diss JXlZl<^ 
 
 Book . r AC 
 
 PKKSKNTEU BY 
 
■^ A 
 
 NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA, 
 
 DURING THE YEAR 
 
 1813. 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR ROBERT KER PORTER* 
 
 412 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF THE 
 EVENTS WHICH FOLLOWED 
 
 BUONAPAE-TE'S CAMPAIGN IN EUSSIA, 
 TO THE PERIOD OF HIS DETHRONEMENT. 
 
 BY WILLIAM DUNLAR 
 
 HARTFORD : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY ANDRUS AND STARR. 
 
 PETER B. GLEASON AND CO. EEINTERS. 
 
 1815. 
 
1\^'^\' 
 
 ^ ^%^ 
 
 Oift ^ 
 
 Mre. Anna. B«lle Karow 
 
 DISTRICT OF NEW-YORK, ss- 
 
 Bi: IT REMEMBERED, that on the thirteenth day of Septemher^ 
 in the thirty-ninth year of the Independence of the United States of Amc" 
 rica, George Sheldon & Co. of the said district, have deposited in this 
 office the title of a hook, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in 
 the words following, to wit : 
 
 " A Narrative of the Events which followed Buonaparte's Campaign 
 in Russia to the period of his dethronement. By William Dunlap." 
 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled 
 " An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of 
 maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies, 
 during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled " An 
 act, supplementary to an act, entitled an act for the encouragement of 
 learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the au- 
 thors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, 
 and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving., 
 and etching historical and other prints.''^ 
 
 THERON RUDD, 
 Clerk of the District of New- York, 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 Page. 
 French Preparations against the Russian Empire - - 9 
 Russian Preparation to oppose the French - ... 9 
 Napoleon on the Vistula - ^ - - -- -11 
 
 Emperor Alexander at Wilna - - - - - -12 
 
 Napoleon begins the War by crossing the Neimen - - - 14 
 Situation of the French Army - - - - - -17 
 
 Situation of the Russian Army - •■ * -» -18 
 Prince Bragation's Movements - - * - - -19 
 Russian Head-quarters at Drissa, - - - - - 21 
 
 Address to the City of Moscow - v » .. - . 30 
 Address to the Nation - - »• - - - -31 
 
 Alexander's Visit to Moscow - - . - - - 34 
 Address of the Holy Synod - » - -^--. - - 36 
 
 Arming of the Russian People ----.. 40 
 
 Barclay de Tolly at Vitepsk - 42 
 
 Vigtenstein's Movements against Oudinot - - - - 49 
 
 Bragation crosses the Berezina 63 
 
 PlatofF's Movements 67 
 
 Peace with Turkey - 59 
 
 Admiral Tchitchagoff takes the Command of the army of the 
 
 Danube - . „ 60 
 
 Surrender of Kobrine to the Russians - - - - - 61 
 
 Affair of Podubrie - - - - - - - - 64 
 
 Essen at Riga --------68 
 
 Peace with England -..--,.75 
 
 Russian hatred of the French .-..-- 76 
 
*V CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 iBattle of Gamzeleva -----..79 
 
 Battle of Polotzk og 
 
 Battle of Smolenzk -----.. .g-? 
 
 Kapoleon enters Smolenzk 91 
 
 The French pass the Dneiper gg 
 
 Junction of the First and Second Russian Armies - - - 104 
 Prince Koutousoff Commander-in-Chief - - - - 106 
 
 Battle of Borodino - - . . . . _ -Ho 
 Koutousoff made Field-Marshal - - - . . . 122 
 Koutousoff passes through Moscow and takes a position on the 
 
 Kalouga road - - - . .. -194 
 
 Moscow entered bj the French -. , ,. -128 
 Moscow in their Possession r - ^ , . - 135 
 
 Buonaparte at the Barrier ■.---,.. 13Q 
 Buonaparte's Entrance '----,.. 137 
 
 Outrages on the Inhabitants I33 
 
 Russian Position on the Kalouga Road 146 
 
 Vinzingorode's Movements from Twer - - , . . 149 
 Moscow surrounded bj Russian troops -r - . . . I49 
 Buonaperte offers Peace - - - , . . - 162 
 Distress of the French Troops ----.. 155 
 
 Final Rejection of Buonaparte's proffered Terms of Peace - 168 
 
 Request and Refusal of an Armistice I59 
 
 Buonaparte retires to the Palace of Petrofskj - - - 160 
 
 Orders issued for the Destruction of Moscow - - , . leo 
 Buonaparte's Attempt to burn the Kremlin - - - - 168 
 Vinzingorode victorious before Moscov/ - - . - 171 
 
 Vinzingorode and Narishkin seized by the French - - -178 
 lioviaskj saves the Kremlin - - - . . - 179 
 
 Moscow recovered to Russia I79 
 
 Essen's Advance to Mittau - - - - . - 186 
 
 Movement on Polotzk 191 
 
 General Steingel defeats Macdonald's Corps - ^ - - 193 
 General St. Cjr wounded -----,. 194 
 Capture of Polotzk - - -. . , . -196 
 French defeated by Bragation and Buckovden, near Tourgovitch 200 
 
 Pinsk abandoned by the Austrians 204 
 
 Koutousoff's Account of the relative state of the Hostile Armies 209 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 Page. 
 French defeated by Dovochoff between Semlevo and Wiazraa - 211 
 
 Battle of Wiazma - - - 216 
 
 Murat defeated 217 
 
 Buonaparte's dreadful situation after the battle of Wiazma - 220 
 Buonaparte quits Moscow— his Head-quarters at Borosk - - 221 
 The advanced-guard of Sebastiani entirely defeated by Prince 
 
 Koudascheff 222 
 
 Horrible state of the French Army 223 
 
 Buonaparte forsakes the Army and flies to France - - - 225 
 French defeated by Piatoff near the Monastery of Kolotsk - 226 
 
 Platoff's description of the French Retreat ... - 229 
 , Davoust, Ney, and Beauharnois, defeated by Miloradovitch - 231 
 Sufferings of the French ------- 232 
 
 The Russian Winter sets in ----- - 233 
 
 Description of the Misery of the French Army . - - 234 
 Piatoff pursues Beauharnois ------ 237 
 
 Double Defeat of Beauharnois - - - - - - 238 
 
 Letters of the Vice-Roy of Italy to the Prince of Neufchatel 239,240 
 Mloradovitch defeats the French and occupies Dorogobouche - 244 
 Augereau, with his whole Division, capitulates to Count Orloff- 
 
 Denizoff 245 
 
 Buonaparte establishes his Head-quurters at Smolenzk - - 246 
 Inhuman Execution of the Patriot Engelliart - - - - 248 
 
 Letter of Berthier to Davoust - 250 
 
 Devastation of Smolenzk - - -- - - -251 
 
 Davoust defeated near Krasnoy ------ 253 
 
 Buonaparte's shameful Flight from the Field of Krasnoy - - 263 
 
 Defeat of Ney -' - - 256 
 
 The Remainder of the French Army capitulates - - - 257 
 Steingel and Sassonoff having formed a junction, defeat the ene- 
 my at Ouschatch ------- 260 
 
 Vitepsk taken by the Russians - - - - - - 263 
 
 Victor defeated by Vigtenstein — Colonel Tchernicheff joins Count 
 
 Vigtenstein - - - - - - - - 266 
 
 Victor and Oudinot prepare to evacuate the Russian Territory - 268 
 
 Minsk taken by the Russians 269 
 
 Buonaparte reaches Orcha - - - - - - 271 
 
 Orcha evacuated by the French - - - , - - - 273 
 
Tl ■ CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Ney defeated by Platoff .274 
 
 The Main Army of the Russians reaches Zezeringa - - -275 
 
 Victor and his Army capitulate 278 
 
 Battle of Lembisco 279 
 
 Horrible state of the French after the Battle - - - - 279 
 
 Buonaparte crosses the Berezina 280 
 
 Oudinot killed — Buonaparte retreats to Pletchinichau - - 284 
 Buonaparte deserts his Army - - - - ' - - 284 
 
 Ruse de Guerre of Maret 286 
 
 Buonaparte appoints Murat Lieutenant-General and Commander- 
 in-chief of the Army — his final Departure from his Army 29 1 
 Wilna occupied by the Russians - - - - - 292 
 Proclamation of the Emperor of Russia . . _ . 299 
 Notes --' 301 
 
CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA. 
 
 Ti 
 
 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 Eu- 
 rope to need a narration here of the particular 
 events which led to its commencement, and accele- 
 rated its conclusion. The necessity which compel- 
 led the Emperor Alexander to make that Treaty, 
 there is little doubt originated 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 de- 
 struction of the Prussian force, and the decided 
 apathetical tardiness of Austria,) he found himself, 
 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 re- 
 ceded not a step ; but in the field and in the cabinet 
 continued to assert, to the extremest point of his 
 empire's existence, the liberty of Europe. It is 
 well known from what passed between the courts of 
 London and St. Petersburgh, how" anxiouis he was 
 (in spite of disappointments) 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 on the 7th of July, 
 1807, the Peace of Tilsit was signed. 
 
From the date of this event six years elapsed ; 
 r.nd 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 be- 
 came involved, and alone too, in a desperate and 
 unsuccessful contest Avith Napoleon. Spain burst 
 forth against the tyrant, with the spirit of her an- 
 cestors. And England (however those at times in 
 power may have committed political errors) con- 
 tinued, in principle, true to the grand cause by 
 feeding the flame in the peninsula ; and thus kept 
 t?p that fire with which the far-spreading torch of 
 the North now lights the rest of Europe to Eman- 
 cipation and Peace. 
 
 The negative kind of amity, a body without a 
 soul, wiiich the Treaty of Tilsit established be- 
 tween 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 ; Avffo 
 lost not an opportunity of endeavouring by every 
 species of intrigue to pave the way for an easy 
 conquest over the arms and allegiance of the sub- 
 jects of his august and honourable ally. 
 
 The machinations of Napoleon have ever been 
 as much against the principles, as the personal 
 libeiiies of men. Former conquerors were content 
 with subjecting nations by the pov/er of the sword. 
 liis 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 perpet- 
 ual, because desperate, slavery. I need not par- 
 ticularize the objects in Russia, of this his system 
 of mental vassalage : some few feil victims to his 
 spells, but the many, the worthy of the name of 
 Russians, remained impregnable to the most de- 
 termined, most wiiv assaults of his art. 
 
The impatience of Napoleon to compel every 
 state under his influence to adopt what he calls 
 The Continental Si/stem, and which m.eans tiie ex- 
 elusion of all commerce with England, excilinjj; 
 him to extraordinary and imperative demands of 
 Russia : the insolent declarations of his power to 
 enforce obedience to his will, alarmed the indepen- 
 dent spirit of the Emperor Alexander; and made 
 him wisely prepare, in silence for a rupture which 
 no flatteries of the tyrant, nor suggestions from the 
 world's panic, could persuade him to com.promise. 
 
 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 whatev- 
 er, be forced upon the ruler of such a people. Napo- 
 leon laughed at these preparations. A man without 
 honour, believes the integrity of all others impugna- 
 ble. 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 re- 
 pulsed it. 
 
 Napoleon continued to dissemble and to in- 
 trigue ; 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 Machia- 
 velian net, with hands more numerous than those 
 of Briarieus, he was secretly preparing the means 
 of subverting the Russian Empire, and establish- 
 ing 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 Vas neglected on her part, to pre- 
 pare against its rage. Her troops, by degrees, 
 spread themselves along her vast frontier ; and 
 look up the best positions that the probable cir- 
 cumstances of her situation could point out. A 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 force of four hundred thousand strong, public re* 
 port said, was then extended from the shares of the 
 Baltic to the extremity of the Volhynia ; but as 
 the casualties incident to a Russian armament are 
 numerous, we cannot confidently rate this body 
 of men, at the commencement of the campaign, at 
 more than two hundred thousand effective sol- 
 diers. 
 
 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, thro' 
 the medium of his ambassadors at the Court of St. 
 Petersburgh, to cast an insidious gloze on all that 
 had passed ; and by misrepresentation, falsehood, 
 and sophistry, to throw the blame of the approach- 
 ing rupture upon the Northern Emperor. 
 
 "Even in the third year (1810) of this hollow 
 peace, France was seen to manifest serious designs 
 of invading the Russian dominions. Napoleoa 
 was compelled to understand that, in spite of bis 
 menaces, Russia would have a commerce with Eng- 
 land ; that she would not, in consenting to him 
 as an ally, yield her own equal rights of maintain- 
 ing her people, and replenishing her treasury, by 
 those honest arts which give to peace a value be- 
 yond that of mere personal security. He saw that 
 ukases were repeatedly issued to encourage a com- 
 merce with England : and more and more irritated 
 by the steady policy of Alexander, he decided^ 
 not only on the destruction of that prince, but 
 on the annihilation of his empire. ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding these sentiments of each other,, 
 and the preparations which both were quietly mak- 
 ing, the one to commit, and the other to resist vio- 
 lence, diplomatic civilities passed between the two 
 
11 
 
 courts. Alexander maintained a dignified silence ; 
 and Napoleon, carefully masking his face when 
 turned to Russia, was moving all his engines in 
 other countries, to excite their armies to assist his 
 in overvyhelming her with ruin. During the year 
 1811, his agent at Constantinople, 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 Imperi- 
 al line. 
 
 The co-operation of Sweden was solicited by 
 similar 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, find vast accessions to her Pomeranian 
 territories. 
 
 Treaties of defensive alliance were concluded 
 with Austria and Prussia. Dantzic was reinforc- 
 ed, and provided with stores of all kinds. And 
 the rest of the strong Prussian fortresses which, 
 according to articles of the Treaty of Tilsit, ought 
 to have been evacuated by the French troops, had, 
 on the contrary, their garrisons considerably aug- 
 mented. Columns of troops from France, as well 
 as from the various states which comprised the 
 Confederation of the Rhine, w^ere known to be on 
 their march towards the Vistula. 
 
 Such military preparations, together with the 
 ratification of treaties of the most intimate allian- 
 ces between 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 pro- 
 
12 
 
 vided ; 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 
 confederated 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 des- 
 pot'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 marshal- 
 led by the destructive abilities of man. It posses- 
 sed the elite, not only of the French nation, but 
 that of all her confederates ; and to give efficiency 
 to so formidable a strength, was commanded by 
 the most celebrated captain of the age. 
 
 This mighty array bad been a work of- delibera- 
 tion. Its ambitious leader had long sought to 
 make a vassal of liis imperial ally, or to push him to 
 the extremity of a rufJture. Through the medium 
 of Prince Koiuakin, Napoleon, while at Paris, 
 had precipitated that . decision from St. Peters- 
 burgh, which he looked for to give him an excuse 
 for the meditated invasion. His demands were, 
 that Russia must immediately adopt, Avithout any 
 reservation, the continental system, to the exclu- 
 sion and destruction of all commerce whatever with 
 England. The style of this message, as well as 
 its purport, was in a strain to oiFend the dignity as 
 well as the just political views of the Emperor Al- 
 exander ; but he treated it so far with forbearance 
 ^s to commission his ambassador at Paris, while 
 
13 
 
 he refused a compliance to the extent required, t(y 
 use every means consistent with the character of 
 the Russian nation, to preserve the peace. 
 
 The demand v/as repeated without any soften- 
 ing 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 Oldenberg. This resolution, and this 
 protest, were immediately construed by Napoleon 
 into demands " arrogant and extraordinary !" and 
 announced by him as equivalent to a declaration of 
 war. Still, however, his hypocrisy was not satis- 
 fied with the part it had already acted ; he must 
 have another scene of fawning, yet insulting, over- 
 tures 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 
 extraordinary demands. The General was heard 
 and answered ; and after a very short stay at the 
 Russian head-quarters, carried back his reply, — 
 That his Imperial Majesty would negotiate with 
 IVapoleon 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 Wil- 
 na for the purpose of having an interview with Al- 
 exander, so enraged Napoleon, that he exclaimed 
 — " The conquered assume the tone of conquer- 
 ors — Fate leads them on — Let their destiny be ac- 
 complished !" 
 
 He spoke a Delphic oracle in these words ; for 
 they certainly are accomplished, though in a man- 
 ner directly contrary to his translation of their 
 jmeaning. 
 
14 
 
 Without a moment's delay, at the same instant 
 he issued orders to c.oss the Neimen, and to send 
 forth the following address to his troops. 
 
 " 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 vio- 
 lates her oaths. She declares she will give no ex- 
 planation 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 
 between dishonour and war. The choice is not 
 doubtful. We march, forward ! we pass the Nie- 
 men ! and will carry war into the heart of her ter- 
 ritory. The second Polish war will be as glorioug 
 to the arms of France as was the first. But the 
 peace which we shall conclude 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 Europe." 
 
 " Head-quarters, Wilkowiski, 
 June 22d, 1812." 
 
 On the twenty-third of the same month, the 
 head-quarters of Napoleon were removed to the 
 neighbourhood of Kovna, within a league of the 
 Niemen. After visiting the line of posts on that 
 river, and throwing across three bridges at the seve- 
 ral points selected for the passage, at an early hour 
 in the evening the army was in motion ; and by 
 eleven at nioht the three columns had reached the 
 
 • . -IT 
 
 opposite shore. The light troops arriving at Kov- 
 na in great force, and falling unexpectedly on a 
 body of Cossacs who occupied that town, drove 
 
15 
 
 them out with terrible slaughter. Thus, in this 
 spot, were hostilities commenced ! 
 
 The news soon reached the Russian head-quar- 
 ters ; 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 ne- 
 gotiation) was to lead, the Emperor addressed to 
 them the following declaration. 
 
 " We have long observed the hostile intentiop^ 
 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 mode- 
 ration, of the policy as well as justice of not seek- 
 ing to overwhelm all Europe by the weight of 
 one power. 
 
 " Our amicable efforts were repeatedly disap- 
 pointed ; and, at last, seeing that our patience 
 rather invited insult, than -persuaded to confidence, 
 we found ourselves 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 inter- 
 ests !) and to fly to arms. Though brought even 
 to this point, that the enemy might have no excuse 
 for the violation of his faith, we refused not to 
 listen 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 sound- 
 ing 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 contecf, is at an 
 
16 
 
 €nd ; and we have now no other resource than 
 to oppose 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 defend your Faith, your Country, 
 and your Liberty ! Your Emperor marches at your 
 head, and the God of Justice is against the Ag- 
 gressor ! 
 
 " Alexander." 
 
 " Wilna, 13th of June, 1812, O. S. 
 25th of June, 1812, N. S." 
 
 :4 k 
 
 Independent of this manifesto, the Emperor ad- 
 dressed an official letter to Marshal Count Solti- 
 koff, president of the imperial council of state, in 
 which he repeats the substance of what he had ad- 
 dressed to the nation ; but, entering into more par- 
 ticular details of the French subtilties and dishon- 
 our, concludes the communication with these mag- 
 nanimous 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 indepen- 
 dence of the nation terminates the war. And as 
 for myself, I will never sheath the sword while a 
 single enemy remains 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. 
 
17 
 
 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 
 Eckmuhl.) 
 
 The second corps* Marshal Oudinot (Duke of 
 Reggio.) 
 
 The third corps* Marshal Ney (Duke of Elchin- 
 gen.) / '^ 
 
 The fourth and sixth corps. Beauharnois (Vice^ 
 roy of Italy.) 
 
 The fifth and seventh (the seventh being Reg- 
 niefi Saxons, and Dombrosky's corps.) and the 
 eighth, were under the orders of Jerome Buona- 
 parte (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, Nej, Oudinot, 
 MacdonaM, the Prince Poniatofsky, and that of 
 the guards passed the Niemen, almost at the same 
 time, at Jourboorg, Kovna, Olitta, and Mercez. 
 This advance commenced on the 23d of June, when 
 the French troops completely established them- 
 selves 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 re- 
 union of his army at Drissa. But that point of 
 concentration being at a considerable distance 
 from the frontiers ; and those frontiers stretch- 
 ing to an immense extent on all sides ; and along 
 \vhich the troops had been necessarily spread 
 to defend them ; (as it was not to be divined at 
 what part the enemy would first oppose himself ;) 
 ia complete obedience to this command must take 
 time to accomplish. When the Emperor issued 
 this order, the Russian army occupied the follow- 
 ing places : 
 
 .3 
 
18 
 
 Head-quarters were at Wilna, where were sta- 
 lionetl 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 thir- 
 ty thousand men, stretching from Chawli to Telch 
 and TVilkomir, was commanded by Count Yigten- 
 stein. 
 
 The second division, consisting of twenty-five 
 thousand 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 Wilkomir and Wilna, was under General 
 Baggavout. 
 
 The third and fourth divisions of Generals Shou- 
 valofFand Touchkoff, 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 
 division, amounting to twenty thousand men,) un- 
 di^r Count Palhen, occupied Grodno. Dbchtor- 
 roff had, some short time before, been detached 
 from the Second Army, which consisted of sixty 
 thousand men, and was commanded by Prince Bra- 
 gation, then stationed at Bainstock and Wilkowiski, 
 to«:ether with a lara;e bodv of Cossacs under Pla* 
 toff. 
 
 A corps &f observation amounting to twenty-^ 
 five thousand men, under the command of Gehe- 
 ral Tormozoff, was left at Loutzk. And Generals 
 iilss^en and Steingel, commanded in and near lliga, 
 k body of twenty thousand. 
 
 In the event of a rupture, the plan of the cam- 
 paign, determined on by the Emperor Alexander 
 and his military council, was, as a first measure, 
 that of retiring to the banks of the Dwitia ; where 
 a strengthened position was preparing at Drissa, 
 to receive the whole concentrated force of the Rus- 
 ^:ians. Experience bad taught them, from the lafe 
 
19 
 
 wars, aod by the brilliant examplfi in the western 
 Peuinsiila, that the only mode of ensuring ulii- 
 mate success against the present enemy was that 
 of a protracted warfare. To this plan they added 
 that of laying waste the intermediate country ; sac- 
 rificing a province of their own empire, even to 
 the demolition of towns and villages, that the ene- 
 my might have no means of subsistence, no shel- 
 ter for his troops. 
 
