the Kremlin being judiciously mined, at two o'clock in the morning of the 23d of October, it was blown into the air by the Duke of Trevise (Mortier). The arsenal, the barracks, the magazines, all have been destroyed. This ancient citadel, from whence is dated the foundation of the Empire! This first palace of the Tzars, exists no more! *' Of four thousand superb houses of stone, which Moscow contained, there now only remains two hun- dred. It was reported that one-fourth of the whole number had escaped; but in this false calculation, eight hundred churches were taken into the account, and even they were almost all heavily damaged. With palaces, churches, and public structures, fell also whole streets of less considerable buildings; and, out of eight thousand houses of wood, only five hundred remained undestroyed. *' When this great retribution was made, it was suggested to the Emperor ^ still further to chastise the Russians, by burning the two thousand villages which surround Moscow, and all the castles and country houses in its vicinity. Four columns, of two thousand men each, were proposed to be sent out in every di- rection, to a distance of twenty leagues, to set fire to. 217 and devastate every object in their path. Such a gene- ral desolation, observed the advisers of this scheme, will teach the Russians to make war according to its received rules; and not like Tartars. If they burn one village or house, we ivill punish the act, by burning a hundred. *' The Emperor refused to adopt this system, which he said, would only aggravate the misfortunes of the people; and out of the nine hundred proprietors of the castles proposed to be destroyed, there were, perhaps, but one hundred who were sincerely the partisans of Rastapchin, the Marat of Russia! The other eight hun= dred, continued the great Napoleon, are brave men^ already too much the victims of despotic power. We will not then, for the sake of vengeance against a hun- dred guilty wretches, involve eight thousand and nine hundred innocent persons in utter ruin. And should we consent to the destruction of the villages, would there not be two thousand helpless peasants, left with- out resource or shelter? *' In conformity with these gracious sentiments, the Emperor was contented with the annihilation of the citadel, and other military buildings; and while the work of destruction proceeded, he forbade that the individuals should be harmed who had already suf- fered so severely from the consequences of war." How gladly would humanity trace any affinity with its own nature, in the character of even the most cruel tyrant. It is grateful to the heart that wishes the good of every fellow creature, to see the germs of 2 E 218 virtue in some transaction of the being whose ordi- nary actions are ever demonstrative of his delight in crime. So would we hail any appearance of mercy in the warfare of a man who, for so many years, has held Europe steeped in blood. But the licensed scene of ravage so lately exhibited in the capital of the Tzars, unequivocally proves that Napoleon spared the distant villages and castles around Moscow, because they were out of the reach of his hands. Those which were in its immediate vicinity experienced all the horrors of fire and sword. Every preparation having been rapidly made to put the army in motion, Buonaparte in person, with a tone of hilarity, informed his troops, that he was conduct- ing them to winter quarters. " Je veux vous conduire dans vos quartiers-d'hiver, (said he) si je rencontre les Russes dans mon chemin, je les battrai. Si non, tant mieux pour eux." Could defeat and wretchedness have laughed in de- rision at the boasting which had ruined them, the men who heard this gasconade must have been so moved. But their leader knew them well. They forgot their own misery while inflicting distress on others; and in the rage of plunder, believed themselves enjoying the triumph of victory. 219 While these things were transacting in Moscow and its adjoining camp, the detachments of General Ba- ron Vinzingorode continued to keep on the alert; and daily brought to his head-quarters at Klim, a conside= rable number of prisoners. Colonel Benkendorf, one of his Imperial Majesty's aide-de-camps, at the head of his little division, (which was stationed between the city of Volokolamsk and Mojaisk) ably fulfilled his duty of observation; and sent in, amongst other pri= soners, one French courier with dispatches.* The object of the French, whenever they were seen abroad, seemed solely to procure provisions and fo- rage. But in almost every attempt they were disap- pointed, and so pressed by the Russian light troops and the peasantry, that their commanders found it necessary to cover every marauding party with a strong escort. On the 5th of October, the enemy dispatched from Moscow a detachment of more than usual strength: it was composed of six thousand infantry, with several regiments of cavalry, and six pieces of artillery, under the command of General Delson. It took the road to Dimitroff. The Cossacs, who were in observation in that direction, encountered the detachment, but were * At the end of the volume, Letters from Buonaparte, in these dispatches, may be found. 220 soon obliged to fall back; leaving the road to Yarras- laiF quite open to the depredators. By this partial ad- vantage on their side, the communication between that city and Baron Vinzingorode was cut off. In the case of this successful body being followed up by one of increased force, which might be intended to get round his left, and approach the government of Twer, Vinzingorode took the precaution to inform the governor of that province of his apprehensions; and to suggest similar vigilance on its part with that of his own little army. He strengthened his recon- noitring parties with his best troops, and so disposed them, that he did not allow the enemy's flank a mo- ment's repose. Menacing as were now the columns which issued from the French camp at Moscow, no idea was en- tertained of their object, but that of plundering in greater security; and the Cossac picquets corroborat- ed this impression, by reporting the continued sack- ing and burning of the villages in the neighbourhood of these excursions. On the 10th of October, the enemy pushed on, and possessed himself of the city of Dimitroff; laying waste the country on all sides; and then turned his face towards Klim. On the same day, another de- tachment left Moscow, taking the St. Petersburg!! road, and passing through Tscherni-grease, halted about six wersts from that place. These movements seemed for something more than foragCj and to threaten the force of General Vin- 221 zingorode. He was too weak, in the present dismem- bered state of his division, to oppose an attack; and, therefore, to prepare for it, should one be intended, he recalled the troops under Colonel Benkendorf, and any which his detachments on the various roads could spare. With this firm little band, he remained in front of the town of Klim to arrest the advance of the enemy in that direction. Notwithstanding these hostile movements, no affair of any consequence immediately took place. Prison- ers continued to be taken in slight skirmishes, and numbers of Westphalian Saxons, and other German soldiers, fled daily from their oppressor towards the Russian lines. The report of these men, apprised the Baron of the real intentions of Napoleon. They in- formed him that the greater part of the French army had broken up its camp at Moscow, and under its ambitious leader had taken its course towards the rich provinces of the empire, where the Russian grand army then stood. This intelligence explained the nature of the de- monstrations Vinzingorode had collected his troops to oppose. The advanced movements in his direction, were only to conceal that of their main body to the contrary point. The Cossacs in the neighbourhood of DimitrofF, gave information at head-quarters that the French General Dalzel, after ravaging the city, and maltreat- ing the inhabitants with every species of cruelty, had abandoned the place, and, followed by two hundred 222 carts laden with plunder, was retiring towards Mos- cow. Vinzingorode no sooner received this intelligence than he put himself at the head of three regiments of ca- valry, which were composed of Hussars, Kalmucs, and Cossacs, and reached the despoiled city on the evening ©f the .I3th, just as the last ranks of the enemy's rear- guard were quitting it. Without losing a moment he caused them to be pursued and attacked. His com- mands were obeyed with vigour; and the success that attended the Russian arms drove the foe before them for several wersts, until darkness, and the shelter of the woods, stopped the operations of cavalry. Many prisoners were made; and one hundred carts retaken, filled with the effects of the plundered citizens. They were sent back to Dimitroff, and restored next day to the inhabitants. Meanwhile, the Russian troops followed the retrograde career of the French division, which did not halt till it re-entered Moscow. The booty which these brigands had taken, with the exception of a very few carts, all fell into the hands of the Cossacs. A strong party, which had been detached from General Dalzel's division, held a good station at Vi- nagraduoya, about seventeen wersts from Moscow; and the body of French which had been dispatched to Tscherni- grease, also maintained its position in ^hat place. Baron Vinzingorode, while he planted his little army before these posts of the enemy, informed him- 223 self so thoroughly of the force left in Moscow, that he soon understood how weakly it was appointed, and that the forces in advance before him, and who reached to the Mojaisk road, were a part of the fourth division under the command of General Mortier. On the 19th of October, the enemy were observed to have fallen back nearer to Moscow. Upon this re- port, Vinzingorode gave orders to Major-General Iloviaskoy, to move forward on the great road, and, with his light cavalry reconnoitre, and discover at what distances they had taken up their new stations. Whilst Iloviaskoy advanced, the Baron meant to fol- low with the remainder of his division, to be in readi- ness to support the Major-General should circum- stances make it necessary. A few troops of the light cavalry pushed on werst after werst, without meeting any obstacle, to the very barrier of Moscow, which terminates the St. Peters- burgh road. They passed it, and saw only a few strag- gling soldiers in the suburbs. Encouraged by this appearance of an almost complete evacuation of the place, they proceeded a little farther, but only a little, for a formidable column of French infantry presented itself. The fierceness of its charge soon made the Russian squadrons seek a hasty retreat. They had hardly regained the outside of the town, when a body of about fifteen hundred of the enemy's cavalry issued from the gate. The Russian detachment must now have been lost, had not General Iloviaskoy happily arrived at the moment, with his whole force. Though 224 powerful in resolution, it was inferior in numerical strength to the French; however, its brave General did not stand on nice calculations; and, determined that his adversaries should not long drive his gallant little advanced party before them, he attacked their foremost ranks with a vigour that made them stand. Many noble charges were made, and though sustained with considerable valour by the French, their glorious effect was to clear the ground of the enemy, who fled in disorder, taking refuge in the city, and leaving fifty men dead on the field, with sixty-two, besides three officers, prisoners in the hands of the victors. This fortunate affair enabled Baron Vinzingorode to draw the circle of his positions closer to the town, and to establish his out-posts within two wersts of it. On the other side of Moscow, an equal success attended the Cossacs, who, on the road leading to Dimitroff*, had encountered several bodies of the enemy, killed many, made others prisoners, and drove the remainder to seek their shelter also in the deso- lated city. Having done this service, they established their out-posts at a short distance from the quarter, within whose gates their enemies had fled. The vicinity of Zwinigorod was freed from its marauders, by the incessant watchfulness and resolu- tion of the detachment planted as its protection. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Tchernisouloff", who was its comman- der, carried his gallantry so far as to push on to the high road between Ghatz and Wiazma. The opposi- tion he met in this enterprise was obstinate and san 225 guinary, but his determined spirit overcame every obstacle, and after a hard contest, he took a whole detachment (inchiding its officers) prisoners. When he sent the account of his success to head quarters^ he reported that the road, on which he was pursuing his advantage was covered with countless waggons; some, he said, he was informed, were filled with ammunition, bt the most were vehicles for the sick and the wounded. The latter, he added, must soon be relieved of their load, for the number who hourly die, and are thrown out in heaps on the road, line the way wdth horrible vestiges of perishing mortality. Between the 2d of October, and the 16th of the same month, the Russian division that protected the direction of St. Petersburgh, forwarded to the go- vernment depot at Twer, nearly a thousand prisonerSj, officers and men; and, in taking these proofs of their successes, they did not lose more than twenty Cos- sacs, forty soldiers of the line, and two officers. Baron Vinzingorode, having thus nearly encircled the capital with the forces under his command, and finding that the enemy, as well as the victorious Rus- sians, was daily drawing from its garrison, resolved to make one essay, at least, to restore the city of .the Tzars to its ancient empire. To be an instrument in such an act was indeed an animating thought to every soldier that composed his little army; and all were eager to follow their intrepid General to an achieve- ment, so worthy of immortal fame. On the 22d of October, the determined Vinzingc^- 2F 226 rode gave orders for the troops under Major-General Iloviaskoy to advance; and those under Benkendorf, were to follow with the rest of the division. The Baron, whose heroic soul was all in arms, at this mo- ment so critical to his sovereign and to his own repu- tation, placed himself, with his aide-de-camp the brave Captain Narishkin, at the head of five hundred Cos- sacs. They rushed to the attack; they passed the barriers of the city; and, seconded by the troops of Iloviaskoy, they speedily overthrew the infantry and scattered squadrons of the enemy, and constrained them, after suffering a considerable loss, to seek pro- tection under the guns of the citadel. In order to make it known to the chief of the French garrison that any longer resistance on his part would only be the sacrifice of every soul under his command, the white signal of amity was taken in the hand of the victorious Vinzingorode, who, with his aide-de-camp Narishkin (a hero, like himself, as full of clemency as of courage,) galloped forward, waving the pledge of honour and of mercy. But they had not men to deal with who had been educated in the school of heroes, in which the Mont- morency and the Conde had been professors. The foe to whom the generous sons of Russia now offered the affiance of reciprocal honour, had learnt their creed of military policy from warriors of a different stamp; from a leader, and his myrmidons, who set at nought the vows of man to man, the laws of religion, the bonds of .national esteem, and even the common respect of honesty to honesty in the simplest transac- 227 lions of life. From a banditti of this sort, the gallant Vinzingorode could meet with no reception answera- ble to the magnanimous spirit, which brought him from the acclaim of victory, to offer, in the midst of their bleeding ranks, the palm of mercy to his perish- ing enemies. The emblem of peace which he held in his hand, was not regarded. They saw their conque- ror in their power, and the ungrateful wretches whom his clemency alone had preserved, rushed in between him and his advancing dragoons, and carried both him and his brave aide-de-camp prisoners into the Kremlin* This event happened before Buonaparte thought fit to dispatch orders for the final demolition of that fortress: and the baseness of this breach of truce was so conspicuous, that every one believed the measure of French iniquity in Moscow quite filled upj until the moment arrived when the horrid mandate was given for destroying a structure which had stood the storms of ages; and then every brave heart in the era= pire was wrung, as if it had listened to the death- warrant of a revered parent. The mines were completed: the walls, the towers, the arsenal, the palace, and the great church, now stood upon a heap of combustibles; a few sparks were only necessary to level to the ground this place, which the fathers of the empire had raised; and, even the most barbarous adversaries had spared, in reverence to the patriarchal ages of Russian heroism! The morning of the 23d of October, at an early hour, was destined to witness the destruction of the 228 Kremlin, and of all the buildings attached to its bul- warks. Almost the whole of its French garrison re- tired during the night preceding the moment intended for springing the train, only leaving a small detach- ment of desperate spirits, who, instigated by a great reward, had pledged themselves not to rejoin the army until they had reduced the Kremlin to a heap of ashes. At two o'clock in the morning, the first explosion took place. The Russian General, who had meditated an attack, seized on this signal of destruction, as that for rushing on its perpetrators; and, before another mine ceuld be sprung, the dauntless Iloviaskoy with Bis brave followers forced the gates, and assaulting the wretches with the very fire-brands in their hands, took them all prisoners. Thus were the intentions of Napoleon frustrated; the glory of Moscow, which he thought to have ex- tinguished in the ruin of the Kremlin, was preserved; and the ancient capital of the Empire, restored to its lawful Sovereign! Proud was the moment to Ilovias- koy, when he planted the eagles of his country again in the citadel of Moscow, On examining the damage done to the Kremlin, from the effects of the mine, he found it comparatively trifling, with the mischief in- tended. Only a small part of the wall, and one of the towers had been thrown down. The citadel, the palace^ the arsenal, and other public buildings were entire; and will henceforth stand, a monument to future agesj not only of the magnificence of Russian SovereignSj but of the impotent rage, and arrogant falsehood of 229 the ambitious tyrant of the French. He boasted that all had been completely destroyed; his words are, " the Kremlin exists no more!" Had his plan for its destruction been executed in its full extent, hundreds of his own sick and wounded followers must have perished in the various explosions; for the churches, and other large buildings of this immense fortress, were filled with them. With these miserable wrecks of human nature, the Russian soldiers found in the Kremlin, forty-two pieces of cannon, two hundred and thirty-seven ammunition waggon-loads of cartridges, fifty-four waggons with pontoons, nine with imple- ments of war of all kinds, eleven with flying forges, and thirty-five intended Jor provisions. That these last had been long empty, and had no means of being re- plenished was evident in the famished aspects of the wretched invalids. Their state of suffering from their wounds, their diseases, and their want, was beyond imagination, horrible. Dreadful as was the alternative, had Buonaparte persisted in exposing his followers, to the miseries of craving nature, at Moscow, the explosion of the Kremlin would have been a blessing to all who perished in its fires. As soon as it was known in the surrounding coun- try that Moscow was again in the power of the Rus- sians, thousands of its fugitives crowded in from all quarters. But how distressing was the scene! In vain did they look for their homes: scarcely a house was left standing— -The streets were heaps of rubbish; and, only, after great labour to clear a passage to their 230 entrances, could the poor creatures find a shelter in the cellars. Into these dismal vaults did the fainting and eager multitude throw themselves in crowds, to find protection from the inclemency of the approach- ing: season. Six or seven wretched families would press together into one narrow chamber, without light and without heat, too happy to conceal their naked- ness from the day, and to still the pangs of hunger with some of the food the charity of their brave coun- trymen had prepared for them. Buonaparte, the cause of all their miseries, had but too truly represented their wretched state. They had been wandering many dreadful weeks, in the adjacent woods; famine and suffering of every kind their constant companions. How many frantic mothers, there cast their chil- dren, gasping for life and nourishment, beneath the trees, and turned away their heads that they might not see them die! And now, when they returned to the ashes of their former dwellings, sad indeed was the lamentation which was raised. Some wept for their perished infants; some for the husbands of their hearts; some for the several dear connexions of father, son, and brother; and others mourned their hearths, which no longer existed to bear even the remembrance of happiness departed for ever. General Iloviaskoy, as humane as brave, having rescued the remains of Moscow, turned his whole at- tention towards ameliorating the condition of the in- habitants. Until the proper steps could be taken for the re-establishment in the city of the ancient military 231 and civil institutions, he made every personal exertion to erase apprehension from the minds of the people, and to restore them to composure and to comfort. He relieved the natural horror which they all felt at the presence of a Frenchman, even if he were a cap- tive, by sending the prisoners, who were able to move, (which amounted to no more than six hun- dred, many having died from the weakness conse- quent to their antecedent wants) to Twer. The sick and wounded, who still existed in the Foundling hospital, and other infirmaries of the Kremlin, the merciful Iloviaskoy treated no longer as enemies, but directed that their quarters should be made comfort- able, and put over them two of their own surgeons who had been taken prisoners. Ye who have the blindness still to call the Russian, a barbarian nation; ye who speak with what the Scotch would call a glamoured vision of Napoleon's warfare; compare these characteristics of the two peo- ple, and say, which is civilized, which is human! If nature may utter the truth, the spell is broken, and the tyrant will no longer be mistaken for a demi-god. When the ravages of the fires, lit by the emissaries of Buonaparte, were stopped by the vigorous efforts of the Russian soldiery; the half- famished natives who poured in from the woods; and the perishing inhabi- tants, who crept from their vaulted sanctuaries in the city, offered themselves to assist in clearing the squares and streets from the numerous bodies, both of horse and man, which lay in every direction, block- 2S2 ing up the passage, and polluting the air. Even the sacred pavements of the churches, were strewed with pestilential carcases. There, the patriot had died to preserve his altars from profanation; and there the sacrilegious violator had expired under all the tor- tures of disease and famine. But the exposed remains of human mortality was not sufficient indignity in the eyes of him who had worshipped the Goddess of French Republicanism; and who had bowed to Ma- homet in the Pyramids of Egypt:— He introduced beasts of burthen into the churches of Moscow, to defile their altars; he poured out the blood of every living creature, on the pavement, who dared to con- tend with his will, or to say—" Respect the house consecrated to the Creator; spare the martyr who would die in its defence!" All were active, to the extremest exertion of their strength, to remove objects so agonizing to their hearts, so dangerous to their existence; for the air had already become heavily infected with putridity. As you looked from the doors of the churches, along the streets, and over the squares, this sea of desolation presented to the eye in one view, the united ravages of a plague, with the bleeding horrors of a merciless war. In the course of a few days, the surface of the main streets was cleared, by throwing the dead bodies into the river Moskva, but the narrow lanes were yet blocked up with strongly wedged heaps of slain; the murdered which lay in the wells, many of the cellars j and under all the ruins, were incalculable^, and from 233 the stench, could not be removed. The dread of a pestilence now spread itself over the city; indeed no- thing could have averted its ravages but the rigour of the season, which soon put the atmosphere in chains. On the 28th of October, Major-General IvashkiUj the chief master of police, returned to the city, and resumed his functions. The Military Governor, the magnanimous Count Rastapchin was soon expected. All hearts opened to welcome a patriot whose name must ever be remembered with veneration and grati- tude. Buonaparte, (whose personal enmity to an ene= my, is ever a proof of that enemy's fealty to his own country,) when he writes of Count Rastapchin, cannot forbear endorsing the diploma of his merits, with a thousand epithets of abuse. The patriotic reader need only read a transcript of the letter which this judicious and disinterested noble- man affixed to a gate opposite to his palace, in the country, (to which noble building he set fire with his own hands;) to understand how well Rastapchin de- served the hatred of the enemies of Russia. " For eight years, I found my pleasure in embel? iishing this country retreat. I lived here in perfect happiness, within the bosom of my family; and those around me, largely partook of my felicity. But you approach! and the peasantry of this domain, to the number of one thousand seven hundred and twenty human beings, fly far away; and I put the fire to my house! We abandon all, we consume ally that neither 2 G :i34 ourselves nor our habitations may be polluted with your presence. "Frenchmen, I left to your avidity, two of my houses in Moscow, full of furniture and valuables to the amount of half a million of roubles. Here, you will find nothing but ashes. (Signed) ** Fed or., Count Rastapchin.^'* " The moment the news was brought to Field-Mar- shal KoutousofF, that Moscow was again in the hands of his troops, he spread the happy intelligence through- out the army and the empire in the following animated address:— ORDER ISSUED TO THE ARMIES, OCTOBER 19th, O. S. 31st N. S. The following Declaration is given for the Instruction of all the Troops under my Command. *' At the moment in which the enemy entered Mos- cow, he beheld the destruction of those preposterous hopes by which he had been flattered: he expected to find there Plenty and Peace; and on the contrary he saw himself devoid of every necessary of life; harassed by the length of continued marches; exhausted for want of provisions; wearied and tormented by our parties intercepting his slender succours; losing with- out the honour of battle, thousands of his troops, cut off by our provincial detachments; and no prospect 235 before him but the vengeance of an armed nation, threatening annihilation to the whole of his army. In every Russian he beheld a hero, equally disdainful and abhorrent of his deceitful promises: in every state of the empire he met an additional and insurmount- able rampart opposed to his strongest efforts. After sustaining incalculable losses by the attacks of our brave troops, he recognised at last, the phrensy of his expectations, that the foundations of the empire would be shaken by his occupation of Moscow. No- thing remained for him, but a precipitate flight: the resolution was no sooner taken, than it was executed; and he fled, abandoning nearly the whole of his sick, to the mercy of an outraged people, and leaving Moscow on the 11th of this month, completely eva- cuated. " The horrible excesses which he committed, while in that city, are already well known, and have left an inexhaustible sentiment of vengeance in the depths of every Russian heart; but I have to add, that his impo- tent rage exercised itself, in blowing up part of the Kremlin, where, by a signal interposition of Divine Providence, the sacred Temples and Cathedral have been saved. " Let us then hasten to pursue this impious enemyj while other Russian armies once more occupying Li- thuania, act in concert with us for his destruction! Already do we behold him in full flight, abandoning his baggage, burning his war-carriages, and reluc- tantly separating himself from those treasures^ which 236 his profane hands had torn from the very altars of God. Already desertion and famine spread confusion before Napoleon; and behind him, arise the murmurs of his troops, like the roar of threatening waves. While these appalling sounds attend the retreat of the French, in the ears of the Russians resounds the voice of their magnanimous monarch. Listen soldiers! while he thus addresses you! ' Extinguish the flames of Moscow, in the blood of our invaders!' Russians! let us obey this solemn command! our injured country, appeased by this just vengeance, will then retire satisfied from the field of war, and behind the line of her extensive fron- tiers, will take her august station, between Peace and Glory! " Russian warriors! God is our Leader!. (Signed) ^^ Marechal Prince Golenistsheff Koutousoffl " General in Chief of all the Armies." The army of General Essen had remained, since the affair of the 23d of August, without being en- gaged in any enterprize of considerable moment. Its position was nearly the same as that which it took up immediately after the contest of that day; and the attitude was so menacing, that a month elapsed^ and 237 still the enemy evinced no signs of venturing again to* disturb its heroic vigilance. The communication was uninterrupted between the armies of Essen and of Vigtenstein; and, had it not been for some slight firings from the French advanced posts, no symptoms would have appeared of any wish to interrupt it. Essen was informed that considerable bodies of the division opposed to him, had fallen back from Mittau, and left that city with a very inadequate guard. He lost no time in making preparations to possess himself of a place which, he knew, had long been the inter- mediate depot of the enemy for its provisions, and other necessaries required in that quarter. With this view he ordered a strong force to ad- vance to Mittau. At the moment they set out, he placed himself at their head. As they proceeded, he descried some Prussian troops on the road leading to Baousk; but they retired with precipitation on per= ceiving the Russians, and left the country quite open to their operations. Essen pushed on his cavalry, and, following soon after, entered the city without opposi- tion on the 29th of September. He took fifty effective soldiers prisoners, and found about one hundred and fifty wounded in the hospital. Four pieces of brass ordnance fell into his hands, and also a vast quantity of provisions, with the whole mass of pelisses which had been collected from the requisition for furs, levied on the province of Courland. These last articles were of the utmost consequence to the well-being of the 238 army that possessed them in the cold season. That was now fast approaching, and the want of furs during a winter's campaign in this northern climate, was a calamity almost as great as the want of food. General D'York, who commanded in chief in this quarter, did not allow the Russians to remain long in unmolested possession of this city; and, whilst he or- dered General Grawart to move upon Riga through Eckau, D'York himself advanced towards Mittau, t© drive Essen from his newly-acquired post. The Russian General informed himself of his ad- versary's strength; and finding that it lay principally in cavalry, (a force particularly adapted to the nature of the ground on which they were,) and aware that his own little army was much inferior in this point; thought it most prudent not to risk the lives of his soldiers in so manifest a disadvantage, but to withdraw in good order from the city. Before he made this movement, he took possession of all its military stores, and then retired from the place in the direction of Riga. By this march, he meant to unite his division with that of Lieutenant General Count Steingel, who