 Drissa was the point of re-union, and according- 
 ly every branch of the extended Russian army 
 moved towards it. On the 28th of June, the rear 
 of the main body left ihe city of Yvllna, after hay- 
 ing destroyed nearly every thing in the magazines 
 which might have been of service to the enemy. 
 It crossed the Yilia with a trifling loss, burning 
 the wooden bridge by which they passed that 
 river. 
 
 Count Yigtenstein left Wilkomir and its neigh- 
 bourhood, proceeding to Breslau, where he arrived 
 on the 7th of July. The reserve of Guards sta- 
 tioned at Swautziany, moved forward to pass the 
 Dwina; whilst the corps of Baggavout, Toutcli- 
 koffj and SchouvalofF, formed their union at the 
 same time in and about Widzy. By these move- 
 ments it was hoped tlie communication w^s en- 
 sured with the division of Dochterrolf, which was 
 in the neighbourhood of Weleyka. 
 
 Without losing a moment, when Prince Bra- 
 gation was apprised that the enemy had effected 
 the passage of the Niemen, he set his army in mo- 
 i'loi}, to effect a junction with the main body at 
 Drissa. To cover this march, wdiich he foresaw 
 would be traversed by innumerable difficulties, he 
 ordered Piatoff to move upon Grodno. 
 
 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 Rus- 
 sians, and to cut off the re-union of Dochtorroff. 
 
20 
 
 Could he effect this final separation, he would 
 completely throw himself between the first and 
 second armies, and so Alexander's plan of defence 
 would be destroyed. 
 
 The official reports of the French leader rela- 
 ting to this period of the campaign, would lead us 
 to attach some blame to the Russian Commander-^ 
 iu'Chief, Barclay de Tolly, for the precipitancy 
 of the retreat from Wilna to Drissa ; and also for 
 leaving General DochtorrofF several days without 
 orders, and Prince Bragation in total ignorance 
 of the steps that had been taken to form a junction 
 of the, two armies on the opposite 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 moment, put himself in full advance to ap- 
 proach the centre of the main army, DochtorrofF, 
 although followed up by a force of the enemy far 
 superior in numbers to his own, so well disposed 
 his cavalry and light troops, that he reached 
 Borodino, with a very trifling loss, on the 4th of 
 July ; having sustained the repeated attacks of the 
 different corps of Borde, Soult, Nansouty, and 
 Pajol, Thus by his courage and activity 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 resolu- 
 tion, continued its movements upon Drissa. On 
 the 6th of July, the rear guard under the command 
 of Major-Generals KorfF and KoutaitzofF was at- 
 tacked near the river Dziasna, by the troops of 
 Murat supported by a strong corps of flying ar- 
 tillery under the command of General Montebi-une. 
 The Russian dragoons received the charge with 
 their usual steadiness ; and attacking in their 
 turn with a regiment of Polish Hulans, and the 
 Cossacs of the guards, aided hy several pieces 
 
21 
 
 of light artillery, completely repulsed the enemy ; 
 who left in the hands of the victors several officers ; 
 amongst whom was Prince Hohenloe-kirchberg, 
 in the service of. the King of Wirtemburg. There 
 were also fifty or sixty soldiers. This advantage 
 allowed the Russian troops to gain the opposite 
 side of the river without further molestation ; and 
 to destroy the bridges. 
 
 On the 8th of July the main body passed the 
 Dwina 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, af- 
 ter a rapid and severe march of eleven days, during 
 which the troops never relaxed their usual firmness 
 and discipline. Indeed their loss wa$ compara- 
 tively inconsiderable ; for from the commencement 
 of their falling back from Wilna, until they 
 entered Drissa, it did not exceed in killed, wound- 
 ed, and prisoners, six hundred men. The enemy 
 suffered equally, if not in a greater proportion ; 
 the Russians having made in casual skirmishes 
 during this retreat, above three hundred priso- 
 ners. 
 
 The weather had been extremely hot, and was 
 succeeded by a shai^p cold, accompanied with 
 very heavy rains. This circumstance was an miK-. 
 iliary to Russia, for P^apoleon complains of it, 
 as having greatly retarded his advance ; although 
 it so little affected the experienced sons of the 
 North, that they gained their entrenchments with- 
 out the loss of a single piece of aiiillery, 
 
 Owing to indisposition, arising from the late ex- 
 traordinary fatigues. Count Schouv^loff found hi?n- 
 self obliged to withdraw from the army ; and tlKj 
 command of his division was given to General 
 Count Osterman Tolstoy, an officer of the first 
 military talents, and who, at that time, was in te 
 suite of his Emperor. 
 
22 
 
 The Imperial Alexander, setting the true ex- 
 ample of a hero, that of sharing with his soldiers 
 their severest toils, never quitted his troops one 
 hour during the whole of their rigorous march ; 
 and his hardihood was rewarded, for he had con- 
 stant opportunities of being assured of their anima- 
 ted loyalty to his person, and of their impatience 
 to be led against the enemy. 
 
 Great as was the satisfaction he felt at these de- 
 monstrations, he was obliged to check their ardour, 
 until the moment should arrive when circum- 
 stances would permit him to give it way to ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 On taking possession of the fortified camp at 
 Drissa, his Majesty addressed his army, in the gen- 
 eral orders of the day, in these terms : 
 
 " RUSSIAN W^ARRIORS ! 
 
 " 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 complete re-union of our troops could 
 be effected, it became necessary to curb your in- 
 trepid courage ; and to fall back to our present 
 position. We came here to assemble and con- 
 centrate our forces. Our calculations have been 
 propitious. The whole of the first army is now on 
 this spot. 
 
 " 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 laurels worthy of yourselves, and of 
 your ancestors. This day, already signalised by 
 the battle of Pultowa, will recall to you the ex- 
 ploits of your forefathers. The remembrance 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 
 
23 
 
 fathers, annihilate that enemy Avho dares to attack 
 your faith, your honour, even your hearts, sur- 
 rounded by your wives and children ! 
 
 " God ! witness of the justice of your cause, 
 will sanctify your arms with his divine benedic- 
 tion ! 
 
 ♦' Camp at Drissa, 27th June, 1812, O. S. 
 9th July, 1812, N. S." 
 
 The army of Prince Bragation (usually called 
 the Second Armi/) 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 w^ould 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 af- 
 ford him any hope, (even could lie 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 approacli to that city, he discovered that it 
 was already in the possession of Davoust. Be- 
 fore the French could take any advantage of his 
 dilemma, the Prince made a retrograde and well 
 ordered movement on the road to Sloutsk ; hop- 
 ing from thence to reach Mohilofl^ and then to 
 gain Yitepsk, time enough to elude the several 
 detachments of the enemy, now on the alert to cut 
 him off. 
 
 In order to cover Bragation's designs. General 
 PlatofF with his Cossacs and light artillery, left 
 Lida, and passed through Novogrodeck towards 
 Mire and lieswick. On the 7th of July, at Ko- 
 relistchi, he was met by th« advanced guard of Je- 
 
24 
 
 1-oirJe Buonaparte's army, consisting of three col- 
 umns of cavalry, Avhich the brave Hetman drove 
 back with considerable slaughter. The next day 
 he was again attacked (having previously occupied 
 the suburbs of Mire) by an augmented force under 
 the command of the Polish General Rosnitsky* 
 The combat continued several hours, and was sus- 
 tained with obstinacy on both sides, till at last 
 the persevering courage of the Russians prevailed^ 
 and three regiments of Polish Hulans were com- 
 pletely destroyed. Their General Tournou, was 
 the only man who escaped. The victory was so 
 decisive that the enemy abandoned the field of 
 battle leaving upwards of one thousand six hun- 
 dred 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 wet-e brave^ 
 there were none of distinctiou. 
 
 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 sustained the impetuosity of their 
 fire, and then overwhelmed 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 grenadiers a clleval (some of 
 the most prized troops in Napoleon's service) dead 
 on the field. Platoff made prisoners in this bril^ 
 liant affair, two colonels, sixteen officers, and three 
 hundred men. Returning from pursuit, he retra- 
 ced his steps to Romanoff', in order to keep up with 
 the movements of Bragation, who was advancing by 
 forced marches upon MohilofT. 
 
 That Prince having displayed consummate skilly 
 and made almost unexampled exertions, to form a 
 junction with the raaki army, felt the bitterest 
 
25 
 
 disappointment at finding himself still so far dis^ 
 tant from that great object. And yet when we re- 
 iflect on the extended frontier of six hundred w ersts* 
 menaced at all points of attack by an army nearly, 
 double in numbers to that of the Russians, it is 
 not surprising that the body of troops forming the 
 Russiari* left, having a vast line of country to tra^ 
 verse, 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 
 negotiations of General Narbonne ; though he eveii 
 stooped to the treachery of passing his troops over 
 the Niemen, while he affected to proffer peace, yet 
 he failed to find the dupe he expected in the Rus-^ 
 sian Emperor : Alexander had been taught a 
 lesson in politics by this wily usurper, which 
 though he disdained to bring it into his own ac- 
 tions, 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 i and the Russian 
 monarch lost no time in preparing against the 
 treacherous 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 Kov- 
 na afforded him a bloody sacrifice to propitiate the 
 furies to whom his soul was devoted. And Alex- 
 anderj aware of the hatred, as well as ambition, 
 which impelled his career, made every prompt move- 
 ment 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 rapid retreat was made ; and Napoleon himself 
 is compelled to give it his share of praise, by not 
 venturing to fabricate a boait, in any of his reports 
 at this time, of having gained even the smallest ad- 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 Vantage over ilie retiring army. Could he liave dis- 
 covered in their steps the minutest traces of any of 
 the natural calamities incident to ill-ordered retro- 
 grade movements, there is no doubt that the pen 
 he dictates would have magnified the most trifling' 
 disasters into shapes of misery and desji'uction. 
 The only remark we find concerning the events of 
 this meinorable retreat, is as foHov^^s : 
 
 *^ Ten days after the opening of the campaign, 
 our advanced posts are upon the banks of the Dwi- 
 na ! Almost all Lithuania, a country containing four 
 millions of inhabitants is conquered 1 The move- 
 ments of the army commenced on the Vistula, 
 The projects of the Em.23eror 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 an- 
 nounced a determination there to await our ap- 
 proach, and give tts 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." 
 
 If it were possible that Napoleon could really 
 imagine that " to make restitution" was the motive 
 of this retreat of the Russians, we might be led to con- 
 ceive (on revieAving the ground they passed over,) 
 what \A ould be Ms 7narks of restitutioiif were he in- 
 duced in a fit of remorse, to vacate any of the 
 countries which he now possesses " neither by trea- 
 ty, nor by the right of concjUest !". It was Alex- 
 ander'^s wise policy to leave a desart in the path; 
 of the French leader. It was no wanton exercise 
 of power, no exultation in human miseries, which 
 made him lay waste the country from the Vistula 
 to the banks of the *Dwina ; but to compel na- 
 ture to be his auxiliary against the most subtle amd' 
 
27 
 
 ruthless invader that ever trampled upon her lights. 
 In extraordinary cases, extraordinary means must 
 be resorted to : and Vvhere the properties, lives, lib- 
 erties, and consciences of men are at slake, the pur- 
 chase 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 peo- 
 ple have acted upon this principle ; and the g;rand 
 result has claimed the admiration and the gratitude 
 of unfettered Europe, 
 
 The first army having successfully gained the 
 entrenchments at Drissa, the Commander-in-chief 
 hoped that Bragation, though not able to reach 
 that point, might gain Yitepslc ; and by that means 
 come in upon his left. In this expectation the 
 main army remained in its guarded position ; in- 
 lending not to offer battle until supported by its 
 second army. 
 
 The enemy's column under the command of 
 Marshal Oudinot, having reached the neighbour- 
 hood of Dunaboorg, on the morning of the 18th, 
 vigorously attacked the head of the bridge, where 
 the Russians had constructed some works. Ma- 
 jor-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 affaii^ next day ; and 
 again were repulsed, and so decisively that their 
 commander found it expedient to move off his 
 right towards Drouya, whilst the cavalry under 
 Murat took possession of Dissna. 
 
 Count Yigtenstein (whose present military repu- 
 tation was then presaged by the hopes of the peo- 
 ple,) observing that the French posts on the oppo- 
 site shore were negligently guarded, ordered Ma- 
 jor-Gene ral Koulneff, with the regiment of Grod- 
 no, and a few squadrons of Cossacs, to pass the 
 river. A flying bridge was instantly constructed ; 
 and before the enemy were av/are, the Russian force 
 
28 
 
 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 hundred men, were 
 among the latter. 
 
 Sebastiani commanded in chief during this un- 
 expected encounter, which happened a Vimproviste, 
 undoubtedly, as the words of the French bulletin 
 express it. And so far it speaks true ; but to pal- 
 liate the effects of this unmilitary 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 ex- 
 pert 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 top 
 formidable 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 to- 
 wards Polotzk. And as there now remained no 
 probability of an immediate re-union with Prince 
 Bragation's troops, the Commander-in-chief de^ 
 termined to retire to Smolenzk ; where, he hoped, 
 no doubt could be entertained, 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. 
 
29 
 
 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 augmentations under the Generals Augereau 
 and Victor. 
 
 The Emperor Alexander, finding the great su- 
 periority of his adversary's numbers, and being 
 aware that the fate of Europe depended on the suc- 
 cess of the Northern War, determined on breast- 
 ing the occasion with his whole strength. For this 
 purpose, he turned himself to call forth the ener- 
 gies 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 great 
 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 con- 
 test, whose reward might be a brilliant action, 
 and its termination a compromising treaty. Its 
 victories must lead to the annihilation of the ene- 
 my ; its end must be the liberty and peace of Eu- 
 rope. Such was the great 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. 
 
30 
 
 *' TO OUR ANCIEJNT CITY AND METROPOLIS 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 im- 
 patience 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 despe- 
 rate a sacrifice. We will not suffer our brave sol^ 
 diers to bleed on the altars of this Moloch. We 
 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 wdth which he 
 has provided himself to execute those intentions, 
 we do not hesitate to declare to our people the 
 daiUger in which the Empire is placed ; and to call 
 upon them to disappoint, by their patriotic exer- 
 tions, 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 now face to face with the enemy, and determin- 
 ed to perish, or remain a barrier between him and 
 the liberties of tiieir country. To collect this new 
 army, we address ourself to the ancient capital of 
 our ancestors, to the city of Moscow. She has al- 
 ways been the soveieign 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 to the determined soul ; so do the children 
 of our country rush towards her from each sur- 
 rounding province, seeliing in her bosom the prin^ 
 ciple of that defence which must now shield the 
 babe at its mother's breast, and guard from sacrilege 
 the tombs of our fathers. 
 
31 
 
 " 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 
 ancient IMuscovite Empire, all call aloud, that the 
 object of this appeal may be received by our loyal 
 subjects as a sacred decree ! 
 
 " We hasten to present ourself amidst our faith- 
 ful 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, breath forth the spirit 
 of this Holy War, which is blessed by God, and 
 fought under the banners af His Christian Church ! 
 May the filial ardour spread itself from Moscow to 
 the extremities of our dominions I And a force 
 will then assemble 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, de- 
 livered froi^ vassalage, may then celebrate the 
 Name of— RUSSIA. 
 
 (Signed) " Alexander." 
 
 • " Camp at Poiotzk, 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 car- 
 ries his arms into the interior of Russia. If per- 
 fidy 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 
 Hps, he courts the credulous ear, and binds the 
 
32 
 
 hands in chains ; and when the virtue of the cap- 
 tive discovers the fetter under the wreath, then the 
 spirit of bondage makes itself manifest, and sum- 
 mons 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 machinations of her 
 enemy an army vehement in coinage ; and eager to 
 drive from her territory a race of locusts that bur- 
 then the earth ; and whom that earth Avould 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 warriors requires to be supported by an in^ 
 terior line of troops. The means ought to be pro- 
 portioned to the end ; and the end before us is to 
 overAvhelm the tvrant, who would overwhelm all 
 the world. 
 
 " We have called upon our ancient city of Mos- 
 cow, 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 tipon all our communities, Civil and Eccle^ 
 siastical, to co-operate with us in one general levy 
 against the universal tyrant ! 
 
 " Wherever, in this empire, he may advaiice hk 
 invading foot, we are assured he will meet native 
 subjects to rise upon his treachery ; to disdain his 
 flattery and his falsehoods ; and, with the indig- 
 nation of insulted virtue, trample upon his gold ; 
 and palsy, by the touch of true honour his enslaved 
 legions. In each Russian nobleman he will find a 
 Pajarskoi (1*), in each ecclesiastic a Palitzin (2), 
 and in each peasant a Minin (3) ! 
 
 * Notes to these marks will be fooisd at the end of the volume. 
 
" Nobles ! you were, in every age/the defenders 
 oi 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 protection ! Russian people ! intrepid 
 posterity of the Sclavonians ! 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 destruction !— Unite ! 
 carry the cross in your hearts, and the iron in your 
 hands; and no human force can prevail ao-ainst 
 you! ^ 
 
 " The organization of the new forces we dele- 
 gate to the nobility of each provimie ; and the care 
 of assembling the brave patriots who present them- 
 selves for their country's defence, we leave to the 
 gentlemen ; amongst whom their officers may be 
 chosen. The aggregate numbers must be sent to 
 Moscow, where the whole will be duly marshalled. 
 (Signed) "Alexander." 
 
 " Given at our camp at Polotzk, My 6ih, 1812, 0. S. 
 
 Jul/ 18th, 1812, N. S. 
 
 The "effect of these manifestoes, was that of elec- 
 tricity. The animating fire seemed to shoot at 
 once through the veins of the whole empire ; and 
 with one according spirit every separate govern- 
 ment vied with each other, which should be the 
 most prompt in sending out its most etTective men 
 to serve the general cause. Cities poured forth 
 the choice of their youth, and villages swarmed 
 with sturdy peasants arming for the imperial le- 
 gions. In these levies it was not necessary to com- 
 pel 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 
 m the armies ; many individuals evinced their zeal 
 by large donations, both in money and in diamonds, 
 
 5 
 
3i 
 
 tot^ards providing for the necessities of tlie war, 
 Olliers raised whole regiments at their own private 
 expense, arming, clothing, and mounting them. 
 Several of the regiments contained one thousand 
 two hundred men in each ; and some of them w^ere 
 respectively commanded by the noblemen who had 
 given them to their country. As one instance, 
 we find in the St. Petersburgh Gazette of this time, 
 
 *' Count SoltikofF, a captain of the guards, retir- 
 ed from the Imperial service; Count Demetrius 
 MomonofF, prociu'eur of the Imperial senate ; De- 
 midoff, privy counsellor actuel ; and Prince Gaga- 
 rin, are desirous, from love to their country, to con- 
 tribute in a particular manner to the national ar- 
 maments. They demand of his Imperial Majesty 
 permission to raise, arm, and support, at their own 
 charge, each a regiments The first gives a regi- 
 ment of hussars ; the second, a regiment of Cos- 
 sacs ; the third, a regiment of chasseurs ; and the 
 fourth, a regiment of infantry. 
 
 " The Emperor highly appreciates these proofs 
 of affeection towards himself^ and love for their 
 country !" And the offer was accepted. 
 
 Alexandek left his army to fulfil his promise to 
 the ancient capital of the Empire, of soon appear- 
 ing in that venerable seat of his ancestors. The 
 inhabitants received hhu with the joy due to 
 his virtues. He proceeded, first to the cathedjfal 
 of the Kremlin, where he returned thanks to hea- 
 ven for the protection hitherto granted to his peo- 
 ple, and ifivokcd t]ie Ahiiighty aid in tlie present 
 iiwfui hotQv 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 ^> hicli now con- 
 
35 
 
 spired, by every means of perfidy and violence,' to 
 <]estroy tiie happiness and being of an Empire 
 which they had erected at such expense of anxie- 
 ty and labour. But Alexander did not require 
 the stimulus of this Icind of sensibility. His just 
 mind saw the danger of Europe, it felt the peril of 
 his own empire ; and, wiih an undeviating resolu- 
 tion, to efiect the deliverance of the one, and to 
 set an example to the other, of a determined hos- 
 tility 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 country. 
 
 The d^y after his Majesty arrived in Moscow, a 
 deputation of nobles waited upon hhn with a report 
 of the force which they voluntarily proposed to 
 raise and equip for his imperial armies. Tliey 
 brought contributions 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 Rus- 
 sian governments according to their respective pop- 
 ulations, hastened to follow the example of the sove- 
 reign city ; and all sent out columns of armed pat- 
 riots, quite independent of the regular requisitions 
 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 Novogorode gave two himdred thousand rubles 
 towards the expenses of the war. 
 
 In Russia, religion is a principle which pervades 
 the palace and the cottage ; elevating the com- 
 monest actions of the peasant, and sanctifying the 
 solemnities of the state, with a constant reference 
 to the Supreme Being. No transaction of any con- 
 sequence, no great enterprise, is undertaken with- 
 
36 
 
 out an invocation to the Almighty Disposer of 
 Events : and when success is given, the first im- 
 pulse of the favoured person is to go to the church, 
 and there utter his pious thanksgivings. The ear- 
 liest lessons which a Russian learns, both by pre- 
 cept and example, are his duty towards his God 
 and his Emperor. And Alexander has well shown 
 the loyal Rassian that the interest of his Emperor 
 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 insure the issue ; and convinced of the 
 justice of his cause, it was with no vain pretensions 
 that he sought the co-operation, of the cjiurch, to 
 add its holy flame to the patriotic fij'e now kindled 
 amongst his people. The religious principle being 
 once introduced into the spirit of patriotism, is as 
 the breath of immortal life bi'eathed into its nostrils ; 
 and Alexander found he had not only acted ac- 
 cording to his own feelings in bringing the influence 
 of religion into the war, but had adopted the most 
 politic measure, in lightening a train in the mmds 
 of his people, which w^ould 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 
 proclamations : 
 
 " From the hour in which the French nation, be- 
 wildered by a demoniac phantom of liberty, over- 
 threw ihe altars of God, and trampled on the throne 
 of his anointed, the hand of the Divine vengeance 
 has overshadowed that people. It is not good to 
 follow the multitude to do evil ; and the nations 
 which have pursued the destructive steps of France, 
 share in the judgments which befal her. To the 
 horrors of anarchy succeeded those of oppression, 
 one struggle followed that of another, and even 
 peace had not power to give her repose. 
 
 *' The church and the Empire of Russia, pre- 
 
37 
 
 served 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 strength- 
 en 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 judg- 
 ment, 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, Rus- 
 sians ! that hour is come ! 
 
 " An enemy, ambitious and insatiable, violating 
 every sacred oath, and every bond of honour, for- 
 ced himself into the bosom of your coimtry. Des- 
 pising the holy altars, while uttering the envenomed 
 language of hypocrisy ; breathing words of tender 
 humanity, while his deeds are those of cruelty and 
 murder ; approaching countries with the blandish- 
 ments of friendship, 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 coun- 
 try, arm ! Defend the faith of your fathers ; and 
 in yourselves, preserve from the foot of usurpation 
 the unsullied loyalty which was their boast. Give 
 freely, and with gratitude to your God and his 
 Vicegerent, part of v/hat 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 infi- 
 delity in arms ; and with the weapons of faith and 
 of courage, fought and conquered. Recall to mind 
 
38 
 
 the days of J udea ! For all that was written afore- 
 time, was written for our example. It is a beacon 
 to omr 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 hon- 
 our ! The eyes of the people are fixed upon you, 
 and will follow your footsteps. I^lay the God of 
 Justice animate in you a new race of Joshuas, to 
 go forth and overcome this second Amelek ! May 
 another race of Judges, like unto them who saved 
 Judea ; and a succession of Maccabees, wlio hum- 
 bled the confederacies against Israel^ arise amongst 
 your people to overwhelm the present enemy of 
 mankind ! 
 
 " Above all, we soimd the trumpet unto you, ye 
 Ministers of the Holy Altar. By the example of 
 Moses, who, on the day of battle with Amelek, 
 withdrew not his hands stretched forth unto the 
 Lord ; clasp yours in ardent prayer, until the arm» 
 of the adversary have lost their strength, a-nd 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 fiJial impulse. 
 
 *' Soldiers ! while we thus call you to the field of 
 war, we exhort, we supplicate you never to forget 
 that it is also the field of justice. Abstain from all 
 actions unwo: thy your great cause. Abhor every 
 disorder or license that would bring- down on your 
 laeads :tiie wrath of a Being who is not more the 
 
39 
 
 God of Retribution, than the God of Mercy. We 
 teconunend to yoii 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 ALEXAN- 
 DER ! 
 
 " Convinced of the anli-chrisiian intentions of 
 the enemy, the Holy Church will unceasingly in- 
 voke 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, art 
 imperishable reward of happiaess in the Eternal 
 World ! 
 
 " 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 tht? 
 war-cry of Russia." 
 
 By this sublime appeal to the noblest principle in 
 man, the war^ in fact became a religious war ; a 
 crusade in which the redemption of all that is dear 
 to the patriot, and to the christian, (who regard* 
 all mankind as brethren,) was involved. They 
 fought, not for the Holy Land, but for the Liber- 
 ties and consciences of men, a ground much more 
 jsanctiiied than Sinai or Sion ; for man alone is the 
 temple made by God for his own image to- dwell in ! 
 Man in liberty ; man acknoY^ledging no superior 
 but the laws of heaven, and the laws of human 
 wisdom delegated by heaven. The yoke of a ty- 
 rant, 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 iisurpations 
 within these fifteen years ; of French devastations; 
 of French assassinations. The shades of D'En- 
 ghien, of Palm, of the murdered citizens of I^Ios- 
 ooY>', and of many oUier countries over which Na- 
 
40 
 
 poleon had no lawful controul, but where he has 
 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. 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 oppo- 
 sition, never came within the calculation of Napo- 
 leon. He must be a patriot himself, to compre- 
 hend the extent 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, hoAV far 
 beyond it philanthropy may stretch its arms. 
 
 Napoleon, v/hen he entered Russia, pictured to 
 himself, (or others did so for him, whose knowl- 
 -edge of the Russian nation ought to have been bet- 
 ter,) that the peasantry Weie impatient to shake off 
 the power of their lords ; and to abjure the con- 
 troul of the priesthood over their consciences. 
 W hether the sway of their lords have been tyrannic, 
 or the influence of the priests extended to supersti- 
 tion, 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 peo- 
 ple whom neither the arms of the Macedonian Al- 
 exander, nor the Ca3sars of Rome, could make 
 bend to their eagles ! Thousands flew to the re- 
 spective standards of their governments : and every 
 
41 
 
 ikJWn and every village, resounded with impreca- 
 tions against the invaders ; and expressions of 
 Unshaken 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 Euro^ 
 pean style. The regular levies, being now so im-' 
 mense, it was found impossible to furnish a suf- 
 ficient 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* Oh 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 hatch- 
 et ; a weapon which is so constantly seen with 
 every Russian peasant that it seems a part of 
 themselves ; and they use it, with a dexterity and 
 power that, in description, would appear incredible. 
 
 I am thus particular in describing the peculiar 
 habits of these peoplci because I wish to give an 
 texact picture of a race to whom Russia and Eu-« 
 rope owe so much. Like the militia of Great Bri- 
 tain, which is its grand reserve of military strength* 
 ihese Russian volunteers may be considered to have 
 been the exhaustless resource of the regular Impe^ 
 rial troops. Reinforcements from their body, con- 
 stantly supplied the casual deficiencies of the main 
 army. It was they who at Polotzk, Smolenzk, an(J 
 
 6 • ... 
 
42 
 
 Borodino, stood, as if they had been legions of ironv 
 not to be penetrated ; and when the veterans fell,, 
 they, like the teeth of Jason's dragon, presented 
 themselves a renovated, band of heroes not to be 
 subdued. 
 
 The whole empire seemed to rise at once ; and, 
 Avith one animating sentiment, turned its gigantic 
 force against the enemy. The brave Sovereign of 
 these brave people, had already pledged himself 
 ** never to sheathe his sword, while one of the foe 
 remained within the limits of the empire!" and 
 his subjects, 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 bloods 
 
 While these vast preparations Were in progress 
 the first and second armies continued daily to ap- 
 proach 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 Vi- 
 tepsk, (there passing the Dwina) he took a position 
 HI front of the latter city. 
 
 This w.afi effected on the 24th of the month, 
 leaving Count Yigtenstein, with an independent 
 command, (who had 'previously been reinforced by 
 some battalions from the reserve) to occupy the 
 ground between 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 Macdonald. 
 
 Barclay de Tolly w^as well assured that the ene- 
 my would not lose an instant in pushing on to Smo- 
 lenzk, 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 preven:^ 
 
43 
 
 tions, as no intelligence had been received from 
 that General for a considerable lime. Under such 
 uncertainty it became the duty of the Commander- 
 in-chief to act with peculiar caution and prompt- 
 itude. 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 march, 
 over so vast a tract of country, infested by an ac- 
 tive and formidable enemy. To impede the alrea- 
 dy so rapid advance of that enemy, and give more 
 time for the brave Prince to effect the re-union, the 
 only thing that could n^ow be done, was to make 
 immediate demonstrations for a general battle. 
 
 In order to decide advantageously upon the 
 movements towards this point, reconnoitering par- 
 ties were dispatched on aM sides ; and one of them 
 discovered patroles of the enemy, on the road 
 leading to Beschenkovitch. No time was lost in 
 Bending Count Osterman Tolstoy, with the troops 
 imder 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 ensiire his 
 return to the main army at Vitepsk, whenever the 
 re-union might be deemed necessary. 
 
 Count Osterman commenced his march by day-^ 
 break on the 25th of .Tuly. His advance was form- 
 ed of several squadrons of the imperial hussars of 
 the guards. Having passed Ostrovna, at the dis- 
 tance 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 prevailed, and the French, 
 giving groundj retired with precipitation. 
 
44. 
 
 The error, which has so often bc^en ebininitted 
 and deplored by victorious armies, of following up 
 without caution the hour of success, was now ex- 
 hibited in the impetuosity of the Russians, who, 
 pursuing the flying enemy with a headlong ardour, 
 came suddenly upon a formidable mass of the ene-- 
 my's cavalry ; and they attacking in their turn, and 
 at a great advantage, the now del-ached corps of the 
 triumphant Russians, drove them back, with loss, 
 quite to the head of their oAvn infantry. 
 
 This affair hnpeded the advance of Osterman, 
 who halted to take a position that might check the 
 consequences of this minor defeat. 
 
 Beauharnois pressed forward to improve the adf 
 vantage gained, and before dawn next morning, the 
 Russian piquets were driven in. The French fol- 
 lowed 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 Vitepsk ; and their left was co vexed by 
 a woK)d 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 Russian position, and attempted with unwearied 
 perseverance, to get possession of the wood. They 
 were frustrated in every effort by the well-directed 
 fire of the guns, and that of the light troops. The 
 other two columns were equally unsuccessful od 
 the centre and on the right ; and, after a terrible 
 carnage maintained on both sides, the continued su- 
 periority of numbers (constantly^ renewed) on the 
 part of the French, not even shaking the steady 
 line of the Russians ; the former, at last relinquish- 
 ed a contest which had been sustained so determi- 
 pately for many hours, left the Russians in posses^ 
 giott of the disputed field. The loss on the part of 
 
45 
 
 ihe French was from three to four thousand, kliled 
 nnd wounded ; and that of the Ftussians fell not far 
 short of the same number. 
 
 Notwithstanding the enemy having yielded 
 ground in this affair, Count Osterman saw the ad- 
 vantage of re-uniting himself with the main army. 
 But, before he took this step, he detached in front 
 Lieutenant General Konovnitzea with a force suf- 
 ficient to keep the French, a short time at least, at 
 their present distance, that the Commander-in- 
 chief might not lose, by a hasty rencontre, the ad- 
 vantage of receiving information, and of adequate- 
 ly preparing for a grand conflict with an enemy 
 who though formidable, had already so sharply ex- 
 perienced the metal of the Russian sword. 
 
 The officer intrusted with this post of honour, 
 maintained it so effectuaily, that, although the 
 whole of the day of liie 27th of July was passed in 
 repelling frequent and vigorous attacks from ihe 
 French, he yet could not be forced to recede one 
 single foot of ground. On the same spot where 
 Osterman Tolstoy had stationed them, there did 
 Konovnitzen and his brave little band remain, a 
 breast-work of the most impregnable fabric, be- 
 tween the main army and its enemies, until, the 
 summons of the Commander-in-chief called tbem off 
 during the night, to fall in with the grand line he 
 was forming to meet, what he now deemed inev- 
 itajble, a general, battle. The corps of General 
 Dochtoroff also returned according to orders, but 
 not until he had defeated a detachment of the ene- 
 my which had crossed the Dwina, killing the aide- 
 de-camp of Beauharnois, and. taking several pris- 
 oners. 
 
 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 eager- 
 ness for the moment to charge,, Barclay de Tolly 
 received a despatch from Prince Bragation. It in- 
 Ibniaed his Excellency that the Prince, finding Mo- 
 
46 
 
 liilolT powerfully occupi'ed by the enemy, bad al- 
 tered his course, and meant to proceed, by the 
 way of Mastisloff, to Smolenzk. General Platoff 
 bad arrived within two marches of this city^ 
 
 The effect of this intelligence was, to change the 
 determination of the Commander-in-chief with re- 
 gard to giving immediate battle ; and, instead of 
 remaining in the environs of Yitepslc, he resolved 
 on approaching Smolenzk, and there draw out his 
 line against the enemy. He dispatched a courier 
 to Bragation with these dispositions, and another 
 to PlatofF, commanding him to place himself be- 
 fore Smolenzk, in order to cover the march of 
 the first array from the probable molestation of 
 Davoust's division, which must nowhave nearly 
 reached that town. 
 
 The Commander-in-rhief's present plan began 
 by forming his army into three columns ; the sec- 
 ond and third moving upon Porechia ; the first, 
 covering their march, by bearing upon Leznia and 
 Houdnia. The command of the troops, which were 
 to protect this general movement, v/as given to 
 Count Pallien ; who, very judiciously, placed his 
 detachments along the banks of the Loutchessa, a 
 small river in front of the main army, which occu- 
 pied the plain before Yitepsk. 
 
 As was expected, the enemy advancecl^ and at- 
 tacked this coverins; force ; but Count Palhen foil- 
 ed him in all his attempts to pass the river, ihe 
 Kussiari light artillery did great execution amongst 
 their adversaries ; and tlie 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 
 xoad, by the way of Agaponovchina, where he erect- 
 ed so efficient a battery at the entrance of the 
 town, that its fire destroyed, in succession, upwards 
 <>f five entire squadrons of French cavalry whidrt- 
 
4?7^ 
 
 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 chase^ 
 was abandoned, and the dauntless Palhen completed 
 the remainder of his march without the sound of a 
 bullet. 
 
 The Command€r-in-chief, on the arrival of th© 
 three <:olumns at their destined points, detached 
 General Baron Vinziiigorode, with a strong body, 
 to V/eliche, and gave orders to General Krosnoif 
 to retire from Porechia, and concentrate his force 
 near Roudnia. 
 
 Having thus secured his right llanlv, the main_<9f 
 the army advanced towards the village called V o- 
 lokva, resting its right on the lalce Kasiolen^ \fhile 
 its front was protected by the small river Vodra^ 
 Its left extended to Novoseltzi. In this position 
 the whole were to remain until the second army 
 should form its junction. 
 
 From the reports of Baron Yinzingorode, the? 
 Commander-in-chief w^s informed that the great 
 force of the French had entered Yitepsk, where 
 they were making dispositions for a stay of some 
 time, only sending out strong detachments of caval- 
 ry to forage and terrify the inhabitants of the ad- 
 jacent country from Veliche and Novel, 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, be- 
 yond the expectations and the power of his men. 
 Although his bulletins vaunt of the numerous maga- 
 zines' which fell into his possession during this rapid 
 marcli, the situation of his troops could not but con- 
 tradict these assertions. Their privations and con- 
 sequent exhaustion, compelled that truth to appear 
 in fact, which he denied in language ; and w^e find 
 this array, wiiose unfailing spirits, unabated vigour, 
 iind repletion in every necessary, were so largely 
 '*lhe theme of his boast, reduced to the alternative 
 
of sacrificing, to rest, a part of that time so essen" 
 tial to the final success of the invasion. 
 
 The harassed troops halted ten days ; and, thai 
 *' the delay might not excite doubts in France of their 
 health and triumphant hopes, their leader repre-' 
 sents in his reports, not that his men needed reno- 
 vation from wants and extraordinary fatigues, but 
 that the heat of the season made a tem/porary retire- 
 ment into qiiariers necessary ! This excuse to cover 
 the hardships 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 fortnight was indispensable to pre'sei;ve 
 from the excessive heat of a northern summer, a sol-^ 
 diery who, not only were in full possession of mm- 
 failing spirits, unabated vigour^ and every necessary, 
 but who must have previously been inured to exces-^ 
 sive heat, under the almost unceasing burning suns 
 of southern climates ? 
 
 During this halt of the enemy, and while Barclay 
 de Tolly was awaiting the arrival of Bragationj the 
 corps of Vigtenstein actively employed themselves 
 in the neighbourhood of Polotzk. That general, 
 havino; been assured by a co,urier from the Com- 
 mander-io-chief of the certain prospect of the first 
 and second 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 considerable impression 
 on the enemy, taking many prisoners, and forcing 
 Napoleon to Send reinforcements to his troops iri 
 that quarter. 
 
 Macdonald still kept in the vicinty of pinaburg^ 
 where he Vv'as narrowly watched by a detachment 
 from the Russian main army, under Colonel Be- 
 diag-a. This active oiiicer gave information to the 
 
49 
 
 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 meas^ 
 ure cutting off all communication between the im- 
 perial armies and St. Petersburgh. 
 
 Vigtenstein was detached to prevent this danger- 
 ous junction. On the evening of the eleventh of 
 August, he fell in with a part of Oudinot's cavalry 
 near Kochanova ; he drove thprn back, but found 
 them so strongly supported, as to deem it prudent 
 to make arrangements for the re-commencement of 
 the contest next day. By the account of a prisoner 
 he had taken, he learnt that it was not only the in- 
 tention 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 in person to 
 Moscow, and place himself in the ancient throne of 
 the Tzars. 
 
 This plan was so entirely the offspring of Na- 
 poleon's own mind ; so completely did it spring, 
 armed cap-a-pee, from the head of its projector, 
 that he deemed it no 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 Fortunes, carried a divine power with them 
 as victorious as those of Ceesar ! at least so he be- 
 lieved ; and planting 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 in- 
 trigue and sophistry with which he sought to per- 
 suade 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 hmnan race. The ex- 
 change was between the yoke of virtue and that of 
 vice. Whether they obey the laws of a sovereign 
 
 7 
 
eminent for every amiable and heroic quality, or 
 a tyrant who knows no law, human or divine, but his 
 own capricious and imperious will. The Russian 
 race were too clear sighted to hesitate in their choice. 
 Their interest, as well as their affectioit for their 
 Emperor, nerved every arm, and with the cry in 
 their hearts of " God and the laws of our ances- 
 tors !" they prepared to show Napoleon that a 
 w^hole people, unanimous in defence of their birth- 
 rights, may be extirpated, but never can be sub- 
 dued. 
 
 The military talents of Vigtenstein^ a& well a^ 
 the determination of his troops, stood too firmly in 
 the way of Oudinot, for him to accomplish the St. 
 Petersburgh part of his master's design. His ad- 
 vanced corps being driven in by the Russians on 
 the eleventh, he had the mortification of seeing their 
 General augment his numbers by drawing troops 
 from Osvia, and then proceed in a formidable posi- 
 tion from Kochanova, defeating in his path every 
 enemy which dared oppose his progress. Thus en- 
 forcing respect to the Russian arms, he moved on 
 to Vaiensouti, which town he strengthened with a 
 competent detachment of men. 
 
 Oudinot, finding he eouM make no impression on 
 the Osvia road, 09?dered his army to concentrate 
 itself near Polotzk, and form an imion with some 
 Mew troops of Wirtemburghers and Bavarians, which 
 had just arrived under the commaiiid of Gouvion St. 
 Cyr. When thus reinforced h© determined to again 
 press on towards his grand object, and do it by the 
 way of Kliiastitzy and Sebeche. His resolution 
 strengthened with his augmented forces, and san- 
 guine of the event, he commenced the movements 
 which he hoped would certainly lead Mm to the 
 gates of St. Petersburgh. 
 
 Yigtenstein, whose penetrating mind seemed 
 master of all the enemy's counsels, was aware of 
 Oudinot's designs, and 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 apprised 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 support- 
 ing back-groimd, a heavy battery ; but impelled 
 by tiiat resistless courage which, like the ligbtning, 
 pierces the most compact bodies, they rushed upon 
 the enemy, bore down the whole of his left, and 
 then pressing with equal vehemence upon the cen- 
 tal, after a resistance on its part of more than six 
 hours, compelled it to give way under the unremit- 
 ted storm of their valour ; and, sheltered by the 
 darkness which had closed upon the combatants, 
 the discomfited French fell back towards Kliastitzy. 
 
 Yigtenstein remembered well the pledge of his 
 Emperor, " not to sheathe his sword while one of 
 the enemy remained within the Tanits of the Rus- 
 sian empire !" and in the same spirit, he followed 
 up the success 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 as- 
 sault with firmness. He had chosen his ground 
 well ; and obstinately, though with great loss, main- 
 tained the fight till midnight. It was not until the 
 tliii-d day, that Yigtenstein entirely overthrew his 
 resolute enemy, and in that act covered himself 
 and his soldiers with immortal glor^. Tiie greater 
 part of the army of Oudinot was now destroyed, 
 and the remnant was flying in blood and confusion 
 towards the French lines under the walls of Polotzk. 
 
 In his report count Yigtenstein speaks of the af- 
 fair in these terms : 
 
 ** During the three days of attack, fpe corps I 
 have the honour to command performed prodigies 
 of valour. Their resolution was not to be shaken, 
 and their ardour, like a devouring flame, consumed 
 311 before them. The particular acts of their daunts 
 
'52 
 
 less and persevering heroism I can neither describe 
 nor sufficiently praise. The artillery and the bay- 
 onet 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, 
 were compelled to give way to the intrepid motions 
 of our troops." 
 
 Indeed it appeared as if they knew no other 
 movement, when an enemy was in their path, 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 number 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 
 thousand 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 at- 
 tack another in the person of Macdonald ; but, 
 learning that that general had assumed a retrograde 
 motion, he preferred keeping in front of the French 
 lines at Polotzk, (which still held an advancing po- 
 sition) to following the steps of an enemy on his 
 retreat. 
 
 While the campaign in this quarter was prosecu- 
 ted w^ith so much vigour, General Essen remained 
 in his camp in the neighbourhood of Higa. It 
 might be called a post of observation only, for no- 
 thing more was done there, as the lassitude the Prus- 
 sian auxiliaries gave no higher tone to the contest. 
 
53 
 
 Prince Bragation continued to pursue his peril- 
 ous march witli 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 sol- 
 dier, the true militaj-y hero, is found in the toil- 
 some and lengthened march, the ceaseless midnight 
 watch, the endurance of cold and heat, the priva- 
 tion of food and rest ; and all to be borile, not only 
 without a murmur, but with a soul resolved to suf- 
 fer — to proceed — to conquer— or to die ! 
 
 With such a resolution, Bragation and his brave 
 troops pressed on, crossing the river Berezina at 
 Bobrousk ; and, proceeding to Novi-Bikofl", kept 
 on the right bank of the Dnieper, with the hope of 
 reaching Mohiloff without falling in with the ene- 
 my. 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 
 Prince's advanced guard, arrived at Dashkova on 
 the "21st, and on the morning of the 22d he pushed 
 forward on the road to Mohiloff. Here he was sur- 
 prised by the sudden appearance of an immense 
 body of French chasseurs, who drew themselves up 
 to stop his progress. He halted not a moment, he 
 had but one path, and he took it ; he charged thro' 
 them, and dispersing 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 di- 
 vision of the grand army, given to the commands 
 of Marshals Davoust and Mortier, who then oc- 
 cupied Mohilofi* and its neighbourhood. 
 