was acting in front of the enemy, and who had left Riga a few days before, the better to cover it from the French, who threatened to approach it from the vicinity of Peter- gofF, a town near which they hovered in great num- bers. This station afforded them many advantages, as it was situated near to the roads that led to Dalenkirk and Eckau. Difficulties only stimulated the military talents of 239 the gallant Steingel, and he distributed with admira- ble judgment, the several, corps of his detachment along the most commanding points that lay between the enemy and his nearer approximation to Riga. To this end, he placed his advanced guard, under the immediate orders of Major-General VeliaminofF, some wersts in front of a small village called Garossen, and which covered the road to Eckau. His left was near that town, and extended along the high road on tlie opposite side of a neighbouring rivulet. On the morning of the 31st of September, the whole of his advanced posts, consisting of Cossacs and hus- sars, were attacked. They defended themselves in a style of such intrepidity that the enemy was checked at this point with considerable loss. The movement the French now made, induced General Veliaminoff to suspect that their next assault would be upon his left flank, the command of which he had entrusted to Colonel Count Galatee. His impression proved just; for, in the course of a few minutes the enemy, in great strength, crossed the rivulet, and charged upon his left column. To repel this, the Russian artillery and tirailleurs opened a heavy fire, which told so well upon the advancing troops, that they retired with pre- cipitation; but a reinforcement with some pieces of ordnance coming to their support, after two attempts, their infantry penetrated to the high road near the vil- lage of Greden. VeliaminofF observed the advantage the French had gained, and, determined to dislodge rtiem, dispatched a battalion of infantry, with Cossacs 240 and artillery, to attack them in this (Quarter. The con- test was obstinate; but at last the brave Russians had the satisfaction of compelling their enemy to re- cross the rivulet, with a severe loss, and the dismounting of two of his guns. However he passed again, higher up the stream, sending forward a considerable force of infantry and artillery, with the intention of more effec- tually turning the Russian left flank. Here again the battle re-commenced; and, during four repeated efforts on the side of the French, was maintained with tre- mendous fury until night closed the scene; and then the enemy, discomfited in all his ranks, thought it prudent to retire under the cover of the darkness. The Russian advanced guard was left victorious, and masters of the same ground they had occupied at the beginning of the affair. The loss on either side did not appear at all pro- portionate to the violence with which the combat had been fought. Four or five hundred, including killed and wounded, were all that suffered on that day.' Although this affair was spoken of by the French as a slight thing, being only that of an advanced guard; yet it was sufficient to show them the deter- mined intrepidity of their foe; and, Macdonald made such reflections on the event as to induce him to move farther from his first position, and draw nearer to the Prussians. He was the more inclined to this measure, as his allies seemed likely to be in a condition to need his support; for news reached him on his march that a formidable reinforcement to the Russians had dis- 241 embarked at Riga from Finland, under the command of Colonel Ridinger. This step on the part of the French General consi- derybly facilitated the operations of Count Vigtensteiuj by liberating that part of his force which he had left to watch the enemy's motions near Dinabourg and towards Jacobstadt. Several slight affairs continued to take place along the left bank of the Dwina; and the activity and spirit of General Stcingel never failed to keep Macdonald on the alert. The Prussians were, on every occasion, backward in seconding the views of their ally; and so it was not to be wondered at, when they remained dormant to the menacing demonstrations of the Rus= sian Commander. Early in October, the General Aide-de-camp, Mar- quis of Paulutchi, was appointed to the command at Riga. The changes he made in the positions formed under the direction of General Essen, were very few; and the most prominent was placing a corps, under General Lewis, on the right bank of the Dwina at Kirkgolm, opposite to General VeliaminofF's left flank, which was then stationed near Dalenkirke. This move- ment was to prevent Riga being menaced on that sidej and also to frustrate any attempts of the enemy to make excursions into Livonia. From the troops of Stcingel being permitted by the enemy to push forward with so little opposition on his right, it was evident he meant to abandon these parts of the shores of the Dwina: indeed he maintained 2H 242 them with such carelessness, that the town of Frede- rickstadt, almost without a blow, fell into the hands of the Russians on the 3d of October. This retrograde motion of the French General, freed the troops of General Lewis from the necessity of keeping watch on their side of the Dwina; and, ac- cordingly, they lost no time in recrossing the river, and forming a junction with Veliaminoff. Though the Russian Generals took every advantage that offered itself, from these extraordinary movements of the French Generals, yet they could not form any satis- factory guess of the reasons on which they were founded. The Commander-in-chief at Riga thought it possible they meant to concentrate the 10th division of the French army, and then fall with its whole weight upon that city. The abandonment of the shore of the Dwina, by the enemy, so high up as Frederick- stadt, was soon followed by a similar desertion all along its banks, even to Dinabourg; and the troops, as they withdrew, were observed to take the road to Essoros. Meanwhile, the detachment in advance from Riga, under Steingel, steadily pursued its march; and on the 10th of October found itself opposite to a part of Count Vigtenstein's army near Drissa. This fortunate junction decided the Count on immediately attempt- ing an enterprise he had in meditation; and, with this in view, he moved in direct communication with the Riga troops, informing their chief of his plan to attack Polotzk, drive the enemy from that city, and then, 243 by compelling him to quit his strong position in the neighbourhood, force him to retreat on the Vitepsk road, where he would become completely exposed to the assaults of both corps, and be cut off from any hope of forming an union with Macdonald. To this end, Vigtenstein directed General Steingel to second the main body on the right bank of the river, by driving the enemy from his posts at Bo- nonia and Rondna; and, if possible, to possess him- self of Eknmania, and then proceed to the vicinity of Polotzk. The carrying of these points would prevent Guovion St. Cyr from crossing the Dwina at that city, and the consequent success must crown the most sanguine wishes of the Russian coadjutors. The two Generals being thus in possession of their mutual intentions, Count Vigtenstein prepared to move. On the 18th of October, (the morning of his first day's fighting for his present object), his army was posted in the following manner. His right wing ex- tended from the road leading to Drissa, in front of the village of Poplovo, on to the way of Tebeche, near Belse. These detachments were under the orders of Prince Yashville, and communicated with others under General SassnofF, in the neighbourhood of a small lake at Hotouychi. The Count himself headed the left and strongest division of his army; and it was stationed on the road leading to Nevel, at the village of Ourovichi. 244 At six o'clock the whole line began to move to the attack. St. Cyr had placed the greater part of his forces in advance of their fortified position, and extended his parties considerably in front, upon the roads occupied by the Russians. His redoubts and entrenchments had long been receiving every addition from military art, and the city itself was encircled by a double trench and strong palisado. With these protections, in case of a defeat, the French General thought him- self perfectly secure. The enterprise undertaken by his opponents was very daring, but the talents and perseverance of Vigtenstem and his Generals, pro- mised a brilliant result, St. Cyr was aware of the characters with which he had to contend; he knew that in proportion as the difficulties of a Russian in- crease, so do his courage and magnanimity. Before seven o'clock all the advanced guards of the enemy, from his right flank to his left, were hotly engaged. They were continually reinforced by bodies of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, which covered the bank of the Dwina; but the impetuosity of the Rus- sians could not be resisted, and every renewal of the attack compelled the French to lose ground and num- bers. Their right was heavily pressed by Count Vig- tenstein. He bore down upon it w ith a concentrated force, and individual acts of valour that seemed more like a scene of chivalry than a common battle. He had been joined by a little army from St. Peters- burgh, and these fresh soldiers, full of indignation at 245 the enemy, and panting for glory, charged upon them with an enthusiasm of valour that performed deeds which commanded the admiration of the oldest vete- ran on the field. St. Cyr, seeing his troops rapidly fall back, and that, if his present position were forced from him, they must be entirely lost, called up a formidable support of Bavarians, Saxons, and Poles. These stur- dy soldiers caused the ground to be again contested^ and by the vigour of their exertions checked the Russian career. For several hours both armies struggled for the advantage. They poured death into each other's ranks, and hundreds on each side heaped the extended plain so bloodily disputed. The French at length gave way. Their first retro- grade symptom was observed on the instant by the vigilant eye of Vigtenstein. He pushed forward a regiment of hussars, and a detachment of light artil- lery, towards the retiring point; and, by the fierceness of their charge, precipitated their retreat. The con- fusion spread to the centre, where the work of death was not less vehemently pursued. The left too, par- took of the dismay, and with one accord the whole line turned about, and the flight was general. Count Vigtenstein pursued, till the breathless ene- my found a shelter behind his entrenchments; and, the gloom of night falling upon the bloody chase, the victors listened disdainfully to the guns which the defeated opened from their batteries upon their pur- 246 suers, and impatiently watched the dawn of that sun which was to light them on the morrow to the total destruction of their enemies. Meanwhile General Steingel had pushed on to the town of Drouya, where he fell in with a party of Macdonald's corps. They attempted to stop his ad- vance, and, though the stand was obstinately main= tained, he gave them a total overthrow; and, driving them across the river Dissna, cleared the road through the city of that name. This last advantage he was the more eager to acquire, because it would enable him (should it be required) to assist the operations of his brave coadjutor. The loud and lengthened cannonade he heard, convinced him that Vigtenstein had been long engaged; and he lost no time in executing his part of their great military enterprise. He sent immediate dispatches of his success to the Count, and having received the answers he desired, at five o'clock in the afternoon the attacks were to be opened on both shores. It is scarcely possible to paint the burning impatience which glowed in every breast along the Russian line. The moment of a final victory ©ver this division of their enemy was come, and each individual felt himself ennobled in the privilege of becoming the champion of his country, in dying for her rights, or conquering for her glory. The French eontemplated the formidable array of their adversaries, and opened on them the whole range of their batteries with a tremendous cannonade. The dauntless Russians grasped their bayonets, and 247 breasted this shower of balls, regardless of destruc- tion. The parapets were forced, the redoubts carried, and heaps of brave men fell on both sides, choking up the very gorges of the works with their accumu- lating bodies. The resistance made by the enemy was worthy of a better cause, but the determination of patriotism prevailed, and the emissaries of tyranny were driven in at all points, seeking a short protection from the palisadoes, and then the city. Their retreating steps were fast pressed by their victors, and as the latter advanced, the windows of the houses were filled with French soldiers, who poured a heavy fire of bullets upon the heads of the intrepid Russians. This salute was answered by one of more than equal power, with musketry, grape and ball. Vigtenstein gave orders for a general assault. His troops, who had panted for that command, rushed on like a torrent. Nothing withstood their ardour. The palisadoes yielded to the crowds which pressed over them; and, at a hundred points the city became the scene of terror and of death. Sufficient praise cannot be bestowed on the exertions of the generals and officers who headed these overwhelming bands, and led their spirit to so decisive a purpose. Amidst the crash and ruin which resounded in every quarter. General St. Cyr being severely wound- ed, and seeing that every thing was going against him, adopted the only means of saving the remainder of his army. His resolution was soon spread through- 24B out his discomfited ranks, and, collecting the remnant of his artillery, they extricated themselves with great effort from the confusion in the city, and with their General precipitately began to cross the Dwina. Meanwhile, General Steingel had not been less fortunate. He succeeded in beating the enemy's par- ties at Bononia, and drove them to within four wersts of Polotzk, on the left bank of the Dwina. This ad- vantage threatened to block up the retreat of St. Cyr in that direction. Such demonstrations urged the French General to lose no time in accomplishing his purpose. By a prompt exertion he had passed over the day before, his wounded and guns. Being thus lightened of the heaviest objects of interest, with greater ease he moved forward his people, and by three o'clock in the morning of the 20th, they had made their escape from the city, breaking down the bridges as they crossed, and taking every other method of throwing obstacles in the way of their pursuers. He took the road towards Vileyka, hoping somewhere in that neighbourhood to fall in with General Victor, who had been sometime on his march to join the grand army. The loss of the enemy, during these two days, was great in killed, wounded, and prisoners. Amongst the latter were forty-five officers of different ranks, and two thousand soldiers. The wounded of the 18th of the month, having been immediately transported across the Dwina, their numbers cannot be accurately 249 stated? but the killed and wounded of the 19th must have amounted to three thousand. Amongst the lat- ter was St. Cyr himself. The trophies of the Russians in this affair, were many cannon, and several large magazines of corn and provisions, which the enemy had not time to de- stroy. The loss experienced by Vigtenstein, in the fall of his brave companions, was not inconsiderable. Amongst the officers wounded were Major-General Balk, the Princes Sibirsky and Gamen, and Colonel Rott; likewise the Chamberlain MordwinofF, chief of the division of the St. Petersburgh armament, had his leg shot away while gallantly leading forward his patriot followers. About fourteen hundred of these brave defenders of their country received indelible marks in their persons, of the glorious deeds of these two memorable days. Well do breasts deserve stars of honour from their sovereigns, which are already stamped with the insignia of heroism by the scars of many a hard- fought field. The list of wounded was particularly numerous in. this victory, for the General-in-chief found it impos- sible to check the ardour of the new troops. The moment the word was given to advance, they rushed forward, and threw themselves by whole columns into the entrenchments and batteries of the enemy. Such zeal gained in position what it lost in numbers; but it added to the honourable catalogue of those wha 21 250 bled, the Generals VlastofF, SassnofF, and Dibsitch; Colonel Redigir, and the brave Senator BibikofF. General Steingel, seconded by Major-General Fock, added nobly to the renown of these two decisive days. He took six hundred prisoners, amongst whom were thirty-seven officers. And the cavalry of his division, headed by Colonel Bedriaga, were then in pursuit of the flying enemy. The sentiments of the planner of this success, may be found below in a letter from Count Vigtenstein to Lieutenant. General Count Steingel, *' I have the honour to congratulate your Excel- lency on the taking of Polotzk, for which achievement I feel greatly indebted to the co-operation of the corps under your command. " I hope to see you to-morrow in this city to con- sult with you on our future plans. " I beg your Excellency will order Lieutenant- Colonel Bedriaga to follow up the enemy as rapidly as possible, as my cavalry cannot, in consequence of the ruined state of the bridges which cross the Dwina. " I am this instant occupied in filling the ramparts of the monastry with cannon, to open upon the rem- nant of the enemy I can yet descry on the opposite shore. (Signed) " Count Vigtenstein, " General of Cavalry." '' Polotzk, Oct. 8th, 1812, O. S. Oct. 20th, 1812,. N.JS." 251 The success of Lieutenant-Colonel Bedriag^a was answerable to the hopes of the two commanders, and a complete clearing of this part of the country of the enemy, was the result. By this important series of events the city of St. Petersburgh was rid of the alarm which had possessed some of its citizens, that Macdonald would appear before her gates. The total overthrow of that General, rendered the Imperial re- sidence perfectly secure; and indeed it is not to be doubted but that the military skill of the Commander- in-chief on the Dwina, and gallantry of his army, were the salvation of that capital. But still, had it so happened that St. Petersburgh had followed the fate of Moscow, no arms could have subdued his spirit who held this principle; " Walls are not my empire. If the enemy seize on Moscow, I have St. Peters- burgh; if St. Petersburgh become their prey, I have Archangel; if Archangel be lost, I have my fleets and the hearts of my people, and Russia is still my em- pire." As another instance of the system of falsehood with which Napoleon and his Generals universally deceive the French nation, and make it dream of conquests, when the blood of its sons has in fact been wasted, I will finish this account of the noble day of Polotzk, by adding the French report of the affair, *' General Vigtenstein having been reinforced by the divisions of Russians from Finland, and a great part of the militia corps, attacked Marshal St. Cyr on 252 the 18th of October. Vigtenstein was repulsed by the Marshal and General Wrede, who took upwards of three thousand prisoners, and covered the field of battle with their dead. On the 20th, Marshal Govion St. Cyr, having learnt that the Marshal Duke of Bel- luno (Victor) was on his march to reinforce him, re- passed the Dwina to meet him. After having effected the junction, he means to attack Vigtenstein, and to oblige him to repass the Dwina. " Marshal Govion St. Cyr bestows the highest praises on his troops. The division of Swiss has dis- tinguished itself by its coolness and bravery. Colonel Guenea of the 26th regiment of infantry, has been wounded slightly. The Marshal St. Cyr also has re- ceived a ball in his foot. The Marshal Duke of Reg- gio (Oudinot) is arrived at the army to replace him^ and to re-establish the command of the second corps." Victory having now declared itself on ail points for the valiant Russians, the whole attention of the Com- mander-in- chief was turned to rendering it complete; not by driving the enemy out of the empire, but by holding him in it till he should expire, like Antvith it a neuteralizing quantity of falsehood, they add, (as an excuse for the unmilitary conduct of their line in permitting a double surprise), that the Russians^ when they made this attack^ broke an armistice. The most awful scene of misery and of blood that ever was registered in the annals of the world, was now about to open its horrors. Napoleon moved for- ward like the demon on the pale horse, with hunger and pestilence and death in his train; and the myriads of famished human beings who followed in the dread- 285 ful march, saw before them a vast barren track of nearly four hundred wersts, before they could hope to reach any sustenance for expiring nature, any shel- ter from the vengeful swords of their incensed foe. Smolenzk was the nearest spot where magazines had been prepared. Thither was this devoted mass of suffering creatures doomed to drag on their ex- hausted and emaciated frames. The famished horses dropped dead beneath the powerless limbs of their riders, and the fainting riders threw themselves upon the stiffened bodies of their horses, for rest and for death. The wretched survivors, embracing hope in the very bosom of despair, listened eagerly to the promises of Smolenzk from the lips of their comman- ders; and, without other food than the flesh which they tore from the wasted limbs of their dying ca- valry, they pressed on. The officers, whose informa- tion on the subject, rendered fatally prescient, saw with even more dismay than their men, the despera- tion of their circumstances. An enraged enemy ho- vered upon their rear and on their flanks, and the first harbingers of a change of season had already made themselves be felt: Winter, a Northern Winter, brood- ed with all its horrors over their heads. Neither was Napoleon ignorant of what was suffered, of what must yet be endured. British heroes regard their soldiers as the sinews of their strength; the French leader con- siders his as the machines of his ambition, and he treats them accordingly. He saw what was before his army in this his enforced retreat from Russia. He 286 would not see any alternative that could compromise his dominant pride, and, leading forward his victims to their horrible fate, he continued to flatter them with hopes, while his pitiless heart defied the wants of human nature, and set at nought the threatening severities of the season^ By the twentieth of October, the whole army was on its flight, for by no other term can the manner of their retreat be truly described. Even while the en- couraging exhortations of Napoleon, and his promises of honours and rewards for their persevering heroism, were sounding in the ears of his deluded and too faith- ful followers; even in that hour, when they were look- ing to him as to the (almost) demi-god for whom they had suffered all, and from whom they expected pro- tection to the last—he resolved to abandon them! Escape was now his object, and taking with him a chosen few, he repeated the scene of Egypt, and left his Generals to bring on their despairing soldiers in the best way they could. Murat, on retiring from the field of his late defeat, hoped that on reaching Medyn he might be able to penetrate a few wersts into the unexhausted country in its neighbourhood. But no; the indefatigable Cos- sacs were already there^ and the pike and the sword 237 shut every avenue against the attempts of his most resolute corps. Finding every effort vain, to gain re- lief in that quarter, he and Beauharnois consulted what was next to be done, and seeing no resource within their power to satisfy the wants of their troops, they determined sharing the fate of the other divisions of the army, and with this view they joined their fu- gitive comrades on the road to Mojaisk. On these circumstances being reported to the Rus- sian Commander-in-chief, he put his whole army in motion, moving its main body towards Wiazmaj whilst the advance under Miloradovitch should follow in a parallel direction between him and the Mojaisk road. The advance division was fully cpmpetent to this important service, as it had been reinforced with a power that rendered it the complete half of the army. While the main bodies thus moved on, every sur-^ rounding track, whether of wood or open ground^ swarmed with Cossacs and light troops to harass the enemy, and to destroy the bridges in his path. To secure the left flank of the main army from the chance of being annoyed by parties from Dombrof- sky's division at Mohilofi', Koutousoff detached Lieu- tenant-General ShepelefF with a strong corps com- posed of the Kalouga armament, and supported by six pieces of cannon, with a party of cavalry, besides three regiments of Cossacs. He soon executed his orders, and informed the Commander-in-chief that his division had taken possession of the city of Roslav. 288 that it covered the town of Briansk, and that it was moving upon Elnia. While General Shepeleff was thus securing the country in the neighbourhood of Mohiloff, the gallant young Count Ogerofsky was dispatched to the same quarter at the head of a fine body of regular light troops. PlatofF, whose indefatigable zeal and active valour had been conspicuous from the first of the campaign, pursued the same animated course in the expulsion of a retreating foe, as he had taken in repelling his advance. Having learnt that a large body of the ene- my, together with a considerable convoy, had passed on the night of the 30th through the village of Staroy on their way to Mojaisk towards Smolenzk, he lost not a moment in following their track. Near to the monastery of Kolotsk he overtook their rear- guard and luggage, which had halted close to the heights on which it stands. At day-break on the 31st, he or- dered two brigades of his Cossacs to attack the ene- my's left flank. As soon as they found themselves thus assailed, they showed every disposition rather to retreat than to engage, and accordingly began to move in a very rapid order of march. When the Hetman perceived their intention, he ordered another brigade to fall upon their right, whilst he, with a strong divi- sion well supported by artillery, would bear down upon their rear. A terrible slaughter ensued, but se- veral times the French General endeavoured to stop his troops during their flying conflict, that some steady 289 resistance might be offered. He attempted in vain. The flanks of his division were so pressed by the assailants, and they so heavily pushed and galled his rear with their pikes and cannon, that he found it im^ possible to hold his ground a moment. Once or twice he endeavoured to take advantage of the high ground over which he passed, but the activity of his pursuers neither gave him time nor opportunity, and at last he was compelled to give up the contest, leaving behind him in his flight twenty-seven pieces of ordnance and his colours. In this affair the French had two batta- lions completely destroyed, hundreds fell by the sa- bres of the Cossacs, and the earth was strewed with dying bodies, from the grape of the Russian guns. The full amount of the dead could not be ascertained, for the nature of the warfare did not allow of these calculations; no prisoners were taken, as it was a re- gular system with the Cossacs in their battles with the French never to burthen themselves with men as prisoners whom they had found exterminating ene- mies. In order to render their retreat less incumbered, the wretched fugitives blew up their ammunition carts, and set fire to every thing that could impede their flight. Five hundred carcases of horses (for they seemed more dead than alive), which had been at- tached to the waggons and artillery, were set loose and abandoned to their fate. The following day this discomfited division of the rear-guard fell in with its companion division at Gridnevo; the main body of 20 290 the army having reached Ghatz at the same time* Sad was the junction to all parties, for it brought no- thing with it but a communication of miseries. In vain did that hope which, Phoenix-like, revives from death to death, in the human breast, in vain did it support the wretched fugitive in his flight with the idea that when he should come up with the main body some of his miseries would be relieved. He arrived, and they were increased by the pang of dis- appointment, by the horror of despair. Rendered desperate by famine, and the privation of every necessary of life, whole regiments left their brigades, and forming themselves into bands of rapine^ spread themselves every where for several wersts to force from the peasantry some share in their food and clothes. This track of country, having already felt the evils of war, afforded very trifling resources, but even these were withheld from the enemy. The vigilance of the Cossacs traced their marauding parties in every direction, and hunting them from the woods and by- ways, compelled them to fly before them towards the high road. Hundreds of starving wretches, who looked more like animated skeletons than men, dropped hourly in their path. The cries of the dying, perish- ing in all the agonies of want, and the imprecations of impotent exertion, expiring under the sword of the pursuer, were heard in every quarter. While the parties who had separated themselves from the main body of the enemy, thus parted from it never to return, the army itself did not suffer less 291 from the increasing calamities of its march. Its steps were tracked with the wreck of human mortality, and the starved horses that attempted to drag forward the numerous artillery, fell also beneath their tasks. To prevent the necessity of abandoning the guns, whole regiments of cavalry were dismounted, that their horses, though not in a much better condition, might supply the places of those which had perished. Early as this might be deemed since the time of commencing the retreat, the awful circumstances which accompanied every step made the events of a few days seem the sufferings of many weeks. Two hundred and fifty wersts of desolated country were yet between them and Smolenzk, their first depots and the nearest spot in which they could venture to rest. The divisions of Davoust, Ney, Beauharnoisj and Murat, crowded fast upon each other, whilst the unceasing attacks of their pursuers obliged them yet more closely to compact themselves in the narrow way left open for their passage. Platoff, while hanging over their ranks, thus de- scribes their situation and his own proceedings: *' The retreat of the French is a flight without example, aban- doning every thing that demands carriage, even to their sick and wounded. The traces of this fearful career are marked with every species of horror. At every step is seen the dying and the dead, not merely the fallen in battle, but the victims of famine and fa- tigue. In two days, even in sight of riiy division, their despair has blown up one hundred ammunition 292 waggons, while the sudden movement of my troops has caused them to leave untouched an almost equal number. We destroy these fugitives wherever we meet them, and when they attempt to make the least stand, the brave sons of the Don, assisted by their artillery and the chasseurs, soon relieve the empire of hundreds of its invaders." On the 2d of November the enemy appeared near Ghatz in some strength. He presented apparently full columns of infantry, and of considerable depth. He had also left numbers of tirailleurs in the wood that skirted each side of the road; and had covered his front with batteries. When Platoff perceived this array, he ordered ten pieces of Cossac artillery, and a body of chasseurs, to attack the wood on both flanks. The woods were quickly cleared of their tirailleurs; and the brigades of Cossacs, with their guns, fell vigorously on the ene- my's wings. After a combat of two hours he gave way; another charge put him to flight; and, until night checked their reins, the victorious Cossacs pur- sued. Soon as morning dawned, they recommenced the chase, and ceased not till the poor wreck of their adversary came up with a strong body commanded by Marshal Davoust, and which was hastening to- wards Wiazma. During this pursuit the Cossacs made a prize of seventy waggons, and twenty pieces of cannon, with several stands of colours; and the chasseurs took some thousand helpless and exhausted prisoners. 