 Reifsky dispatched this information to Bragation. 
 
54 
 
 That Prince thoiigb't the best measiire, under theste 
 <:kcumstances, would be to open to himself a near- 
 er road to Barclay de Tolly, by attacking the ene- 
 my. Great as the effort must prove to bring to 
 immediate 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 his line into two columns ; 
 one he placed on the right, to stretch along the 
 great road ; and the other on the left, was to skill 
 n wood, and by crossing a deep i-avine, endeavour 
 to come in on the enemy's right, and force him to 
 leave open the dkect communication with Mohilot!*. 
 In conformity to these orders, the troops passed 
 Novoliski, and advanced upon a small village sit- 
 uated on a w^et ravine. Here the enemy had post- 
 ed himself in orreat 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 
 immediately occupied with a force they deemed 
 sufficient to check with their musquetry, the* ap- 
 proach 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 as- 
 sailants, 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 cannon were placed by the order 
 of Bragation, upon a commanding spot near the mill, 
 and instantly opening upon the enemy, who at- 
 tempted to come to the relief of his troops, on the 
 
T)nd£je, made a great sJaii^liter. This cannonade^ 
 and the active valour of the Russians, which pres- 
 sed the enemy in every quarter, at last prevailed, 
 and drove him, not only from the bridge, but from 
 liis 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 unshaken determination of Bragation had 
 brought the second army on its way to join the im- 
 perial 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 appre- 
 hension that Bragation, (unless stopped by extraor- 
 dinary exertions,) would march to the point of re- 
 union over the dead bodies of every Frenchman in 
 the field. To check an advance so destructive of 
 Napoleon's designs, and to frustrate the hopes of a 
 Prince whose intrepid steps had ever pressed for- 
 ward from victory to victory, he dispatched im- 
 mediate orders for an immense reinforcement to 
 join him from the reserve. 
 
 The Russians aware of their adversary's inten- 
 tions, formed themselves under the protection of • 
 their gims. 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 along before them the com- 
 paratively small corps of the Russians, as the in- 
 iiux of the sea would contend with and drive baefe 
 upon its bed the stream of a river. 
 
 The Russians tracking their retrograde step^ 
 with their blood, found themselves obliged to re- 
 linquish 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 iiJip.ossibilily of 
 
56 
 
 making the impression he wished while his adver-^ 
 sary w^as supported by so efficient a battery, direct- 
 ed 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 v/as 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 in- 
 vulnerable, and the French continued puring in 
 their numbers as if they were infinite. 
 
 The Prince found that his Iroops on the left w^ere 
 possessed of the opposite bank, but seeing the pro- 
 bability 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 closing around him, he saw no other re- 
 source 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, order- 
 ing a retrograde movement along all his lines, drew 
 ofi' his artillery, and covered his motions with his 
 light troops and cavalry. The latter, from the na- 
 ture of the ground, during the contest had never 
 been brought into action. 
 
 This hard struggle had lasted ten hours. The 
 Prince marched in good order to Stary Bickoff, 
 there crossing the Dnieper,"whilst Platoff advanced 
 with, all rapidity, to gain the road leading from 
 
57 
 
 Mohiloff to Mastilbw. His object was to prevent 
 Davoust from incommoding liis 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 thou- 
 sand, 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 Dnieper at- 
 Katane, where he passed it, and, taking up a posi- 
 tion at Nadva, thus formed the left of the great ar- 
 my. In his w^ay, he had left detachments at Kras- 
 noy, under the command of General Neverofsky, 
 to intercept the enemy, in case he should push on to 
 Smolenzk by that road. 
 
 Platoflf had, some time before, crossed to the 
 right bank of the Boristhenes and joined the cov- 
 ering 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, discovered a French force in the vicini- 
 ty of his new quarters, which he attacked and de- 
 feated, taking upwards of five hundred prisoners, 
 and leaving dead on the field a nmnber not inferior. 
 It proved to be a party of Murat's corps, comman- 
 ded by General Sebastiani, and stationed at Inko- 
 vo. The Russian General speaks of this affair, in 
 his reports, with little emphasis ; he merely notes 
 it as an advantage en train j but from the discom- 
 fited 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 
 hundred. 
 
 It had been the first ihtentfon of the Commander- 
 in-chief, Barclay de Tolly, that the first and sec- 
 cond armies, after their junction, should occupy 
 the country on the right bank of the river ; but the 
 
 8 
 
i 
 
 enemy having moved several of his corps towards 
 Teolino, and others being in the act of passing the 
 river ot Dubrovna in their way to Laidy, it became 
 necessary for the Russians to make an opposing 
 movement. 
 
 Accordingly, the second army was ordered to 
 repass the Dneiper, which it did on the 10th with- 
 out a moment's delay, at Katane. 
 
 Bragation then leaned his right upon that river, 
 stretching across the main road, and occupying 
 Bolkovo, Lukerchino, and Abrazivo. He also 
 sent reinforcements to his advance at Krasnoy and 
 its neighbourhood. In this position he hoped to 
 repose his wearied troops for at least a few hours. 
 His late march had been long, anxious, and harass- 
 ing. 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 came 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 men ; a great reduction from its numbers 
 at the commencement of the campaign.^ 
 
 In the first place, a detachment of eight thou- 
 sand men, finding their station untenable, and the 
 impossibility of rejoining their main body under 
 Bragation, were forced to attach themselves to the 
 division of General TormozofF. To subtract still 
 more from the Prince's marching strength, a disaf- 
 fection prevailed amongst the Poles under his com- 
 mand, and at various times and opportunities, more 
 than ten thousand of 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, notwith- 
 standing 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.. 
 
T.liis force, and Barclay de Tolly's logelber, did 
 not present an army of more than one hundred and 
 thirty thousand men to oppose the countless le- 
 gions of the French now in their front, and who 
 were headed by Napoleon himself. Tlie French 
 leader had refreshed his troops by a long rest, and 
 exulting in their vast superiority of numbers, and 
 the promises of bis own ambition, be seemed pre- 
 paring for an immediate victory. 
 
 His bead-quarters were still at Vitepslc, where 
 was also planted a very strong reserve. The other 
 .divisions occupied the following places : 
 
 On his left was Beauharnois, stationed at Sou- 
 racbe. His advance Vv'as at Yetiebe, Poryatcbi and 
 Osveatb. 
 
 Marshal Ney was at Leu7.na. 
 
 Murat's corps of cavalry, light artillery, &;c. 
 were in advance at Nicoiino, Kudnia, and Inkovo. 
 
 Davoust and Mortier were on the left bank of 
 the Dneiper, at Dubrova. 
 
 Prince Poniatofsky bad orders to move from his 
 post at Mobiloff, and remain at Romanoff to 
 strengthen Davoust. 
 
 Thus stood the two opposing armies on the 
 eleventb of August, 
 
 During these respective movements, the Empe- 
 ror Alexander's attention was engaged in providing 
 reinforcements from bis own empire to support its 
 armament, and in strengthening its position hy trea- 
 ties of piece and alliance. Turkey signed its deed 
 of pacification, notwithstanding the Macbiavelian 
 exertions of the French to prevent it ; and, in spite 
 of every intrigue from the same quarter, tbe re- 
 imion with England was proclaimed. 
 
 The happy conclusion of tbe tedious, but to. 
 Russia, glorious Avar with tbe Ottoman, Avas re- 
 ceived by Alexander at the close of the month of 
 
60 
 
 July, and tlie respective bonds of amity were ex- 
 changed at Bucherest. The country was not more 
 indebted for the acceleration of this event, to the 
 arms than to the wisdom of General Count Kou- 
 tousoff 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 honourably terminated the Turkish war, 
 and feeling that nature required renovation after 
 the fatigues of so many arduous campaigns, 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 ar- 
 my of the Danube devolved on Admiral Tchicha^ 
 goff. He had been deputed by the Emperor to 
 assist in the negotiation for peace with Turkey, 
 and that point being gained, when KoutousofF re- 
 tired, his Imperial Majesty commissioned the gal- 
 lant 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 ser- 
 vice. But the comprehensive talents of Tchicha- 
 goff, the wide grasp ^ilf his abilities and acquire- 
 ments in all that relates to the art of war, wiiether 
 on the ocean or in the field ; and his known pres- 
 ence of mind and activity in situations of difficul- 
 ty, 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 accomplish 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 bringing his troops up from the banks of 
 the Danube and the Prout, to those of the Boug. 
 
61 
 
 The enemy had a strong corps on the Bong, 
 chiefly composed of Aiistrians under Prince Swart- 
 'zenberg, and Saxons under Renier ; the whoh?, 
 probably amounting to forty thousand men. The 
 Austrians having passed the river in the vicinity of 
 Droggitchin, advanced to Proiijany and Pinsk, and 
 moving through Sloutzk, by slow marches ap- 
 proached Minsk. 
 
 Renier and his Saxons, on the retreat of Braga- 
 tion, moved on to Slonim, and occupied that town, 
 and also Proujany and Kobrine. 
 
 It has already been mentioned that a body of 
 troops, amounting to eight thousand men, under 
 the command of General Kamenskoy, had been 
 cut off from the second army, and that the General> 
 seeing no alternative, determined on making an at- 
 tempt to join the troops of Tormozoff, who, he 
 judged, must then be at Loutzk. Being aware 
 that every moment, in the prosecution of this en- 
 terprize, 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 complete- 
 . ly ruin his project. And not to give them time for 
 such a movement, he advanced with all the rapidi- 
 ty in his power, and to his ^^d surprise, on ap- 
 proaching Kobrine on the 26th of July fell in with 
 a small detachment from the army of observation, 
 under Count de Lambert. This fortunate junc- 
 tion not only placed him in security, but enabled 
 him and his new colleague to form a plan of ad- 
 vancing 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. 
 
62 
 
 When the Russian forces drew near the enemy's 
 quarters, they observed the negligence of the Sax- 
 ons 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 
 detachment on the bridge, and making them pris- 
 oners. 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 JBrest-Lotoffsky and Pintzk. The 
 enemy was now assaulted at all points, and being 
 thus hemmed in so unexpectedly, a most desperate 
 and sanguinary conflict ensued, which lasted nine 
 hours. The various acts of extraordinary bravery 
 displayed on both sides, produced a terrible car- 
 nage, the horrors of\vhich became more conspicu- 
 ous from the narrolfeess of the ground on wh^ch 
 the combatants contended. " 
 
 General Klingel, seeing the greater part of his 
 forces either killed or wounded, and his best offi- 
 cers falling around him, determined to save the rest 
 by an immediate surrender to the victors. 
 
 Thus was the day won. And the fruits of it to 
 the Russians v/ere eight pieces of cannon, with four 
 standards ; and the commander of the Saxon di- 
 vision, with sevienty officers, and two thousand five 
 hundred men, taken prisoners* The enemy had 
 more than a thousand 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. 
 
63 
 
 Not'many days after the achievement of this bril- 
 liant affair, Major General Tchaplitz entered Ko- 
 brine at the head of a considerable corps ; beins: 
 the advance of the main body under Tormozoff. 
 He had been apprised of the Auslrians having 
 moved towards Minzk ; and fdetermined to attack 
 the corps of Saxons left to occupy the country they 
 had quitted, he directed his march to Kobrine ; 
 and there found his intentions had been most advan- 
 tageously 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 Slonim. Tor- 
 mozoff >vould then fbllovv^ \Yiih the remainder as 
 quickly as possible. 
 
 According to these orders, the united division* 
 put themselves in motion ; and advanced, without 
 molestation, to within a few w^ersts of the city, 
 where they discovered the enemy in great strength. 
 
 Renier on being acquainted with the discomfit- 
 ure of General Klingel, dispatched a courier to 
 Prince Swartzenberg, directing him instantly to 
 measure back his steps that a sufficient force might 
 be collected to oppose the successful 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 ap- 
 parently impassible. At the edge of it was situat- 
 ed the village of Goroditzka ; from which project- 
 ed a long dyke that led to the foot of the Russian 
 position. His left stretched towards the little town 
 of Podubrie, being strengthened by nearly thir- 
 ty pieces of cannon. These artillery at the same 
 time commanded this approach, and another of a 
 sin)ilar nature, which crossing the morass near Po- 
 
64 
 
 dubrie, I'an into ti defile leading to Che road wiiich 
 communicated with that of Kobrine. Thus pro- 
 tected, TormozofFjudged himself so advantageous- 
 ly situated as to be enabled to destroy the greater 
 J)art of the enemy, should they attempt to attack 
 him by these avenues. In order tagive more secu- 
 rity 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 caval- 
 ry, and most of his light artillery. 
 
 Having made these commanding dispositions, he 
 did not see occasion to occupy the town of Podu- 
 brie, which was situated some distance on the op- 
 posite defile ; neither did he place any forces in a 
 wood, which was a little in its rear, and stretching 
 along the back of the high road leading to Ko- 
 brine, occupied a considerable portion of ground. 
 He supposed that both places were sufficiently safe 
 from any attempt of the enemy ; as the command- 
 ing situation of the heights he filled, and the domi- 
 neering 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 deter- 
 mined as the Russians Avere resolute. They stea- 
 dily took possession of the village of Groditzka, 
 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 Rus- 
 sian 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 possession of both, filled the former with 
 cavalry, and the latter with formidable bodies of in- 
 fantry and artillery. While these orders were obey- 
 ing, he apprised Swartzenberg of the omission on 
 the part of the opposing General, and begged in- 
 stant reinforcements, to enable him to attack the 
 Russian left, and drive it from its elevated position. 
 
65 
 
 The v/liole 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 Avhich they 
 deemed the most vulnerable on their adversary's 
 side. 
 
 From the concentrated position of General Tor- 
 mozoff, and his supposed security in that position, 
 the enemy found little difficulty in making all his 
 movements 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 by the informa- 
 tion 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 mo- 
 ment ; for the Russian General immediately seized 
 on the only means to remedy the consequences of 
 his too great confidence in his position ; and order- 
 ing a heavy battery to open upon the collecting ranks 
 of the allies, sent to his reserve to advance in rear 
 of his left, and 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 trem.endous 
 fire from the Russsian 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 artil- 
 lery and horse. 
 
 Their courage met with as brave a reception, 
 and the charges on both sides were sustained and 
 renewed with the most unshaken obs'tinacy. Incal- 
 culable numbers now appeared to issue from the 
 wood in every direction ; and notwithstanding the 
 
 9 
 
68 
 
 incessant cannonade from the Russian battery 
 mowed down liundreds as they emerged from th^ 
 trees, the survivors rushed on, dauntless;, to thp 
 succour of the foremost legiorts, 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 throng- 
 ed in on the side of the French ; they seemed end- 
 less : and the Russians, calling up a double portion 
 of spirit to oppose so great a superiority in body, 
 exerted themselves 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 llenier thus determinately pur^ 
 sued his object, nothing doubting that it would 
 finally lead him to the possession of the heights ; 
 j'rince Swartzenberg, perceiving that the Russians- 
 directed their chief attention to the defence of their 
 left, thought it well to distract their movements 
 fey making an attempt to pass the morass. To thi% 
 ditty 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. 
 
 Notwithstanding the disappointment of this re^sfo. 
 measure, the hopes of the enemy were not in the 
 least damped, he contieued the most unintermitted 
 endeavours to turn the Russian left ; and, by means, 
 of fresh troops, extended his own right far enoughy 
 he believed, to outflank his adversary. In fact^ 
 nearly the whole of the allied forces had been suc- 
 cessively brought up to this object. 
 
 Finding that the enemy was thus powerfullj 
 
67 
 
 enabled to continue the attack, tlie Russian Geiie- 
 i-al thought it prudent to change his front. To 
 effect this, he called out several strong divisions to 
 his support, from his right; aiid also brought up 
 fresh cavalry and artillery, which be ordered to 
 riiarch on the left of the unbroken reserve ; arid 
 present by these mancfeuyres, a very extended 
 flank. This inenacing line he made yet more for- 
 midable, by strengthening if 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 al any sacrifice ; aiid, if possible, the bat- 
 tle became more desperate and sanguinary. He 
 attempted, at the point of the bayonet*, to dislodge 
 ^he Russians from the new position they had as- 
 sumed, bui in vain. A great part of the French 
 artillery was dismounted by the retaliation of their 
 enemy ; and after miany fruitless efforts of the alli- 
 ed troops to make an impression, they were forced 
 back with ^ slaughter that was horrible. The Rus- 
 sian 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, 
 ^nemyonly seemed to add to the determination of 
 their General. Renier again advanced with the re- 
 mains of his discomfited troops ; but he did not bring 
 ^fiem alone. They were supported \)j six fresli 
 battalions of infantry, and several regiments of 
 Austrian hulans, hussars, and Saxon horse ; and so 
 efficient an accession to his strength, filled him Avith 
 confidence that before darkness should cover the 
 dreadful events of the day, he should be able to 
 overpower his conquerors, and not merely drive, 
 but precipitate them from the long-contested heights. 
 Again the carnage was renewed. The Russian 
 dflillery seemed to rain fire upon the last effort of 
 their still ^ruggling enemy ; and nothing but niglit 
 separated the combatants. 
 
68 
 
 The allies took up their former position at Po- 
 dubrie : and General Tormozoff, having repulsed 
 the enemy in so many attacks, decided upon retir- 
 ing to Kobrine. To effect this before dawn, or- 
 ders were issued to drdw off the artillery, and to 
 put the whole army into motion, leaving a strong 
 detachment on the tield 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 distance. Re- 
 nier no sooner perceived that Tormozoff had left 
 the heights, than he made a show of follov/ing him ; 
 but from the severe proof he had already received 
 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 
 destroyed it in spite of the exertions of the enemy, 
 who, the moment he was aware of the Russian de- 
 sign, brought up a few pieces of artillery ; but 
 without effect, as Tormozoff saw his men proceed 
 and accomplish 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 
 
 T 
 
69 
 
 suburbs were levelled with the ground ; and every 
 obstacle displaced that could impede the fire from 
 its fortifications, or facilitate the approaches of an 
 enemy. The garrison had been greatly augmented ; 
 and as strong a force as could be spared, was sta- 
 tioned under the orders of Essen himself, as a co- 
 vering army, in the environs. 
 
 To give additional strength to these dispositions, 
 he sent General Lewis, with several battalions of 
 infantry, a considerable corps of artillery, a regi- 
 ment of hulans, a body of Cossacs, and a heavy 
 force of dragoons, to occupy Eckau, and to post 
 themselves in the neighbourhood of Bouske. 
 
 The Pi'ussians had been stationed between Mit- 
 tau and Riga, under the immediate command of 
 General Grawart, and formed a part of General 
 Macdonald's division, whose head-quarters were 
 then at Yacobstadt. Finding that the ^Russians 
 had advanced and possessed themselves of Eckau, 
 Grawart feared that their force might so accumu- 
 late as to cut off his direct communication with 
 Macdonald. To prevent this, he determined to 
 attack them before their reinforcements could ar- 
 rive -y 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 dis- 
 covered 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. 
 
 This rencontre gave information to the Russians 
 of the formidable advance of the enemy ; for it was 
 immediately followed by the knov/ledge of the 
 great strength in which he was approching. One 
 division, from the neighbourhood of Kanken, and 
 covered by General Kliest, came on to the left, and 
 
70 
 
 seemed determined by its menacing position to take 
 possession of the ground occupied by the Russians* 
 Another division posted itself on the high road 
 leading to Eckau, whence it was to move at a cer- 
 tain time upon the right and centre. 
 
 General Essen was not intimidated by these 
 threatening demonstrations, but redoubling his pre- 
 parations for resistance, awaited the attack with an 
 feager courage, impatient of delay. 
 
 ISo sooner had the Prussian left column present- 
 ed itself to the contest, than it was greeted by fC 
 sweeping fire from a strong battery on a height thait 
 covered the right flank of the Russians. At the 
 same instant their cavalry rushed forward, and 
 charged a party of hulans, who were stationed near 
 the ifentrance of a narrow defile, to prevent the 
 Russian horse falling on the Prussian infantry. 
 
 The c^'nnonade doing much execution on thel 
 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' fd- 
 new the attstck, till an assault, continued for s6v'^- 
 ral hours, and as resolutely repulsed, proved to 
 liim that to shake the firm station his adversary had 
 assumed was impossible. Every foot of ground 
 was disputed in every part of the fields with an ad- 
 mirable resolution. But General Lewi&, findilig 
 his right very hardly pressed by a division of fhd 
 enemy just refreshed by new reinforcements, tho't 
 it prudent to draw off his troops, and take a pos£ 
 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 Priissiah^ 
 were compelled to enter the lists against their an-» 
 cient ally; and the rencontre had been 6f a; kind, 
 (although the Russians left them in quiet po^sessiori 
 
71 
 
 of the disputed ground) that gave theoi 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, re- 
 mained for nearly a month without any action of 
 consequence taking place between them. Mean- 
 while the French forces in the vicinity of Schlock, 
 received augmentations ; and reports were in circu- 
 lation that the besieging train of heavy artillery 
 from Bantzic was on its march, in order to com- 
 mence immediate operations against Riga. Indeed 
 General Essen received positive information that a 
 corps from the French reserve in Germany, had 
 set out towards his station, to attack him, and as- 
 sist in the proposed siege. He was also told that 
 this detachment was so strong as to render the pre- 
 sence of the Prussians no longer necessary ; and 
 that on its arrival, they w^ere to proceed to Dina- 
 huxg to join Macdonald. 
 
 Esaen, aware that should the French reinforce- 
 ment come up while the Prussians remained un- 
 broken in their present position, he should be con- 
 strained to fight at a terrible disadvantage, deter- 
 mined to, at least, disconcert part of the plan, by 
 immediately attacking 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 
 situation was particularly commanding on his right, 
 being at a short distance from the town of Eckau, 
 aaid crossing the high road near Draken, which place 
 was occupied by his troops. The position was 
 rendered still stronger by entrenchments v/ell fur- 
 nished, with artillery. His centre was equally well 
 secured ; as its left was flanked hj the Mouss, a 
 branch of the river Aa. There was also a conside- 
 rable corps placed between these stations and the 
 
Lake Babite ; thus forming a link of conimuBicat-» 
 tion with those near Schlock. 
 