293 On the same day of the Hetman's success over this great division, on the 2d of November, Count Orloff- DenisofF fell in with a vast^ concourse of the enemy. It was literally a mob composed of numbers, who had wandered in various directions from a hundred regi- ments, and being hunted in all quarters by the Cos- sacs, were chased into the great road, where they found other sharers in the same circumstances of flight and misery. Assembling themselves in a body, the better to repel the attacks of the flying cavalry, they had proceeded only a little way when they were descried by the vigilant eye of Orloff'-Denisoffl With- out order or command they attempted to repulse his charge, but on the first onset they fell like unarmed men, so weak was their means of resistance, so feeble was their strength, and the earth was immediately scattered over with their killed and wounded. Upwards of one thousand prisoners quietly sub- mitted to the victors, and with them were taken forty loaded waggons, and several officers which belonged to the Commissariat. General Miloradovitch, by a movement on his right, came fast upon the steps of Orloff'-Denisoff' and Platoff; and the heads of his columns presented them- selves close to Wiazma on the morning of the third of November, Here the enemy were collected in great strength; and wishing to give time, if possible, for the part of their army in advance to proceed, they made a formidable show of giving battle. Marshals Davoust, Ney^ and Beauharnois formed at a small 294 distance from Wiazma. They had not chosen ground the best adapted to extensive military operations, nor had they been allowed timp even to take advantage of the points vi^ithin their reach to improve their position. Neither order nor discipline seemed to exist amongst the numerous ranks; all was confusion and uproarj and fighting with desperation alone was now their only hope of success. Miloradovitch soon made his arrangements for the attack, which was immediately made on the enemy's left flank. The Russian troops fell upon their adversa- ries with a fury which nothing but the cruellest inju- ries could have excited; they were met by a resistance full of valour, but it was the valour of the soldier's last hour, when he knows that he must fall and is re- solved to sell his life dearly. The contest was very short. A heavy and regular discharge from the Rus- sian cannon and musketry swept down whole lines of the French, and compelled the rest to give way. The moment was seized by their adversaries, who rushed on with the point of the bayonet, and drove them with unparalleled slaughter into the town. The Russian cavalry, fresh and unfatigued, charged furiously after the retreating columns, over heaps of dead and dying; while the artillery continued to pour on their devoted heads myriads of balls and grape, with an execution as horrible as it was effectual. Beauharnois fled with his shattered division towards the road leading to Douchovchina. Davoust and Ney took the high road to Dorogobouche; whilst thou- 295 sands ran, they scarcely knew whither, along both banks of the Dneiper. Twenty-eight pieces of cannon fell into the Russian hands in this affair. The French loss was tremendous.. Six thousand killed, and three thousand five hundred taken prisoners; amongst the latter was a general of artillery and his aide-de-camps, the quarter-master- general of Davoust*s division, and an immense num- ber of officers of various ranks. As usual, the pursuit of the enemy only finished with the night: and such a night! In that terrible darkness all the horrors of winter seemed at once to burst upon them. The snow fell unremittingly till it covered the face of the earth, and every object upon it that was not considerably above its surface. The cold was intolerable; and now it was that the loud complaints of human nature, suffering under every ill, burst from every lip. Then, O Napoleon! were thy magnificent titles of Conqueror^ King^ and Empe- roff forgotten in the general accusation of Tyrant^ Be trayer. Murderer! The morning broke, and the usual track of their march had disappeared. The weltering bodies of their companions, the stiffened corpses of them who had perished by famine, all were hidden from their sight under one wide waste of snow. The cry which broke from their hearts at this desolate spectacle, this whiten =^ ed world, which shut from their emaciated hands every root of the earth, every blade of grass for their fainting cattle, was like the cry at the judgment day— ^96 all hope was vain, and the direst perdition seemed to await them at every point. Severe as had been their sufferings before, it was from this moment that the French army knew by ex- perience the utmost stretch of evils that humanity could bear. It was now that they knew, by ten thou- sand nameless horrors, what was imported in the term a northern winter. Buonaparte had taught them to deride its described terrors, and to hold them at nought. He had pledged himself that they should defy all its powers, by the exertions of his care, his fore- sight, his preparations. They should cheer its gloom with full boards and festivities; they should create a southern sun in its dreary atmosphere, by the glow of victory, and the glory of renown. This had been the promise; but what the reality? His foresight was, to lead them to destruction; his care, to abandon them in the severest moment of trial; his preparations, to leave them in nakedness and want; his full board, the barren waste of famine; his festivals and triumphs, the bloody field of retreat, and the dishonoured grave! The frost commenced with an intensity uncommon even in Russia. The wretched fugitives of Napoleon were obliged to bivouac upon the naked snow, with no other covering than the drifting sleet which drove 297 against their exposed bodies like the piercing points of arrows. In these terrible nights of more than mor= tal cold, they attempted to light fires; and round the half kindled sparks they huddled together, to partici- pate the vital heat each yet contained. But it was so small, that in a few hours many hundreds died, and when morning dawned, their surviving comrades be- held them in ghastly circles of death around the glim- mering ashes. It was hardly in the memory of the oldest person in Russia, a winter having set in so early with such iron rigour. But the severest weather never found a people unprepared which had been educated from in- fancy to endure its annual return, and were never unprovided with means to repel any extraordinary violence. The Emperor, and the patriotic spirit of his nobles, had abundantly furnished the Russian army vvith provisions and winter cloathing; and, though out under all the inclemencies of the season, they hardly felt its fierceness. Not so the French army. The persons who com- posed its legions were most of them born under more genial suns; their constitutions knew no habits an- swerable to the attacks which would be made on them in cold climates, and as no fictitious means had been prepared of shielding them from such inevitable evils, the consequence could not be but fatal. Day after day these unhappy men dragged on their wretched existence. All military ideas were thrown aside: it was no longer an army that was retreating, 2P ^98 but a multitude of famishing individuals, each seek- ing his own preservation, and careless of all other ob- jects in the world. To speak of discipline, or order, was mockery to them. They spurned at a command so impotent, that it could only issue its decrees to their perishing ranks. " Give us bread," they would cry, *' and we will obey you!" Officer and private alike contemned every effort of the Generals to main- tain subordination, and the visible appearance of an army. They broke away in bands, like wild beasts howling for their prey; and rushing together, or in desperate solitary attempts, tore down every obstacle in their path to procure food and raiment. Friend and foe were assailed; self-preservation was their sole mo- tive, and when no Russian property presented itself for plunder, they fell upon their own waggons, and pillaged them of their contents. A horrible distraction seized upon thousands, and wherever they moved the direst spectacles tracked their steps. Their figures now appeared hardly human; the faces of some were disfigured by the loss of various features from the in- veteracy of the frost; others had lost their hands or feet, some whole limbs, but even these injuries were small, when compared with the combination of bo- dily sufferings (hitherto unknown in the annals of the world) which fell upon many, and produced diseases for which there is yet no name. The most horrible Golgotha of human victims sacrificed to the Molochs of India, could not be more fraught with the wrecks of mortality, than this road of death. Here perished 299 man put on every shape of horror, and vast and deep were the heaps of his remains. Some lay in enviable rest; but history will have the abhorrent fact to relate, that many were the mangled bodies torn by the hands of their maddened comrades, who, wrought to frenzy by the pangs of unappeased hunger, seized on the limbs of the dead, and devoured the loathsome flesh with the appetites of cannibals. Such were the effects on the most violent spirits amongst these wretched men; but those of a more temperate nature, bore the miseries of want and cold with a stern despair, until the weakness of their frames not allowing them to contend with the influence of the frost, a frightful drowsiness seized on all their facul- ties. Thousands in this state sunk into the hands of their conquerors; without speech, deprived of every sense, and almost motionless, they ceased to live even before they ceased to breathe. The phials of wrath seemed to pour all their fury on the devoted heads of Napoleon's army. It was a scene that must make the most infidel mind pause to meditate; it was a scene to wring with agony the most obdurate heart. Bitter then was the cup of misery which man drank to the dregs. As man brought himself by his own will into the way of these evils, it seems but just that he should be the longest afiiicted. The poor animals which the French army had made the companions of their inva- sion, also suffered, but death sooner relieved them from their pangs. In every part of the retreat it was 300 observed that although the men had all the miseries which reason, in such a situation, must add to those of the body, to contend with, yet their animals more immediately felt the fatal effects of the season. Each day and night the horses died by hundreds. These poor creatures had long been without forage, and the fatigue they endured had quite exhausted them even before the winter set in; but when that put the last stroke to the misery of the French army, no care was taken to shoe the animals for their icy march, and the consequence was injuries to their feet which nothing could cure, and a weakness of limbs which debilitated the creature to an excess that rendered him almost useless. To remedy this, what the enfeebled strength of a few could not do, many were brought to accom- plish; thus, instead of the usual complement of horses to draw a heavy piece; of artillery or a waggon, twelve^ fourteen, and often twenty, were put to the task. But even with this addition, should they arrive at a rising ground up which the load was to be drawn, it became an insurmountable barrier, and guns and waggons were abandoned. The cavalry, (all excepting the ca- valry of the guards), were hourly dismounted to assist with their horses in these often vain attempts to save their artillery and baggage. Sometimes, to preserve the horses, the baggage was left, and frequently both were lost together; the horses sinking at once under the unequal labour, and the abandoned waggons seized in the sight of tlieir owners by the hovering Cossacs. The grand army of Russia, continuing its march 301 by cross roads, kept in a parallel line with the retreat of the enemy. General Miloradovitch ceased not to press upon their left flank, while he proceeded with Platoflf and his clouds of the Don, which, with a fiercer fire than ever shot from the Boreal-Morn, hung on the corps of Beauharnois. The passage of the Dneiper at Dorogobouche, had been anticipated by the Russians; and a strong corps from their main army was fast approaching to increase the enemy's difficulties in attempting to cross it. Every arm, in this awful moment, was raised to rid the empire of its invaders, and to hurl a direful retri- bution on their heads. The great, the aged Koutou- soff, rested neither day nor night, but exposed himself at all hours, and under every inclemency of the sea- son, to watch the progress of the enemy's flight; to share anxiety and fatigue with the youngest and most active of his soldiers. While he shared in their toil and in their glory, he forgot the merits of his own animating example, and thus unequivocally demands the gratitude of posterity for the men he led to con- quest. " The Cossacs perform miracles of bravery. They not only destroy whole columns of the enemy's in- fantry; but fall with undaunted resolution upon his flaming artillery. They destroy all that opposes theme Indeed the same spirit animates the whole of the Rus- sian army." 302 On the 7th November, General Platoff,, at the head of his band of warriors, passed swiftly along the right side of the road leading to Dorogobouche. His pur- suit was Beauharnois, and to post his Cossacs in situ- ations to prevent the marauding parties of the fugitives from destroying the villages which had yet escaped the last ravages of war. As he came down upon the way which leads from Dorogobouche to Douchovo- china, not far from the village of Zeselia, he fell in with a division of Beauharnois. The gallant chief of the Cossacs, even on the instant of rencontre, threw his followers into order of attack, which he could do to advantage, as the enemy had taken a very open position. He directed both flanks of his opponent to be assaulted at the same time, while he with a chosen squadron would bear down upon the centre. Victory now seemed to sit upon his helm. The enemy's right and left were turned, and the centre, not able to stand the united charge of chasseurs, ar- tillery, and Cossacs, gave way in every direction; some fled, but many fell, dyeing the pale snow with torrents of human blood. Discomfited at every point, this once formidable division separated from before the swords of their victors, one party flying towards Douchovochina, and the other taking wing to Smo- lenzk* Platoff" dispatched a strong corps in pursuit of the latter, while he himself followed the former, (at whose head was Beauharnois), with a body of troops determined to seize or pursue its commander to the verge of the empire. 303 The gallant train came up with the object of their chase the next day near to the banks of the Vope. The atmosphere was darkened by a thickly -falling snow, but darkness and light were the same to the zeal of the Cossac, the blaze of his own ardour was sufficient, and the battle was renewed. Beauharnois made a firmer resistance than before; his soldiers re- ceived the charge of the Russians with a furious re- coil, and the combat raged for a little time with a grappling kind of courage. But it was not the cou= rage of military order; the voice of command was not heard; all was the result of individual feeling, at one moment cutting down his adversary, and in the next, hurried on by frantic despair, precipitating himself upon the pointed weapons of the Cossacs. Upwards of fifteen hundred of the enemy were killed during the attacks of these two days; and three thousand five hundred taken prisoners. Amongst the latter were General Sanson, many chiefs of regiments, and more than one hundred officers of inferior ranks. The spoil were sixty-two pieces of cannon, several standards, baggage, &c. &c. PlatofF, having destroyed nearly the whole of Beau- harnois' division, moved down upon Douchovochina to finish its destruction, and then dispatched eight re- giments of Cossacs to strengthen those already sent towards Smolenzk. His intentions were to follow these successes by proceeding on the great road beyond Selobpneva, and then turning on the heads of the 304 enemy^s advancing columns, cut them off in van and rear. A short time after this affair, some of the Russian parties intercepted a French courier with letters from the defeated division, to that at Smolenzk. Two are here subjoined from Beauharnois, and they will give no faint impressions of his own idea of the sufferings of the unhappy wretches under his command. Letter from the Viceroy of Italy to the Prince ofJVeuf chatel^ dated from the village of ZeseliOi November 1th, 1812. " I have the honour to inform your Highness that I put myself in motion at four o'clock this morning, but the badness of the roads, and severity of the frost opposed so many obstacles to the march of ray divi- sion, that our van only was able to reach this place by six in the evening, the rear taking up a position nearly two leagues behind. " At five in the morning, the enemy appeared on our right, attacking at the same instant our van, our centre, and our rear, with artillery, Cossacs, and dra- goons. At the head he found an opening of which he took immediate advantage, and charging with a loud houra! made a prize of two pieces of regimental can- non which had been stopped by a steep acclivity at some distance from their escorts. The 9th regiment 305 ran to recover them, but they had been ah'eady car- ried off. "On the rear- guard the enemy opened a fire from four guns, and Genenil Ornano believes that he saw- infantry upon every other point with two pieces of cannon each, but he does not assert it as a positive fact. *' Your Highness must allow that my situation is extremely critical; embarrassed as I am by the quan- tity of baggage with which I have been forced to en - cumber myself, and by a long train of artillery of which, without exaggeration, four hundred horses have died this day. Nevertheless I shall continue my march by dawn to-morrow with the intention of reach- ing Pologgi, where I shall endeavour to gain that in- formation which must determine whether I shall proceed to Douchovochina or to Pneva. *' I will not conceal from your Highness that after making every exertion to carry forward the artillery, I am at last under the necessity of abandoning so fruitless an attempt. In our present situation we must be prepared to make great sacrifices, and this very day several guns have been spiked and buried. " I have the honour, &c." Letter from the Viceroy of Italy to the Prince of NeufchateU dated November %th^ ISli^, at the pas- sage of the Vope. *' I enclose to your Highness a letter which, though written by me yesterday, failed of reaching you; the 2 Q 306 officer who was to have delivered it having been led astray by his guide. " Your highness will be surprised to find me yet upon the Vope; I have not however been the less ac- tive in quitting Zeselia by five this morning, but the road is so cut with ravines that it required nearly miraculous efforts to reach even thus far. It is with the most painful feelings that I discover the necessity I am under of confessing to your highness the great sacrifices we have made to expedite our march. These three days only, have cost us two-thirds of our artil- lery, and of the troops, four hundred horses died yesterday, and to-day we have lost double that num- ber, not including any of thqse I was obliged to pro- cure for the baggage waggons and other carriages. Whole trains perished nearly at the same instant, several of which had been three times renewed. " To-day this division of the army has not been disturbed in its march. Some thought they perceived Cossacs without artillery, but that circumstance not being usual, it may be a mistake. If the report of one of the Voltigeurs, who was sent out on a marauding party, may be believed, he was followed by a column of infantry and artillery taking the same direction with ourselves. " To-night I send a strong reconnoisance upon Dou- chovochina, which place I expect to reach to-morrow, provided the enemy does not oppose a serious resis- tance to my march; for I must not conceal from your Highness that the sufferings of these three last days 307 have so completely depressed the spirit of the soldiery, that I fear they are at this moment incapable of making any sort of exertion. Many of the troops are dead from, •famine and from cold; and others, in despair, have suffered themselves to be taken by the enemy. *'I have the honour, &c." By moving upon Douchovochina, Beauharnois cut off {he communication between him and the greater body of the French army, and his taking such a route can only be accounted for in his anxiety to find some subsistence for his famished people. Could this be accomplished he might have a hope of gaining Vi- tepsk, and joining the remnant of his division with the forces of Victor and Oudinot, who were supposed to be then in that neighbourhood. Whatever might have been his future object, the means to reach it were destroyed by the Cossacs. They never checked the career of their pursuit, till they chased the Viceroy of Italy and his staff to the gates of Smolenzk; and saw the poor wretches who had formed the last fragment of his division, dispers- ing themselves for shelter in every direction, flying to the woods and over the trackless snows, where they perished to a man. There was not one of the Generals of Napoleon who did not openly or secretly condemn their leader for persisting in leaving Moscow with so immense a train of artillery. The delay it occasioned in their re- treat, and the vast consumption of cattle it occasioned 308 to transport it along, was one great cause of the future calamities of the army. Time, iiifinitely valuable at this crisis, was worse -han lost. The various impedi- ments which lay in the way of these heavy appen- dages of flight, stole away the hours and days in attempting to surmount them; thousands of horses, taken from riders too enfeebled to bear the toil of walking, perished in the harness of the guns; and the guns themselves were at last abandoned! But not till the delay they had occasioned had sealed the fate of the army: — it was overtaken by the Winter of the North! At this moment when his dismounted and fainting troops were left to the mercy of their pursuers, he affects thus to remark on their situation: " the enemy, who saw on the road the traces of the calamity which had befallen the army, hastened to take advantage of its misfortune. He surrounded every column with Cossacs, who, like the Arabs of the desert, carried off the trains and carriages which were separated from us. Such are the acts of this despicable cavalry, which make a noise, but are not capable of equalling in speed a company of voltigeurs. They are formida- ble by the favour of circumstances alone." All the hopes and false calculations of Buonaparte relative to the conquest of Russia, have been dissi- pated in endeavouring to realize them. Never was contempt of the character and resources of a nation more deeply rooted in the breast of man, than was the French Ruler's contempt of this empire. Never since 309 nations existed has there been manifested so unani- mous a patriotism, and with that patriotism a succes- sion of resources equal to every exigency of the time. The calamities of the invasion instead of damping the ardour of the people, drew forth in tenfold strength their courage and incalculable powers of war. And while Napoleon proclaimed to the world that he went to separate a race of slaves from their tyrants, he only made it apparent that in the empire of Ru^^sia still exists the polity of the patriarchal ages. There may be found the hereditary bond and the free: a circle of allodial princes, and their tenants who, born on the lands and of a line of ancestors coeval with the pedi- gree of their lords, are rather the sons than the slaves of the soil. When Englishmen, in general, speak of northern vassalage, it is evident they consider it in the same point of view that they did the slavery in the West Indies. But no two states can possess more distinct lines of difference. The bonds of the Russian peasant are the same with those which bound the Chaldean shepherd; the servitude of the negro in the West Indies, was the slavery of a Spartan helot. As there is a progress in civilization, and every nation cannot be prepared to share at the same moment the privileges of other nations, it is as illiberal as absurd to contemn all people who are not elevated to the same pitch of political consequence we are ourselves. Solon gave to the Athenians, not the best possible code of laws, but the best they would bear. Such is ever the conduct of wisdom. Nations are like chil- 310 dren. They are not set at perfect liberty till educatioa had made them a law to themselves. The Russian So- vereign and his princes are not ignorant of this ordi- nance of nature. The circumstances of the French invasion have called forth the characters of the people. The hipjh and the low are made st nsible of their rela- tive duties to the common weal: they are acquainted with their own powers; they are aware of each others virtues: — and the consequences are obvious. Alexan- der is the Father of his Empire! and the Russian na- tion must become as great in internal policy, as it is now renowned for loyalty and arms. Count Ogorofsky continued to move towards the country in the direction of Krasnoy, while Lieutenant- General Schepeleff, after reconnoitring and clearing all in his front, moved on his right to Einia. He found a strong body of the enemy in that city, but he did not allow them to remain there; in a few hours they were completely driven from the place and its neigh- bourhood. Miloradovitch, with the advanced guard of the great army, pushed on through Semlevo towards Dorogobouche. On the 7th of November he disco- vered the enemy constructing an additional bridge over the Dneipen That river intersects the great road 311 in two different places about eight wersts from Doro- gobouche. The most considerable part of the French army, with its guns and baggage, had already gained the immediate vicinity of that city. This detachment was therefore wholly unprotected; and Miloradovitch gave instant orders that it should be attacked. Being struck with terror at the unexpected charge, the men who composed it scarcely offered any resistance, but fell in heaps under the Russian sabre, or plunged for refuge into the river, where they were drowned. This impediment destroyed, Miloradovitch passed the whole of his forces over, and proceeded towards the town. The French army in arriving there, had taken up an advantageous position; but, like most of their late efforts, it was of no avail. The Russian General dis- patched a strong division to turn their left flank, their right being secured by the Dneiper. The combat was supported on both sides with the spirit of good sol- diers. It was desperate on the part of the French, and determined on that of Russia. Two hours, however, put an end to the contest, and the enemy followed his fate of flying from the field. During the flight up- wards of fifty ammunition waggons were blown up, and a vast number of guns thrown into the river. Several fell into the hands of the Russians, with about a thousand prisoners; and when the victors reconnoi- tred what had been the position of their adversary, they found it one line of dead and dying; the snow was blackened with their bodies; and every where around, the foot of man or horse could not step with- 312 out trampling on the wrecks of human nature, de- stroyed bj' the sword, or cold, or famine. Count Oiloff-DenizofF moved his force in a parallel direction between the great army and that of Milora- dovitch; and during his march very successfully con- tinued his exertions against the enemy, destroying their men, and burning their waggons. This gallant division had been greatly increased by numbers of organized peasantry, and several noble partizans who assisted the general in his glorious toils. When he reached the villages of Kolpitka and Doubasichi, which are not far from Dorogobouche, he learnt that the enemy, to the amount of nine thousand men, un- der the command of Brigade-General Augereau, were divided amongst the villages of Yazvine, Liachovo, and Dolgomostia. On receiving this information, (it was on the 11th of November), he pushed on with his whole force. Liachovo was the first object, and was attacked by the artillery under the orders of Captain Figner, an officer who, throughout the whole of this desolating war, gave unceasing proofs of courage and military skill. The enemy made an attempt to form on some rising ground on the right of the village, but the Russian shot rolling in upon their ranks and mark- ing them with horrid chasms, they deemed it prudent to retire again to the protection of the houses. Count Orloff-Denizoff, with his troops, immediately sur- rounded the place. The French Commander, seeing the inevitable consequences of his situation, did not hesitate, but laying down his arms, oifered to capita- 313 hte. This division, all taken prisoners, consisted of two thousand men, and sixty officers, including their General. The detachment, which occupied Dolgo- mastia, finding that Augereau was attacked, dispatch- ed a corps of cavalry to his support. These were met, charged and destroyed, nearly at the very moment in, which their General and brethren-in-arms surrendered. This was the first example of such a capitulation since the enemy's retiring from Moscow. Next day, the victorious Count scoured the rest of the villages of their hostile inmates. On his approach to Prennina he learnt that a large convoy of provi- sions, cattle, horses, and other necessaries for the French army accumulating at Smolenzk, was on its way from MohilofF, under the guard of strong detach- ments of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, the whole amounting to six thousand men. His information was so good, and his own movements so judicious, that he fell on all parts of this immense cavalcade almost in one instant of time, and his divisions closing in upon them, the whole was made his prize. One thou- sand five hundred of the enemy were killed, thirteen hundred were made prisoners, and four hundred wag- gons laden with biscuit, brandy and wine, were taken. Also two hundred head of cattle, and one thousand horses destined for the guns. Such was the report which the fugitive survivors of the action attempted to carry to Smolenzk; but the freezing blast and the shapeless drift destroyed what the sword had spared; and there was none to tell of a loss so terrible to an 2R 314 army whose wants rendered the smallest assistance invaluable. Prince KoutousofF kept pace with the corps on his right, fixing his head- quarters at Elnia on the 7th of November, and on the 13th at Lobkovo. Buonaparte and his chosen band, having tracked their way over deserts lost in snow, at last came up with the relics of his once fine army at Smolenzk, and established his head- quarters there on the 9th of November. At the moment of his entrance into that city he was in perfect ignorance of the relative situa- tions of the several great divisions of the Russia» army. His flight to this point had been prosecuted under circumstances of such speed and alarm that he had not had the power of sending out parties of re- connoisance to any distance. However, he flattered himself, from the rapidity with which he had moved, that he must now be considerably in advance of the enemy, and might reach Minsk before Admiral Tchit- chagoff" could approach it from Volhynia. The division of Marshal Ney, (which now amount- ed to no more than fifteen thousand men), was yet a full day's march in the rear of the main body, and it was to be considered as its rear guard. Necessary as his advance might be, his utmost endeavours could not make more than a very slow progress; for the Cossacs and light troops of the Russian advanced guard fell on him at every point, and it may literally be said he purchased every step forward with the blood of some of his people. In one of his rencontres 315 %vith the imperial troops, he lost nine hundred and eighty men, twenty-two pieces of cannon, and sixty ammunition waggons. In fact, the numbers who perished of the French army, from the day of its evacuating Moscow, to that of its entrance into Smolenzk, are incredible. It ex- ceeded one hundred thousand men when it left the gates of the ancient capital, and at Smolenzk sixty thousand could with difficulty be mustered, and even the greatest numbers of them were hardly able to bear arms. Though too enfeebled by want and fatigue to contend with any effect against their armed ene- mies, they were still only too prompt to obey the cruel orders of their leader to avenge their defeats and their miseries upon the last remains of the native inhabi- tants of Smolenzk. Ever since this wretched city fell into the possession of the French it had exhibited one uninterrupted scene of tyranny. The authorities in- stituted by Buonaparte, had exerted their powers of aggression both upon the town and the adjoining coun- try with every act of avidity and ferocious violence. Amongst the many loyal Russians whose blood was daily offered by these monsters of cruelty to the am= bition of their master, was the brave Colonel Engel- hart. He was a private gentleman of Smolenzk, and on the entrance of the French into that government, he resolutely remained in his village, defending it against the rapacity of the enemy. Various parties were ordered out to destroy him and his little fortress together, but his courage was more than numbers. 