 The Prussians being thus marshalled, General 
 Essen deemed the most successful point of attack 
 v/ould 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 
 induce the enemy to dispatch troops from his fianks, 
 to its support. Meanwhile he had directed that a 
 formidable division of gun-boats, filled with troops, 
 (which had arrived a few days before from Dina- 
 mond, imder Admiral Yon MoUer) should disem- 
 bark part of their men, who were to assist in dis- 
 lodging the Prussians from Schlock, whilst the flo- 
 tilla should proceed up the river to take them in 
 flank and in rear. 
 
 With such arrangements General Essen pro- 
 mised himself the completion of his most sanguine 
 hopes ; 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 de- 
 fences of art and of bravery, the Prussian entrench- 
 ments w^ere carried by the Russians at the point of 
 the bayonet. But here again w^as to be made man- 
 ifest the error of a headlong pursuit ! The intre- 
 pid Russians, as eager in victory, as resolute in ac- 
 quiring it, leaping the Avorks they had so bravely 
 won and follow ing up with breathless ardour their 
 retreating foo, laid open their own ranks ; and a 
 large body of Prussian cavaky perceiving the ad- 
 vantage, rushed in upon them, and taking them in 
 the disorder incident to a pursuit, made a terri- 
 ble slaughter. Notwithstanding the surprise of 
 this assault, and the great power of a fresh body 
 of troops, over a corps of infantry fatigued from 
 their late achievement, though full of exulting bra- 
 very, the Russians receded not from the field of 
 iheir victory till it w^as strewed with their bleeding 
 
73 
 
 bodies; and tlien with a constant contest though 
 a backward step, they gallantly and slowly retreat- 
 ed 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 artillery, which General GraAvart brought 
 up with admirable promptitude. Battle was again 
 offered, and With an air of triumph, by the allies, 
 which only roused the valour of the Russians to 
 redoubled exertions. The fight commenced with 
 fury. The Prussians conducted themselves with 
 bravery and skill, but the Russian energy at last 
 fully prevailed ; and crowned with complete suc- 
 cess, they saw the discomfited flank of the enemy 
 assume a retrograde movement, and then fairly 
 abandon the field. It was soon followed by the 
 Prussian centre, which had suffered but little, ha- 
 ving been only slightly engaged, and that with 
 the feint of General Yiliamoff. 
 
 At this juncture news was brought to General 
 Essen, that circumstances had proved so adverse 
 to the commander of the flotilla, he could not pro- 
 ceed 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 impossible to carry his boats farther up 
 the Aa. By this failure on his part, (though not 
 his fault) the assistance of the flotilla being deni- 
 ed to General Essen, one part of that officer's plan 
 was frustrated. His intended operations on the 
 enemy's right were entirely prevented ; but as those 
 on his left had succeeded in driving him back to 
 Mittau, Essen was reconciled to the disappoint' 
 ment 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 
 included in that number. The total loss, in killed. 
 
 10 
 
and wounded, of the enemy, amounted to nearly 
 one thousand five hundred ; and on the part of 
 Russia, about six hundred killed and wounded. 
 
 li is a singular fact that although no official de- 
 claration of peace between Great Britain and the 
 Russian Empire had at this time been published, 
 nor even publicly rumoured, yet arrangements 
 w^ere carrying on between the countries as if in 
 the full confidence of such an amity. We find 
 British armed vessels acting in concert w^ith those 
 of Russia, ever since the 20th of July, 1812 ; and 
 in the report made by Admiral Von Moller, ta 
 General Essen, on that expedition, and during his 
 contest with Swartzenberg and Renier, he says, 
 ** There were six armed English vessels, under the 
 command af Captain Stuart, detached up the river 
 Aa, while ten of our gun-boats landed a thousand 
 troops to attack the enemy who occupied the towB 
 ®f Schlock and its environs." 
 
 Whatever secrecy with regard to the grand ob-* 
 ject, had been maintained during the time of nego- 
 tiation, this circumstance was a sufficient advertise- 
 ment to the pubJic that such kindly dispositions^ 
 were afloat between the tw^o states, as must ere long 
 proclaim to the world a re-union, w^hich 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, w^as to 
 act for England in that momentous discussion ; 
 and the event has shewn how well he merited the 
 trust reposed in his abilities. General Von Suck- 
 teline appeared on the part of his Imperial Majesty 
 Alexander. And these two distinguished individ- 
 ualSj (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 happiness to fulfil 
 their high mission to the satisfaction of their sove- 
 reigns, and with the gratulations of all their fellow- 
 subjects- 
 
75 
 
 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 dispatch- 
 ed to St Petersburgh, to Moscow, and to all the 
 cities of the Imperial dominions : 
 
 "The PEACE WITH ENGLAND, so gene- 
 rally and so long desired, is at length re-established. 
 We hasten to announce it, knowing that it has been 
 ardently the wish of our faithful subjects, as of 
 England herself. Feeling acutely for the decay 
 into which our commerce fell by the disunion of 
 the two countries, we lose not a moment in seeking 
 to revive it to new energies, by the proclamation of 
 an amity so rich 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 ad- 
 vantages. Unwilling that more of the summer 
 should pass away, without having yielded those 
 fruits to the two nations, which only commerce caa 
 bring ; We order, from this day, tliat all our ports 
 on tJbe Baltic sea, on the White sea, and on the 
 Black Sea, shall be Hironvn open to the English 
 vessels ; and that every commercial relationship 
 may instantly recommence between our empire and 
 that of Great Biitain. 
 
 (Signed) <* Alexander.'* 
 
 " Given at St. Petersburgh, August 4th, O. S. 1812. 
 
 August ieth, N. S. 1812.*' 
 
 It is not possible to describe the universal joy 
 with which this proclamation was received. The 
 higher orders celebrated the event with every spe- 
 cies of social gratulation ; and the lower ranks, 
 from the trader to the peasant, evinced their grati- 
 tude in honest transports ; which made the Empe- 
 ror feel that in signing the peace with England, he 
 
76 
 
 had bestowed a benefit on his country which pene- 
 trated 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 had opened to his subjects and his treas- 
 ury all the resources of industry and an extended 
 commerce. These were blessings to which Alex- 
 ander was as sensible as his subjects ; and the joy 
 he gave, he participated. Nothing seemed want- 
 ing 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 inde- 
 pendence. 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 deliverance 
 of their country. 
 
 Every werst the enemy advanced within the 
 Russian empire, encreased the hatred of the peas^ 
 antry towards him. And every act of affected con- 
 ciliation ; every offer which his agents proffered of 
 enfranchisement from the command of their lords ; 
 every promise of liberty, rewards, and honours 
 from the Great Napoleon^ 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 intro- 
 duced, is one which was never before known in 
 Christendom ! A spirit of universal destruction ; 
 a spirit of merciless devastation ; a spirit which 
 emulates heathen butcheries, and alike slaughters 
 men in arms, and men without them, feeble age, 
 and helpless women, and infancy in vain stretching 
 its innocent hands for pity. This inhuman mode of 
 warfare roused the unhappy Tyrolese against their 
 murderer ; this sanguinary persecution called forth 
 the heavy , vengeance of the Spaniard j and this: 
 
exterminating system, constrained the Russian to 
 repel its attacks witli 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 in- 
 stance where their indignant enthusiasm was al- 
 lowed 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 Smolenzk, had the address, by superiority of 
 numbers and subtility 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 succour 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 in- 
 trepid sons, soon compelled their treacherous ad- 
 versaries to cry for quarter ; which was not al- 
 lowed 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 through- 
 out the neighbourhood, 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 report, more eager was 
 the zeal to oppose them. Multitudes flocked to- 
 wards the scene of action from all quarters ; and 
 before the evening closed, nearly nine thousand 
 well armed men were arranged under the standards 
 of their respective lords. Being under the convic- 
 tion that the French had really reached their prov- 
 ince, it was with the greatest diflSculty that this mag- 
 nanimous people were prevented setting fire to their 
 crops of standing corn: " If they are not to be for 
 
'76 
 
 us," cried they, " they shall not be left for th© 
 enemy !" 
 
 Instances of this kind daily presented them- 
 selves ; proving that there is no policy so good in 
 the end, even to the most selfish man, as a perfect- 
 ly disinterested conduct in times of public calami- 
 ty ; a sordid attention to individual interest, in 
 these critical periods, never fails, by dividing what 
 ought to form the collected strength of the whole 
 body, to leave the weak parts so exposed to an ene- 
 my 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 loyality, 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 immo- 
 late his prejudices before the laws and their minisr- 
 ters ; and to forget every short-sighted interest, ei^ 
 ther of his own 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 043r 
 cupy the ground it had taken up after the affairs 
 of the tenth and eleventh of August. But on his 
 having been reinforced by several battalions from 
 Dunabourg, he determined no longer to allow Da- 
 voust 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 General was hourly receiving; 
 fresh corps of Bavarians and Saxons, and up ixiz 
 
f9 
 
 considerable detachments from the army of Mac- 
 donald. 
 
 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 advantageous 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 in- 
 tersected by deep defiles. Through these the 
 troops were obliged to pass, to 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 Rus- 
 sians, 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 ob- 
 ject. But in this they were disappointed : how- 
 ever Oudinot lost no time in forming his disposi- 
 tions, as he wished to make head against the Rus- 
 sians already formed, and prevent those still in the 
 defiles from gaining their line. 
 
 The penetrating eye of Yigtenstein frustrated 
 these intentions, by dispatching a considerable 
 corps of artillery and light troops to cover the 
 march of his people through the defiles ; and to 
 clear the openings of the enemy, while he moved 
 onward with his left supported by some regiments 
 of cavalry. 
 
 The rapidity with which the Russian soldiers: 
 <>beyed the prompt suggestions of their GeneraFs: 
 mind was so amazing, that Oudinot found himself 
 baffled in every manoeuvre. In a favourable mo- 
 ment Vigtenstein ordered a heavy fire to be open- 
 ed upon the unformed masses of the enemy ; and 
 they,^ being |in a very exposed situation, found 
 themselves oblio;ed to recoil on each other ; thus. 
 
a temporary escape at the expence of* 
 throwing their rear into no inconsiderable disorder* 
 Meanwhile, Yigtenstein having brought up a divi- 
 sion 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 despe- 
 rate. His^iext movement was to order the cavalry 
 to attack ; and the shock they gave the only firm 
 body of the enemy completely laid his flank open 
 to the operations of the Russians. Vigtensteia 
 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 shoul- 
 der, and was carried off* the field. His wound was 
 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 communicating to the left, filled all with a con- 
 sternation 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 sa- 
 bres and bayonets of their pursuers, whilst the dis- 
 charge of grape from the artillery swept down all 
 before it with a tremendous havoc. 
 
 This victory was achieved by the Russians with 
 very little loss on their ^de, but that of the enemy 
 was immense. 
 
 Count Yigtenstein having driven them far be- 
 yond 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, be- 
 ing ambitious to have the credit of retrieving the 
 honour of the division, lost by the failure of his, 
 predecessor, determined to renew" the attaci the, 
 
81 
 
 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 un- 
 der Count Wrede, were placed on the right. Saint 
 Cyr took the command of the centre in person ; 
 giving the left to General Maison, wlip had suc- 
 ceeded General Verdier ; the latter omcer 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 
 immediately; 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 im- 
 portance at the present juncture, had been evacua- 
 ted by the Russians ; but not before they had de- 
 stroyed every article within it that could be of use 
 to the enemy. By withdrawing from that tow^n, 
 a valuable accession of troops was enabled to join 
 the army on the Dwina. And, owing to the situa- 
 tion of the Prussians in the vicinity of Riga, Mac- 
 donald 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 
 Cjr began to move, under cover of a strong battery 
 of artillery. Thus protected he formed his line, 
 and proceeded to the attack. Count Vigtenstein 
 allowed him to make these demonstrations without 
 interruption. 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 Avas an- 
 swered by the Russians with equal energy. The 
 
 11 
 
8g. 
 
 eiieni J bad added to llie strength of his left a well: 
 appointed battery on the bank of the Dwina, which 
 BOW began its play upon the adverse troops. How- 
 ever, the brave Russians regarded it not, but char- 
 ged tQ the very mouths of the guns, and with the 
 points of their bayonets drove the enemy itt that 
 fjuarter back to their reserve. This bold attack was 
 supported hy several squadrons of dragoons, who 
 followed the advantage, trampling down, and de~ 
 stroyingthe French infantry, who now but faintly 
 defended themselves. The rest fled to their en- 
 trenohments. 
 
 yjgtensteie, meanwhile, plied the centre j but 
 here the conflict was f ery severe. It repelled all 
 his etforts with the greatest bravery for a conside- 
 rable time, but the persevering hei-oism of the 
 Russians at last made them give ground, and they 
 too fell back towards their lines of defence. The 
 right being yet unbroken, defended itself well, and 
 many acts of individual bravery were here distin-- 
 guished ; but General Wrede seeing all his exer- 
 tions unavailing, and that none of the dispersed 
 French troops attempted to return to the attack,, 
 felt himself obliged, after so long and gallant a 
 resistance, to follow the retreating legions ; andy 
 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 sig-' 
 nal victory over his predecessor, pursued his dis- 
 grace with a frightful carnage. So fierce was their 
 continued charge upon the flying squadrons, that' 
 Ihey not only passed the French lines, putting all 
 to death who resisted, but drove the enemy before- 
 them into the ver^ suburbs of Polotzky and put 
 them to the sword in the streets. Bloody, as great 
 was this victory. When night's obscurity rather 
 increased than concealed its horrors, Count Vigv 
 ^enstein commanded the deathful work to ceoi^e.; 
 
The battle Miad lasted more lliaii 'twelve iioivr*, 
 wlieo he ordered his troops to dmw off,- and retire 
 to his old. position. The prisoners amounted to 
 three tliousand nienj besides thirty officers of vari- 
 ous 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 abandoned to the victors. The loss on the 
 Russian side, during the two days fighting, amount- 
 ^-d to one thousand in all, hors de combat ; besides 
 Generals Berg, Hamen, and Kazatchkovsky, who 
 ^were woimded. 
 
 Thus ended two desperate attempts of two Gen- 
 erals of Napoleon, to accomplish his great object 
 of opening a passage for his troops to St. Peters- 
 burgh \ one of them, with the loss of half his army, 
 had been Vi^ounded almost mortally ; whilst the 
 other, in rashly adventuring to impair his discom- 
 fiture, only heaped accumulated defeat and dis- 
 grace on the arms of his master! 
 
 Napoleon having fully refreshed his troops at 
 Vitepsk, and also having received information of 
 the approach of new reinforcements from Tilsit, id 
 Wilna, again put himself in motion. He ordered 
 the coips of Beauharhoig, 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 i'he Beresswinya river and to 
 cross the Boresthenes near Hiyomnia. Havino- 
 thus concentrated his force, he meditated an iui^ 
 inediate advance upon Smoleuzk. 
 
 Barclay de Tolly being informed that the enemy 
 Was in this manner drawing together his most ef- 
 ficient powers id the vicinity of Doubrovna and 
 Rassasna, ordered Prince Bragation to fall back, 
 and pass through the city to the Moscow road, and 
 
84 
 
 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, 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 Nererofsky, 
 (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 
 augmented 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 Cossacs, had been driven in, and pur- 
 sued 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 superi- 
 ority of the enemy's numbers carried everything 
 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 Com- 
 mander-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 great ; being upwards of two thousand 
 men, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, besides 
 several guns. 
 
 On this intelligence Barclay de Tolly reinforced 
 the garrison of Smolenzk, and ordered the shat- 
 tered 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 
 
85 
 
 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 Dorogabouche, 
 where he halted as directed ; but at the same time 
 kept detachments of light troops in the neighbour- 
 hood of Elnia and Koslavli, to stop the advance of 
 the enemy, should he attempt to cut off 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 ap- 
 proach of his adversary ; and^ with this view, he 
 placed his army on the line of heights, Avhich cover 
 Smolenzk on the right bank of the Boresthenes. 
 The city was defended by about thirty thousand 
 men, who held communication with his main army 
 by three bridges which crossed tliat river. 
 
 From the ancient character of the walls which 
 encircled Smolenzk, they were found but indiffer- 
 ently suited to modern warfare, being flanked and 
 bulwarked at different points by high and ill-fash- 
 ioned towers ; however, to turn even these to ad- 
 vantage, the Russians planted them with several 
 pieces of heavy ordnance, 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 re- 
 cently augmented by the division under Prince 
 Poniatofsky, which had joined them from Moliiloff, 
 by the way of Romanoff, on the i5th. By this 
 junction, the whole force of the enemy w as direct- 
 ed 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 w^as, un- 
 questionably, the most favourable ground on which 
 they could make a stand belweoD the Boresthenes 
 
86 
 
 and Moscow ; and, when tliey were driven away, 
 •the road would be left free for the advance of Na- 
 poleon to the capital of the Tzars. 
 « Dear has ever been the tax of pre-eminence. 
 Smolenzk was always regarded as a post of the 
 highest importance to rival powers. In former 
 ■ages it had been the object of many hot conten- 
 tions, and had known all the evils of war. But 
 for a long lapse of time, like a toil-worn hero rest- 
 mg amid his offspring, it lay in tranquillity and 
 comfort, enjoying its distinction and its repose. 
 1 bus was the venerable city of Smolenzk, when 
 the blast of invasion reached its walls, and its 
 peaceful inhabitants saw the hills which surmount- 
 ed 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 the horrors of war; and, fearful of being ex- 
 posed to its cruel consequences, they fled the place 
 in every direction. Some sought security in Mos- 
 cow, some at Twer, some at Yarrowslaff ; and 
 thousands took refuge with the army on the heights. 
 Intending from those eminences to remain sad spec- 
 tators of the awful moment that was appro achmg 
 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 immediately 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 un- 
 der 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 ar- 
 
87 
 
 my before Smolenzk. He lost no lime in recon-*^ 
 noitering both the town and the position whit^i the : 
 Russians held on the opposite bank of the river. ; 
 He also acquainted himself with the strength of. 
 the force which had been left to defend the city. 
 This he intended to carry immediately ; and, there-^ 
 fore, gave orders for an assault to commence at 
 the entrenched suburbs, vrhilst he should endea- 
 vour to cut off, by the destruction of the three 
 bridges, all succours to the Russians from their 
 comrades on the heights. He had little doubt of 
 the city soon falling into his hands, and of that ad-j 
 vantage being followed by the possession of the 
 heights ; as he concluded from the Russian Gene- 
 ral not having occupied the left bank of the Dnei- 
 per, he woidd, on the logs 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 JNfey that he should form his divi- 
 sions taking up the ground on the left, and sup- 
 porting his flank on the Dneiper. Davoust, plant- 
 ed his division as the centre ; and Prince Poni- 
 atofsky stationed his on the right. Two reserves^ 
 of cavalry and of guards were posted in the rear. 
 With the foniier was Murat and Beauharnois ; and 
 with the latter Napolean. The army thus form- 
 ed, moved forward close upon the Russian front. 
 
 On the morning of August the seventeenth there 
 was an awful pause. The armies of two vast em- 
 pires stood gazing on each other as if studying 
 where to strike the mortal blow : at length the si-^ 
 lence of meditated death was broken. From the 
 extreme point of the Russian right, to that of their 
 left, fire from a hundred cannon poured destruc-* 
 tiott amid the enemy's ranks. Rapid discharges 
 of musquetry, wdiich ran along their front, second- 
 ed the guns with a horrible carnage. 
 
 Ttie attack of the French was not less vigorous 
 or terrific. Their numerous artillery save bloodv 
 
88 
 
 answer to that on the Russian position ; whilst their 
 multitude, and concentrating movements, bore 
 along upon their adversary with a force that seem- 
 ed formed to sweep all before them. 
 
 The troops of Poniatofsky, assisted by corps. of 
 cavalry and light artillery, after a hard struggle, 
 succeeded in dislodging, from an excellent posi- 
 tion, a considerable body of Russians. This ad- 
 vantage, so fortunate for the enemy, enabled them 
 to throw up a battery on the spot ; which they im- 
 mediately opened upon the south bridge, with an 
 effect answerable to their Avishes* 
 
 The 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 at- 
 tacked the Russian troops at the point of the bayo- 
 net. The havoc on both sides was prodigious. 
 The earth was covered with the wounded and the 
 dead ; but nothing seemed possible 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 ac- 
 cessions of hostile troops pressed upon their thin- 
 ned ranks, the Russians retired towards Smolenzk ; 
 disputing every 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 threat- 
 ened, determined to defend it, for at least, several 
 hours ; in order, to gain time for Bragation's army, 
 then on the Mo-scow road, io move on to Dorogo- 
 
boiiche, where the Commander-in-chief now deci- 
 ded 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 enemy's right, and drove him from the ground 
 he occupied with that part of his artillery which 
 had poured so destructive a fire on the upper bridge. 
 Another battery of twenty pieces, checked th@ 
 enemy in his advance through the suburb connect- 
 ed with the St. Petersburgh bridge. 
 
 The city now became the immediate object of 
 attack. 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 ne- 
 cessary to oblige the troops who manned the trifling 
 outworks to leave them to their fate. No resist-^ 
 ance was now made to the assailants, but by the 
 good old towers and venerable breastwork of the 
 city. 
 
 A tremendous fire opened from the French bat- 
 teries 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 ac- 
 tive defence to be kept up, while he made arrange- 
 ments for the march of the array to Dorogobouche. 
 It was seven o'clock in the evening when the first 
 column was put in motion* It was commanded by 
 Creneral Toutchkoff, ar\d composed of three corps 
 of infantry, and the first reserve of caValry. It 
 took the route to Braditchino. At nine, the sec- 
 ond column, under the orders of General Dochtor- 
 t)ff, composed of two corps of infantry and two of 
 cavalry, besides the remains of General Rajefsky, 
 proceeded, in a nearly parallel dii'ection, by the 
 road leading to Yalkoff'-Postiloff. General Korff, 
 with a strong division that occupied the town, and 
 
 12 
 
the suburb of St. Petersburgb, was tor form th^ 
 great rear guard, and to defend himself argainst 
 every alttack, until he had advice that the rest of 
 the army had cleared the French lines. He waa 
 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 Doukoff- 
 achina. 
 
 The dreadful hours of destruction rolled on ; 
 and the ruin and death of thousands became the 
 horrible marks of French aggression. Invasion 
 was witbotit, patriotism within ; and hosts conlinu- 
 ed to fall or* 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 repulsed at every 
 attack. 
 
 The interior of this once beautiful and flourish- 
 ing capital of the government of Smolenzk, began 
 to present a scene heart-rending to the eye of a 
 <^ommon spectator, but glorious to that of the patri- 
 ot. Every magazine was destroyed, every edifice 
 fired, whicrh 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 direful influences over 
 the whole extent of this once fine city, whose cen- 
 tre now blazed forth in vast volumes of fire and 
 smoke. 
 
 Napoleon in his report of this event, gives a per- 
 feet idea of its appearance, in these words : — " In 
 the midst of a fine night in August, Smolenzk of- 
 fered to the eyes of the French, the spectacle that 
 presents itself to the inhabitants of Naplesy during 
 an eruption of Yesuvius." 
 
91 
 
 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 unreceding valour and effective service than a 
 liirge bodv of the newly-raised Russian militia. 
 Its intrepidity and discipline w^ould have added 
 fresh lai?^rels to the most veteran brows. 
 
 Two hours after this tremendous conflagration 
 commenced. General KorfF destroyed the commu- 
 nication 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 subsided, advanced ; and, without 
 further resistance, took possession of the city in the 
 morning of the 1 8th of August. 
 
 No pen can describe the rage of Napoleon on 
 beholding the spectacle which presented itself. — 
 The spacious streets were blocked up with ruined 
 and falling houses, and magnificent buildings were 
 blazing in every direction, threatening the total con- 
 sumption of those that remained yet uninjured. To 
 preserve some means of quartering his troops, the 
 French leader immediately ordered every exertion 
 to stop the progress of the flames. The men em- 
 ployed in this service, gave themselves little trouble 
 in their duty; and aware that the extent of the 
 mischief already done would render their disobe- 
 dience less observed, instead of attempting to ex- 
 tinguish the fires by which they were surrounded^ 
 they spread themselves all over the city wherever 
 the burning destruction had not seized ; and, en- 
 tering the houses and the churches, pillaged what- 
 ever valuables they found, and murdered with the 
 most unheard of cruelties, all whom accident or 
 attachment to their native city had left in their pas- 
 sage. Time, therefore, was the sole extinguisher of 
 this immense conflagration ; and it was not until 
 the evening of the 19tli, that the flames of this sac^ 
 
92 
 
 rifice 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 Rus- 
 sian invasion. Such a station would be full of ad- 
 vantage to his troops. Indeed he was so thorough- 
 ly aware of its utility, that he thus expresses him- 
 self on the subject ; 
 
 " Smolenzk may be considered as one of the 
 finest cities in Russia, and of the most commanding 
 situation. Had it not been for the circumstances 
 of war, which involved it in flames, and consumed 
 its magazines filled with merchandize, this city 
 would now be regarded as one of the richest re- 
 sources of our army. But even in its present ruin- 
 ed state, it puts us in possession of a formidable 
 military post, and its remaining 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 pat- 
 riots nothing seemed too precious to resign for so 
 dear a stake. Whether it be wealth or even 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, 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 sac- 
 rifices 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 
 
93 
 
 the common feelings of self-preservation ! 1 liesc 
 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 pre- 
 serve the wdiole. JN arrow 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 bat- 
 tle, and attack and defence of the town ; and, from 
 the obstinacy with which the combat was maintain- 
 ed, the deaths became very numerous. Four thou- 
 sand 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 affair, observes — " Although our loss 
 is so serious, yet we have reason to congratulate 
 ourselves that it bears no proportion to the incalcu-^ 
 lable loss of the enemy, whose rashness during his 
 repeated attacks, threw away the liFes of his mea 
 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 
 believed. He states that Napoleon lost no more 
 than seven hundred in killed ! He allows of three 
 thousand two hundred Avounded ; but closes the 
 bulletin with the exaggeration, that, while the 
 French slain were so few, the Russians lost to the 
 number of fourteen thousand, 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 per- 
 haps the next report, that this invulnerable band of 
 heroes feel the necessity of being recruited. 
 
 Possession of even the burning site of Smolenzk 
 
94 
 
 was not to be gained on such easy terms. The 
 manner 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 degree covered by their entrench- 
 ments, while the enemy's troops were advancing 
 for a considerable length of time completely ex- 
 posed 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 became heaped with 
 their dead and dying. The French report cannot 
 hut 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 eight of 
 his fallen enemies." 
 
 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 informa- 
 tion given by Spanish deserters, and prisoners ta- 
 ken at the time, leave it beyond a doubt that Napole- 
 on 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 thou- 
 sand ; 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 
 populous streets. He and his Generals took up 
 their residence in the episcopal palace, which had 
 escaped the flames; and the troops were ordered 
 to seek repose in any buildings they might find 
 
05 
 
 stahding. 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 sufficient to turn their good will to detesta- 
 tion. The sight of a licentious soldiery bursting 
 into the holy edifices, tearing down the decorations, 
 breaking open the wardrobes, and violating the 
 consecrated vestments and vessels of the altar, 
 struck to their hearts with amaze and horror. But 
 when they beheld the horses pass the sacred thresh- 
 old, their vehement indignation is not to be de- 
 scribed. Their expressions were answ^erable 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 confirmed 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 pollu- 
 tion of the place consecrated 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 tolerated 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 ihe temple of his 
 God with a reverence so great that nothing is suf- 
 fered to approach its w^alls, that can defile them 
 even in idea ; and therefore it is not surprising that 
 when the violation of the churches of Sraolenzk 
 
96 
 
 was kiiown throughout 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* 
 Generals Korff and PlatofF, continued for many 
 hours to move towards its destined point without 
 molestation. The precaution of destroying the 
 bridges across the Dneiper, for some time prevent- 
 ed the advance of the French in the same direc- 
 tion. But Napoleon, with his usual promptitude 
 had, on observing the gradual withdrawing of the 
 llussians from the heights, ordered 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 subiubs. 
 
 When a communication was thus opened with 
 the opposite bank, (and which Buonaparte render^ 
 ed still more free by setting his men to repair, 
 with all expedition, the demolished bridges ;) the 
 French passed over in a strong body under the 
 command of Marshal Ney. His orders were to 
 overtake, and atfack the retiring division of the 
 Russians ; while the coips of Junot and Davoust, 
 supportecl by the whole of the cavalry under Murat 
 and Beauharnois, were to move upon Douchoffachi- 
 na, and proceed to the right bank by the newly 
 constructed bridge, and then continue their march 
 to the high road, between Valitina Gora and Lava- 
 china, 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 
 
97 
 
 a loss, reduce that army to such extremities as to 
 throw it completely into their power. 
 
 General Baron Korff, in making his retiring 
 movements marched along the heights in two co- 
 lumns, in 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 gained the right shore of the Boresthenes in 
 great force, and were spreading themselves be- 
 tween him and his proposed line of march. 
 
 In this critical situation, nothing was left but to 
 endeavour to maintain his present position ; not 
 doubting but that the Commander-in-chief, on find- 
 ing the rear-guard had been attacked, would lose 
 no time in sending troops to its support. Accord- 
 ing to this resolution, Korff ordered the right col- 
 lUTin to form on the ground where it then stood ; 
 and the left to station itself on a commanding point 
 close to the town of Talitina. Prompt as the troops 
 w^ere 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 oth- 
 er 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 on- 
 set 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 
 situation increase, judged it prudent to release 
 
 13 
 
98 
 
 iiiinself, if possible, from these unequal and des* 
 perate encounters, by making a junction with his 
 left column, which was forming very rapidly, and 
 had already opened a heavy fire upon the advan- 
 cing bodies of the enemies. To this effect he or- 
 dered two battalions supported by several guns, to 
 remain on his present ground, to cover his move- 
 ment while retiring upon the other column. 
 
 The brave men selected for this duty, perform- 
 ed it with unshaken firmness, notwithstanding the 
 most violent efforts to dislodge them ; nor did they 
 tecede one step, until their General had gained bis 
 object ; although to ensure it, nearly one half of 
 their undaunted comtades sacrificed their lives. 
 
 At this crisis the rear of the Russian mai*i array 
 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 artillery, 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, v^'ho was at the 
 village of Gedeonovo with a small corps, occupying 
 the gvound near the river, and close to the high 
 road to Moscow. 
 
 Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg executed his or- 
 ders with great ability, defeating the enemy in 
 every attempt to oppose his passage to the attain- 
 ment of his object. 
 
 General Korff, on seeing himself so powerfully 
 reinforced, and still maintaining his advantageous 
 position believed himself sofiiciently 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 
 
99 
 
 others wlucb, on the opposing Ihie being broken, 
 was to close in and complete the destruction. 
 
 Owino' to the commandino" situation of the Rus- 
 sian ground its artillery had a terrible efTect on the 
 advancing enemy, who, seeing his men fall in hun- 
 dreds, 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 Korff, 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 detach- 
 ment of Karpoff j of getting possession of the road 
 he protected ; and of, probably, inducing 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 
 answerable to the magnitude of his ultimate object. 
 Karpoff, finding himself severely pressed, and near- 
 ly 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 check- 
 ing the impetuosity 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 remain- 
 der of his artillery. 
 
 The enemy, though checked v/as not repulsed ; 
 and, returning to the attack with renewed spirit, 
 they 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, di- 
 rected all their operations against the Russian left. 
 
 Whilst this brave column stood its ground with- 
 out yielding an inch, Baron" Korff, observing the 
 
 .fj 
 
100 
 
 direction in which the enemy was thickening his 
 ranks, dispatched a reinforcement to the division 
 of Karpolf ; and himself at the same time made a 
 movement on his left, parallel with that of the ene- 
 my. This he did not only to support more effectu- 
 ally the gallant little corps of Karpoff, but to pre- 
 vent the designs of the French to block up his line 
 of march. 
 
 After a conflict of many hours, the day was far 
 advanced, when part of Korff 's troops, in follow- 
 ing up their manoeuvres, came in upon the right of 
 Touchkoff'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 pro- 
 tect the right,) had a decisive effect upon the oppo- 
 site division of the enemy. Marshal Ney com- 
 manded in this quarter. Finding his troops so hot- 
 * ly 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 ad- 
 vance Avas accordingly made, and supported by 
 several squadrons of horse and artillery, but all in 
 vain. The strengthened corps of the Russians so 
 completely baffled his endeavours, that, after two 
 successive attempts, he was obliged to abandon the 
 enterprize, and retire under the galling fire of his 
 adversary. The contest, after this retrograde 
 movement of the three Marshals, gradually subsi- 
 ded on the part of the French ; and, by twelve 
 o'clock at night (August 19th,) the Russians were 
 left in quiet possession of the disputed way. 
 
 The Generals Korff, Touchkoff, and the Prince 
 of Wirtemberg, finding themselves so entirely mas- 
 ters 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 w^ounded might. 
 
101 
 
 he numbered at tliree thousand. The French slain, 
 (from the disadvantageous situations in which they 
 made their attacks,) must have been double that of 
 their adversary's. They lost durinsf the clay, up- 
 wards of thirteen hundred men, as prisoners to the 
 Russians. Napoleon's reports with their usual de- 
 lusions, will not allow of this, but estimate the loss 
 in their lines to be six hundred killed, two thousand, 
 six hundred wounded, but without 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 confi- 
 dence. If so much could be done by so small a 
 body of resolute soldiers, what might not be ex- 
 pected 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 owing it as a hard-earned victory, as 
 one of the most brilliant /«?'^5 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 victory, 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 comprehensive 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 
 detail, than by the great result ; and hence come 
 rash and unjust decisions. 
 
 In the midst of all Napoloon'g boasl^: of uninter- 
 
102 
 
 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 lands and deserted villages. 
 He cheered the disappointed multitude with the 
 assurance that they should indemnify themselves 
 with 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 prom- 
 ises was performed. Every step the French army 
 advanced into the country covered the earth with 
 their bleeding bodies ; and showed to the survivors, 
 nothing but the traces of destruction. 
 
 The effects of the Russian mode of defence were 
 seriously felt even at Yitepsk, by the enemy. Ma- 
 ny hundreds of his disappointed soldiers deserted 
 to the army of Count Yigtenstein ; 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 schema of 
 aggrandisement, but to the stability of his power 
 in general. Threats of the most tremendous pun- 
 ishments, were denounced on the delinquents ; and 
 the largest promises reiterated to them who Avould 
 remain faithful. Moscow was named as the ulti- 
 iiiate reward of the patience and persevering cour- 
 age of his mer:. From the ancient palaces of that 
 
103 
 
 imperial city, he pledged himself that they should 
 see him stand the dictator of peace or war, not on- 
 ly 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 fol- 
 low his steps to the pillage of nations, the violation 
 of women, the murder of infants, and the cai'nage of 
 men. 
 
 On the morning of the 20th of Aug|||t, M a})out 
 one o'clock, the Russians moved from their victo- 
 rious 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, inipracticable 
 to any who might wish to follow them. They de- 
 stroyed no less than five bridges ; and took every oth- 
 er 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 iiTegular 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 o£ 
 DouchoS'china, there to w^atch the motions of the 
 enemy ; and be a check on him, in case he should 
 be inclined to send a corps from that town, in the 
 direction of Bealoy and Zubtzoifi tc threaten the 
 city of Twer. 
 
 When the first army reached the vicinity of Do- 
 rogobouche, the Commander-in-chief took up his 
 ground about ten wersts from that city, on the right 
 bank of the river Ouja, near the village of Ousviat. 
 J^ere he made dispositions to oppose the progress 
 of the enemy, should he not have been completely 
 checked by the Russian rear guard. 
 
104 
 
 Prince Blagation bad already arrived at Dorogo- 
 bouche, but he was ordered to resume his marchy 
 and 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, be- 
 fore Dorogobouche. Major-Genelral Neveroffsky 
 commanded this detachment. 
 
 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 
 theAppfcn^were discovered; and their first ap- 
 pearance was soon followed by the threatening ap- 
 proach of a fofiHiclable body towards the Russian 
 left flank. The enemy's intention seemed to be to 
 turn this part of the imperial line, and to cut off its 
 communication with the road on which it might 
 mean to retire. 
 
 The Commander-in-chief having gained the ob- 
 ject of his waiting, (the arrival of his rear guard,) 
 gave orders for the army to move, and fall back 
 \ipon Dorogobouche. They obeyed, and w^ere at 
 the destined place about midnight. Here the 
 ground was found as imfavourable, as that the army 
 iiad just quitted, to turn any attack to advantage. 
 Barclay de Tolly, therefore, after strengthening 
 his covering divisions, put all into motion again ; 
 and marshalling his army into three columns, or- 
 dered 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 pro- 
 ceed through Konoushkino to Fanassievo. At these 
 points they respectively arrived on the 26th of 
 Auo;u3t, and then halted to observe the movements 
 of the enemy. 
 
 The corps under Baron Vinzingorode, finding 
 the French advancing on them from Douchoffchina, 
 immediately proceeded to Bealoy, and by occupy- 
 ing that place the more effectually secured their 
 
105 
 
 communication with Twer. They also maintained 
 a free interchange with Wiazma, by the means of 
 a detachment of Cossacs, and some regular troops 
 under the command 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 
 advanced parties found themselves close upon its 
 heels, a few wersts from 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 tliree columns. The left 
 Was composed of troops of BeauharnJ^s ;iyi^cen- 
 tre, of those commanded by Marshals Davoustj 
 Ney, and Murat. 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 
 Russians arrived on the margin of the Osma, 
 (which river crosses the main road behind Rouibki,) 
 that any fighting recommenced. But here a party 
 of Murat's cavalry furiously charged two battalions 
 of Russian infantry which occupied Rotiibki^ and 
 obliged them to pass the river. At the same mo- 
 ment another detachment of the rear-guard was at- 
 tacked 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 Command- 
 er-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. Near- 
 ly 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 re- 
 fuge to places more remote from the foot of invasion. 
 Flames now appeared in the depopulated streets as 
 
 14 
 
106 
 
 another proof to the unsheltered French soldiery 
 that they should find no roof of rest within the 
 country they had filled with so many calamities. 
 
 When the Russian rear-guard passed through the 
 devoted town, they put the final stroke to the ea- 
 ger hopes of their enemy, by destroying the bridg- 
 es which cross the Wiazma river, as it traverses the 
 city in three different directions. 
 
 The whole Russian force continued its march up- 
 on Zarevo-Zalomichi, where Barclay de Tolly com- 
 manded his troops to halt, and posted both armies. 
 On his left, he occupied Lomouy, and his right was 
 stationed belore the village of Trakova. He had 
 also a strong avant-guard at Mittau, a village about 
 eighteen wersts in his front. 
 
 Thus was situated the Russian force, when Bar- 
 clay de Tolly received a courier, announcing to his 
 Excellency, that the Prince GolenistshefF Koutou- 
 sotF was appointed in his stead. Commander-in-chief 
 of the whole imperial army. 
 
 Prince Golenistsheff KoutousoFF, whose mil- 
 itary life has been crowned wath the most merited 
 success, was now called upon to head his country's 
 heroes, and to lead them on to victory and immor- 
 tal 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 no- 
 bility and the people. And, although so short a 
 time had elapsed since he sought repose after clo- 
 sing 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 201h of August, to sustain the chief 
 command of the array opposed to Napoleon. 
 
 The demonstration of universal joy, on the 
 knowledge of his appointm<3nt being made putjlic^ 
 
107 
 
 was unbounded ; and the soldiery were not back- 
 ward in expressing their feelings on the event. Un- 
 der him many thousands of the veterans of the ar- 
 my 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 dest- 
 ined him to his latest hour, to enjoy, for the benefit 
 of his country, all the ardors and activity of youth. 
 More than seventy years had passed over his liead^ 
 years of severe service, in which he had been ex- 
 posed to the most trying climates, and to every vi- 
 cissitude 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 im- 
 paired. 
 
 He arrived from St. Petersburgh at head-quar- 
 ters, 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 confidence of his countrymen he received the 
 dearest meed of his high military talents, and the 
 perils to which he had exposed himself in their use. 
 His predecessor, Barclay de Tolly, took the com- 
 mand of a division. 
 
 In Prince Koutousoff 's journey from St. Peters- 
 burgh he passed through Moscow, where he stop- 
 ped a few hours, and had an interview with the mil- 
 itary Governour Count Rastapchin. In this con- 
 ference much momentous matter, relative to future 
 measures, was settled ; and the Governour was re- 
 quested to hasten the reinforcements of new raised 
 militia in the governments of Moscow and Kalouga. 
 At this time a valuable coi-ps of reserve, under 
 General Miloradovitch, were on their march, The 
 
108 
 
 Prince directed that the whole should proceed up- 
 on Mqjaisk. 
 
 On the new Commander-in-chief's" arrival at the 
 Zarevo-Zalomichi, he found that the Russian posi- 
 tion there was very unfavourable for awaiting, to 
 advantage, the approach of the enemy. He saw 
 that the troops were fatigued, and much weakened 
 in physical strength, by their long and harrassing 
 marches, and by their continued fighting ; and 
 aware of the necessity of affording them some re- 
 pose before he should bring them to the action he 
 ineditated, he put the whole army in motion, to 
 seek some place of security where they might re- 
 vive 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 Borodi- 
 no, 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 deter- 
 mined 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 ad- 
 vantageous field between him and the ancient capi- 
 tal 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 contest between the 
 Emperor's and the Invader's armies. The whole 
 experience of his veteran life, all the determination 
 of his brave heart, and every exertion of exhorta- 
 tion and example were called forth to prepare his 
 impatient troops to meet, not only with ardour, 
 but with unreceding resolution the awful events of 
 the expected day. The reinforcements had arri- 
 ved, consisting of the militia, commanded by Count 
 MarkofF, and the division of regular troops under 
 General Miloradovitch, which were intended to re- 
 
109 
 
 cruit the regiments of the line timt had suffered loss 
 in the late aflhirs. 
 
 From the time the enemy learnt that the Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Russian army was Prince 
 Koutoiisoff, 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 lead-^ 
 er was seen in any force. Prince Koutousoff omit- 
 ted not to take advantage of the awe Avith which he 
 had inspired his adversaries : and he employed this 
 time of their hesitation in refreshing his troops, 
 equalizing the newly arrived, and strengthing with 
 redoubts the vulnerable parts of his position. He 
 assembled his Generals, and stating to them the 
 dispositions he w^as about to make, found that their 
 confidence was equal to his own in the intrepidity 
 of the Russian soldier ; and that their ov/n exam- 
 ples 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 th*e 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 Koutou- 
 soff had chosen a ground which possessed conside- 
 rable inequalities, and was covered at certain points 
 with wood. The Commander-in-chief did not neg- 
 lect these advantages. The village of Borodino is 
 situated near the high road ; and, at a short dis- 
 tance from it, runs a rather deep ravine, through 
 which flows the small river Koloya that empties it- 
 self into the Moskva at three wersts distance. 
 Koutousoff fixed on this ravine as a protection to 
 his right and centre, which were under the com- 
 mands of Barclay de Tolly and Benningsen. The 
 Prince's left, given to the resolute valour of Braga- 
 lion, was stationed so as to stretch to the village of 
 Semenofka. This post was eminently that of dan* 
 
 # 
 
110 
 
 ger, its natural position being much less secure 
 than that of the right. It was liable to be easily 
 turned, bj the old road running from Smolenzk to 
 Mojaisk. To remedy, as far as circumstances 
 would admit this disadvantage, several redoubts and 
 batteries were began to be constructed without loss 
 af time. Some were to guard the left of the village, 
 others were planted along the elevated ground in 
 vhe rear of the line, and one was placed on a de- 
 tached height about the distance of a cannot shot in 
 the front. This last work w^as 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 general strength of the protecting w^orks, 
 nor at all injure the great arrangements for the day ; 
 on the contrary,the seizure of the fort w^ould cost the 
 enemy both time, and the lives of many of his troops. 
 
 The army was thus disposed on the 5th of Sep- 
 tember. 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 
 |3odies 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 quaiter. 
 