316 and many of the brigands fell by his own intrepid hand. But, shame to add, at last one wretch was found who could be persuaded to act the traitor, and En- geihart was betrayed into the power of his enemies. The joy they manifested at sight of their captive fully tcstifitd the merit of his opposition, and when he was inierrogated on his conduct by his French judges, he answered in the simple language of virtue: " I have only done my duty as a Russian subject. The obligation of opposing them who would disturb the peace of our legitimate sovereign, and destroy our country, is imposed by the Divine Law upon us all: and I have nothing to regret, but that I am re- strained by these fetters from dying in the act of in- flicting vengeance upon our invaders." It was thus that the, noble Engelhart declared the principles of his heroic heart before the tribunal of his enemies. He listened calmly to the sentence of death which they passed upon him. He returned to his prison in chains, through the streets of Smolenzk; and re-entering his dungeon with the mild dignity of virtue, there made his last testament of affection to those he loved, and of firm defiance to the oppressors of his country. At the place of execution he pointed out to the French their error in believing that they could ever enslave Russia; he predicted the destruc- tion of her invaders, and thanked heaven that even his murder would prove a service to the empire. 317 Death had so few terrors for him who had becQ conducted to the scaffold by his virtues, tliat, when the executioners would have blindfolded him, he re- moved the bandage, and fixing his intrepid eyes upon the muskets which were levelled at him, made the sign of the holy cross upon his bosom. He fell a sol- dier of Christ, he fell a noble sacrifice to his duty as a subject and a man. Very few were the days that the French army, beat- en by the tempest raised by their crimes and the ele- ments, remained at Smolenzk; but those few days were marked with every horror the most wanton cru- elty could inflict. It was the reign of violence. Mad- dened by privation, and infuriate with every venge- ful passion, the tide of rapine knew no bounds; blood flowed in every quarter, and the unrestrained swords of these famished bands even went so far as to attack the guards of their own stores, to pillage the contents; and in phrenzied intoxication, to consume by fire what they had not strength to bear away. Indeed the disorder amongst the troops rose to such a pitch that no common measures could bring it into any rule. The officers were set at defiance, and while any sus- tenance could be rifled from the magazines, the men despised subordination, and rioted in all the excess of mutiny and desperation. It was the bold despair of the seamen, who, seeing their vessel must founder, break into the ship-stores, and sink inebriated into their watry grave. There was ruin in every moment of this system being endured; and to check it at least. 31& by changing the object of their avidity, Buonaparte gave orders that his disorganized people should be marched from the town towards the abundant grana- ries he had provided in Poland. The last tragic act of fire and devastation that was to be performed in Smolenzk, was left to the direc- tion of Marshal Davoust, and to be executed by those of his division who had happened to suffer the least under the late fatigues and privations. The orders to this effect were transmitted to him by Berthier, at the command of their August Dictator, and they may be found in the following intercepted letter: The Prince of Neufchatel to the Prince of Eckmuhl, " PRINCE D'ECKMUHL, *' It is the Emperor's command, that you support the Duke d'Elchingen in the retreat of his rear-guard. The Viceroy goes to>morrow to Krasnoy: you will be careful, therefore, to occupy and relieve such posts as may be necessary for the security of the Viceroy's advance. The intention of his Majesty is, that your corps and that of the Duke d'Elchingen should fold themselves back upon Krasnoy; and this movement must be made on the 16th or I7th. " General Charpentier, with his garrison, consist- ing of two-thirds of the Polish battalions, and one regiment of cavalry^ will quit the city with the rear- guard. 319 ■* Previous to the evacuation of the town you must blow up the fortifications around Smolenzk, by set- ting fire to the mines already prepared: you must personally superintend the burning of the ammuni- tion, magazines, and the artillery waggons, as well as of the muskets. In short, every thing that cannot be carried off, must be destroyed. Such of the cannon as you are unable to remove, must be sawn asunder and buried. The Generals Chasselopp and Laribais- siere, remain here, to execute their share in the fore- going dispositions. You will be particular, Monsieur le Marechal, to order out patroles, for the purpose of preventing stragglers, and you will take measures for the removal of the sick, so that as few as possible may be left in the hospitals. (Signed) " Alexander ^ the Prince of Neufchatel^ " Major-General." 2 O. S. ") Smolenzk, the — Nov. L 7 in the morning. 14 N.S.J The orders of Napoleon were still held in respect by his Generals, and with regard to the ruin in Smo- lenzk they were strictly obeyed. The command was devastation! and even the most mutinous soldier fell into the line that was to do the work. Use had made destruction a habit of their minds, and in the present 320 case it was augmented to enjoyment, by making it an act of revenge. The mines were filled with upwards of eight hundred immense cases of combustibles. The city was fired in every quarter at once, and, as soon as the last ranks of the grand army filed out of it, the signal brand was thrown and the explosion took place. The raging of the flames, the thundering of the burst- ing mines, and the tremendous fragments of stone and wood that were hurled into the air, and fell back in blazing ruin, created the appearance of a volcano in the midst of the wintry desert. And beneath this burning shower, and wrapped in clouds of smokcj Davoust issued from the falling suburbs of the city, to join his master, who had departed on the 13th for Krasnoy. Napoleon, as usual, had chosen his companions, taking with him his guards only, who, indeed, were the only troops who now affected any zealous attach- ment to his person, or maintained discipline amongst their ranks. The Grand Russian army, by continuing to ap- proach the city of Krasnoy, greatly increased the effects of General Miloradovitch's movements upon the enemy's rear. That excellent officer having ap^ proached Liaghovo, by a movement on his left, pushed on to the villages in the vicinity of Krasnoy, in consequence of his finding that the chief part of Beauharnois' corps had been destroyed; that Piatoflf was following the rest in the directions of Douchov- china and Smolenzk; and that Ney was also flying for 321 refuge to the latter place. The whole Russian corps to a man participated in the zeal of their general, and they marched eagerly on, hoping to intercept some of the enemy's columns before they could quit Smo- lenzk. The great body of the Russian forces, now moving in a concentrated form, under the command of so consummate a General as Koutousoff, awakened an universal expectation in the country that the decisive stroke on the Invader and his army was soon to fall. The light troops and parties under the Counts Ogorofsky, Osterman- Tolstoy, and Orloff-DenizofF, were hourly destroying or taking prisoners the French detachments in their retreat from Smolenzk. Buonaparte had arrived safe at Krasnoy, but being now well aware that his pursuers were much nearer than he either wished or expected, he awaited with the greatest anxiety the coming up of Marshal Da- voust. However, to provide against accidents, he made the best dispositions for his troops that the city and its environs would admit, taking some advan- tageous stations in the village of Dobroe and on the Orcha road to secure his escape in a case of extremity. On the 17th of November, Miloradovitch masked his advance with the village of Merlino and the un- even grounds in its neighbourhood, in order to allow the troops of Davoust (which were then proceeding towards Krasnoy) to pass his line. This done, he would attack their rear, whilst their left flank should meet a similar greeting from the third corps and se- 2 S 322 cond division of cuirassiers under General Prince Galitzen. At the same time, three strong divisions of infantry and artillery, with detachments from the corps of Ogorofsky and Borosdin, supported by eight regiments of Cossacs and chasseurs, should pass through the villages of Soukovo and Sorokino to- wards Dobroe, to cut off the flight of the enemy by that route. Davoust, though always expecting annoyance, moved forward without any idea that the enemy me- naced him with such a force. Unconsciously he pass- ed through their deep, and to him invisible, defiles near Merlino; and, marching on with feelings almost of security, he had just gained the village of Koutovo, about three wersts from Krasnoy, when he was con* founded by finding himself assailed at once, in flank and rear, as if by an army risen out of the earth. Fearing that he should be totally encircled, he halted to form and prepare for a battle; but the hot and heavy fire of the Russian musketry and guns pressed his people so close upon each other, and the ground on which they stood was so unfavourable, that in en- deavouring to produce order, and to force his men into some shape of defence, he only redoubled their confusion. Miloradovitch gave them no time to re- cover from their first dismay, but ordering his men forward they precipitated themselves upon their foes with uplifted sabres, and the bristling points of count- less bayonets. These relentless weapons soon gave a movement to the enemy, but it was to fly. 323 The Great Napoleon, from amidst his guards, wit* iiessed the commencement of this terrific route; butj not waiting to behold its issue, he turned his horse and fled at full gallop with his suite towards the town of Laidy. Thus did he abandon a division of his army, to which he had hitherto affixed so much coU" sequence, and leave to the fury of an incensed enemy a Field- Marshal whom he had always affected to re- gard with peculiar esteem. The complete destruction of the whole corps of Davoust succeeded to the acclaim of victory from the Russian lines. The cries of his deserted and dy- ing soldiers must have followed the flying steps of Napoleon, as he vanished from the field. He was deaf to the appeal, and was seen no more. The wretched creatures, who escaped the swords of their conquer- ors, sought shelter in the neighbouring woods which skirt the Dneiper, for an extent of five wersts. There these desolate beings, wounded, starving, and naked, laid them down under the frozen thickets, and soon forgot the desertion of their leader and their own mi» series in the sleep of death. It is impossible to pass over the shameful flight of Buonapart6 from the field of Krasnoy, and to witness the apathy with which he abandoned this division in its extremity, without feeling some touch of the old- fashioned idea, that hereditary sovereigns have an inherent parental love for their people, which never can exist in the breast of a strange prince. It would be difficult to persuade ourselves that Henri Quatre 524 could have fled from any field where he must leave his subjects to be butchered. But we need not go so far back for a proof of this kind of affection: Louis XVI. need never have returned from Varennes, would he have allowed his friends to fire upon the suspicious persons who approached his carriage — ''Spare my people!" he said, and his own death on the scaffold was the reward of his tenderness! If Napoleon did not act as became a sovereign, Davoust possessed so much more honour than his master, that he maintained his character of a General to the last. He fought without receding a step, until the total destruction of his division, and the flight of the few who survived, drew him along with them into the woods. The detail of the French loss in the battle of Kras- noy was, two generals, fifty-eight ofllicers of different ranks, nine thousand one hundred and seventy sol- diers, taken prisoners. The killed amounted to four thousand: and the remainder of the division, flying in every direction, perished in the manner before de- scribed. The trophies of the victory were seventy cannons, three standards, and the baton du Marechal of Davoust, with the whole of his baggage, and no inconsiderable part of Napoleon's. By the defeat of this branch of the army, the corps of Ney was completely cut oft'. Indeed, the discom- fited General had no means of apprising Ney of what had happened, that he might avoid a similar destruc- tion. His division was to leave Smolenzk on the very 325 day of this victory. And Prince KoutousofF being in- formed of his march, took instant measures to mis- lead him, and to make his detachment follow the fate of his friend's. To separate him entirely from any com- munication with the main body of the French army, the Commander in-chief dispatched a strong division to Miloradovitch. These troops were posted near the villages close to the high road, and a range of bat- teries were constructed of forty pieces of cannon, commanding the only access to Krasnoy by the high- way. Through it Ney's division must pass to reach the town, and by so doing it must inevitably fall in with the groat body of the Russians which was posted dose to Krasnoy. On the 19ih the Cossacs in advance discovered the enemy, but from the thickness of the fog they could not calculate the number of his columns. The same density of atmosphere prevented him discerning the batteries that were prepared to destroy him. The French Marshal came rapidly forward, and seeing only small parties in his way, affirmed them to be only bodies of reconnoisance; and urged his men to haste to join the division of Davoust and their Em- peror at Krasnoy! Full of this expectation, he had no idea but that Koutousoff was at a considerable dis- tance from him, and he proceeded confidently forward till he arrived within half a cannon shot of the Russian batteries, and there he was presented with a flag of truce and a summons to surrender. At this he laughed, still believing that the troops he now saw were at the 526 best biit a small detachment. " Je saurai me faire jour!'" exclaimed he, and rushed to put into execution his determination. The answer to this reply was immediately made by the Russian guns, and then indeed was he convinced of his mistake. He saw his men, at the distance of two hundred paces from the cannons' mouths, fall in whole ranks, but the instantaneous slaughter did not check the resolution either of the soldiers or their comman- der. The surprise only seemed to elicit the full blaze ©f their courage, and they charged upon the batteries with the most furious impetuosity. The carnage was dreadful: showers of grape mowed down hundreds, but still the vacuum was filled. A valour worthy of the noblest cause was exhibited by column after co- lumn pressing towards the batteries j to glory or the grave. At this crisis they suddenly found their rear assaulted, and were obliged to alter their position. A Russian division under the command of General Pas- kevitch, had issued from the villages and behind the high road (which had been the screen of the main army) and attacked the enemy's rear with the bayo- net. At the same moment his right was turned by the Hulans of the guards, and his left pushed by the gre« nadiers of the Pauvlofsky battalions. The French fought with intrepidity at every point, and kept up a heavy fire of musketry and grape upon the heads of their assailants — but all was in vain. They were sur- rounded, their position was raked from side to side l>y the Russian guns^ and Miloradovitch and his brave 327 followers setting their lives at nought, unless they could reduce this division to the same state as its predecessor, penetrated the ranks of the enemy with so resistless a force that their order was destroyed. A ruinous confusion increased every moment, and the slaughter redoubling in horrible heaps, a retreat was attempted by the bleeding remnant of the day. Order was impossible; it was no longer a military body, but a concourse of individuals, the relics of regiments that strewed the ground, seeking a refuge from an exter- minating sword! The wretched survivors followed the track in the snow yet left them by the fugitives of the preceding day, and fled into the woods. Ney crossed the Boristhenes at the extremity of these thickets, leaving in the hands of his conquerors his colours, cannon, and baggage. General KorfF pursued the fugitives wherever they might be found, and, before many hours, none of these two divisions, that were not prisoners, except- ing their Marshals, lived to tell the story of their dis- asters. Scarcely had the shores of the Dneiper witnessed the completion of this second victory, when another body of the French appeared in sight. It consisted of the last columns of the rear-guard, amounting to something more than eleven thousand men. They too, were ignorant of the late defeats of their coun- trymen, and were pressing forward in the same direc- tion, when a battery of twenty pieces opened upon them and checked their speed. A few minutes after- 328 wards their rear was charged by three thousand Rus-^ sian cavalry, and every demonstration being made to convince theni of their disability to resist, their Com- mander yielded to necessity, and dispatched a flag of truce to General Miloradovitch to ask for quarter. It was instantly granted, and the whole of the French di- vision surrendered and laid down their arms before the Russian troops. Eleven thousand men were made pri- soners, and one hundred officers; five thousand, with four Generals, were left dead in the field. Not a single dragoon was with these columns, consequently they had no means of reconnoitring, and were more than usually at the mercy of their enemies. Fifty pieces of cannon, the military chest, and all the baggage, (which contained much of the plunder from Moscow), fell into the hands of Miloradovitch. The loss sustained by the Russians during these two brilliant days, was not more than five hundred men. The French had abandoned Smolenzk on the night of the 16th, and on the morning of the 17th of No- vember. Its ashes were still throwing forth mingled columns of flame and smoke, when Platoflf approached it. He left within it a regiment of chasseurs, and a party of Cossacs, and then proceeded on the right of the Dneiper to take vengeance on the enemy who re- treated along its banks. The brave Hetman was ac- companied by fifteen regiments of Cossacs, and an adequate proportion of the horse-artillery of the Don, He set forward towards Katane in the way to Dou- brovna. General Orioff'-Denizoff', with his two Cossac 329 regiments, two light guns, and eight squadrons of dragoons were detached in his front. Previous to PlatofF's reaching Smolenzk, at about seventeen wersts from the town, and on the 15th of the month, he fell in with twelve pieces of cannon, and a train of carriages stretching to an incredible length, which had been abandoned by the French army in its progress to its promised depot of plenty. On examining the waggons they were found laden with spoil and plunder; with the moveable properties of towns and villages; but no food either for man or beast. The poor animals which had been destined to drag these useless loads were dead in their traces; and mingled with them, under every shape of past agony, lay hundreds of human bodies. Some had dropped from excess of fatigue; others showed by the gaping marks in their flesh, that while vainly attempting to remove from the hour of contest they had died vic- tims to previous wounds. Many had sunk down from their seats on the top of the carriages, stiffened into death even before they were conscious of its approach. Wherever Platoff turned his eyes he saw nothing but images of mortality. The ground was covered with the enemies of his country, but they no longer lived: it seemed like a scene of enchantment: and he marched by the insensible army as he would have passed a le- gion of marble statues which some mighty wind had levelled with the dust. Buonaparte had defied the victorious arm of Rus- sia; though beaten from Borodino, and forced from 2T 330 the capital of the Tzars, he was still dominant in pride, he was still teeming with false reports, till a mightier arm than that of all the potentates upon earth assailed him. When the winter of the North, and the thunder of its storms rolled on him from every quar- ter; when its tempests of sleet hissed on him over the trackless desert; then it was that this Dictator of the world acknowledged to himself that he was not omni- potent; then it was that he first spoke the truth. It is not necessary to expatiate here upon the general falsity of his bulletins, whenever a true narrative might check the oracle of " Ceesar and his fortunes!" The pen of a gallant British officer, who is also a distinguished mili- tary writer,* has put this fact beyond a doubt. The accumulating disasters of the French army, the despair that darkened its onward path, and the horrors which appeared in its rear, all convinced Na- poleon that he could no longer hope to deceive the nations. The dreadful truth must eventually contra- dict such an attempt; and, therefore, from policy he took up an honest pen. On the 11th of November, in his twenty-eighth bulletin, he commences his confes- sions. But they were not made from a free heart, con- fident in its motives, and therefore fearless of events. He garbles and qualifies; in short, he gives you a sketch of events through a dimmed glass, and though you may catch an idea of the outline, you must look for the particulars in some clearer medium. * Sir Robert Wilson. 331 Whilst the grand army of the Russian Empire, &o successfully drove before it the main body of the French and its ambitious leader, Count Vigtcnstein pursued the advantages he had gained by the fall of Polotzk and the defeat of St. Cyr. Soon after the flight of that general, Vigtenstein was informed by Count Steingel, that, in following up his victories over the enemy, his parties of reconnoisancc had brought him information of large bodies of Bavarians who were advancing; and that they came on with such manifest superiority in numbers, it was prudent for him to fall back towards Dissna. On this intelligence being received, Count Vigten- stein ordered General Sassonoff, with twelve thousand men, to proceed with all expedition along the right bank of the Dwina, to cross the river at Dissna, and to unite himself without loss of time to the division under Steingel. The junction being effected, he was to proceed immediately with that General to attack the enemy at Ouschatch. The command and the execution seemed the act but of one moment; for early in the morning of the 24th of October, this gallant body presented itself be- fore the enemy in the environs of that village. His cavalry showed themselves in great force, and a considerable party of infantry came out to form and ©ppose the Russians; but the Count's additional troops 332 made him so superior in every respect to his oppo- nents that they were soon forced to quit the field, leaving three hundred men killed, and one hundred taken prisoners. Their precipitation was so great, that they passed a convoy of their own not far distant from the scene of their defeat, and had the mortification of seeing it seized by their pursuers without any resis- tance. It consisted of forty waggons, with a conside- rable escort. By this last prize twenty-two regimental standards, a great quantity of stores, a commissary- general, seven officers, and one hundred soldiers fell into the hands of the victors. By these successes, minor in appearance, but of magnitude in their effects, the Bavarians were totally cut off from the corps of Gouvion St. Cyr. That Ge- neral was then on his march upon Lepel, to unite the shattered remains of his divisions to a corps under the command of Marshal Victor, who had arrived in that neighbourhood. Count Vigtenstein having passed the Dwina at Po- lotzk, was now in full pursuit of the enemy in the di- rection of Lepel. The roads over which his conquering troops urged forward their glorious chase, presented an epitome of those leading from Moscow. Dead bo- dies of men and horses, and abandoned cannon and carriages, every where strewed the way. During his advance towards Tchasniki he took ninety waggons of ammunition, nine guns, and made eight hundred stragglers prisoners. On the 29th of October he arrived with his whole 333 force in the neighbourhood of Tchasniki, having or- dered Major-General Vlastoff to remain with a formi- dable detachment in the defiles between Drouja and Bretzlau, to watch the corps of Macdonald, and to maintain the communication with the troops of Gene- ral Lewis, which had already moved from Riga along the left bank of the Dwina with such brilliant success. By these mancEuvres, having secured the attention of the enemy to that part of the country, the brave Vigtenstein found himself at liberty, without any ap- prehensions for what he left behind, to follow up his present object, which was to prevent Victor's joining the main army under Buonaparte. While he thus aimed to divide the Marshal from his leader, he hoped at the same time to form his own junction with Admiral TchitchagofF, who could not then be far from Minsk. General Le Grand, who had taken the command of the French after St. Cyr received his wound at Po- lotzk, reached Lepel; and, on the 30th of October, had the good fortune to join Victor, whose corps, consisting of fifteen thousand men, were posted upon the Quia, close to the town of Tchasniki. The Rus- sians hailed not far from his line; and Count Vigten- stein determined to dislodge him from his position, that he might rid the town of such hostile neighbours, and acquire for himself the free possession of the ad- vantageous country on its right and left, where he could securely remain until he were fully apprised of the movements of KoutousoflF and of the army of the Danube. 354 According to these plans, early in the morning of the 31st the Russian Commander put his army in motion. The enemy on perceiving this, hastened to form, but after a very slight affair, between his troops and the covering cavalry and light artillery of the Rus- sians, he retired across the river Loukomnia. With that in his front, he attempted to make a stand, but Vigtenstein poured such a shower of bails upon him from his artillery and musketry, that, after sustaining a considerable loss, he put himself in motion again, and fell back behind another river. The Russians fol- lowed him close, galling him with the fire from their guns, and so harassing his movements with their ca- valry and musketry, that at length, after three hours exposing himself to their destructive operations, he retired as fast as the wishes of his adversaries would have had him, to Senno. This retreat left the whole of the country open to the Count, and he had purchased so great an advantage at a comparatively small price, for he did not lose more during the whole affair than four hundred in killed and wounded. The enemy left nine hundred dead on the field, besides having eight hundred men and twelve officers taken prisoners. Vigtenstein now fixed his head-quarters at Tchas- niki, and stationed his principal force in the village and neighbourhood of Smolnya, a place about three wersts distant from Tchasniki. He likewise detached a body of troops under the command of General La Harpe, with orders to divide themselves on their 335 reaching Beshenkovich, and proceed on both sides ©f the Dwina to Vitepsk. These orders were executed with alacrity: and on the 7th of November, General La Harpe's advanced guard appeared before the city. At so unexpected a sight, the enemy set fire to the bridge, and opened two pieces of cannon, which had been planted on an adjacent height, upon their approaching adversaries. Both these attempts to impede their progress failed. The Russians attacked the enemy even in the act of destroying the bridge, extinguished the flames, and, in spite of the rapid fire from the two guns and the French musketry, drove him back into the town. In the same instant the rest of La Harpe's forces coming up, they joined the battle, and the enemy no longer making opposition fled precipitately through the su- burbs to the Smolenzk road. While one part of the victors pursued the defeated for nearly twenty wersts, making an immense havoc, and returning with a con- siderable number of prisoners, the other took posses- sion of the town. La Harpe had the satisfaction of find- ing there the French General Prouje, who was the Governor, and the Commandant Colonel Schvarde, with ten officers, and near four hundred soldiers. These were all made prisoners, and with them was taken a quantity of provisions, wine, forage, and am- munition, and the two guns which had in vain sought to command the bridge. The joy of the people on their liberation from the French yoke, and at the presence of their country- 336 men, is not to be described. At once it turned the scene of war into that of festival, and " long live the Emperor Alexander!" resounded from every quarter. While the citizens rejoiced in their freedom, the brave soldiers of Vigtenstein were greeted in their turn with the most inspiriting tidings, for it was at Vitepsk that they received full information of the French grand army having evacuated Moscow, and that many of its columns paved the road to Smolenzk, where at last its discomfited leader had arrived. This news, and the near prospect of meeting the retiring foe, filled the Count and his brave followers with the most triumph- ant ardour. The impatience of the men could hardly be controlled, and the officers entreated for the mo- ment of command when they should be ordered to rush onward, to assist in avenging the wrongs of the Empire upon the most obdurate and murderous ene- my that ever broke the peace of nations, and steeped the race of man in blood. Victor felt too severe a mortification at the defeat his division had sustained before Tchasniki, not to make some effort to displace the tarnish on his fame. He received a reinforcement of about three thousand men; and having called around him his detached par- ties from all quarters, determined in his turn to dis- lodge Vigtenstein from his position on the Oula. He was assisted in his plans to carry forward this resolu- tion, by the counsel of Oudinot, who had once more taken the command of the remains of his division. These colleagues quitted Senno in good order and on 337 the 14th moved upon Smohiya. In their approach they fell in with the Russian advance, who, according to orders, in case of an attack, were to fall back upon the main body, which was posted in the rear of Sniol- nya. The centre of the main body was protected by a battery of twenty pieces of cannon planted on a height, and several others covered the flanks, near which the reserves of cavalry were stationed. Vigtenstein's information of the enemy's designs was so excellent, and his measures to counteract them so prompt, that in all these cases it seemed as if his spirit must mingle in their councils, to give him such early and perfect intelligence, that all was pre- pared on the instant to render every scheme abortive. The advanced guard retreated according to the commands they had received, and the enemy, finding himself not opposed, followed with triumphant hopes, until the Russian retiring forces passing from before him he found himself all at once in front of Vigten- stein's centre. The surprise did not disconcert him, but urging his men forward to redeem the losses of former conflicts in the one before them, his whole body fell with fury upon the Russian line. The v'lU lage of Smolnya was his immediate object. He fought with the energy of a man determined at all hazards