 Napoleon had reached Wiazma on the 30th of 
 August. His army, continuing its march in three 
 columns, passed through Gchatz on the 1st of Sep- 
 tember. They found the place in the same desola- 
 ted state V. ith the other cities, w^hich their invading 
 feet had profaned. But ruined as it w^as, they re- 
 mained there, and in its 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 
 pblio:ed him now to consider everv step that he took. 
 
Ill 
 
 On the morning of the 4th, he again moved for- 
 ward, and posted himself near the village of Gredni- 
 va. At dawn, the succeeding day, he pursued the 
 same course, and about noon on the 5th, came in 
 sight of the tlussian lines. Reconnoitering parties 
 were .^ent out in all directions, and their informa- 
 tion decided Napoleon to do, just what the Russian 
 general wished, to commence hostilities by attack- 
 ing the w^ork in advance of Prince Bragation's 
 di\iision. The rear-guard of KoutousotF 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 com- 
 menced their operations. About two o'clock these 
 troops found themselves warmly attacked by the 
 avant-guard of the enemy, but they gave it a recep- 
 tion which hotly answered 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 
 likew^ise to well man the thicket by which it was 
 surrounded. A corps of infantry and artillery w^as 
 posted on the ground behind, to support their com- 
 rades in the redoubt, which had not been quite 
 completed, from the hardness of the ground impe- 
 duig the workmen. 
 
 The enemy with formidable bodies of infantry 
 and cavalry, pushed across the little stream of the 
 Kaloya, and made their advances towards Braga- 
 lion'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 Rus^ 
 sians, who looked with intrepid coolness on the con- 
 solidated masses of their enemies advancing towards 
 them with fixed bayonets. When the French came 
 within gun-shot, a heavy fire from the Russian can- 
 non and musquetry in the redoubt, a little checked 
 their impetuosity. The wood was also attempted 
 to be carried at the same time. Piinee Poniatofsky^ 
 
112 
 
 meanwhile, by a inovement considerably 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 artil- 
 lery and smaU arms. The first party which had 
 been engasjed and repulsed^ took heart at the ad- 
 vance of Poniatofsky, and renewed their charge. 
 This double attack produced the most desperate 
 resistance, and individual acts of valour wor^iy 
 the brave Prince Avho posted them there. 
 
 The enemy at last gained the unfinished and un- 
 palisadoed fosse, and the fight became a contest 
 between man and man. Guns were overthrown : 
 the cavalry became intermixed, indiscriminately 
 with the infantry : every soldier met his enemy 
 breast to breast, and grappled together till one or 
 both of them sunk oppressed with wounds. Fresh 
 troops arrived to the support of each, and the po^ 
 sition was lost and retaken by Bragation's soldiers 
 four times. In the midst of this carnage night sep^ 
 arated the combatants, and left the bloody field in 
 the possession of the etiemy. 
 
 The column in reserve had not remained an un- 
 moved spectator of this noble defence ; but dis- 
 patching some of its troops, they made several 
 brilliant charges, whilst the infantry attacking part 
 of Poniatofsky's corps, completely succeeded in 
 forcing them back, and to leave eight pieces of 
 cannon in the hands of the Russians, besides ma- 
 ny prisoners. 
 
 On the enemy having succeeded against the re^ 
 doubt, Koutousoif ordered the left wing to fall 
 back nearer to the heights in order that their cover- 
 ing batteries might have more power in assisting 
 this division should it be attacked next day. 
 
 The Avhole of the 6th of September was spent 
 by both parties in making preparations for the ine- 
 vitable conflict ; preparations which appeared rather 
 meant for an extirpation than a battle. 
 
113 
 
 Napoleon, amidst his other dispositions, did not 
 fail to turn to advantage his recently acquired pos- 
 session of the redoubt in front of his enemy's left* 
 He covered the height on which it stood with ar- 
 tillery, and erected, during the night, two other 
 batteries opposite the Russian centre. These works 
 contained a hundred cannon in each. He also 
 formed batteries on his left, which presented a 
 range of four hundred guns ready 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 im- 
 plements, was more than equalled by the magni- 
 tude of the army with which it was supported* It 
 appeared 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 hig 
 adversary, which he rightly deemed the least protec- 
 ted of his line. In order to make the attack more 
 effectual, he brought the great body of his troops* 
 imder his best Generals, up to his right, for he was 
 well informed of the brave spirit he had to oppose 
 in Prince Bragation, the commander of the division 
 he so formidably 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 infan- 
 try, strengthened 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 thick-set 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 Smo- 
 lenzk road, by attacking the enemy on the right and 
 rear, should he endeavour to turn the Hussian left. 
 
 13 
 
114 
 
 While making lliese dispositions in one quartef, 
 this consuiiiraaie General attended equally 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 vi- 
 cinity, which was also connected with the fortified 
 ground and batteries that covered Bragation's army. 
 That Prince also received additional security from 
 the compJetion of another redoubt in his neighbour- 
 hood, oflhirty pieces of cannon. 
 
 The day was fast closing, when the veteran herOy 
 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 Smo- 
 lenzk, to precede him, borne by the priests of the 
 army. On its approach, every head was uncover- 
 ed, 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 tiie 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 individual. 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 overthrowing their 
 enemies. The feelings of the venerable Koutou- 
 soii' can scarcely be expressed. His brave heart 
 beat in true unison with those of his soldiers, and 
 he thus addressed them : 
 
 " PROTHET5S AND FELLOW SOLDIERS I 
 
 " Behold before you, in those sacred representa- 
 tions of the holy objects of our worship, an appeal 
 wdiich calls aloud upon lieaven to unite with man 
 against the tyrannic troubler of the world. Not 
 -cjosient with defacing the4mage of God, in the per- 
 
115 
 
 sons of millions of liis creatures ; this universal ty- 
 rant, this arch-rebel to all laws human and divine, 
 breaks into the sanctuary, pollutes it with blood, 
 overthroAvs its altars, tramples on its rites, and ex- 
 poses the very ark of the Lord, (consecrated in 
 these holy insignia of our church,) to all the profa- 
 nations of accident, of the elements, and of unsanct- 
 ified hands. Fear not then, but that the God whose 
 altars have been so insulted by the very Avorm 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 dy- 
 ing eyes. Soldiers ! Do your part. Think on 
 the burning sacrifice of your cities — think of your 
 wives, your children, 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 feal- 
 ty on the field of your 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 
 signal to be given, to realize on that spot his most 
 devoted 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 expecta- 
 tion, and arouse at once all the horrors of war. 
 
116 
 
 The French give this pieture of the opening of 
 the day. 
 
 " On the 7th at two o'clock in the morning, the 
 JEmperor Napoleon, surrounded by his Marshals, 
 appeared on the position taken up the evening be- 
 fore. It had then rained, but now the sun rose 
 without clouds. It is the sun of Austerlits ! cried 
 the Emperor ; although but September, it is cold as 
 I)ece7nber in Moravia ! 
 
 " The army received the omen. The drums 
 beat ; and the order of the day was issued in these 
 woixis : 
 
 **^ SOLDIERS ! 
 
 " Before you is the field you have so ardently 
 desired ! The victory depends upon you. It is 
 necessary to you. It will give you abundance, 
 good winter quarters, and a quick return to your 
 country. Conduct yourselves as when at Auster- 
 litz, at Friedland, at Yitepsk, at Smolenzk, and the 
 latest posterity will cite with pride your conduct on 
 this day. They will say. He rvas in that great 
 battle under the walls of Moscow /" 
 
 The cloudless sun, just described by Buonaparte, 
 soon became enveloped in thick vapours ; a cir- 
 cumstance 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 com- 
 mands ; and ready, at the signal, to obey them. 
 
 At four o'clock in the morning, the divisions un- 
 der Marshals Davoust and Prince Poniatofsky ad- 
 vanced, skirting the wood on which rested the left 
 of the Russian army. At six o'clock they com- 
 menced the attack, supported by seventy pieces of 
 
117 
 
 cannon. A discharge of musquetry, on both side?-, 
 {succeeded. They were rapidly repeated ; and 
 their vollies were soon accompanied with the loud 
 roaring of a heavy fire from the redoubt which the 
 French had gained the evening before. While the 
 battle was thus opened on the Russian left the di- 
 vision of Marshal Ney bore down in a solid column 
 upon the centre, covering his movements with the 
 active service of a battery of sixty guns. Beauhar- 
 nois, at the same time, made the battle general, by 
 closing upon the troops on the right, which occu- 
 pied Borodino. 
 
 Koutousoflf's line was firm, and well protected by 
 its strengthened heights. The plans of attack and 
 defence were simple ; and it was soon seen that the 
 day was to be won, more by undaunted courage 
 than skilful manoeuvre. Where the powers of the 
 head are equal in a contest, the victory must de- 
 pend 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 determi- 
 nation 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 
 additional pieces of artillery and a fresh division of 
 infantry, with several regiments of dragoons under 
 Count Calincourt and Murat. This new force rush- 
 ed on over the bodies of their fallen countrymen, 
 and did not allow themselves to be checked until 
 they had reached the very parapets of the Russian 
 works. Their vigorous onset overturned, with 
 fierce slaughter, every thing that opposed them, 
 and obliged Bragation to fall back nearer to the 
 second line of the army. 
 
118 
 
 Buonaparte, seeing the Russians compelled to 
 Ibis movement, determined to make it decisive of 
 the fortune 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 overpoweringly pushed by num- 
 bers, had taken off with his retiring troops. 
 
 KoutousofF, seeing his left so dangerously pres- 
 sed, 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 hu- 
 lans and cuirassieurs, 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 on- 
 ward in spite of the roar of death which met their 
 advancing steps. Again they were on the disputed 
 ground ; and the fortified line, 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 Touchkofi*, were ordei;ed to shew 
 themselves. These faithful patriots rushed from 
 their ambush to second their brothers in arms, 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 
 
119 
 
 French gave way ; and Napoleon bad tbe mortifica- 
 tion of beholding the choicest of his troops driven 
 from their late acqnired conquest, with immense 
 loss, and in great confusion and dismay. 
 
 Whilst this field of blood was exhibited from the 
 Russian left to the centre, Ihe right had its share 
 also of the horrors of war. Beauharnois, support- 
 ed by the division of Morand, had attempted to 
 turn it, by taking 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 sustaining a great loss, abandoned 
 the idea of renewing the attack. 
 
 This despair of the enemy with regard to the 
 Russian right enabled KoutousofF 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 artil- 
 lery 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 blaz- 
 ed in every direction. The sabres of forty thou- 
 sand dragoons met each other, and clashed in the 
 horrid gloom ; and the bristling points of countless 
 bayonets, bursting through the rolling vapour, strew- 
 ed the earth with heaps of slain. 
 
 Such was the scene for an extent of many wersts ! 
 and the dreadful contest continued without ces- 
 sation, 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 Russians the extent of the disput- 
 ed field. As they planted their night watches, they 
 found at every step full proof that hereafter the re- 
 
.120 
 
 nowned days of Preussich, Evlau, 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 
 terminated the lives of eighty thousand human be- 
 ings. Hitherto the annals of modern military 
 achievements have never detailed so terrible a 
 slaughter. Well might Buonaparte exclaim as he 
 abandoned the field, " Jamais on n'a vu peril champ 
 de bataille." 
 
 The loss on both sides was immense. And the 
 scene of triumph, even to the conquerors, present- 
 ed a tremendous spectacle. The ground, covered 
 with dead bodies of men and horses, scattered 
 arms, dismounted guns, and pieces of artillery left 
 to the victors, offered every where to the eye the 
 wreck of what might alone have composed a great 
 army. 
 
 While the veteran Koutousoff rejoiced in this 
 accession to the glory of his country, he had to re- 
 gret the expense at which it had been purchased. 
 Many excellent officers had fallen, and, in the fore- 
 most rank, the inestimable Prince Bragation. His 
 left leg iiad been completely shattered by a ball, in 
 one of the most critical junctures of the battle ; 
 and, tiiough mortally wounded, like our own im- 
 mortal Wolfe, he refused to be removed from the 
 field until victory was declared for the great cause 
 in which he shed his blood. With this gallant 
 Prince fell other brave spirits worthy to accompa- 
 ny his to paradise ; and, among the most conspicu- 
 ous in that day's contest, were the Lieutenant- 
 Generals Touchkoff, Garchikoff, and Konovitzen. 
 
 In the number of dangerously, though not mor- 
 tally, wounded, were found Major-Oenerals Back- 
 nietioff^ Kretoff, and Rajefsky, whose respective 
 actions claimed the gratitude of their country. 
 Major-General Count Yorronzoff also, received a 
 severe bayonet wound whilst intrepidly leading 
 forward a battalion of grenadiers to the charge. 
 
121 
 
 A great number of officers of inferior 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 thousand 
 cartridges from his guns ; and if Koutousoff 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. 
 
 Buonap&rte lost amongst his killed, tbe Generals 
 Calincourt and Montbrun. Twelve other Generals 
 were dangerously wounded ; and one left a prison- 
 er in the hands of the Russians, with five thousand 
 soldiers, and thirty pieces of cannon in his train ! 
 
 The details given by the enemy, of this battle, 
 are, as usual, fraught with incorrectness and false- 
 hood. After being obliged to leave the field, and 
 pursue a rapid retreat without once halting, till he 
 had reached the distance of twelve wersts from the 
 victorious Koutousofi*, 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 
 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 
 commission 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 
 
 16 
 
122 
 
 success at this moment ; and while the French fled 
 and the Cossacs pmsiied, KoutousofF employed 
 himself in repairing the losses of his army, and re- 
 warding with his praise the valour of its heroes. 
 
 The general glory of the day, 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 
 Alexander. 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 Imperial family were at their devotions 
 in the Great Cathedral. 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 public- 
 ly declared, the Te Deum was again chaunted, but 
 every voice now united in the strain which gave 
 glory to God who had fought for Russia and cov- 
 ered her people with immortal honours. 
 
 The gi'acious disposition of the Emperor was not 
 satisfied with barely expressing to the Commander- 
 in-chief his admiration of the prowess of the Rus- 
 sian patriots on the day of Borodino ; but he com- 
 manded that his thanks should be given to the 
 whole army ; that badges of merit, to be an evi- 
 dence to future generations of the dauntless brave- 
 ry 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 Emper<^ addressed 
 the most affectionate acknowledgments, of his 
 glorious perseverance and consummate skill, in de- 
 feating an enemy who had hitherto deemed himself 
 above all human power. The Imperial Alexander 
 added to these marks of honour, the rank of Fieid- 
 marshal to Prince Koutousoff; with the addition of 
 
123 
 
 a hundred tlioiisand rubles ; anid to eacii private 
 soldier who had shared in the glories of that day, 
 he gave a largess of live roubles. 
 
 Thus were they rewarded who survived the hard- 
 fouglit field. But for them w^ho, with the brave 
 Bragation, had laid dov>^n their laurelled heads in 
 the dust of conquest and of death ; for them, the 
 tears of the Emperor flowed ; and with him thena- 
 tion wept, chastening their joy in victory, with the 
 regrets due to the heroes wdio had given their lives 
 for its purchase. 
 
 <jREAT as was the advantage gained by the Kus- 
 sian arms in the field of Borodino, their Comman- 
 der-in-chief only regarded it as the opening of a 
 long day of military labours ; and though he al- 
 lowed his troops to refresh themselves during the 
 intervals of toil, he saw the hour of rest was far dis- 
 tant, 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 moment when 
 their ranks would be restored to suflScient strength 
 to overthrow the new^ bodies of the enemy which 
 now threatened to approach their lines. 
 
 Report informed Koutousoff that Napoleon had 
 been reinforced with ten battalions of infantry, ma- 
 ny regiments of cavalry, several hundred carts of 
 ammunition, and much artillery. The most formida- 
 ble part of this army was directing its march towards 
 the position of the Russian Commander-in-chief, 
 wkile other detachments were filing off to its left to 
 Zwenigorode, leading to Moscow.. The Russian 
 parties in advance brought this intelligence ; and 
 Koutousoff, not having yet received the reinforce- 
 ments he expected from Toula and Kolouga, fore- 
 bore, to press forward with an open front to check 
 
124 
 
 the French ; who he heard were moving towards 
 the road that crosses the country to Veria and Bo- 
 rosk. To prevent these movements hemming in 
 his flanks, he thought it well to retire on the Mos- 
 cow road ; and giving the necessary commands to 
 his victorious Russians, they marched on in excel- 
 lent order towards their ancient capital. Disdain- 
 ful of a moment's repose while aught was yet to be 
 done, they passed direct tlirough 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 be- 
 came 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 KoutousofT as 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 affairs ; but none withdrew their 
 confidence in the integrity of the Commander-in- 
 chief. Steady in one principle of action, he gave 
 this explanation to his Emperor of a movement, 
 which divided the empire between astonishment 
 and admiration, 
 
 " Sire ! 
 " After the hard-fought day, and glorious victo- 
 ry of the 26th of August, O, S. (7th September, 
 JN[. S.) I judged it necessary to quit my position 
 near Borodino. Some of my reasons for making 
 this movement I have already had the honour of 
 communicating to your Imperial Majesty ; and I 
 shall now add another, in the comparatively en- 
 feebled state of the army after a battle in which 
 every individual contended with the brave resolu- 
 tion of conquering or of dying. Many fell in the 
 conflict ; and the wounds and fatigues of tbe sur* 
 
125 
 
 vivors, though embalmed with the laurels of victo- 
 ry, 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. Dm'ing 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 Borodino, and my expected rein- 
 forcements not having come up, I still avoided a 
 general attack, and proceeded on my way. 
 
 " At this time I learnt that the enemy had sent 
 on two strong columns of fresh troops, the one by 
 the road to Borosk, and the other by that of Zwe- 
 nigorode 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 ex- 
 posure of my brave troops to the disgrace of an 
 overthrow. The risque, on my part, would have 
 been unpardonable ; for though the reinforced ar- 
 my of Napoleon would now count more than dou- 
 ble 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 appaling feeling ! Besides, 
 to be beaten before the walls of Moscow, would 
 expose the city to the lawless entrance of the trium- 
 phant 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 antici- 
 pated must accrue from the relative state of the 
 two armies ; I informed them of the alternative, be- 
 tween loyalty to their country and vassalage to the 
 invader, which had been decided on in case of ex- 
 tremity by the noble inhabitants of the ancient city 
 of the Tzars. I offered my opinion on these facts. 
 Some of my Generals dissented from me ; but most 
 agreed with my advice ; and we determined to allow 
 the enemy to enter Moscow I 
 
126 
 
 " Aware of the expediency of this measure, all 
 expedition bad 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 Moscow was left a mere desart of walls and 
 houses, without 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 Moscoav, there is the empire of Russia. 
 Hence, I boldly assure your most Gracious Majes- 
 ty, 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 
 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 immolatioa 
 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 
 storehouse of our resources, the abundant provin- 
 ces of the empire, which furnish our armies with 
 their flocks and their harvests. Had I taken any 
 other position, or persisted in maintaining Moscow, 
 I must have abandoned these provinces to the ene- 
 my, and the consequence would have been the de- 
 struction of my army and the loss of the empire. 
 
 " Now, I hold an unmolested communication with 
 the armies of Tormozoff and Tchichagoff ; 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 Smoienzk to Moscow. By this advantage I 
 cut off every succour he may have in his rear ; and. 
 
127 
 
 hope to compel him in the end to quit the capital, 
 and to humble the proud direction of his plans. 
 
 " Meanwhile, General YinRingorode has receiv- 
 ed my orders to occupy Twer ; and at the same time 
 to place a regiment of Cossacs on the road leading 
 to Yarasloff, to protect the inhabitants of that city 
 from the incursions of the enemy's flying parties. 
 For myself, stationed, as I before described, be- 
 tween the enemy and the fertile provinces, and at 
 a short distance from Moscow, I watch his move- 
 ments, 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 cap- 
 ital of the Tzars. Its ruins will be repaired, and 
 the glory of the empire brightened by the very at- 
 tempts that have been made to extinguish its exis- 
 tence. 
 
 " Dated from the village of Gilino, Sept. 4tb, O. S. 1812. 
 
 Sept. 16th, N. S. 1812." 
 
 This communication made the plans of the Com- 
 mander-in-chief clear to the Emperor. The peo- 
 ple at large regarded the present measures with va- 
 rious sentiments. Those wdio entered into the 
 veteran's councils admired his consummate skill as 
 a General ; and those who knew them not, con- 
 fiding in his character, awaited with wondering sus- 
 pense the result of movements so far beyond their 
 comprehension. 
 
 The information that Moscow was in the pos- 
 session of the enemy, at its first report certainly 
 struck horror into every breast. There is a princi- 
 ple of respect, a kind of filial attachment, which 
 tlie Russian feels for all that is connected with his 
 ancestors. To see, therefore, the most venerable 
 of their cities, the capital of the Tzars, and the 
 residence of the descendants of their oldest princes ; 
 
128 
 
 to see this place in the hands ot a foreign power, 
 was more than the people could bear with patience. 
 They felt indignation, not despair, at the usurpa- 
 tion : 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 
 themselves 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 
 ovYn soul, ordered the following declaration to be 
 distiibuted through the empire : 
 
 " Moscow was entered by the enemy on the 3d 
 of September, O. S. (the 15th, N. S.) At this in- 
 telligence it might 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 be- 
 come theirs in consequence of their having destroy- 
 ed our armies. The Commander-in-chief, in con- 
 cert with the most distinguished of our Generals, 
 has deemed it wisest to bend for a moment to ne- 
 cessity. He recoils, only to give additional 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. 
 
 " 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 oiTers a tomb, rather than a dwelling 
 place, to the ruthless invader, who wauld there plant 
 a new throne on the ruins of the empire. 
 
129 
 
 " 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 on his 
 own terms. But the expectation is fallacious. He 
 finds in Moscow, not only no means for domina- 
 tion, but no means for existence. Our forces, al-^ 
 ready surrounding Moscow, and to which every day 
 is brmging accession, will occupy all the roads> and 
 destroy every detachment the enemy may send 
 forth in search of provisions. Thus will he be fa- 
 tally convinced of his error in calculating that the 
 possession of Moscow w^ould be the conquest of 
 the empire ; and necessity Avill at last oblige him 
 to fly from famine^ through the closing ranks of our 
 intrepid army. 
 