to recover the glory of an invincible name; and, in spite of the heavy discharges from the Russian guns, the place was taken. For a moment it was in his hands! but in the succeeding one the Russians forced his soldiers back upon their steps. Still he would not be 2U 338 repulsed; and, with a wonderful valour on both sides, Smolnya was taken and retaken six different times at the point of the bayonet. The streets were blocked up with the dead, and the ground so slippery from the blood, that the combatants could hardly have kept their feet had they not been almost grappled together in the resolute contest. While this was going forward at the centre, the Russian wings were formidably threatened by several heavy columns of French infantry, which were well supported with artillery, and were bearing down with a very determined front. They were permitted to ap- proach, without molestation, to within a few paces of the Russian flanks; but when arrived at that point the guns and tirailleurs of their antagonists poured on them ceaseless showers of ball and grape, and soon levelled most of their too-confident ranks with the snow. In vain was the attempt renewed. Victor exerted all his powers, he collected his broken columns, he brought them in one strong body again to the assault, but again the Russian guns and the Russian bayonet harrowed up his lines; and the disappointed Marshal found himself compelled to leave the field while he had yet the semblance pf an army to take from it; and with the deepest mortification he drew off at the close of the day along the right bank of the Oula. He retired in this direction with the hope of getting round the right flank of his victorious enemy; but here again he was disappointed, by an unexpected rencontre with 339 General Fock, who commanded the Russian reserve. The darkness of the night put a stop to all hostilities; and so completely were his hopes annihilated, that with the morning's dawn he commenced a decided retreat, retracing the greater part of his steps, and then proceeding to Tchemerino, where he halted, on the two roads which lead to Senno and to Tcheria. The Russians sustained a loss, in this day's contest between Vigtenstein and Victor, of eighteen officers killed and wounded, and one thousand men; but they made eight hundred prisoners in the field, and six hundred more were taken by the cavalry in pursuing the enemy next day. The French left fifteen hundred dead upon the disputed ground. General Vlastoif drove their cavalry from Vidzy, and spreading his troops from thence to the town of Glouboko, made many prisoners, and took several pieces of cannon; and by this movement united his line of operation with that of Vigtenstein. On the 18th of November Colonel Tchernicheff gained Count Vigtenstein's head-quarters. He had been dispatched by Admiral Tchitchagoff, at the head of a regiment of Cossacs, to discover how far the army of Vigtenstein had advanced, and to give that general information of the Admiral's approach to Minsk. Much intrepidity and military skill were required to execute this arduous commission. The brave Tchernicheff had to make his way through many de- tachments of the enemy, some advancing and others 340 retiring, before he could reach his destined point. But he undertook the task with eagerness, and per- formed it with a judgment proportioned to his zeal. His sword was frequently dyed in blood during his perilous march, and his helmet as often crowned with victory. Several rivers interposed themselves in his path; and, notwithstanding the severity of the season, their rapid course prevented their being frozen. These were no obstacles to him; he and his heroes breasted the inclement stream, and passed it a la nage. It was not enough that he marched towards the object of his commander's orders, he gathered glory in his path, and his eye, guided by his ardour, seemed to see on every side of him. He overtook, and seized or de- stroyed, whole convoys; making their escorts his prisoners, or giving them to the dust, vdiich had so deeply been saturated with the blood of his country- men. To recount the various particulars of the march of this true hero might appear a romantic relation, a tale more suited to the hyperbole of fiction than to the sober record of facts. But all who are personally in- timate with Count Tchernicheff, with the comprehen- sive powers of his mind, which grasps in one sublime view the past, the present, and the future; which sees the fate which hangs on the decision of a moment, and has the courage to cast his life upon the point that cleaves the links; all who are acquainted with the invincible valour of his heart, and the almost super- natural power with which his spirit seems to mingle with the minds of his men, and to stimulate them to 341 the most heroic daring; none, who thus knew Count Tchernicheff, can deem any thing marvellous which tells of his bravery, and the prowess of his troops. Amongst his numerous services in this expedition, one of the most dear to his country is, that to his vigilance the gallant General Baron Vinzingerode owes his life and liberty; and also, that the Russian empire is indebted to the same resolution for the re- turn of another of its most invaluable officers.* From Count Tchernicheff, General Vigtenstein received the full particulars of the ruined state of the French grand army, and of the actual flight of the Saxon and Austrian troops. A few days after the ar- rival of this animating report, all was substantiated by Vigtenstein finding himself in direct communication with Platoff" and the main army. The General-aide- de-camp Golenischeff Koutousoff, arrived at the city of Babinovitchi on the 22d, and was the agent of this decisive communication. The conduct of himself and his troops, during his march, reflected honour on his illustrious name; and thus through a career of military achievements, he arrived at the point which was to complete the cordon of Russian forces around the re- treating divisions of Napoleon Buonaparte. Victor and Oudinot finding that their Great Leader was not merely in retreat but in flight, from the realms of the Russian Emperor, deemed it proper to follow his example. But they did not desert their troops; * See Note. 342 they marched at their head, sharing alike the evils of defeat with die triumphs of victory, and commenced their evacuation of the invaded ground on the 22d of November. They moved in the direction of Toutchi- no, vrith the hope of falling in with the fugitive divi- sions from the interior, and Dombrofsky*s corps from Mohiloff. Vigtenstein observed all their motions, an J his advanced guard followed them. The army of Admiral Tchitchagoff had been on its march towards Minsk, from the 27th of October, leaving, as has before been stated, a strong corps under General Saken in the neighbourhood of Brest- Litofsky. Major-General Liders was on his way from Voline; and General Hertel from Mazir to the same place of rendezvous. During these movements the advanced-guard of the army was commanded by Count de Lambert. While on his route he fell in with a party of Dom- brofsky's division at Novossverjene, pursued it to Kaydanovo, attacked it there, and compelled it to surrender. In this affair he took two pair of colours, two pieces of cannon, sixty-three officers, and four thousand soldiers. After this success of their advanced-guard, the army of the Danube proceeded without impediment 343 to Minsk, which place they took possession of on the 16th of November. Admiral Tchitchagoff found it rich in well-stored magazines of various stores, also much baggage, which had lately arrived in advance from the French at Moscow; and a number of fugi- tives whom he touk prisoners. No sooner was the admiral in full occupation of Minsk, than he ordered the gallant De Lambert, (whose corps he greatly strengthened), to proceed with all expedition to Borrisoff, where he would fall in upon Dombrofsky. That Polish General lay there in much force, having augmented his numbers by every means in his power, and covered his position with a tete du pont. On the 21st the Russian troops came upon the out parties of the enemy, drove them to the shelter of their works, and, scarcely waiting for an order from their commander, the heroes of the Danube rushed upon the French and Poles, carried all before them, and precipitated the enemy with a terrible slaughter across the bridge. Some fell over the parapets, and were drowned, and those which escaped the river and the sword, fled with the most headlong haste towards Orcha. Thirty-eight officers, and four thousand sol- diers, with eight cannon, and two pair of colours, were taken by the victors in this contest. BorrisoflT, falling of course into their hands, numerous strong detachments of the army spread themselves along the left shore of the Berezina, even to beyond Zembino, to seize all the passes, and to destroy every bridge by 344 which Buonaparte and his legions might facilitate their escape. During the eight last days, previous to the brave TchitchagofF's possession of Borrisoff, he had made upwards of fourteen thousand prisoners, including the sick and wounded whom he found in Minsk. Thus the three Russian armies, for so they may be named, were drawn almost to a circle, around the half- animated remains of their once merciless, but now flying enemy. Buonaparte having dragged his famishing troops beyond Smolenzk, and still pushing them on with as much rapidity as they were capable of, imagined that he had passed the worst. He now cheered them, who had strength to listen to promises, with the hope of coming up with the corps of Victor, Oudinot, and Dombrofsky. He flattered himself that the junction would yet put him at the head of forty thousand sol- diers! Such would then be the grand army of France! Once an usurper, the mighty Augustus of Rome, de- manded with grief and indignation of his discomfited general, *' Give me my legions!" What would Napo- leon answer, if France were to demand of her Augus- tus, " Give me the four hundred thousand soldiers you carried from my frontiers!" On leaving Smolenzk, forty- three thousand men were his whole anticipated host! He counted on these three divisions of the before- mentioned Marshals, as if already in his lii^es, and with eager calculation he enumerated the advantages 345 of the country to which he was proceeding, where he must meet the vast magazines he had ordered to be prepared; and the fidehty of a whole people, who had once been under the jurisdiction of Russia, but were now devoted to France in him. Full of these antici- pations he reached Orcha, and there he found they all were vain. A thousand voices opened at once to tell him that Minsk and all its magazines were in the hands of Admiral Tchitchagoff. Desperation makes men bold; this report was quickly accompanied with accusations in the shape of information, saying, that the Russians had spread themselves in formidable bodies along the shores of the Berezina river; that the French Generals had been beaten, and the Polish General Dombrofsky defeated with a terrible loss. Galling as was such intelligence, and much as Na- poleon might wish to discredit its truth, he found it impossible, for the sad proofs of the universal de- struction of his armies were every day brought into the town. Flying troops, or solitary fugitives, were constantly pouring in for food and protection; and wherever he moved he beheld spectacles of defeat and misery; he heard the murmurs of wretchedness and the groans of despair. No parasite would venture to contradict to his master the evidence of his own eyes; and that master could no longer flatter himself into a disbelief that the Generals of Russia now held his fate in their hands. He learnt that Vigtenstein had been powerfully reinforced by Steingel, and was then in 2X 346 ' actual communication with Tchitchagoff, making all their movements in concert. This formidable junction in his path presented to the mind of Napoleon fresh scenes of defeat arid dis- grace; and he was well assured that the speed of his pursuers would not allow him a moment's repose in his rear. The situation in which he found himself was indeed new to him: he saw before him nothing but death or captivity; and yet he trusted to \iis fortunate star! Delay was encompassed with danger, and he deter- mined to advance at any rate. To this end he collect- ed his troops, and making some necessary preparations for what, he must be conscious, must be the last struggle of his army in his defence, he quitted Orcha, and gave orders that the passage of the river should be disputed at any sacrifice. What his own opinion was of the instruments he was using to cut his way out of the toil in which he had entangled himself, we have in his own words: " This army so complete on the 6th, became very different after the 14th^ nearly destitute of cavalry, of artillery, and of transport- carriages. Without cavalry it was impossible for us to reconnoitre beyond the dis- tance of a quarter of a league; while without artillery we could not risk a battle, and firmly remain in ex- pectation of the enemy. It was indispensable for us to occupy a certain space of ground to avoid being turn- ed, and that without cavalry, to unite the columns and 347 advance for the purpose of observation. This diffi- culty, joined to the suddenness of the intense cold, rendered our situation extremely vexatious. Those feebly-constructed men, to whom nature had denied the power of rising above the chances of place and fortune, appeared shaken, lost their gaiety and good humour, and brooded solely over present suffering and future calamity; but such as she had created superior to every accident, preserved their spirits and their ordinary temper, and saw in every new obstacle but additional glory." Those whom " nature had created superior to every accident," and had enabled to " preserve their ordi- nary temper," and even their lives, under all the attacks of a northern winter, without shelter or rai- ment, and accompanied with every " calamity" (not in prospect but in reality) of war, disease, and famine; those that were thus tempered were indeed very few: while the many who despaired and perished, were surely worthy of some pity from the man in whose cause they died. It is said that Jear lends wings. The flight of Buo- naparte proves, that those he borrowed were of the swiftest pinion; for, on leaving Orcha he found he had so outstripped his pursuers that he might pass the river without a sacrifice. The great mass of the Rus- sian army from Krasnoy having to make a short halt to give time for the arrival of their provisions, which the rapidity of their late movements had left conside= 348 bly in the rear, Buonaparte used this moment of breathing to the best advantage. He had been joined by some of his fugitive generals, whom he now thus disposed of. Dombrofsky he dispatched to the left of Borrisoff; and Victor and Oudinot to his right, to oppose Vigtenstein; whilst he, with the rest of the army, would approach the shores of the Berezina. Having made these dispositions, on the 20th of November he evacuated Orcha, and took the Borri- soff road through Kockanova, leaving many straggling parties behind, who had not come up with his late head-quarters before he quitted them. And fortunate it was for him that he had been so prompt in execut- ing his resolution to leave Orcha, for not long after- wards it was entered by Ogerofsky and his Cossacs. That officer, and his brave coadjutor, General Bo- rosdin, had been indefatigable in following up the rear-guard of the enemy, and near Doubrovna they fell in with a considerable body, killed more than one thousand, and took four cannon, a quantity of bag- gage, and upwards of six hundred prisoners. The rest fled, and the Russians continued to pursue the fugitives till they led them to the gates of Orcha. They entered with them, and found the town just as it had been evacuated by Buonaparte. Twenty- six cannon fell into their hands, with some prisoners, and an immense number of sick and wounded. Ogerofsky proceeded in the great pursuit by mov- ing on his left towards Gorki, in the direction of Mo- 349 hiloff, which road was covered with thousands of the flying enemy. Count PlatofF maintained his victorious career on the right shore of the Dnciper, where he continued to destroy hundreds of the discomfited corps which had fled from the defeat at Krasnoy. His chasseurs took upwards of three thousand of these men prison- ers, and happy were many of them so to be rescued from famine and constant exposure to the elements. While thus employed, the brave Hetman received intelligence that Marshal Ney, with a part of his shat- tered division, had been seen near the woods at the village of Goussinovo, where he was collecting strag- glers, to form a tolerably eftective force to move to- wards Orcha. Platoff" determined that if he could prevent it, neither Marshal nor soldier should ever see that place, and he ordered masked- batteries to be instantly constructed in the road Ney must pass, while, covering his Cossacs and other troops with the woods, he stood to overwhelm the unsuspecting ene- my. In the moment of their full entrance into this well concerted ambuscade, a dreadful fire of grape was opened upon them, and the exhausted troops finding death surround them, with one accord dispersed and fled into the woods. There the Cossacs met them, and slew about two thousand. Eight hundred were taken prisoners by the other troops. Marshal Ney, with a few of his followers, was so fortunate as to escape the search of his conquerors. But he passed the whole of the wretched night in the 350 snows of the forest. He did not sleep, for sleep in such a situation, under these malignant skies, would have been death. He wandered about with the dread at^very step of rousing his hunters from their rest, A tiger from its lair, would have been more tolerable to him: and, with the morning's light he pursued his flight, passing through abandoned Orcha with the speed of desperation. A short time before this event, the Cossac Chief had been reinforced from the main army with fifteen battalions, of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, and two companies of artillery. This formidable aid joined him under the command of Major-General ErmollofF, who crossed the Dneiper near Rassasna. The advanced-guard, under Miloradovitch, passed the Boristhenes at Koscis on the 23d, in order to fol- low up Platoff and his colleague, who were rapidly approaching the army of Vigtenstein by the way of Toulchino. A little before this period the main army had re- ceived its provisions, and, having issued them amongst its divisions, it moved onward. On the 19th the head- quarters were at Dobrae; on the 20th at Romanova; the 21st at Laniki, where it halted. On the 23d it reached Garranu. It then passed through the village of Morosovo, and gained Kopis on the 25th, where it crossed the river, directing its march by Staroselia to the city of Zezerinya. From this place the Field- Marshal proposed moving, according to circumstances, upon Bobre, or the Berezina. 351 T^very observation on the enemy now convinced KoutousofF that he intended to force a passage some- Vi^here between BorrisoflP and Vassilevo. To prevent this, the main army moved on towards Ouchival, whilst a strong detachment proceeded to Barressino and took possession of that town. The corps under the General-aid-de-camp Koutou- soff, which had long acted on the extreme right of Platoff, marked its advance with a success equal to that of the Cossacs. During its various engagements with the enemy it took upwards of six thousand men prisoners, besides three Generals and eighty other officers, and killed more than equal the number. At Babonavitch, this gallant officer, so worthy of the illustrious name he shared, came up with the light troops of Count Vigtenstein. This junction was the prime object of his march, and when he arrived, he was to put himself under the orders of the Count, Vigtenstein was too well aware of his value, to allow him to remain a day without an employment adequate to his high military abilities. He therefore dispatched him instantly to his right flank, to cover it from any attack the enemy might make; and that one might be meditated, was evident from certain dispositions made by a strong body of Bavarians under General Wrede^ who were at that time in the neighbourhood of Dock- chitzi. However the links which formed the circle of the Russian army might move themselves, still the chain was complete: however the shattered divisions of the French army might extend themselves in their 3S2 flight, still they were held within the ring of their enemies. There appeared not an avenue of escape. The French soldier seemed to have nothing now to do, but to surrender or to die. To force Napoleon to one of these alternatives was now the object of the Russian generals; and before many days Count Vigtenstein, seconded by PlatoiF and the advanced guard of the main army, had the glory of striking a decisive blow towards his destruc- tion, on the banks of the Berezina. The final stroke was left to the arms of the heroes of the Danube and their intrepid chief. The corps of Oudinot and Victor took their rapid march towards BorrisofF. The wretched division of the latter was supposed to form the rear- guard of the once formidable grand army. General Vigtenstein followed these troops through Tcherie to Holopolichi, while his advanced guard under General Vlastoff fol- lowed the general pursuit, and fell in with a part of the enemy at the village of Batoury. This rear divi- sion was commanded by General Dentelne. Vlastoff attacked it without a halt, overturned every opposi- tion, and saw its dispersed members fly before him. in every direction. He pursued them for two days, during which time he made General Dentelne his prisoner, with forty ofiicers, and two thousand men. On finding the enemy retreat in such haste, and in such numbers, General Vigtenstein made a move- ment from the city of Holopolichi, to his right, to- wards the village of Barani, in order to cut oflf their 353 escape by Lepel, and to enable himself to act upon Vesselovo and Stoudentzi. At these two places the fugitives had collected in great multitudes, and were then constructing bridges over the Berezina, the old ones having been broken down to prevent their pas» sag'e. At one of these points he could not doubt that Buonaparte must be himself; and aware that the half- frozen state of the river must render the erection of bridges a difficult task, he hoped to intercept the PRIME MOVER OF THE WORLD's DISCORD at OUC OF other of these bridges. To this end he sent instant advice to PlatofF, not to delay a moment, but to push forward with all expedition towards BorrisofE Vig- tenstein accompanied these orders with his own move- ment from Barani to Kosstritzi. From tlience, in the afternoon of the 26th, he came down upon Staroy- Borrisoff, a short way from Stoudentzi. By the ra- pidity of this march, and its disposition, he completely cut off Marshal Victor from the point at which he aimed; and totally destroyed the various parties of other fugitives that lined the way to Stoudentzi. Not a moment was given them to form. The Russian ar- tillery at once opened their flaming mouths, and pour- ing grape and shot upon them they were drove from every quarter into one concentrated mass of terror and of death. Columns of Russian infantry spread themselves along the bank of the river, presenting an insurmountable barrier against them who vi^ould have attempted to cross. Four hours did the torrent of de? struction, from cannon and from musketry, shower 2 Y 354 upon the heads of these devoted men, cooped up within a narrow circle, and almost unresisting. They could not fight, but they attempted to fly. No avenue could be found; and Count Vigtenstein, feeling for the distress of even so ruthless an enemy, sent a flag of truce to their general, telling him that as no hopes of retreat were left he must instantly surrender, or see his whole division abandoned to the rage of the Russian soldiers. For a few minutes hesitation seemed ready to precipitate these devoted people to the hor- rible fate of merciless extirpation; but in the moment of their doubt, and of the impatience of the indignant victors, the invincible chief of the Don and his fol- lowers made their appearance, and decided the coun- cil of war. They gave themselves up to the clemency of Vigtenstein, laying down their arms, and, in the surrender, put into his hands the four Generals Bil- liard, De Lettre, Kamuse, and Blamont. In the con- flict, the Russians had taken thirty officers and one thousand men prisoners; but the capitulation, besides the generals named above, augmented the list with the addition of five colonels, two hundred and thirty- nine officers, and seven thousand eight hundred sol- diers. Three pieces of cannon, two standards, and a vast quantity of baggage, were also taken; but the trophy of the greatest consequence was the seizure df two whole regiments of cavalry in excellent con- dition; the one had arrived to Victor from the Duchy of Berg, and the other was composed of fresh Saxons. Buonaparte not having been found in the one spot. 355 no time was lost in seeking him at the other; and immediately on the submission of the enemy under the Generals Billiard, &c. PlatofF was dispatched by the way of Borrisoff to the opposite shore, to join Admiral Tchitchagoff, and in conjunction with him to fall upon the grand fugitive, if he should have been so fortunate as to have passed, by any means, over the river. While the Hetman pursued his order. Count Vig- tenstein proceeded to attack the other branch of the enemy, even in the act of crossing the Berezina, Two bridges had been completed, the one near Stu- bentzi, and the other near Vesselovo. Here, indeed, was Napoleon. The opposite shore was Zembino. The instant the work was passable, the impatient Emperor of the French ordered over a sufficient num- ber of his guards to render the way tolerably safe from immediate molestation; and the moment that was ascertained he followed with his suite and prin- cipal generals, a promiscuous crowd of soldiers press- ing after him. The bridge was hardly cleared of his weight and that of his chosen companions, when the rush of fugitives redoubled. No order could be kept with the hordes that poured towards its passage for escape and life, for the Russians were in their rear; the thunder of Vigtenstein was rolling over their heads. No pen can describe the confusion and horror of the scenes which ensued. The French army had lost its rear- guard, and they found themselves at once exposed to all the operations of the vengeful enemy. 356 On the right and on the left there was no escape; can- non, bayonets, and sabres, menaced them on every side; certain deadi was on their rear; in their front alone was there any hope of safety; and, frantic with the desperate alternative, thousands upon thousands flew towards the Berezina, some plunging into the river, but most directing their steps to the newly constructed bridges, which seemed to offer them a passage from their enemies. Misery had long disor- ganized the French army, and in the present dismay no voice of order was heard; the tumult was tremen- dous, was destructive of each other, as the despair- ing wretches pressed forward and struggled for pre- cedence in the moment of escape. Vigtenstein stood in horror, viewing this chaos of human misery; to close it at once in death or in capi- tulation was the wish of his brave heart: but the ene- my was frantic; nothing could be heard but the roar of cannon and the cries of despair. The wounded and the dying covered the surface of the ground; the survivors rushed in wild fury upon their affrighted comrades on the bridges. They could not penetrate, but only press upon a crowd at the nearest extremity; for the whole bodies of these passages were so filled with desperate fugitives that they crushed on each other to suffocation and to death. IVains of artilleryj baggage, cavalry, and waggons of all kinds, being intermixed and driven pell-mell to one point, hun- dreds of human beings were trodden down, trampled on, torn and mashed to pieces. Officers and soldiers 357 were mingled in one mass; self-preservation was the only stimulus, and seeking that, many a despairing wretch precipitated his comrade to destruction, that he might find his place on the bridge. Thousands fell into the river, thousands threw themselves into jhe hideous stream, hoping to save themselves by swimming, but in a few minutes they were jammed amidst the blocks of ice which rolled along its flood, and either killed in the concussion or frozen to death by the extremity of the cold. The air resounded with the yells and shrieks (it was something more horrible than cries) of the dying, wounded, and drowning; but they were only heard at intervals, for one con- tinued roar seemed to fill the heavens, of the Russian artillery pouring its floods of deathful retribution on the heads of the desolators of its country. Welcome indeed were the deaths it sent; few were his pangs who fell by the ball or the sabre, compared with his torture who lay mangled beneath the crowing feet of his comrades, who expired amid the crashing horrors of a world of ice. But the despair of these fated wretches was not yet complete. The head which had planned all these evils might yet be amongst them: and the bridges, groaning beneath the weight of their loads, were to be fired! The deed was done; and still crowd upon crowd continued to press each other for- ward choking up the passage amid bursting flames, scorched and frozen at the same instant, till at length the whole sunk with a death-like noise into the bosom of the Be?erina. 358 This desperate expedient prevented Vigtenstein from immediately crossing to the other side to pursue those which had escaped; but having so far done his part, he did not doubt but that the rest would be achieved by his coadjutors on the opposite shore. It is scarcely possible to calculate accurately thg amount of the enemy that were lost on this dreadful occasion; certainly more than five thousand were killed, and nearly the same number drowned. Thir- teen thousand prisoners, with many officers of every rank, were taken, and sent by the Russian General into his rear. He also took fifteen pieces of cannon, and baggage of every description filled with the pil- lage of Moscow, and the sacking of other Russian cities. The booty nearly covered the space of half a square mile, and so closely were the carriages which contained it wedged together that it was impossible for either a horse or a man to find a way through them. Several colours and eagles were taken amidst the spoils; but the trophy which would have crowned all, and whose captivity would have given the world peace, had escaped! and the brave followers of Vig- tenstein looked to the army of the Danube to put the Troubler of the Earth into their hands. All this havoc could not be made on any people however paralyzed by terror, without some desperate resistance; and accordingly during these three or four tremendous days the French did make some show of opposition, but in a desultory and unmilitary manner. 359 Not more than two thousand men fell on the part of Count Vigtenstein. As soon as that General discovered that Buona- parte had crossed the Berezina, he dispatched the General-aid-de-camp Koutousoff towards Lepel, charg- ing him to pass the river there, and come down upon the flank of the enemy on the opposite side. Mean* while, he ordered a detachment under Lieutenant- Colonel Tettenborne to move against the Bavarians at Dockschitzi. These commands were punctually obeyed. Tettenborne reached the Bavarian rear guard, which he attacked and defeated, making twenty-six officers prisoners, with one thousand men. This suc- cess and the occupation of Dockschitzi, completely separated Wrede's corps from the fugitive army, and cut off from that army all hope of strengthening its exhausted ranks with additional troops, until it might reach the frontiers of Poland. Hope dared hardly rest upon the prospect, for those frontiers seemed now divided from them by a world of horrors, whose least terrible apparition was that of death! During the conflagration of the bridges, and pur- sued by the horrible shrieks of his deserted people perishing in the flames, Buonaparte speeded on his flight till the wind no longer brought the sounds tp 360 his ear. Oudinot, and the generals which were his companions, and the guards who yet afforded him protection, followed his steps into a deep wood on the left bank of the Bezerina, near the village Tchatchovo, and leading to Brilovo. Here, in its closest recesses, he sought a temporary covert for his fears and his shame. The greater mass of fugitives, the thousand victims of his ambition, who had desperately forced their way over the bridges before they were set on fire, having also gained the opposite shore, ran in crowds towards similar places of refuge^nd hid themselves behind the thickets and under Itte trees which spread every where upon the margin of this river. But these hapless wretches did not pass to their shelter unobserved. Night alone prevented the parties of Tchitchagoff from driving them back into the water; for, until its shadows covered them from their enemies, the Russian guns and musketry poured upon their heads, and strewed the line of their flight with the dead bodies of their companions. The next day (the 28th of November) the brave Admiral bore down upon the last array of the enemy. That any should be attempted after such countless defeats, and such complete destruction, seemed as vain as surprising; but Napoleon had one more point to gain, and the spectre of an army was therefore raised to stand between his last recreant acts and the eyes of his pursuers. During the night the poor fugitives had been col- 361 lected into the semblance of a force; and what artillery and baggage they had saved, being gathered into one point, they were told that if they hoped to reach the Polish frontiers they must exert themselves like true soldiers, and make themselves a way to Wilna; for the road by Minsk was too thickly covered by the enemy to allow of even an attempt. The French Ge- nerals might exhort and issue their commands for some show of order; but it was to a desperate multi- tude they spoke, no longer to a disciplined army; and no attention was paid to their orders. In this terrible dilemma the enemy heard once more the Russian guns. The forces of Tchitchagoff were impatient to give the final blow to their merciless ad- versaries; and the fire of their musketry kept time with the showers of balls which the artillery hurled on the falling ranks of the enemy. The French Generals were in despair: they were seen galloping to and fro, en- deavouring to animate by their example, or force by their threats, the exhausted courage of their soldiers. Ney rode amongst them, calling to the men who seemed to have the most power, to remember the days of their victories and glory. Mortier and Victor, and several others, followed him with similar excite- ments, but all in vain; the men were resolved and sullen: they would fight man to man for their own lives, but no more battles for the author of their mi* series! Oudinot had been more successful in his exhorttU tions; but in the moment of his bringing up an ilK 2Z 362 assorted band of dismounted cavalry and infantry to oppose to a battalion of Russians who were charging forward in great force, he received a shot in his side, which placed him hors de combat, and afforded his re- luctant followers a good excuse to take him and them- selves into the rear. While this extraordinary and bloody scene was going forward, the chief of all these horrors seized the opportunity, and, screened by the tumult of the slaughter (for it was no more a conflict!) moved off with his chosen few towards Pletchinichou! Having again had the good fortune to escape the guns and the hands of his enemies, he set at nought all lives but his own, and totally abandoned every idea of making any attempt to save an individual, or an article, belonging to his once vast army. Buonaparte was now the sole object in Buonaparte's mind; Buo- naparte without faith, without honour, without cou- rage! In this spirit, so worthy of a tyrant, he left the few perishing thousands who had survived the wreck of his ambition, to the utmost rigors ol their fate. For some hours after his desertion his generals strove to keep up the appearance, at least, of a resis- tance to the triumphant career of their enemies; and by this valour on their side time was afforded him to make his flight more distant, and therefore more se- cure. But their utmost exertions could not continue very long to oppose the force of the Russian troops, and the enfeebled state of their own; and at last they found themselves compelled to take to flight, while 363 their wretched followers again broke into scattered multitudes, and fled in every direction into the fo- rests, along the roads, and over the distant wastes. In short, there was no point to which they did not direct their frantic steps, where they might hope to avoid the sabres and pikes of their enemies. During this carnage Tchitchagoff* had given orders to throw some pontoon-bridges across the Berezina, to accelerate the advance of Count Vigtenstein. This was speedily done, and the victorious Count was soon by the side of his brave coadjutor. By a parallel move- ment on the Admiral's right, his eager troops pursued the general object in concert with the army of the Danube. The General-aide-de-camp KoutousofF, together with his able colleagues, Generals Borosdin and Tet- tenborne, received orders to push on from the neigh- bourhood of Vilyky, even to beyond Wilna, to destroy the bridges as they passed, and if possible to intercept the flying Napoleon before he could reach the Niemen, Count Platoff*, in full hour a! with his clouds pf Donskoy heroes, followed the fugitives widi blood and slaughter along the roads leading to Molodet- chino and Smorgon. Tchitchagoff" 's advanced-guard^ under Major-General Tchaplitz, moved in the same direction; whilst that of the main army, under Milo- radovitch, brought up the train. In this disposition was almost the whole military strength of Russia in full chase of their invaders. Whilst this accumulation of distress and disgrace 364 was overwhelming the remains of the French army, its fugitive chief was endeavouring by every subter- fuge of falsehood to conceal from France and his allies its ruined condition. Even his own generals at Wilna were kept in ignorance of his complete discomfiture; and it was not until the dearth of intelligence from the grand army created in them some alarm, and the in- formation that Minsk was surrounded by the army of the Danube struck them with a conviction of dis- aster, that they had any suspicion of the universal de- feat their master had sustained. It is related, but I do not affirm it as a fact, that after twelve days of suspense, during which no infor- mation whatever arrived from Buonaparte, Maret dis- patched a young Polander, disguised as a woman, towards the probable position of the French. After an absence of five days, he at length found his way back, but it was by thriding a thousand mazes filled with the pursuing enemy; and he brought with him a true statement of the case. If this anecdote be true, Maret was too well versed in his master's will to make the fact public; for, about this very time he published a gazette at Wilna, importing that Napoleon was mov- ing along the banks of the Berezina at the head of the main body of his army, while the rest remained in good garrison at Smolenzk; and to complete the tale, it was added that the Russians were so overpowered in every quarter that the army of the Danube was the only remnant to be destroyed. When that affair was 365 over, the Emperor and King would then proceed in full glory to Wilna! While Maret thus attempted to veil the disasters of Buonaparte, he was equally active in trying to avert the worst consequences. With this intention he dis- patched General Loison (who had some time before arrived from Koningsberg with ten thousand men) towards Oschmiani, to cover the flying army. But the evil was too great for so small a power to stem. The sword of the enemy, and the " arrowy sleet" of the inclement nights, reduced them to less than three thousand men before they came within sight of their fugitive comrades. The way was long and disastrous between the banks of the Berezina and the Polish frontiers. There was no where a stand, but an unceasing chase from that river's brink to the passage of the Neimen. Prisoners, arms, standards, baggage, every where fell into the hands of the pursuers. Nothing can better depict the ex- treme abandonment of hope, and the excessive mi- sery of the enemy during this dreadful period, than a letter which one of the brave Russians, then in pur- suit, addressed to a relation in St. Petersburgh, *' Though besieged with miseries, and assailed with all the fury of our cannon and our bayonets, it is cer- tain that nearly forty thousand of our merciless in- vaders escaped to the nearest bank of the Berezina. But there, even in the moment in which they believ- ed themselves safe, they met their destruction; they 366 plunged in to gain the opposite shore, and many of them met the death from which they fled, in the cold breast of the river, in the direful flames which rolled along its surface. " They who escaped the flood and the conflagration were not more secure, for all nature seemed to fight against them. Heaven itself appeared to hurl its last bolt upon their sacrilegious heads, by increasing the cold to a degree that was almost intolerable to the best defended; but to those who had no covering it was suffering worse than the tortures of the rack. ^' It was at this crisis, when nearly deprived of the power of moving, they abandoned their guns, bag- gage, and arms, and throwing themselves upon the drifting snows, called on the blast to end their mise- ries. Then rising in frantic despair, they ran howling amongst each other, exclaiming aloud against their betrayer, and demanding death at the hands of their equally distracted companions. Thousands of these poor wretches were nearly naked; few had either shoe, or boot, or pantaloon to protect their freezing limbs. Many had endeavoured to shield them from the severity of the weather, by wrapping about them the raw hides they had stripped from their perished horses. Others covered their bodies with old matting, canvas, women's clothes, priests' vestments, or any other thing that might assist in sheltering their ema- ciated frames from the piercing wind, and a frost that seemed to cut into their souls. Happy was he who had been so lucky as to have purloined from the plun* 367 dered countryman his winter sheep-skin, or saved a pelisse from the general pillage! Officers and men shared in the same want of covering. The wretched fragments which decency would still wrap around them were tattered into a hundred shreds; but from the inclemencies of the iron season there was no shel- ter. Thousands became benumbed and stupified; many dropped in silence into the grasp of death; others moved on their gradually freezing bodies, moaning their pangs, and cursing the name of him and all his race who had brought them into such depths of un- imaginable human suffering. *' Every corps, and every rank of officers, partook of the general distress. The guards, once the proud favourites of their proudest chief, were alike the sport of the angry elements, were alike exposed to naked- ness and privation. Their gay caparisons were chang- cd into loathsome rags; and, a prey to every evil of squalid wretchedness, to hunger and to cold, they dropped down dead in heaps, groaning out the re- proaches their tongues were too feeble to utter. ** Defence was now totally out of the question. Flight, not escape, was their object; for none possessed with- in himself sufficient strength to promise him an exis- tence of many hours. It was not life they sought, but relief from the agonies of fear. An undefinable terror hung on the soul of the famished wretch who, stretch- ed on the chilling snow, called fervently on death to release him from his misery. Even in this state, let but the simple cry of the Cossacs! be sounded in bis 368 ear, and it would be sufficient to arouse him to teiru porary energy: a thousand would partake his dread; and suddenly spreading themselves in flight, they would every where darken the snows with their flying shadows, and fill the air with their despairing shrieks. In this state, some thousands would be made prison- ers to a band of perhaps no more than a hundred Cossacs. " The road on which this ruined army moved was rough with their dead, who, heaped on each other, shewed through the uneven surface of the snow their grisly and disfigured visages, their perishing and dis- membered bodies, and all the horrid variety of death inflicted by want, and pain, and the sword. *' Every bivouac^ at the dawning of morning, re- sembles rather the consequences of a sanguinary con- flict than a night's rest. Cold and fatigue benumbed many into their last repose; but scarcely did the hand of death close their eyes before they became a spoil; nay, even whilst they yet breathed, their comrades would seize on their expiring bodies, and strip them of their ragged coverings to defend themselves. Vast are the circles of the perished they leave behind them in these dismal night watches; and when they proceed in the morning, there is nothing before them but a similar fate. Desperate with cold they set every house and barn on fire in their way, in order to alleviate with the heat the pangs which rack their joints. But the expedient is fraught with new sufferings. Hun- dreds hasten to the blazing scene to enjoy a few mo- 369 merits' warmth; but not having strength to retire with sufficient speed from the influence of the flames when they become outrageous, they fall a prey to their fury^ and the ruins of the burning houses are surrounded with the expiring remains of their helpless consumers. Many of those who escape immediate destruction from the fire, scarred by its flames, blackened in part by the smoke, and pale as the snow itself, range them- selves like a host of ghastly spectres upon the lifeless bodies of their countrymen, and there remain in mo- tionless apathy till the benumbing hand of death steals by degrees upon their vitals, and they fall amid the icy and scorched corses of their comrades. *' Numbers having their feet frozen and half mor- tified, were reduced to a state of complete helpless- ness, and being left upon the road, were forced to abandon themselves to the death they might other- wise have averted for yet some days. In those days, now so cruelly cut off" from their chance of prolonged existence, some succour might arrive! The idea alone seemed to speak a hope, of which they were irresisti- bly deprived; and their despair broke out in cries of the bitterest anguish; it was a lamentation of rifled existence, that paralyzed the hearer, and made him behold the unfathomable depth of the perdition into which the falsehood of the French leader had plunged his too confident followers. *' Multitudes of these desolate fugitives lost their speech, others were seized with phrenzy, and many were so maddened by the extremes of pain and hun- 3 A 370 ger, that they tore the dead bodies of their comrades into pieces, and feasted upon their remains. " But I will not attempt a further enumeration of the varieties of human miseries I have seen. Only those who have witnessed such extremes of distress, can form any idea of the horrors I have left yet un- told of the hideous spectacle exhibited between the Berezina and the Neimen, and whose parallel for miseries is not to be found in the annals of the world." To be nearer the goal of his glorious race, in this c-areer after the most ruthless enemy that ever invaded a brave people, Field-Marshal Koutousoff removed his head-quarters from Ravenitzi to Kovossino, He -made the movement on the 4th of December. Tchitchagoff continued in full pursuit, Milorado- vitch the same, and the main army followed with an- swerable zeal the steps of its advance. The division under Count Ogerofsky, having proceeded in a pa- rallel direction with its left wing, arrived in full force at the town of Volshine. Meanwhile, Buonaparte continued his flight; and at Smorgoni, finding a favourable moment present itself for his complete disappearance, he appointed Murat his lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the army; and then putting on a disguise, stole 371 with Caulincourt into a wretched sledge, and proceeded over the snows as swiftly as his fears could carry him towards Warsaw. On the 7th he passed through Wilna with hardly a minute's delay; and on the even- ing of the 10th, sheltered his head in safety in the Polish capital! The final escape of Napoleon was known to a very few only, for some time after it was effected; but as he shot through Wilna he found it expedient to see Maret. The conference did not last many minutes, and then he departed with as much secrecy and haste as if a pursuer were in every gale. Thus did this presumptuous man, whom an infatuat- ed people had raised to be their tyrant, and who, not content with the sovereignty of half Europe, aspireid to universal dominion; thus did he pass from Russia, the last object of his ambition, in obscurity and dis- honour; and thus did he desert, in their extremest need, the people whom he called his subjects, and who had confided to him their liberties and their lives! Unfair and cruel as the French army were in their modes of warfare with the people of Russia, it is but justice to say that in no instance, till they were para- lyzed by suffering, did the meanest individual in the French ranks shrink from meeting the foe; and in every situation of peril, and desertion of their leader., did his generals conduct themselves with the steady valour of true soldiers. Buonaparte alone proved him- self a slave in spirit. Had he possessed a soul worthy the confidence reposed in him, on the bridge of Be- _ rezina he would have died. 372 Platoff, Tchaplitz, and the other Russian generals, with their advanced corps, proceeded with great speed, gathering thousands of prisoners, cannon, baggage, and ammunition waggons, in their path. Large con- voys of the latter, with provisions, had been dis- patched from Wilna to meet the retreating French, and hence augmented the spoil of the Russians. When Piatoff entered Oschiamani, he fell in with the remaining three thousand of Loison's corps, which he instantly cut in pieces, and took from them twen- ty-live pieces of cannon. Near Smo.goni, Tchaplitz came up with the small pretension to a rear- guard which the enemy had made; he slew them to a man, and sixty-one pieces of cannon fell into his hands. Finding the road quite open, he next pushed on to Wilna, and arrived at its environs on the 10th. He had the satisfaction of meeting at the same rendez- vous large bodies of his brave countrymen, who had already reached it, under the commands of Sesslavin, Lanskoy, and other Generals who were fresh from a new victory gained over a corps of French cavalry which had presented itself before the town. Six guns and one standard had been taken in this affair; but the victors did not think themselves in sufficient force to follow up their advantage by pushing on to the city, until they could be supported by Tchitchagoff's troops. As soon as Tchaplitz came upon the ground he attacked the enemy in the suburbs, and, after some slight resistance drove them out in disorder, and 373 filled their quarters with his own battalions. This stroke was decisive, for on entering the city next morning (the 11th) he found the last ranks of the enemy in the act of abandonmg it. They had taken their measures in such haste and confusion, that no- thing had been destroyed. Vast magazines, filled with all kinds of stores, and upwards of thirty pieces of cannon, became the property of the Russians. The French sick too, in great numbers, were left to the mercy of their enemies. After the affair at Oschimiani, Platoff directed his rapid course to the left of Wilna, towards the Kovna road, spreading his Cossacs all over the country to the shore of the Neimen. The General-aide-de-camp Koutousoff adopted the same plan on the right of the eity, stretching his people in the direction of Wilko- mir, to prevent the escape of Macdonald's corps. Meanwhile, the Admiral kept up close to his ad- vance-guard, and at the distance of a few wersts from Wilna made the following report, dated November 29th, O. S. (Dec. 11th, N. S.) " Ever since the 17th of November, (O. S.) I have with unceasing vigilance pursued the flying enemy,, allowing him repose neither day nor night. During the first day or two our pursuit was a little checked by his having broken down the bridges, but the exer- tion of a few hours restored us a passage, and by forced marches we soon gained upon our object. The advanced guard did not lose sight of him for an in- 374 stant; coming up and defeating him continually in a variety of encounters; daily taking from him numbers of cannon, and making prisoners to the amount of some thousands, besides forcing his harassed troops to march during the night. " From the passage of the Berezina, until the arrival of the Imperial troops at Wilna, we have ourselves taken one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, more than seven hundred ammunition waggons, and so con- siderable a quantity of baggage, that the whole road for a great distance is covered with it. Two standards, with several generals, and many thousand prisoners, are also in our hands. " The rear- guard of the enemy was attacked and destroyed, and the effects have been so serious to him, that ever since the utmost confusion and murmuring has prevailed amongst his troops. They drop hourly from famine and fatigue, or in despair cry aloud to surrender. " The loss to the enemy is not less than thirty thousand men. The road is covered with killed and wounded, frozen and dying. The divine vengeance falls so heavily on these barbarous wretches, that they become victims in hundreds to the flames themselves have lighted to destroy the dwellings of the peasantry; and they are found frozen to death in the very houses they have sacked and despoiled of their doors and windows. " Our advance on entering Wilna did not allow the enemy time to remove any thing from the city. Inde- 375 pendent of all that has been mentioned before of our spoil, great acquisitions were made there in cannon and stores. Amongst' the sick and wounded who had been abandoned, were found several generals: Saion- tschiki and Lefebre are of the number. " My advanced guard pursued the enemy without ceasing. General Tchaplitz has particularly distin- guished himself, as much by vigilance and indefati- gable zeal, as by his excellent military arrangements. " An aide-de-camp of Marshal Davoust's was taken at Oschimiani, having been left by the Marshal to await the arrival of his rear- guard, and to ascertain the number of troops in pursuit. But the rear-guard having been destroyed, this young officer was sur- prised by seeing, instead of it, the Russian advance enter the town. He was in amazement, and could not conceive what was become of the troops he had ex- pected. " The prisoners assure me that Napoleon can no longer conceal the critical state of his situation; that the remains of the army, harassed with fatigue and starvation, do not merely murmur, but loudly threaten even to revenge themselves on the author of all these miseries. During the latter days of the pursuit, we have taken many of his guards. Indeed we are so near, that I have often occupied the same quarters which he had quitted but a few hours before. Several times he has not been farther from us than the inter- val which divided the cannonades between the respec- tive rear and vanguards." 376 The admiral followed Tchaplitz with his main body, and next day the head quarters of KoutousofF were established at Wilna. On the 8th they had been at Molodetchino, on the 9th at Smorgoni, on the 10th at Oschimiani, and on the 12th at Wilna. No sooner were the troops of his Imperial Majesty entered into the city, than they were hailed by the most rapturous acclamations. Long live the Emperor Alexander! resounded from every quarter; and the inhabitants, with the eloquence of nature, expressed their joy at being restored to the mild government of a just and beneficent prince. Two days after his arrival at Wilna, the field-mar- shal made the following statement to the Emperor Alexander. "Dec. 2d, O. S. 14th, N. S. 1812, " On the occupation of Wilna by our troops on the 10th of December (N. S.) the enemy fled towards Pogoulianka; and Count Platoff", in order to cut off his retreat upon the Kovna road, entirely occupied that road w^ith Cossacs, hussars, and dragoons. Having allowed the first mass of fugitives to pass, he ordered Count OrloflT-DenizolF to open a fire ol musketry upon them; while he, with a strong force, fell upon another multitude. He was seconded in this attack by the artillery under Prince Khoudescheff. The enemy being thus assaulted on all sides, nay, absolutely sur- rounded by heavy discharges of artillery and muske- 377 try, fell in masses: Indeed the destruction was so complete, that only thirty officers, and one thousand men, were saved from the universal carnage. In this affair, twenty-eight cannon, and a quantity of bag- gage, fell into the hands of the Cossac chief. " Ever since the occupation of Wilna by your Im- perial Majesty's troops, I have been employed in restoring all things to their ancient order; hence 1 have not had time to collect a particular statement of the stores found in the city. However, the quarter- master-general, Stavrakoff, and General Besrodny, say that in some of the magazines which have been inspected they have found fourteen thousand mea- sures of corn, five thousand measures of flour, besides an equal number of biscuit; an immense quantity of uniforms, muskets, cartouche- boxes, saddles, cloaks, helmets, and other military necessaries. " Seven generals were made prisoners in the town, namely, Vivier, Goasse, Normond, Guliot, Lefebre, Ivonousky, and Saiontschiki; with two hundred and twenty. five officers, and nine thousand five hundred and seventeen soldiers! five thousand one hundred and thirty-nine sick, were found in the hospitals. " We are hourly collecting prisoners from the en- virons of the city. As reports are made to me, I will not fail communicating them to your Imperial Ma- jesty." The enemy had not neglected to raise contribu- tions on the people of Wilna, according to his usual 3B 378 custom in the places he honoured with his presence; but as that city was the great link of communication between his resources and his armies in the interior of Russia, it became the policy of the French leader to order the inhabitants to be treated with a lenity in pecuniary respects that might sooth them into his interests. He also managed to hold them in awe of his colossal power, by a constant concealment of the tremendous reverses it sustained in the series of his invasion. Consequently when the truth did burst upon these deceived people, by the sudden entrance of the Russian army, the effect was as striking as it was fraught with safety and happiness to them all. The change was so great, that it seemed hardly the work of human agency. Only a few months prior to his shameful flight through this city, Napoleon had occupied its palace, with an imperial and military pomp never before equalled by the proudest legiti- mate sovereign. Like Xerxes he beheld his hundred thousands pass in review before him; but not like Xerxes did he shed any tears at the procession of a host, so few of which were fated to return. An ambi- tion, even more fierce than that of the Persian mo- narch, had dried up the sources of pity in Napoleon's heart; rivers of blood had long washed away the purer drops from his relentless eyes. The obdurate to others are generally the most weakly sensible to their own sufferings; and it is hardly to be doubted, that he who had viewed the horrors of Moscow and the Berezina without compassion would, when lying a disguised 379 fugitive at the bottom of a wretched sledge, find it possible to weep over the disappointments of his own pride. In that moment, while hurried with fear and dis- honour across the Russian snows, how vain must he have found the boastings of his fancied omnipotence! Where were his promises to restore Poland to her independence? Where the universal empire he was to found on the ruin of that of the Tzars? What was become of the loud thunders of his artillery with which he was to proclaim his conquest and his domi- nion, from the shores of the Baltic to the boundaries of Asia? And where those myriads of his own sub- jects, whom he had brought armed at all points into Russia, to subdue the people, and to cover them- selves with spoils and military glory? The whole had disappeared. The same all-power- ful hand, which had baffled the ambitious enterprizes of the Persian monarch, turned the plans and the vast preparations of the French Ruler into nothing! His presumptuous dreams, and his thousands of armed men, were alike as if they had never been. Out of more than four hundred thousand men (in- cluding the Austrian force) not more than twenty- five thousand, exclusive of Swartzenburg's corps, repassed the Neimen. Out of one hundred thousand horses, scarcely one survived. More than one hundred thou- sand prisoners fell into the hands of the Russians, from the day in which the French army quitted Mos- cow, until its arrival at the Neimen; and above twelve 380 hundred pieces of cannon; for not one single gun was carried by the fugitives across the barrier stream. Thus did the very instruments, with which the In- vader intended to proclaim his victory, become the trophies of Russia in witness of having discomfited its enemy, and covered its menaced land with the deathless laurels of patriotic valour. Such was the termination of this unparalleled at- tempt against the dignity of one of the most virtuous monarchs that ever swayed a sceptre; and in subver- sion of the happiness of a people, who loved his equi- table rule, and every day increased in political wis- dom and moral vigour. Russia, aware of her privileged destiny, with one unanimous exertion, freed herself from the inroad of the Usurper and his emissaries, and exulted in the contrast between her own mag- nanimous Emperor, and the selfish aggrandisement of his opponent. She stood as Hercules, with Virtue on the one side and Seduction on the other: behind the former, whose stern visage was armed in complete steel, devolved rocks, and ghastly precipices; but be- yond was the paradise of the gods. Around the latter bloomed a labyrinth of verdure; but at the close of each enchanted thicket, yawned a treacherous gulph overgrown with sweets, that betrayed the trusting feet to bottomless perdition! The Russian people, and the Russian Monarch, spurned the blandishments of the Deceiver, and destroyed with the vigour of true bravery his most formidable warfare. The Imperial 381 Alexander, not satisfied with having achieved the independence of his own nation, generously sounds the trumpet of liberty to the rest of Europe, and at the close of this eventful year, so propitious in its omen to mankind, and so glorious to Imperial virtue and to patriotic determination! he thus addresses his invincible defenders; and by that channel he would stimulate the world. "SOLDIERS! *' That year is gone! That memorable and glorious year, in which you have levelled with the dust, the pride of our insolent Invader! That year is gone; but your heroic deeds remain. Time cannot efface their remembrance: they are present with ourselves — they will live in the memory of posterity. " The deliverance of your country from a host of confederate powers, leagued against her very exis- tence, has been purchased by your blood. You have acquired a right to the gratitude of Russia, and to the veneration of foreign realms. You have proved to mankind by your fidelity, your valour, and your per- severance, that against hearts filled with love to God, and loyalty to their Sovereign, the efforts of the most formidable enemy are but as the furious waves of the sea breaking upon an immovable rock: after all the tumults, they leave but the confused sound of their own overthrow. Soldiers! Eager to distinguish by some peculiar mark, all who have participated in these immortd 382 exploits, we have caused silver medals to be struck, and to receive the benediction of our Holy Church. They bear the date of the memorable year 1812! Suspended to a blue ribbon they will decorate those manly breasts which have been the bucklers of their country. Each individual of the Russian army is worthy to wear these honourable testimonies, the reward of valour and of constancy. " You have all shared the same hardships and the same dangers. You have all had but one soul. This ennobling conviction should make you proud of these equal military honours. They will every where pro- claim you — faithful sons of Russia! Sons, upon whom God the Father bestows his paternal blessing. " May our enemies ever tremble, when they be- hold this insignia! May they know that beneath this medal glows an imperishable valour! Imperishable, because it is not founded upon ambition or impiety, but on the immutable bases of patriotism and religion! (Signed) "Alexander." " 1813." NOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF SUBJECTS REFERRED TO IN THE BODY OF THE WORK. NOTE I. II. III. [For page 41.'] X HESE three patriots distinguished themselves at the begin- ning of the seventeenth century, after the death of Demetrius; when the Poles on the one side, and the Cossac Zaroutzki on the other, were contending for the supreme power, and rendering the empire a field of blood. Kozma-Minim, butcher of Nijhi-Novgorode, formed the bold design of collecting a body of patriots to oppose the factions of Sigismond and Zaroutzki. He assembled his fellow citizens, ex- horting them to sacrifice their whole possessions for the salvation of their country; to sell all that belonged to them, for the sake of obtaining funds with which to support an army. His virtuous enthusiasm passed into the souls of all that heard him. The citizens of Nijhi-Novgorode did indeed strip themselves of every worldly possession; but these sacrifices were found in- adequate for their great purpose. It was then that Palitzen, a monk eminent for his piety, called together the holy brotherhood of his monastery, and with the most affecting eloquence conjured them to embrace real poverty, by voluntarily bestowing the treasures of their com- munity upon the new levies. The proposal was unanimously agreed to, and the money was deposited in the hands of Kozma- Minim. 384 NOTES. Regarding this act as a testimony of the Divine favour, Minim hastened to Pojarskoi, a Russian nobleman whose valour had been honourably proved in many a victorious field, but who, now incapable of breasting singly the torrent that was overwhelm* ing his country, had retired in despair to a small estate at some distance from Nijhi-Novgorode. When Pojarskoi was urged by Minim to arise from this unworthy despondency, and instead of deploring his country's wrongs, arm in her defence, the brave veteran called on Heaven to witness that he was ready to perish for Russia, had he but the remotest px'ospect of heading even a handful of patriots animated with the same spirit. Minim then hailed him General of the brave band of Aijhi- JVovgorode.' and laid at his feet the treasure entrusted to him by Palitzen. Pojarskoi received both with transport, and returning the treasure to Minim, beseeching him to take charge of its right distribution, he accepted a command which finally restored independence to the empire. NOTE 11,— [For Page 1 17.J BUONAPARTE'S THIRTEENTH BULLETIN. Smolenzk, Aug. 3 1 . Le 16 au matin, les hauteurs de Smolenzk fureht couronneesj la ville presenta a nos yeux une ceinte de murailles de quatre mille toises de tour, epaisses de dix pieds et hautes de 25, entremelees de tours, dont plusieurs etoient armees de canons de gros calibre. Sur la di"oite du Borysthene, on apercevoit et Ton savoit que les corps ennemis tournees revenoient en grand hate sur leurs pas pour defendre Smolenzk. On savait que les generaux enne- mis avoient des ordres reiter6s de leur maitre de livrer bataille et de sauver Smolenzk. L'Empereur reconnut la ville et pla§a son armee, qui fut en position dans la journee du 17^ Lf NOTES. 385 Marechal Due d'Elchingen eut la guache appuyant au Bo- rysthene, le Mar6chal Prince d'Eckmuhi le centre, le Prince Poniatofsky la droite; la garde fut mise en reserve au centre; le Vice-Roi en reserve a la droite, et la cavalerie sous les ordres du Roi de Naples a rextreme droite; le Due d'Abrantes, avec le fie corps, s'etoit egare et avoit fait un faux mouvement. Le 16, ct pendant la moitie de la journee du 17, on resta en observa- tion. La fusillade se soutint sur la ligne. L'Ennemi occupait Smolenzk avec 30,000 hommes, et le reste de son armee se formait sur les belles hauteurs de la rive droite du fleuve, vis-a-vis la ville, communiquant par trois ponts. Smolepzk est consideree par les Russes comme ville forte et comme le boule- vard de Moscovir. Le 17 a deux heures apres midi, voyant que I'ennemi n'avoit pas debouche, qu'il se fortifiait dans Smolenzk et qu'ii refusait la bataille; que malgre les ordres qu'il avait, et la belle position qu'il pouvait prendre, sa droite a Smolenzk, et sa gauche au cours du Borysthene, le general ennemi manquait de resolution, I'Empereur se parta sur la droiie, et ordonna au Prince Po- niatofsky de faire un changement de front, la droit en avant ei de placer sa droite au Borysthene, en occupant un des fauxbourgs par des postes et des batteries pour detruire la pont et intercep- ter la communication de la ville avec la rive droite. Pendant ce temps, le Marechal Prince d'Eckmuhi eut ordre de faire at- taquer deux fauxbourgs que I'ennemi avait retrenches a 200 toises de la place, et qui etaient d^fendus chacun par 7 ou 8000 horames d'infanterie et par du gros cannons. Le General Comte Friant eut ordre d'achever I'investissement, en appuyant sa droite au corps du Prince Poniatofsky, et sa gauche a la droite de I'attaque que faisait le Prince d'Eckmuhi. A deux heurs apres midi, la division de cavalerie du Comte Bruyeres ayant, chasse les Cossaques et la cavalerie ennemis, occupa le plateau qui se rapprochait le plus du pont en amont. Une batterie de 60 pieces d'artilleree fut etablie sur ce plateau, et tira a metraille sur la partee de I'armee ennemie restee sur la rive droite de la, riviere ce -qui obligea bientot les masses d'infanterie Russe i. evacuer cette position. 3(: 386 NOTES. L'Ennemi plaga alors deux batteries de 20 pieces de canon dans un convent, pour faire taire la batterie qui tirait sur le pont. Le Prince d'Eckmuhl confia I'attaque des fauxbourgs de la droite au Comte Morand, et celle de la gauche au Comte Gudin. A trois heurs la cannonade commen§a. A quatre heures, il s'ouvrit un feu de mousqueterie tres-vif, et a cinq, les divisions de Morand et Gudin enleverent les fauxbourgs retrenches de I'ennemi avec une intrepidite et un sang froid rares, et lis le poursuivirent jusqu'au chemin convert qui etait jonche de cadavres Russes. Sur notre gauche, le Due d'Elchingen attaqua la position que I'ennemi occupait au dehors de la ville, s'en empora et la poursuint jusque sur le glacis. A cinq heures la communication de la ville avec la rive droite devint difficile, et ne put avoir lieu que pour des individus isoles. Trois batteries de pieces de 12, de breche, furent placees contre les murailles, a six heures du soir, I'une par la division Friant, et les deux autres par les divisions Morand et Gudin.- On deposta I'ennemi des tours qu'il occupait par des obus qui y mirent le feu. Le General d'artillerie Comte Sorbier, rendit im- practicable a I'ennemi I'occupation de ses chemins converts, par des batteries d'enfilades. Cependant, des deux heures apres midi, le general ennemi aussitot qu'il s'apercut qu'on avait des projets serieux sur la ville, fit passer deux divisions et deux regiments d'infanterie de la garde pour renforcer les quatre divisions qui etaient dans la ville. Ces forces reunies composaient la moitie de I'armee Russe. Le combat continua toute la nuit: les trois batteries de breche tirerent avec la plus grande activite. Deux com- pagnies de mineurs furent attachees aux remparts. CependaTit la ville etait en feu. Au milieu d'une telle nuit d'Aout Smolenzk offrait aux Francois le spectacle qu' off're aux habitants de Naples une eruption de Vesuve. A une heure apres rninuit, I'ennemi abandonna la ville et repassa la riviere. A deux heures, les premiers granadiers qui monte^'ent a I'assaut ne trouverent plus de resistance; la place etait evacuee; 20(j pieces de canon et mortiers de gros calibre, NOTES. 387 et une des plus belles villes de la Russia etaient en notre pouvoir, et cela a la vue de toute I'armee ennemie. Le combat de Smolenzk qu'on peut a juste litre appeler bataille, puisque 100,000 hommes ont ete engages de part et d'autre, coute aux Russes la perte de 4,700 hommes restes sur le champ de bataille, de 2,000 prisonniers, la plupart blesses, et le 7 a 8,000 blesses. Parmi les morts se trouvent 5 generaux Russes. Notre parte se monte a 700 morts et a 3,100 ou 3,200 blesses. Le General de brigade Grabouski a ete tue; les Generaux de brigade Graudeau et Dalton ont ete blesses, toutes les troupes ont rivalise d'intrepidite. Le champ de battaille a offert aux yeux de 200,000 personnes qui peuvent I'attester, le spectacle d'un cadavre Frangais sur sept ou huit cadavres Russes. Cependant les Russes ont ete, pendant une partie des journees de 16 et du 17 retranches et proteges par la fusillade de leurs creneaux. Le 18, ou a retablie les ponts sur le Borysthene, que I'ennemi avait brules; on n'est parvenu a mastriser le feu qui consumait la ville que dans la journee de 19, les sapeurs Fran9ois ayant travaille avec activite. Les maisons de la ville sont remplies de Russes morts et mourants. Sur douze divisions qui composoient la grande armee Russe, deux divisions ont ete, entam^es et defaites aux combats d'Or.^ trovna, deux I'ont ete au combat de Mohiloff, et six au combat de Smolenzk. Ney a que deux divisions et la garde qui sont restees entieres. Les traits de courage qui honorent I'armee et qui ont dis- tingue tant de soldats au combat de Smolenzk, seront I'object d'un rapport particulier jamais I'armee Frangais n'a montre plus d'intrepidite que dans cette campaigner To prevent misapprehending who may be meant under these titles of Prince, Duke, 8cc. a catalogue of the French Generals* names and their titles is subjoined. FRENCH MARSHALS, GENERALS, &C. AND THEIR TITLES^ Joachim Murat - King of Naples. Marshal Junot - - Duke of Abrantes. 388 NOTES. Marshal Victor Marshal Augereau ^ Marshal Lefevre Marshal Davoust Marshal Ney - Bessieies Beauharnois Caulincourt - Maret - = = Marshal Champagny Duroc (dead) Marshal Mortier Marshal Macdonald Marshal Oudinot » Jerome Buonaparte Marshal Bcrthier (dead) Marshal Massena Marshal Soult . . - Marshal Kellermail Marshal Marmont General Sebastiani General Loison Rapp Duke of Belluno. Duke of Castiglione= Duke of Dantzig. Prince of EckmuhL Duke of Elchingen. Duke of Istria. Vice-Roi of Italy. Duke of Vinzenza. Duke of Bassano. Duke of Cadore. Duke of Friuli. Duke of Treviso. Duke of Tarente. Duke of Reggie. King of Westphalia. Prince of Neufchatel. Prince of Essling. Duke of Dalmatia. Duke of Valmy. Duke of Ragusa. Count of the Empire. Count of the li.mpire. Count of the Empire. NOTE III— [i^or Page 208,9.] As there are people in the habit of expressing doubts of the accuracy of the information which has hitherto represented the cruelties exercised by Buonaparte and his soldiers on countries and individuals in their power, it is a satisfaction to corroborate the truth of such representations, by drawing together several ■witnesses bearing evidence of the same kind of acts committed by the same man and his followers in different parts of the world. His soldiers perpetrated acts of atrocity while in Russia, too horrible for descrifitiorii and in the following letter, written NOTES. S89 by a distinguished British naval officer, and lately published in one of our own Gazettes, we find that the same spirit, and by the same agents, has been outraging human nature in a similarly ■unmentionable manner in Spain. Hia Majesty's Ship. Surveillante, off Castro, 25th June, 1813. MY LORD, I have the satisfaction of acquainting your Lordship, that the supplies of the garrison of Castro having been cut off by His Majesty's cruizers on this coast, and the total want of meat, obliged the Commanding Officer to evacuate the Castle on the 22d instant, and retire to Santona. The Sparrow heaving in sight at the same moment obliged the Commandant to do this so precipitately as to prevent his destroying his artillery, and powder, or doing any mischief to the Castle itself. Captain Taylor very properly immediately garrisoned the Castle, and this day we have had a party of the army under General Mendezabel. I am sorry to say five-sixths of the town are in ruins, and that the dreadful barbarities committed by the French-Italian troops, as detailed by the few surviving old women, are too shocking to be made the subject of a fiublic letter; nor was the carnage of the French confined to the evening of the place being carried by storm. The inhabitants who fled are now returning, but misery and poverty with them are at their summit. Fourteen of the savage authors of these excesses were taken at Bilboa since the evacuation, and deservedly put to death. I have now the pleasure of saying that the whole line of coast from Guaturia to Santona is evacuated by the enemy. I have the honour to be, See. (Signed) George R. Collier. To Admiral Lord Keith, ^c, [Vide Gazette, 3d July.] 39d NOTES. NOTE IV.-^lFor Page 219.| In the letters below of Buonaparte, (which Colonel Benken- dorfF intercepted by taking the courier who conveyed them) may be found a pretty accurate epitome of the Great Mipoleon'e sharacter, and drawn by his own hand. Intercepted letter from the Emperor Napoleon to (Maret) Duke of Bassano, Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated Moscow, October 16th, N.S. 1812. " Monsieur! Duke of Bassano! " I have two Prussian regiments here, which have gallantly distinguished themselves in the advanced-guard of the army, and of course they have suffered in the same proportion. Might not the King of Prussia raise two new regiments? And then the re- giments, of which I first spoke, might go back to Prussia and be recruited. In every way the king will gain by this arrangement, as there will be a necessity for him to remount the regiments immediately, and by that means he will increase his number of disciplined squadrons that have acquired the habit of war. " I have given a fit direction to the Prussian contingent, by sending it towards Riga; but I am very unwilling to have my seventh division employed in that quarter. 1 have therefore to require of the King of Prussia an augmentation of his contingent, by a thousand horse and six thousand foot, for the service against Riga; so that the force assembled there may be equivalent to my seventh division. The king m^ay easily draw these troops from Koningsberg, Colberg, and Graudenz, and by that means they may arrive in a few days. They may be replaced by others drawn from a distance. Thus the King of Prussia will have, in line four thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. It cannot be difficult for you to make him comprehend, that his own interest sl^ould urge him to activity in this business; because the sooner NOTES. 39X this great struggle is over, the sooner will he be relieved from the necessary anxiety and exactions attending its continuance. " It is also good policy to show Russia, that in consequence of the great military resources we possess, not only in our states, but in those of our allies, his hope of wasting away our army by degrees is unfounded and illusory. " You will use the same arguments to Austria, to Bavaria, to Stutgardt; indeed, they will do every where. I desire them not only to send their reinforcements, but I charge them to exaggerate the numbers of troops they send; let double the number be given out. " I suppose you understand that the Prussian corps at Memel are not to be reckoned amongst the reinforcements. " I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. (Signed) " Napoleon.'^ Buonaparte has not a greater enemy than a comparison of dates. They unmask his falsehood as soon as brought together. By comparing the twenty-ninth bulletin with the following inter- cepted letter, it will be seen how much is to be believed of his public account of the twenty thousand horses, for remounting his dragoons, collected by General Bourcier from the different depots early in December; and also something will be seen illustrative of the credit to be given to his assurance, in the same bulletin, that the artillery had repaired its losses. « TO THE DUKE OF BASSANO. « Smolenzk, JVov. 1 Ith, N. S. 1812- " Four despatches have arrived at the same time, so that I have all your letters up to the 7th. " I am quite satisfied with what you have done, in bringing the thirty-fourth division to Kovna; the only thing necessary now is, that it should be well supplied. General Loison tells me that he has made a purchase of six hundred horses for his artillery, and that the same dealer proposed bargaining with him for ten 392 NOTES. thousand mare. Transmit this proposition to General Bourcier, in order that he may conclude the bargain if he finds the horses fit for the purpose. Tell General Bourcier that it is absolutely indispensable, that he must augment his command with six thousand horse-artillery and six thousand cavalry completely equipped, besides an equal number of draught horses. We are daily sustaining considerable loss by the frost and the extreme severity of the nights. It is useless for me to press upon you the importance of these purchases. General Bourcier ought to go as far as thirty thousand, and perhaps beyond that number. In short, he must only be limited by the impossibility of procuring so many of a good quality. Horses! horses! either for cuirassiers, ov for dragoons, or light cavalry, or artillery, or draught. It is the greatest want we have. Ten thousand of our dismounted dragoons will soon march towards Minsk. General Bourcier must give them the direction of Koningsberg and Warsaw, according 'o the places in which they are to receive the fresh horses. Be very careful not to suffer the least delay in this aflPair. Write to Prince Schwartzenberg, and make him feel the importance of hastening his movements. I have had an aide-de- camp of the Duke of Belluno's (Victor), whom he left on the 9th. I have sent him back with positive orders. " I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. (Signed) " Napoleon." I cannot better comment on these demands of Napoleon upon one of his allies, than by inserting a Memorial of another upon similar requisitions. Suite du compte rendu au Roi de Saxe, par le conseil ministeriei du Duche de Varsovie, en date du 17 Novembre, 1812. A la demande de I'administration Frangaise le gouvernement du duche fournit a la place de celui de Prusse 45,000 quintaux de viande en betail vivant, dont on lui promit le remboursement dans Tavenir. Les hopitaux de campagne, eriges a Posen, a Brombcrg, a Varsovie, a Plock, a Lomza, etc. re§urent outre NOTES. 398 les alimens tves couteux et les medicamens pour les malades, tout ce que S. M. I'Empereur et Roi ordonna de leur fournir pour leurs besoins, et pour le compte de son tresor. Celui du Duche, oblige de couvrir, les depenses courantes de I'etat, ne pouvait plus suffire, vu I'accroissement des charges qui presque toutes n'etaient pas comprises dans les budgets precedens, et qui surpassaient du triple les revenus du tresor. II fallait des fonds extraordinaires} ceux qui provenaient de I'emprunt ouvert a Paris, aiderent sensiblement a hater les travaux des forteresses. La convention conclue a Dresde le 25 Fevrier 1812 facilita la nouvelle augmentation de I'armee, mais pour couvrir les besoins enormes de I'approvisionnement et de tous les objets militaires, ii fallut recouvrir a I'expedient violent et destrueteur de la requi- sition; le patriotisme de nos concitoyens put le supporter; ou couvrit les besoins de la guerre, mais I'appauvrissement d'une quantite d'habitans empira et prolongea pour I'avenir le triste etat du tresor. Telle etait la situation des choses, lorsque le conseil regut des pouvoirs plus etendus des mains de V. M. Le premier usage qu'il en fit, fut la convocation de la diete. La partie des approvisionnemens, les differentes branches de controle, les hopitaux de compagne, exigeaient des efforts ef- ficaces; il fut etabli pour cet effet une commission particuliere. Pour lui procurer les moyens de parvenir a son but, on mit a sa disposition tous les impots fonciers arrieres, et la quatrieme par- tie des impots courans, sans compter les fonds que I'etat assigna pour les fraix de controle et le payement des fournisseurs de viande. Plus recemment on y ajouta le produit arrieie et courant de I'impot paye par les juifs pour la viande, appele Koscher, et les fonds destines a couvrir les besoins de la guerre excederent la somme de 30 millions de florins de Pologne. L'habillement et I'armement des conscrits dans les depots des differens regimens se monterent, dans I'ordre etabli depuis Tentree de Tarmee en campagne, a 3116 fantassins et 2250 cavaliers. Une partie de ce depots se mit en marche pour former un corps de 7400 hommes, qui fait le service effectif sous les ordres du general Kosinski; les gardes nationales rassembl^es 3D 394 . NOTES. dans les departemens de Cracovie, de Radom, de Lublin et de Siediic, et equipees et armees aux fraix de ces departemen&j *ournirent a ce coros 2 600 hommes d'infanterie et 1300 de cavalerie. Un appel adresse a lout le pays, et auquel on a deja donne ordre de se tenir piet, doit au premier signal fournir une force armee de 40,000 hommes. Elle doit etre reservee pour le cas de la defense du pays. La garde nationale qui servira aussitot a completer et a rentbrcer I'armee, le rassemblement des con- sents et leur equipement exigent toute la sollicitude du c'>nseil. Le nombre des gens a lever monte a 25,000, celui des chevaux a 8819. Pour les met re au plus vite en etat de joindre I'armee, le conseil prit les mesures suivantes: Comme ce qui reste pour les depenses courantes de I'etat des fonds des masses destinees pour rhabillement, les remontes etc. ne saurait suffire aux objets ne- cessaires pour I'armement extraordinaire, le conseil donna le 4 de ce mois le decret suivant: " La quatrieme parte des appointemens des fonctionnaires publics, ainsi que des pensions et emolumens payes par le tresor de I'etat, sera retenue pour son profit pendant toute la duree de la guerre. Outre les impots extraordinaires, on per- cevra la iroisieme partie de I'impot funcier, la moitie de I'impot personnel, le double du droit de patente, le tout comme un em- pi'unt extraordinaire qui devra etre rembourse a la paix. Les vojes de contrainte usitees a la perception des impots, seront_ aussi mis en us ge pour cet emprunt. La nation juive, n'etant pas soumise a la conscription militaire, paye en revanche 700,000 florins de Pologne, mais comme cette somme a toujours rapport a des terns de paix, le conseil autorise le tresorier par le decret du 7 du courant, de percevoir encore une somme pareille, sur le motif de la guerre presente. En vertu d'un autre decret du con- seministeriel du 7 du courant, il se fait un enregistrement de tous les chevaux du pays; ceux qui sont propres au service, sont pris. Le prix moyen est de 25 ducats, et I'estimation sera faite par des gens de I'art. Les quittances des comraissaires charges de la reception des chevaux, seront acceptees en payement des impois pour I'annee 1813. — Deja anterieurement les habitans fournirent volouvaireo en , a la suite d'un appel du prefet, le Rombre demande de 60,000 chemises, dans les magasins mili- NOTES. 395 taires — -On peut esperer d'obtenir de la meme tnaniere iin nombre considerable de souliers. Pour s'assurer encore plus du succes des moyens susmentionnes, le conseil voulut donner aux autorites executives un nouveau dep;'re d'activite et d'enertjjie, et h^ter en meme terns I'entree des impots, enredoublant de severite dans les ordonnances centre ceux qui desobeiraient ou qui com- mettraient des malversations au detriment du tresor. Tel est le double but du decret emane du conseil le 10 du cnurant. Permettez, Sire, de repeter succinctement les valeurs et les montans de ce que le conseil vient de vous soumettre. Le Duche de Varsovie fournit avant le commencement de la guerre 33,784 conscritS;. il en fournit maintenant 25,000, ce qui fait par consequent en moins de deux ans 58,784. II fournit avant la guerre 10,876 chevaux pour sa propre armee, il en vendit ou preta 3847 a Tadministration Fran^uise, ii lui reste a en fournir actuellement 8810, ce qui fait en tout 23,542 chevaux. Les depenses pour completer et augmenter derechef I'armee, occasionnent au tresor un surcroit de frais de 3,301,005 florins de Pologne. La derniere construction des equipage, et I'achat des attelage et des armes, ainsi que d'autres depenses de guerre extraordi- naires, montent a 1,927,398. Les travaux des forteresses coutent deja 9,513,261. Les differens produits en nature livres pour les besoins de i'armee, montaient avant la guerre a 40 000,000; les fonds desti- nes ensuite pour cet effet, montent a 30,000,0C0j fait en tout 70,000,000. Le produit de I'emprunt et de Timpot extraordinaire d« recrutement, auxquels il faut ajouter aussi la reduction des pensions et emolumens, montent a 10,007,146. Prix des chevaux comme a compte sur les impots de I'annee prochaine, 4,444,776. Prix des chemises et souliers fournis volontairement, 600,000. Reste d'autres charges, dont il est difficile ou impossible de faire un calcul, comme equipement et entretien des gardes nationales, suites des passages de troupes et des maux de la guerre dans les districts qui ont eie le theatre de la guerre; c'est 396 NOTES. ainsi que les charges extraordinaires qui pesent sur le tresor et le pays comma un suite de la guerre presente, montent (outres les conscrits et les chevaux, et les 68,259,952 florins de Pologne; qui, autant qu'on peut en faire un calcul constituent le montant de revenus annuels ordinaires du pays) a la somme de 99,783,586 florins de Pologne. Voil4, Sire, quels sont les efforts et les sacrifices signales, dont les sujets polonais de V. M. peuvent d6ja se glorifier, on que le conseil leur demande encore au nom de la patrie, persuade de les obtenir de leurs occurs tant ported pour leur salut. On n'a besoin de rien ajouter pour prouver la grandeur des sacrifices des allies de I'Empereur Napoleon. Nous nous bor- nons a dire seulement que la piece importante qu*on vient de lire est signee Stanislas Potocki, president, et Stanislas Graboiaskif secretaire-general du Conseil ministeriel. NOTE V [For Page 243.] Captain Wllloughby, of the royal navy, whose intrepid conduct at the capture of the Isle of France, is too well known and admired to need any further detail, being anxious to leave no interval unfilled by gallant actions, offered his voluntary services to the Emperor of Russia, while the frigate, which his own sovereign had destined for him, was building in England: his Imperial Majesty granted this permission; and Captain Wil- loughby went to Riga: but finding the service there less active than what his thirst for honourable distinction urged him to seek, he set off for the army of Count Vigtenstein. At the taking of Polotsk Captain Willoughby behaved with his usual intre- pidity and ability; and he might still have been pursuing his noble career, had not an act of generosity thrown him into the hands of the enemy. Observing two Russian soldiers cruelly "Wounded, who were attempting to drag their bleeding limbs from the scene of slaughter, Captain Willoughby dismountedj and calling on the Cossac that attended him to do the same, he NOTES. 397 yliced the sufferers upon their horses, and was leading them away, when a party of French hussars surrounded and took them prisoners. This action, so worthy of the British character, could not fail of meeting an answering feeling in the heart of the magnanimous Alexander: he directed a letter to be addressed immediately to the chief of the French nation, offering any French officer in his possession as an equivalent for our brave countryman: the only answer vouchsafed by the ruthless Buona~ parte was " that no Englishman would be exchanged." This vehement hatred of the tyrant towards the English is one of our best testimonies of national virtue. He never found it possible to seduce or to subdue a spirit born in British land: and, iat this time his ambition was doubly racked by the report of Lord Wellington's victories in Spain; and his knowledge that the representative of the British monarch at St. Petcrsburgh, was not only a statesman of the first character, but a soldier eminent in talents and in fame. Buonaparte may sometimes flatter, but he cannot fail to hate the virtue that is opposed ta him. NOTE VI.—lFor Page 154. | BUONAPARTE'S EIGHTEENTH BULLETIN, BATTLE OF MOSCVA (oR BORODINO.) Mojaisk, \Oth Sefitembre, 1812. Le 4, I'Empereur partit de Ghatz et vint camper pres de la, poste de Gritneva. Le 5, a six heures du matin, I'armee se mit en mouvement, a deux heures apres-midi, on decouvrit I'armee Russe placee, sur les hauteurs de la rive gauche de la Kologha: a douze cents toises en avant de la gauche, I'ennemi avait commence a fortifier un beau mamelon entre deux bois, ou il avait place 9 a 10,000 hommes. L'Empereur I'ayant recconu, resolu de ne pas differer 398 NOTES. un moment, et d'enlever cette position. II ordonna au Roi de Naples de passer la Kologha avec la division de Compans et la cavalerie. Le Prince Poniatofsky qui 6tait venu par la droite, se trouva en mesure de tourner la position, a quatre heures I'at- taque commen§a, en une heure de temps la redoute ennemie fut prise avec ses canons, les corps ennemi chasse du bois et mis en deroute, apres avoir laisse la moitie de son monde sur le champ de bataille; a sept heures du soir le feu cessa. Le 6, a deux heures du matin, I'Empereur parcourut les avant postes ennerois: on passa la journee a se recconaitre. L'Ennemi avait une position tres resserree: sa gauche etoit fortaffaiblie par la perte de la position de la veille; elle etait appuyee d un grand bois, soutenue par un beau mamelon couronne d'une redoute armee de 25 pieces de canons. Deux autres mamelons couron- nes de redoutes, a cent pas I'un de I'autre, protegaient sa ligne jusqu' a un grand village que I'ennemi avait demoli pour couvrir le plateau d'artillerie et d'entanterie et y appuyer son centre. Sa droite passait derriere la Kologha en arriere du village de Boro- dino, et etait appuyee a deux beaux mamelons couronnes de redoutes et arn.ees de batteries. Cette position parut belle et forte. 11 etait facile de manceuvrir et d'obliger I'ennemi a I'eva- cuer; mais cela aurait remis la pai'tie, et sa position ne fut pas jugee tellement forte qu'il fallut elluder le combat. II fut facile de distinguer que les redoutes n'etaient qu' ebauch6es, le fosse peu profond non pallissade ni fraise. (hi eyalait les forces de i'ennemi a 123 ou 130 mille hommes. Nos forces etaient egales, mais la superiorite de nos troupes n'etoit pas douteuse. Le 7, a deux heures du matin, I'Empereur eiait entoure de ses marechaux a la position prise I'avant-veille: a cinq heures et demie, le soleil se leva sans nuages; la veille il avait plu — " C'est le soleil d'Austerlitz" dit I'Empereur. Quoique au mois de Septembre, il faisait aussi froid qu'en Decembre en Moravie. L'Armfee en accepta I'augure. On batti un ban, et on lut I'ordre du jour suivant. « Soldats, " Voila la bataille que vous avez tant desiree! Desormais la victoire depend de vous; elle nous est necessaire; elle nous NOTES. 399 donnera Tabondance, de bons quarters d'hiver, et un prompt retour dans la patrie. Conduirez vous comme a Auslerliiz, a Friedland, a Vitepsk, a Smolenzk, et que la posterite la plus reculee cite avec orgueil votre conduite dans cette journee; que Ton dise de vous; il etait a cetie grande bataille sous les niurs de Moscow!" " Au Camp Imperial, sur les hauteurs de Borodino, le 7 Septembre, a 2 heures du matin." L'armee repondit par des acclamations reiterees. Le plateau sur le quel etait l'armee etait convert de cadavres Russes du combat de I'avant veille. Le Prince Poniatofsky, qui formait la droite, se mit on mouve- ment pour tourner la foret sur laquelle I'ennemi appuyait sa gauche. Le Prince d'Eckmuhl se mit en marche le long de la foret, la division Compans en tete. Deux batteries de 60 pieces de cannon, chacune battant la position de i'ennemi, avoient 6te construites pendant la nuit. A 6 heures, le General Comte Sombier, qui avait armee la battei'ie droite avec I'artillerie de la reserve de la garde, commen^a le feu. Le General Parnesty, avec 30 pieces de canon, prit la tete de la division Compans, quatrieme du premier corps, qui longea le bois. tournant la tete de la de I'ennemi: a 6 heures et ^ le General Compans est bless6: a 7 heures le Prince Eck- muhl a son cheval tue. L'attaque avance, la mousqueterie s'en- gage. Le Viceroi, qui formoit notre gauche, attaque et prend le village de Borodino que I'ennemi ne pouvait defendre, ce village ctant sur la rive gauche de la Kologha. A 7 heures le Marechal d'Elchingen se met on mouvement, et, sous la protection de 60 pieces de canon, que le General Fucher avait placee la veille contre le centre de I'ennemi, se porte sur le centre. Mille pieces de canon vomissent de part et d'autre la mort. A 8 heures, les positions de I'ennemi sont enlevees, ses r^doutes prises et notre artillerie couronne ses mamelons. L'a- vantage de position qu' avaient eu pendant deux heures les bat- teries ennemis nous appartient maintenant. Les parapets qui ont 400 NOTES. ete centre nous pendant Tattaque redeviennent pour nous. L'en- nemi voit la bataille perdue, qu'il ne la croyait que commen^a. Partie de son artillerie est prise, le reste est evacue sur ses lignes en arriere. Dans cette extremite, il prend le partie d© retablir le combat, et d'attaquer avec toutes ses masses ces fortes positions qu'el n'a pu garder. Trois cents pieces de canon Frangaises placees sur ces hauteurs oudroient ses masses, et ses soldats viennent mourir au pied de ces parapets qu'ils avoient eleves les jour precedants avec tant de soin, et comme des abres protecteurs. Le Roi de Naples, avec la cavalrie fit diverses charges. Le due d'Elchingen se couvrit de gloire, et montra autant d'intre- pidite que de sang froid I'Empereur ordonne une change de fronte la droite en avant; ce mouvement nous rend maitres des trois parts du champ de bataille. Le Prince Poniatofsky se bat dans le bois avec des succes varies. II restait a I'ennemi ses redoiites de droite: le General Comte Morand y marche et les enleve; mais a 9 heures du matin, attaque de toutes cotes, il ne peut s'y maintenir. L'Ennemi, encourage par ce succes, fit avancer se reserve et ses dernieres troupes pour tenter encore la fortune. La garde Imperiale en fait partie. II attaque notre centre sur lequel avait pivote notre droite— on craint pendant un moment qu'il enleve le village brule; la division Friant s'y porte, 80 pieces de canon fran9aises arretent d'abord et ecrasent ensuite les colonnes ennemis qui se tiennent pendant deux heures serres sous la mitraille, n'osant pas avancer, ne voulant pas reculer, et renon^ant a I'espoir de la victoire. Le Roi de Naples decide leur incertitude; il fait charger le 4 corps de cavalrie qui penetre par les breches que le mitraille de nos canons a faites dans les masses serrees des Russes et les esquadrons de leurs cuirassiers; ils se de- feandent de tous cotes. Le general de division Comte Caulin* «ourt, gouverneur des pages de I'empereur, le porte a latete du 5 cuirassiers, culbute tous, entre dans le redoute de gauche par la gorge. Des ce moment plus d'incertitude, la bataille est gagnfee; il tourne centre les Russes, le 24 pieces de canon qui se trouvent dans la redoute. Le Comte Caulincourt, qui venait ^e se distinguer par cette belle charge, avait termine ses 'des- NOTES. 40L linees; il tombe mort frappe par un boulet; mort gloriease et digne d'envie! II est deux heures apres midi, toutes esperances abandonne Tennemi; la bataille est finie, la canonade continue encore; il se bat pour sa retraite et son salut, inais, non pour la victoire. La perte de I'ennemi est enorme; 12 a 13 mille hommes, et 8 a 9 mille chevaux russes ont ete comptes sur ler champ de bataille; 60 pieces de canon et cinq mille prisoniers sont en notre pouvoir — -nous avons eu 2500 hommes tues, et le tripple de blesses, notre perte totale peut etre evaluee a 10 mille hom- mes; celle de I'ennemi a 40 ou 50 mille. Jamais on n'a vu pariel champ de bataille, sur six cadavres il y en avait un Frangais et cinq Russes. Quarente generaux russes ont ete tues, blesses ou pris; le general Bragation a ete blesse — nous avons perdu le general de division Comte Monbrum, lue d'un coup de canon; le General Comte Caulincourt, qui avait ete envoye pour le remplacer, tue d'un coup une heure apres. Les generaux de brigade Compere, Plauzonne, Marion, Huart ont ete tues; sept ou huit generaux ont ete blesses la plupart legerement. Le Prince d'Ecknmhl n'a eu aucun mal les troupes franc ises se sont couvertes de gloire et ont montre leur grand superiorite sur les troupes russes. Telle est en peu de mots I'esquisse de la bataille de la Moskva, donneex a deux lieues en arriere de Mojaisk, et a vingt cinq lieues de Moscow, pres de la petite riviere de la Moskoa. Nous avons tire 60 mille coups de canon, qui sont deja remplaces par I'arrivee de 800 voitures d'artillerie qui avoient depasse Sma- lenzk avant la bataille. Tous les bois et les villages, depuis le champs de bataille j'usqu'ici sont couverts de morts et de bles- ses, on a trouve ici deux mille morts ou amputes Russes. Plus'eurs Generaux et Colonels sont Prisoniers. IJemjiereur n'a jamais ete expose; la garde, ni a pied ni a cheval, n'a pas donne et n'a pas perdu un seul homme. La victoire n'a jamais etc incertaine, si I'ennemi, force dans ses positions, n'avait pas voulu les reprendre — notre perte e.urait ete plus forte qne le sienne; mais il a detruit son armee, en la tenant depuis huit heures jusqu' a deux sous le feu de ncs batteries, ct en s'opinaitrarnt a' ?. E 402 NOTES. reprendre ce qu'il avait perdu — c'est la cause de son immense parte. Tout le monde s'est distingue; le Roi de Naples et le Due d'Elcliingen se sent fait remarquer. L'artillerie et surtout celle de la garde, s'est surpassee. Des rapports detaill6s feront connaitre les actions qui ont illusti'!^ cette journee. NOTE VII.— [i^or Page 358.] IJUONAPAllTE'S TWENTY-NINTH BULLETIN. Molodetschino, Dec. 3, 1812. JusQu' Au 6 Novembre, le terns a ete parfait et le mouvement de i'arraee s'est execute avec le plus grand succes. Le froid a commence le 7; des ce moment, chaque nuit nous avons perdu plusieurs centaines de chevaux qui mouraient au bivouac. Ar- rives a Smolenzk, nous avions deja perdu bien des chevaux de cavalerie et d'artillerie. L'armee russe de Volhynie etait opposee a notre droite. Notre droite quitta la ligne d'operation de Minsk, et prit pour pivot de ses operations la ligne de Varsovie. L'Empereur apprit a Smo- lenzk, le 9, ce changement de ligne d'operation, et presuma ce que ferait I'ennemi. Quelque dur qu'il iui parut de se mettre en mouvement, dans une si cruelie saison, le nouvel etatdes choses Je necessitait, il esperait arriver a Minsk, ou de moins sur la Be- resina, avant I'ennemi; il parut le 13,de Smolenzk; le 16 il coucha aKrasnoi; le IVoid qui avait commence le 7, s'accrut subitement, et du 14 au 15 et au 16, le thermometre marqua 16 et 18 degres au-dessous de glace. Les chemins furent converts de verglas, les chevaux de cavalerie, d'artillerie, de train, perissaient toutes les huits non par centaines, mais par milliers, surtout les chevaux de France et d'Allemagne plus de 30,000 chevaux perirent en pen de jours; notre cavalerie se trouva toute a pied, notre artillerie et nos transports se trouvraient sans attelage. II fallut abandonner et detruire une bonne partie de nos pieces et de nos munitions de NOTES. 403 guerre et debouche. Cette armee si belle le 6, etaitbien differente des le 14, presque sans cavalerie, sans arlillerie, sans transports. Sans cavalerie nous ne pouvions pas nous eclairer a un quart de lieue, cependant sans artillerie nous ne pouvions pas risquer une bataille et attendre de pied fernie; il fallait marcher pour ne pas etre contraints a une bataille que le defaut de munitions nous empechait de desirer il fallait occuper un certain espace pourne pas etre tuurnee, et cela sans cavalerie qui eclairat et liat les co- lonnes. Cette difficulte, joinie i un froid excessif subitement venu, rendit notre situation facheuse. Les homines que la nature n'a pas trempes assez fortement pour etre au-dessus de toutes les chances du sort et de la fortune, parerent ebranles, perdirent leur gaiete, leur bonne humeur, et ne reverent que malheurs et catastrophes, ceux qu'elle a crees superieurs a tout, conserve- rent leur gaiete, et leur manieres ordinaires, et virent une nou- velle gloire dans des difficultes dififerentes a surmonter. L'ennemi qui voyait sur les chemins les traces de cette affreuse calamite qui frappait I'armee frangaise, chercha a en profiter. II envelop- pait toutes les colonnes par ses cosaques, qui eulevaient, comme les arabes dans les deserts, les trains et les voitures qui s'ecar- taient. Cette meprisable cavalerie, qui ne fait que du bruit, et n'est pas capable d'enfoncer une compagnie de voltigeurs, se rendit redoubtable a la faveur des circonstances. Cependent Tennemi eut a se repentir de toutes les tentatives serieuses qu'il voulat entreprendre; il fut culbute par le Vice-Roi, ou devant duquel il s'etait place, et il-y perdit beaucoup de monde. Le due d'Elchingen qui avec troismille hommcs faisait I'arriere- gai'de, avait fait sautier les ramparts de Smolenzk; il fut cerne et se trouva dans une position critique; il s'en tira avec cette in- trepidite qui le distingue apres avoir tenu l'ennemi eloigne de lui, pendant toute la journee, a la nuit il fit un mouvement sur le flanc droit, passa le Borystene a Orza, et I'armee russe, fatiguee, ayant perdu beaucoup de monde, cessa la ses tentatives, L'armee de Volhynie s'etait porte des le 16 sur Minsk, et marchait sur Borisow. Le General Dombrousky defendit la tete de pont de Borisow avec 3000 hommes. La 23, il fut force et oblige d'evacuer cette position. L'ennemi passa alors la Beresina, mar- chant sur Bobr, la division Lambert faisait I'avant-garde. Le 2d 404 NOTES. corps, commande par le Due de Reggio, qui etait a Ischerain, avail recu I'ordre, de se porter sur Borisow, pour assurer a I'armee le passage de la Beresina. La 24, le Due de Reggio rencontra la division Lambert a 4 lieues de Borisow, i'attaqua, la battit, lui fit 2000 prisonniers, lui prit six pieces de canons; 500 voitures de bagages de I'armee de Volhynie, et rejetta I'en- nemi sur la rive droite de la Beresina. Le General Berckhuin, avec la 4« regiment de cuirassiers, se distingua par une belle charge. L'enneini ne trouva son salut qu'en brulant le pont qui a plus de 300 toises. Cependant I'ennemi occupait tous le passages de la Beresina, cette riviere est large de 40 toises, elle charrioit assez de glaces, mais ses bords sont converts de morais de 300 toises de long, ee qui la rend un obstacle difficile a franchir. Le general ennemi avait place ses 4 divisions dans differens debouches ou il pr6- sumait que I'armee fran^aise voudrait passer. Le 26, a la pointe de jour, TEmpereur apres avoir trompe I'ennemi par divers mouvements faits dans la journee du 25, se porta son le village de Studzionca, et fit aussitot, malgre une division ennqmie et en sa presence, jetter deux ponts sur la riviere. Le Due de Reggio passa, attaqua Tennemi, et le mena battont deux heurs, I'ennemi se retira sur la tete de pont de Borisow. Le General Le Grand, officier du premier merite, fut blesse grievement mais non dangereusement. Ainsi la journee du 26 et du 27 I'armee passe. Le Due de Bellune commandant le 9« corps, avait re^u ordre de suivre le mouvement du Due du Reggio, de faire I'arriere- garde et de contenir I'armee russe de la Dwina qui la suivait. Portonnaux faisait I'arriere-garde de ee corps. Le 27 a midi, le Due de Bellune arriva avec deux divisions au pont de Studzianca. La division Partonnaux portit a la nuit de Borisow. Une brigade de cette division qui formait I'arriere-garde, et qui etait chargee de bruler les ponts, partit a sept heures du soir; elle arriva entre dix et douze heures; elle chercha sa premiere brigade et son general de division qui etaient partis deux heures avant et qu'elle n'avit pas recontres en route. Ses recherches furent vaines; on concut alors des inquietudes. Tout ce qu'on a pu connaitre depuis, c'est que cette premiere brigade, pavtie a NOTES. 406 cinq heures, s'est egaree a six, a pris a droite au lieu de prendre a gauche, et a fait deux ou trois lieues dans cette direction, que dans la nuit et tranaie de froid, elle s'est ralliee aux feux de I'ennemi, qu'elle a pris pour ceux de Tarmee Frangaise, entoiiree ainsi, elle aura ete enlevee. Cette cruelle meprise doit nous avoir fait perdre 2000 hommes d'infanterie, 800 chevaux et trois pieces d'artillerie. Des bruits couraient que ie general de divi- sion n'etait par avec sa colonne et avait marche isolement. Toute I'armee ayant passe le 28 au matin, Ie Due de Bellune gardoit la tete de pont sur la rive gauche; le Due de Reggio, et derriere lui, toute, I'armee, etoit sur la rive droite. Borisow ayant ete evacue, les arniees de la Dwina et de V'olhynie communique- rent; elles concerterent une attaque. La 28, a la pointe du jour, le Due de Reggio fit prevenir I'Empereur qu'il 6tait attaque. Une demi-heure apres le Due de Bellune le fut sur la rive gauche; I'armee prit les armes. Le Due d'Elchingen se porta a la suite du Due de Reggio et le Due de Trevise, derriere le Due d'Elchingen. Se combat devint vif: I'ennemi voulut deborder notre droite; le general Donmerc, commandant la cinquieme di] vision de cuirassiers, et qui faisait partie du 2d corps resie sur la Dwina, ordonna une charge de cavalerie aux 4^ et 5^ regimens de cuirassiers, au moment ou la legion de la Vistule s'engageait dans de bois pour percer le centre de I'ennemi qui fut culbute et mis en deroute ces braves cuirassiers enfoncerent successive^ ment six carres d'enfanterie et mirent en deroute la cavalerie ennemie, qui venoit au secours de son infanterie, 6000 prison- niers, deux drapeaux, et six pieces de cannon tomberent en notre pouvoir. De son cote le Due de Bellune fit charger vigoureusement I'ennemi, le battit, lui fit 5 a 600 prisonniers, et le fuit hors la portee des canons du pont. Le general Journie fit une belle charge de cavalerie. Dans le combat de la Beresina, I'armee de Volhynie a beau- coup souffert. Le Due de Reggio a ete blesse; sa blessure n'est pas dangereuse; c'est une balle qu'il a regue dans le cote. Le lendemain 29, nous restames sur le champ de battaille. Nous avions a choisir autre deux routes; celle de Minsk et celle de Vilna. La route de Minsk passe au milieu d'une foret et de 406 NOTES. marais ineultes, et il eut ete impossible a Tarmee de s'y nourrirc La route de Vilna au contraire, passe dans de tres-bons pays. L'armee sans cavalerie, faible, en munitions, horriblement fa- tigu6e de 50 jours de inarche, trainant a sa suite ses malades et les blesses de tout de combats, avoit besoin d'arriver a ses maga- zins. Le 30, le Quartier General fut a Plechnitzi; le I Decem- bre a Ilaiki, et le 3, a Molo Delchno, ou l'armee a re§u les pre- miers convois de Vilna. Tous les officiers et soldats blesses, et tout ce qui est embarras, bagages, &c. ont ete diriges sur Vilna. Dire que l'armee a besoin de retablir sa discipline, de se refaire, de remonter sa cavalerie, son artillerie et son material, c'est le resultat de I'expose qui vient d'etre fait. Le repos est son premier besoin. Le material et les chevaux arrivent. Le General Bourcier a deja plus de 20,000 de chevaux de remonte dans differans depots- L'artiilerie a deja repare ses pertes. Les generaux, les officiers, et les soldats ont bcaucoup souffert de la fatigue et de la dissette. Beaucoup ont perdue leurs bagages par suite de la perte de ieurs chevaux^ quelques uns par le fait des ambuscades des Cosaques. Les Cosaques ont pris nombre d'hom- mes isoles, d'ingenieurs geographes qui levaient les positions, et des officiers blesses qui marchaient sans precaution, preferant courir des risques plutot qui de marcher posement et dans des convois. Les rapports des officiers generaux, commandans les corps feront connoitre les officiers et les soldats qui se sont le plus dis- tingue, et les details de tous ces memorables evenemens. Dans tous ces mouvements, I'Empereur a toxijours marche au milieu de sa garde, la cavalerie, commandee par le Mar6chal Due d'Istrie, et d'infanterie, commandee par le Due de Dantzic. Sa Majeste a 6te satisfaite du bon esprit que sa garde a montrej elle a toujours ete prete a de porter partout ou les circonstances I'auroient exigee; mais les circonstances ont toujours ete telles que sa simple presence a suffi, et qu'elle n'a pas ete dans le cas de donner. Le Prince de Neufchatel, le Grand Marechal, le Grand Ecuyer, et tous les Aides-de-Camp, et les officiers mili- taires de la maison de I'Empereur ont toujours i^ccompagne Sa Majeste. NOTES. 407 Notre cavalerie etoit tellement demontee, que I'on a pu reunir Jes officiers auxquels il vestoit un cheval pour en former quatre conripagnies de 150 hommes chacune. Les Generaux y faisaient les fonctions de capitaines, et les colonels celles de sous officiers. Cet escadron sacre, commande par le General Lyrouchi, et sous les ordres du Roi de Naples, ne perdoit pas de vue de TEmpe- reur dans tons Its n;ouvemens. La sante de sa Majestc n'a jamais ete meilleure. NOTE VUL-^lFrom Page 341 .j When General Baron Vinzingorode, and his aide-de-camp €aptam Narishkin, were made prisoners at Moscow, in violation of every law civil or military, Buonaparte ordered them to be brought before him. The command bein'^ obeyed, the French leader, swelling with rage, but with an air of triumph, addi'essed the Russian general (who is a Hessian by birth) — " Sir," cried he, " you are a traitor: I shall send you back to your country, to meet the fate your infamy merits. You should die instantly, but that I wish your countrymen to have the satisfaction of beholding such a traitor receive the reward of his crime." The Baron replied, with firmness, " Sir, I am no traitor, and, as a soldier, I never fear nor shrink from death, let it come in whatever form it may." " You, Sir," said Napoleon, speaking to Captain Narishkin, *' are of a brave family: I know the name well; and I lament to see you have been taken with such a scoundrel as that." Soon after this conference, in which the manners of a true sans culottes exhibited themselves under the Imperial purple, the illustrious prisoners were put together into a caleche^ and forwarded, under an escort of gens d'armes, towards Grodno: from that place they were to proceed to Warsaw, and thence the Baron was to be dispatched to Hesse, The fiat of his enemy was to accompany him"; and his death would have added another to the list of innocent victim.s who had been treacherousiv taken 408 NOTES. and iniquitbusly butchered by the commands of the French despot. The escort had reached the government of Minzk, when at the skirt of a wood one of the wheels which belonged to the carriage in which the prisoners were, gave way. The General and his companion were both asleep at the time, but the noise awoke Captain Narishkin, who, while looking out at the people remedying the accident, observed, amidst the trees, the points of some pikes. He instantly aroused the General, and commu- nicated what he had seen. His observation, and his consequent hopes, were true; for immediately some Cossacs presented them- selves, and moved forward unobserved by the Gens d'armes. Vinzingorode put himself forward in the carriage, and placed himself so that the heroes of the Don saw his Imperial star. A glance was sufficient: they charged the escoi^t: a few minutes decided the contest; the French took refuge in the woods; and the Russian General and his aide-de-camp were, in perfect safety, in the hands of Colonel Tchernicheff and his brave little band. On their arrival at the head-quarters of Count Vigtenstein, the Baron, together with Narishkin and other prisoners of conse- quence whom the Cossacs had set free, set off for St. Peters- burgh. Baron Vinzingorode, who hardly believed himself liberated till he was again in the track of glory, soon after rejoined the army, and is now commanding a large division against his ene- mies on the Banks of the Oder.' Having given an instance of the greatness of mind with which a Russian officer could reply to the domineering insolence of the French ruler, I cannot refrain from adding to it one proof cut of many of a similar spirit existing amongst the lowest subjects. A party of French marauders entered the cottage of a poor peasant, in search of plunder and provisions. \V hen they had seized every thing dead or alive, even to the very cat, ont oi he brigands took the left-hand of the honest Russian, and with a NOTES. 409 staining^ liquid marked on it the letter N. The boor seeing the figure, demanded what it meant; upon which one of the soldiers, who was a Pole, replied, " It is the initial of the French Emperor, and by that mark you are become his subject." On hearing this, the high-spirited Russian drew his axe from his sash, and laying his arm on the table, in an instant, and at one blow, left the disgraced hand, covered with blood, before the eyes of the astonished soldiery. " There," cried he, " take what belongs to the French Emperor, if it is his! But still my heart and my body belong to my own sovereign, and will ever serve him with fidelity." NOTE IX.—lFor Page 349.] From such multitudes of the enemy being made prisoners by the Russians during this retreat, the duty of conducting them into the interior was transferred from the soldiers to the armed peasantry. The devastation which the invaders had caused pre- senting itself at every step to their conductors, did not tend to soften their minds towards the distresses of their captives; and therefore there was not often great pains taken to preserve them -from the fatal effects of their situation. Indeed to have afforded adequate comforts for so vast a body, would have required resources which, considering the rapidity of the defeat, could not come into the calculation of the victors to prepare. The consequence was that the fatigue of marching by day, and the cold of the nights, every hour lessened the number of prisoners. Not having room in the inhabited dwellings for them, they were usually put until dawn into the half-destroyed out-buildings which lay in the way of their destination. And here hundreds ■would be found each morning stiffened to death by the severity of the frost. By these means, nearly three parts of the original number of prisoners miserably perished. Of the 25,000 fugitives who reached the opposite side of the Neimen, many of them also fell into the hands of their pursuers; and those who did escape into Poland, were soon after seized 3 F 410 NOTES. with diseases incident to their sufferings, which either number- ed them with the dead, or completely disabled most of them from future service. NOTE X. — IReferred to in the latter pages of the narrative.^ The twelve hundred pieces of cannon taken from the French, during these latter days of their flight from the theatre of their most iniquitous aggression, are to be erected into a monument of the invincible courage which repelled the outrage, and of the favour of the Almighty Power which drove the invaders over the barriers of the Empire. The celebrated Chevalier Quaringy, the Imperial architect, who has already given so many proofs of his talents to the capital of Russia, has presented a design for this memorial of patriotism and military glory: he proposed that the whole of the captured artillery should be taken to Moscow, and piled up into a vast pyramid, surmounted with a brazen statue of Victory. The idea is simple and sublime. Greatness of thought in simplicity of expression is character- istic of the Russians. They have a medal, which was struck by Catherine II. in commemoration of the battle of Tchesma. Its device is the enemy's fleet on fire, and the inscription the Rus- sian word which signifies " It was." It has been suggested to carry the same imfiresse to the monument of French guns^ which, as the remains of the Grand Army^ must ever stand as a memorial of what " it was." The great, the pious Alexander, in acknowledgment of the power whence alone he derives his glory, in a ukase, dated Wilna, Dec. 25, O. S. issues his orders that the foundation- stone of a new church shall instantly be laid in Moscow, and that it shall be dedicated to Christ the Saviour. He adds, that he trusts it will continue a perpetual monument, to future genera- tions, of the deliverance of Russia, and of the magnanimity and devotion of its people. NOTES. 411 His Imperial Majesty likewise ordained that a patriotic offering made by the Holy Synod should immediately be ap- propriated to its intended purpose. It consisted of a fund of 3,500,000 roubles, to be set apart for the repair of the cathedrals, monasteries, parish churches, and school-houses, which have been destroyed in the Kremlin, in Moscow, and in the other cities of the government where the enemy principally committed ravages. This treasure is also intended to furnish relief to priests and preceptors, and to such ecclesiastical seminaries as have suffered by the invasion of the French. The glorious issue of the Russian campaign, even more than answered the high expectations which the patriot nation of Spain had formed of its termination. The sentiments of the Spanish Regency ai-e so worthy of themselves, and of the noble people whose cause was that of all Europe, that I cannot I'esist con- cluding this note with their address on the struggles and hopes of Russia, to their brave countrymen engaged in the same contest. PROCLAMATION DE LA REGENCE D'ESPAGNE A LA NATION ESPAGNOLB. ESPAGKOLS! L'Empereur de toutes les Russies, Alexandre, ce Prince, qui en peu d'annees de paix, s'etoit rendu celebre par ses virtus sublimes, qui regne sur les coeurs de tous ces sujets de son vaste Empii'e, qui, par ses sentimens genereux, et par ses principes liberaux, paroit destine par la Providence, a ameliorer les destinees du genre humain, ne pouvoit se persuader qu'un homme qui pourroit ajouter a la gloire solide ct immortelle de bienfaiteur de tant de peuples, et qui plusieurs fois dans ses ecrits, dans ses discours, et dans ses entrevues avec Alexandre lui-meme, avoit soin d'etre anime des memes sentimens; et penetre de la verite des memes principes, put cacher sous les apparences, le coeur d'un Neron, la perfidie d'un Tibere, la ferocite d'un Attila, et voulut devenir I'execration de tous les peuples. Mais la violation continuelle des traites, I'etat perma- nent d'agression contra tous les Princes, pour les detroner, et 412 NOTES. contre toutes les nations pour les subjuger successivement, et la maniere barbare de faire la guerre en portant partout le brigan- dage et la devastation, ont convaincu le genereux et magnanime Alexandre, qu'il devoit se constituer le prutecteur de la liberte et de la civilisation non seulement du Nord, mais encore du midi de I'Europe. C'est ainsi que nous devons le considerer a la vue des traites qu'il vient de conclure celui de I'alliance avec I'Espagne, la reconnoissance des Cortes, celle de la constitution et de Ferdinand VII. qui doit regner d'apres elle, sont les surs garants de notre independence. Alexandre, dont le coeur est si noble, et si eleveF Alexandre, dont la vertu ne pouvoit meme concevoir dans son eimemi un degre de depravation aussi horrible que celui qui etoit necessaire pour treamer d'aussi noires perfidus, d'aussi epouvantables intamies qui celles, qu'il a ose se permettre envers notre Souverain bien-aime; Alexandre, saisi d'indignation au moment ou le voile qui couvroit des attentats et des trahisons si abominables s'est dechire, touche de la fermete et de la loyautfe heroique des Espagnols, sera indubitablen\ent aussi constant et aussi inebrantable dans la sublime enterprieze du salut de I'Espagne, comme le fidele nation Uusse, dans celle de secondei' ton magnanime Empereur, et de n'epargner aucun sacrifice pour assurer le triomphe contre rennemi commun, et delivrer rhumanite du plus grand des fleaux qui ait jamais accables les peuples civiles. La Regence de Royaume ne s'arretera pas a vous tracer le tableau de tous ce que nous avons lieu d'attendre de la valeur incontestable du soldat Russe. L'univers n'a par perdu le souvenir des frequentes humilia- tions qu'il fait eprouver a Frederic le grand, ni de rapides victoires qu'il a remportees tant de fois en Nalic sur les legions orgueilleuses de ces vites esclaves qui' se donnoient alors le nom de repubiicains, ni de la legon terrible qu'il leur donna a Eylau et sur d'autres changes de bataile, lorsque ayant abjure ce litre, ils prirent celui d'humber du tyran. Aujourdhui on extend deja le bruit de ses premiers exploits contre les memes enemis, com" mandes comme alors en Pologne par rhomme frenetique qui veut parroitre invincible. NOTES. 413 Si dans I'histoire de emigration des peuples, nous cherchions des motifs pour justifier les causes de la resemblance de caractere entre les Russes et les Espagnols, nous pourrions en assignor des raisons tres probables, mais ce qu'l nous importe de savoir, c'est que le Russe est constant et religiuiez comma l*Espagnol; qu'il a une vivacite de caractere superieure a celles des autres peuple du Nord de I'Europe; et que gouverne et conduit par un aussi grand Prince qu' Alexandre, il restora inebranlable dans la noble entreprize de I'esister a I'ennemie commun, de la pour- suivre et de consolider notre liberie et natre gloire. De notre cote, les efforts et les sacrifices qui nous restent a faire, ne dementiront point aux que nous avons d6ja faits avec tant de fermete at pendant si long temps, qu'ils ont prepare les tri- pmphes de nos allies et I'epoque de nos esperances. (Signe) Le Duo Ue L'Infantado, President. Cadiz, Sefitember, Ist, 1812. 414 NOTES. NOTE XL The following military returns are selected from a number of others equally proving the severe losses which the French army sustained in its Northern campaign. The original documents were never intended by Napoleon for the public eye, but were taken with other papers by Count Vigtenstein's cavalry after having driven the fugitives across the Neimen. a, bs S ^ «3 officc-,s ^^rr'^ y to Under officers S 5 < ^ g. » and r-lsi'l soldiers ! Officers ^^0^ Under officers ^ ^ 1 s and « SS- soldiers "*' r c la r > 5! __ Officers __ ^ S„.^^. 1^:^ Under officers = r.^ = ScSI^-i and B^%^rr%Zltf soldiers "T^ S, "" ^^^ ^ 1 * "^ 1 Officers «,o -1 Under officers C. 5- S" ^ and 1^^ soldie)-s . "= H»3 CJ 1 Ofhcers n ^^'^'^^^ 3 ^. ti^V bnderofficers ^ ^^ S" ;.2 S ^g- g'g a. S> ^ and 1 i'g =-5f g B S"^ 3 S^g" •^ soldiers ^^t^S-'^-'S ^?^ Cj Officers 1 Under officers g" o"" and ?' £ soldiers to Officers hn Under officers ^ B n and g ft g soldiers ° "^ ft) I ^ !^ [fl 'i^ i" H s W '^ a ^ H 5 w PI g o» '^ NOTES. 415 a Oi^ir-e-rS Under oiticers and soldiers fD P ' CB 3 < p re N 3 3 3 Officers Under officers and soldiers 3-?s O" fl> Si ?i 35 ?r Ct. 2. ^ Officers Under officers and soldiers illl^ » "o J5" — s 3 ^ ^ ^O „ = C Officers Under officers and soldiers a 3 o • c-3 Officers Under officers and soldiers — p "J .^ r officers Under officers and soldiers officers Under officers and soldiers p-nj 3 5. a. o ^ I 416 NOTES. <§ ^ s ; o Under officers and soldiers Officers Under officers and soldiers C Ch iH» i> r> " Officers Under officers and soldiers Officers Under officers and soldiers o -is? S- cr 5< " O :Z5 ~ r* P" -."■ asrf!i3*So'<<3 "*>" P O fl" » 3.0.0 w P- S officers Under officers and soldiers Officers Under officers and soldiers 3 •^ .-t" '-r - — - tl, P _► to - e n> n, " -B p = 12 3 5- a Officers Under officers and soldiers. P^'TJ ft a. CO K- > •§ a & I- B: in o NOTES, 417 g o » w D^ O a > ^ H iC F) Officers Under officers and soldiers. n z, -1 = 3 r Officers Under officers and soldiers Officers Under officers and soldiers .11^ -■ -r IT 3 O D" anners and character of the Court of Louis XIII. First Ame- rican edition, revised with additional notes. — Price gl. Of this work, the most able of French Reviewers observes as follows: " Madame de Genlis particularly excels in pourtraying' characters, and ■with wonderful art gives to every one its appropriate colours." After introducing a fevv extracts, the Reviewer proceeds: " These extracts, and several other parts of the work which I shall not here transcribe, such as those in which the author so profoundly analyzes and paints with such rapidity of pencil, the deep policy of Cardinal Richlieu, added to an infinue number of views, outlines and ideas elabo- borately explained, sparkle through the whole work, and exhibit a genius infinitel) above the species of writing, in which the fertile imagination and flowing pen of Madame de Genlis delight to sport." " The novel form is only a frame, in which Madame de Genlis sets the portraits of history, the treasures of an observing mind, and the riches of a style at once flexible and energetic. " I do not liesjiate to assert, that Madame de Genlis has no where ex- hibited such talents, as in this last work; because she has never before had such an opportunity of displaying such sagacity and skill, in making the circumstances vvhieh unfold her characters, flow naturally from the qualities with which she has represented them. The Review closes with the following words^ " I venture to affirm, tliat this Novel is one of those productions whick will be appreciated, in proportion to the degree of mind the reader pos- sesses, and in proportion as that mind has been cultivated." THEY HAVE IN PRESS, The Memoirs of the Cardinal De Retz. Containing the par- ticulars of his own life; with the most secret transactions of the French Court and the Civil Wars. And also the History of the Conspiracy of Count John Louis Fieque, against the republic of Genoa, likewise written by the Cardinal de Retz, Translated from the French. To which will be added, Notes by the Dutchess of Nemours, and Memoirs of Guy Joli, private secretary t» Cardinal cle Ketz. E 696 i