 " Behold the state of the etiemVi He has en^ 
 tered Russia at the head of an army of three hun^ 
 dred thousand men. But whence do they come ? 
 Have they any natural union with his aggrandise^ 
 ment 1 No ; the greater number of them are of 
 different nations who serve him, not from personal 
 attachment^ not for the honour of their native landj 
 but from a base and shameful fear* The disor- 
 ganizing principle, in such a mixture of people, 
 has been already proved* One half of the inva- 
 der's army, thus made up of troops that have no 
 natural bond of union, has been destroyed ; some 
 part, by the valour of our soldiers ; another, by 
 desertion, sickness, and famine ; and, the misera- 
 ble remainder is in 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 conquer- 
 or : 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 pa- 
 ternal throne of a sovereign, who stretches over 
 
 17 
 
130 
 
 her the guardian arms of affection : she is not aC' 
 customed to the yoke of oppression : she will not 
 endure subjection to a foreign power. She will 
 neyer surrender the treasure of her laws, her reli- 
 gion, and her independence ; and we will shed all 
 oUr blood in their defence ! This principle is ar- 
 dent and universal ; and is manifested in the prompt 
 and voluntary organization of the people under the 
 sacred banner of patriotism. Protected by such an 
 aegis, who is it that yields to degrading apprehen- 
 sion ? Is there an individual in the empire so ab- 
 ject as to despond, when vengeance is breathed by 
 every order of the state ? When the enemy, de- 
 prived of all his resources, and exhausting his 
 strengtli 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 to intercept the arrival of succours an4 
 to prevent his escape ? Is this an object of alarm 
 to any true-born Russian ? When Spain has brok- 
 en her bonds, and advances to threaten Ihe integri- 
 ty of the French empire ? When the greatest part 
 of Europe, degraded and despoiled by the French 
 Buler, serves him with a revolting heart, and fix- 
 ing 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 bound- 
 less ambition ! When the oppressed world looks 
 to us for ail 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 na- 
 tions in the cause of freedom and of virtue. 
 
 " Surely the afHictions of tlie human race have at 
 length reached their utmost point I We have only 
 to look round us on this spot, to behold the calami- 
 ties of war, and the cruelties of ambition in theii* 
 estremest horrors. But we brave them for our lib- 
 erties ; we brave them for mankind. We feel the 
 blessed cor-sciousness of actinsf risfht, and that im- 
 
13i 
 
 mortal honour must be the meed of a nation wiio^ 
 by endurini^ the evils of a ruthless war and deter- 
 minately resisting their perpetrator, compels a du- 
 rable peace, not only for itself, but for the unhap- 
 py countries the tyrant had forced to fight in his 
 cause ! It is noble, it is worthy of 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 upon thy sacred church ! Preserve the 
 strength and constancy of thy people ! May they 
 triumph over their adversary and thine ! May they 
 be instruments in thy hand for his destruction I 
 and, in rescuing themselves, may they rescue the 
 liberty and the independence 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 insatia- 
 ble ambition hurried him from West to East, from 
 South to North, to trample on the rights of sove- 
 reigns, and to make the liberties of every people 
 his prey. Tbe extended territories of Russia, the 
 capital of her vast empire, excited his avidity ; 
 and spreading desolation in his path, he entered the 
 city of the Tzars. The palaces and the people at 
 once disappeared ; and the scene became one spec- 
 tacle of murder, devastation, and famine. 
 
 From the day on which his Imperial Majesty 
 had visited the ancient seat of his empire, to sum- 
 mon, from the throne of his ancestors, his subjects 
 to give their utmost support against the imparal- 
 
132 
 
 leled aggressions of this war. Count Rastapchin, 
 the military governor of the city, was unremitting 
 in his labours to prepare for the worst. He armed 
 and organized every class of individuals, and is- 
 sued timely orders for the removal of every thing 
 in the capital that might be an acceptable spoil to 
 the enemy. The archieves of the empire and the 
 nobility, the treasures of the Kremlin, and of the 
 public institutions, were taken to places of safety. 
 He likewise recommended to the princes, and oth- 
 (Or 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 enemy, he might derive no advantage from his 
 conquest, 
 
 The destruction of Smolenzk had filled many of 
 the inhabitants of Moscow with apprehensions for 
 the late of the objects dearest to them ; and they 
 lost no time in dispatching their wives and families 
 to distant provinces, while they themselves remain- 
 ed, determined to stand by the tombs of their fa- 
 thers to the last gasp of their lives. Count Ras- 
 tapchin, whose intrepidity and personal sacrifices 
 reflect so much honour on his patriotism, left no- 
 thing unsaid, or example untried, that might im- 
 Eart confidence to these disinterested men. While 
 e frankly acknowledged the situation in which the 
 city stood, he declared there was no cause for im- 
 mediate apprehension ; but he pledged himself that 
 should it be immediately endangered, he would 
 lose not a moment in giving full intimation to the 
 inhabitants. 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 sove- 
 reign, 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 
 Porogobouche, Wiazma, and Gchatz, and was 
 
133 
 
 even heard of on their Avay to Mojaisk. The effect 
 of this intelligence, in spite of the precautionary 
 encouragements of Rastapchin, infused an alarm- 
 ing panic into the women, and weaker characters 
 amongst the people of Moscow. A thousand ex- 
 aggerated reports were spread abroad, a thousand 
 idle stories were invented to increase the dismay of 
 the fearful ; which at last became so dangerous as 
 to demand a scrutiny ; and then it was discovered 
 that, notwithstanding the vigilance of the police, a 
 band of secret emissaries from the invader had in- 
 sinuated themselves into the circles of tlie capital, 
 and were the primary sources of these appalling 
 fictions. The traitors were seized, and sent to re- 
 pent of their treachery in Siberia ; while the peo- 
 ple, who had been terrified by their representa- 
 tions, either withdrew to distant cities, or reposed 
 themselves on the word of the Governor, to ac- 
 quaint them whenever danger should really ap- 
 proach. 
 
 The happy appointment of Prince Koutousoff* 
 to be Commander-in-chief, supported the encoura- 
 ging promises of Rastapchin, and awakened double 
 confidence in the people. 
 
 The battle of Borodino was fought and the vic- 
 tory 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 pre- 
 servation of the empire depended on one great de- 
 cision. The onward path, in the judgment of most 
 opinions, lay in maintaining the possession of Mos- 
 cow. Koutousoff* found few to coincide with his 
 alternative ; but he had the magnanimity to throw 
 his whole reputation, the renown of seventy years, 
 into the scale of his country ; and he resolved on 
 sacrificing the capital of the Tzars, to the preser- 
 vation of their empire. 
 
 Dispatches to this effect were sent to Count Ras- 
 tapchin. 
 
 The fatal news spread through the whole town. 
 
134 
 
 JS^othing can paint the confusion and distressing 
 scenes which ensued. The houses echoed with 
 shrieks and groans. Mothers and wives were sepa- 
 rating themselves from their sons and husbands, 
 who were determined to follow the steps of their 
 Governor, or to abide in their native city while one 
 stone remained on another. Children were weep- 
 ing 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 erow<J- 
 ed with carts and carriages of all descriptions, fil- 
 led with old and young ; some lying prostrate, in 
 insensibility after the struggles of separation ; 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 means of seeking safety, w^ere compelled 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 
 multitudes 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 com- 
 passionate charity of the neighbouring provinces. 
 Many turned on their steps ; some women, clinging 
 to the objects of their tenderest vows, found it im- 
 possible to desert the spot which they staid to de- 
 fend ; and many old men tottered back to their pa- 
 ternal sheds, exclaiming, " where we Avere 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 in- 
 habitants 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 signal, and, at the head of forty thou-' 
 sand 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, 
 
135 
 
 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, de- 
 termined to expire in the flames of the city, rather 
 than behold its sacred towers become the bulwarks 
 of the assassins who had desolated their homes and 
 murdered their peace. 
 
 On the 14th of September at mid*day, the enemy 
 appeared before the walls of Moscow. His ad- 
 vanced guard, under the command of Murat and 
 Beauharnois, 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, des- 
 perately 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 perpetra- 
 ted, when the pyres of loyalty were lighted, and 
 Moscow appeared at different quarters in flames. 
 The French troops, as they poured into the devo- 
 ted city, had spread themselves in every direction 
 in search of plunder ; 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 pollution, would set fire to 
 their place of refuge, and find a surer asylum in 
 its flames. 
 
 The streets, the houses, the cellars, flowed w^ith 
 blood, and Avere filled v/ith 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 ratberihe fiend of hell, 
 gluttening himself in the commig^n of every hor- 
 rible crime. The fires lit by me wantonness of 
 these marauders, mingled with the burning sacrifi- 
 ces of the expiring people ; and the ruffians passed 
 like demons through the flames, sacking private 
 
136 
 
 dwellings, and public repositories, and when they 
 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 disturbed in 
 search of hidden treasures. 
 
 Whilst these enormities were committing, Buo- 
 naparte remained in the barrier leading to the Smo- 
 lenzk road, impatiently awaiting the circumstance 
 which he had determined should precede his trium- 
 phant entry into Moscow\ He deferred that pomp- 
 ous ceremony until the autJiorities of the city should 
 arrive in deputation to invite his entrance ! He 
 looked again and again towards its walls ; all seem-' 
 ed 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 deputation. The General 
 proceeded on his errand ; and enquiring his w ay 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 made his guide 
 lead him to every place where he might have any 
 expectation of meeting a public functionary ; but 
 the search was in vain. He returned to Napoleon 
 w^iihthe information, that no legal authorities re- 
 mained in Moscow ; that the city was already a 
 desart, and w^ould soon be a heap of ruins. This 
 was the first time that the tyrant's expectations had 
 been disappointed in the homage he anticipated 
 fi'om a captive city. No farce of a deputation, no 
 keys presented, no plaudits of the moderation of 
 the conqueror, w^ere offered to the advancing Ceesar ! 
 Not one shadow of respect presented itself, wiorthy 
 a bulletin or a Moniteur ! However the invader of 
 
137 
 
 Russia would not quite relinquish his preposterous 
 fiopes. He flattered himself that on the next day 
 the resident foreigners at least, would collect some 
 of the terrified natives, and imiting 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 pal- 
 ace, 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 disappoint- 
 ment, he at last gave up the expectation ; 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 pa- 
 rade with which he usually gratified the pride of 
 his army, he took possession of the capital of the 
 ■Tzars ! The feelings attending the accomplisiiment 
 of this long-anticipated enterprise, w^ere like those 
 of Satan on the destruction of Paradise. The fiend 
 was received with hisses by his damned crew ; and. 
 the desolator of Russia found no otlier acclaim, 
 €ven from his own followers, than the shrieks of 
 the unhappy victims they were immolating to their 
 fury. 
 
 He repaired to the Kremlin ; and taking posses- 
 sion of the great fortress of the empire, with every 
 vengeful passion threatening from his countenance, 
 he called around his most confidential officers, and 
 =expr€ssed to them his indignation at the manner he 
 had been received. These base satelites, taking 
 their tone from his rage, enlarged on the opposition 
 his soldiers had to quell in the town ; and pronoun- 
 ced the noble contempt with which the few remain- 
 ing inhabitants had treated their master, as an af- 
 front that demanded the most exemplary punish- 
 ment. 
 
 Scarcely had Napoleon arrived in the palace of 
 the Tzarg^ when, in the midst of his bloody cojnsul- 
 
 18 
 
138 
 
 tation, a fire was announced to have broken out 
 close to its walls, in the very Kremlin. His fury 
 now kn€w no boimds. 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 pres- 
 eoce of the tyrant, on the ground near the cathe- 
 dral which fronts tlie palace. 
 
 They were interrogated respecting the deed, and 
 who had prompted them to it. They were prom- 
 ised life, and an absolute pardon from all punish- 
 ment, if they would confess to these questions, and 
 swear allegiance to Napoleon. A stern silence was 
 observed by all. Again and again they were in- 
 terrogated ; and still, from them, not a word was 
 i^poken. 
 
 The tyrant's patience was exhausted ; and find- 
 ing 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 ; 
 bill he listened with exultation to the firing of the 
 imndred balls which, successively, deprived the 
 daimlless band of existence. 
 
 This cruel massacre soon became knawn to the 
 wretched remains of the inhabitants ; and, while 
 detestation of the act doubly envenomed their har 
 tred of Napoleon, they repeated their oaths soon- 
 er 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 ojf 
 
139 
 
 ^ch- once happy dwellings. During the night they 
 ^ometimes met torepledge their faith to each oth- 
 €r ; but in the day, scaicely a native of the city 
 was to be seen. 
 
 Notwithstanding the terrific example which the 
 French leader had made of the hundred Musco- 
 vites whom he supposed had set fire to the Krem- 
 lin, he yet feared a repetition of the attempt. from 
 others of the people ; and to take every precau- 
 tion for his security, he ordered all the gates to be 
 kept close shut, with the single exception of that 
 which opens to Nicolisky street, and by which no 
 one should enter but the ofHcers highest in his con- 
 fidence. Thus did the dread of a few loyal spirits, 
 (too few to emerge from their secret hiding places !) 
 hold tlie invader of their country a prisoner, even 
 in the centre of his vaunted conquests ! Do we 
 not in this, see that there are times in which even 
 the most successful guilt will stand in awe of vir- 
 tue ? 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 di- 
 rection, and with its devouring flames, augmented 
 the horrors of night. The soldiers, regardless of 
 order or discipline, and instigated by the example 
 of too many of their officers, seized every occasion 
 v>'hich 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 posses- 
 sing Moscow, by the utter consumption of the city. 
 To avert this blow to his pride, he commanded his 
 Generals to leave no means untried to extinguish 
 the thousand fires by which he was enveloped. His 
 orders were sedulously obeyed ; but it was not un- 
 til the 20th of the month that the fierceness of the 
 flames ceased to rasre. 
 
140 
 
 The pklure, drawn of the coiiimeilcement of 
 these calamities, by a sharer in them, and one who 
 was an eye-witness of their horrors, is a faithful 
 representation, and I will subjoin it. 
 
 " From the night of yesterday (September 14th) 
 until that of the 19th, the fire blazed in all quar- 
 ters. It broke out near the Foundling Hospital, 
 and then, almost immediately, on the side of the. 
 city close to the stone bridge, and in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the place w^hich the king of Naples 
 selected for his residence. A third, and more ex- 
 tensive 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 destruction. The 
 conviction that their losses would be deprivati6n to 
 the enemy also ; that in the fiiames perished bis 
 most important resources ; was the trancjuilizer of 
 every regret. New fires broke forth wherever the 
 French soldiers directed their ruthless steps. Wo- 
 men cast themselves into the flames to escape viola* 
 tion ; and the blood of the brave Muscovite was 
 Vainly shed to extinguish fires kindled by his patri- 
 ot hands. 
 
 " On the morning of the third day after the en- 
 trance of these robbers, a violent wind arose, and 
 then indeed 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 covered with houses, was one sea of fire ; 
 and the sky was hidden from our eyes by the tre- 
 mendous volumes of smoke which r-olled over the 
 city, 
 
 ♦' Direful asr was this calamity, though it even 
 menaced the lives of our destroyers, yet they felt 
 no pity, not a touch of remorse came near their ob- 
 durate hearts. Still they pursued the search of 
 
141 
 
 plunder ; still they heaped crime upon crime ; and^ 
 deepened, with every act of cruelty, the tremen-: 
 dous horrors of the scene. 
 
 " Surely the Almighty Judge, in his utmost 
 wrath, never before presented so awful a spectacle 
 to mankind ! 
 
 " Through billows of fire, upon every elevated 
 spot, hundreds of the blood-thii'sty robbers were 
 seen chasing their unhappy victims to nameless 
 outrages, and to more welcome death. Where was 
 there an asylum for suffering human nature ? 
 Where for feeble age sinking from the impending 
 torture ? Where for the bleeding limbs of the 
 young patriot ? Where for the frantic maid flying 
 from the grasp of the lawless ruffian ? There wag 
 no refuge on earth ; and guilt, for a time, had it^ 
 triumph. Napoleon, from the windows 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 swel^ 
 Jing and sinking, and urging its waves towards him, 
 he must assuredly have been visited by some 
 thoughts to remind him that he was a vulnerable 
 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 con- 
 science has spoken to him, if ever it has made itself 
 heard, it was in one of these dreadful nights. The 
 flames of Moscow, 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 ne- 
 cessity of preserving some place of shelter for his 
 followers during the approaching inclement season ; 
 and to secure what had escaped the united devasta- 
 tion of sacrifice and of rapine, he attempted to in- 
 stitute a civil authority and a police. He who had 
 unyoked the demons of Ucentiousoess and robbery^ 
 
142 
 
 now felt alarm lest 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 aggres- 
 sion on others. 
 
 After making several ineffectual efforts, some- 
 times menacing, and at other times alluring by 
 promises, he at length persuaded certain individu- 
 als to take on them so desperate a duty, and to form 
 themselves into a municipal body. Monsieur Les- 
 seps, who had once been the French Consul-general 
 at Saint Petersburgb, (and whose exertions deserv- 
 ed the credit of having gained this point) was ap- 
 pointed Intendant of the Province of IVL icow. 
 Active as were the officers of this necessary au- 
 thority, it was so novel a thing that the objects of 
 it hardly acknoAvledged its power ; and robbery 
 and murder continued to stalk abroad with as dar- 
 ing fronts as ever. Even these new magistrates, as 
 they went about in discharge of their offices, were 
 affi'onted, 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 tJie field of pillage. NAPOLEON 
 HAD PROMISED THEM THE TREASURES 
 OF MOSCOW! 
 
 After the capture of Smolenzk, and the disap- 
 pointment sustained there by the removal of its 
 riches. Napoleon had decided on making an at- 
 tempt 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 unsatisfied 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 abundance, while his 
 soldiers were imbibing new strength from its full 
 stores, he would dictate terms of peace to the Em- 
 
143 
 
 peror 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 follow^ers :~~" Behold 
 the end of your campaign ! Its gold, and its plen- 
 ty, are yours." 
 
 It was to these promises he owed his present em- 
 barrassment. How could he chastise the ravages 
 to Avhich he had given his license ? and how could 
 he hope to conciliate any part of a people whose fel- 
 low-citizens he abandoned to the most wanton de- 
 struction ? To extirpate is not to conquer. And 
 the services of the conquered would be too useful 
 to him in his proposed advances to the subjugation 
 of the empire, to allow him to witness the calami- 
 ties of Moscow without 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 publishing an apology for mil- 
 itary robbery ! This manoeuvre produced no other 
 effect than to develops to all parties the convenient 
 political morality of its author. 
 
 The fire was at last extinguished ; but the w^orlc 
 of desolation still continued in the sacking of the 
 place, committing violences in the streets, and defy- 
 ing the civil authorities. To oppose this insubor- 
 dination. Napoleon had resort to placards and pro- 
 clamations ; and finding them despised, he w^ent 
 so far as to have two or three of the most atrocious 
 offenders shot. When even this small show of jus- 
 tice appeared amongst their enemies, some few of 
 the poor inhabitants, perishing 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 remain- 
 ed 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 
 
144 
 
 bodies, and the carcases of dead borsef . 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- 
 tnains of their wives and daughters ! Others rushed 
 wildly from their coverts, demanding something to 
 appease the cravings of famishing nature ! And 
 isome exhausted by want and misery, without a mur- 
 mur, or turning even an eye of supplication to their 
 oppressors, fell extended on the earth, expiring on 
 the native soil to which they had devoted their ex- 
 ist ent«. 
 
 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 injury 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 Mos- 
 cow, may be summed up in a few reconnoitering 
 shirmishes, and two or three abortive attempts to 
 procure provisions. 
 
 To haVe a clear apprehension of the succeeding 
 transactions of the campaign, it will be necessary to 
 recapitulate, en train, a few circumstances alrejldy 
 noticed. 
 
 After the battle of Borodino, Prince KoutousofT 
 continued his march from the scene of his victory 
 without any molestation ; and on the 13th of Sep- 
 tember 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 ad- 
 dressed from Gilino to his Imperial Majesty. 
 
 Having balanced every sacrifice with its coitcs- 
 ponding advantage, and settled all preliminaries to 
 meet the necessity of abandoning the metropolis^ 
 
145 
 
 early in the morning of the 14th he parted from its 
 gallant Governor, the magnanimous Rastapchin, 
 and marched through the city to the barrier of Ka- 
 lumna. He passed that boundary, and by affecting 
 certain dispositions amused tiie enemy, whilst in 
 reality he took up the ground he had predetermin- 
 ed to occupy to the southward of the town. 
 
 According to the arrangement between the Com- 
 mander-in-chief and the Governor of Moscow, be- 
 fore the French approached the city the whole of 
 the sick and wounded, who were able to bear mo- 
 tion, were taken away and carried to places of safe- 
 ty. Amongst these involuntary fugitives, was the 
 brave and ever-to-be-lamented Prince Bragation. 
 He died as he had lived, amidst the glory of his 
 actions, and was buried in the way to Yarrasjaff 
 with every mark of honour due to his virtues. Gal- 
 lant and amiable Bragation ! What has been said 
 of the heroic Bayard may as truly be affirmed of 
 thee. " Thou wert without fear or reproach !" 
 
 After the Russian army had made two move- 
 ments 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 or- 
 ders to follow the direction of the main airmy ; 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 manoeuvre had 
 the desired effect ; for the French believing these 
 Cossacs were the covering parties of the rear-guard, 
 dispatched a formidable force towards them ; and 
 they conducted themselves with such ability and 
 resolution, that the movements of the main army 
 were completely concealed, and the enemy so de- 
 ceived by their demonstrations, that he directed 
 his attention to no other point. Bo ably was this 
 
 19 
 
146 
 
 feint executed, that it lasted for several days, and 
 allowed the Commander-in-chief to pass without 
 the smallest disturbance, to his selected position 
 tipon the ancient road leading to Kaloiiga. 
 
 He arrived on this commanding line on the 23d, 
 and stationed his head-qiiarters at the village of 
 Krasnoy-Prdcra. By this position, his right stretch- 
 ed across the T&ula road ; his left, beyond the 
 Kalotiga new road ; and his centre occupied the old 
 i^oad. This arrangement planted a bulwark of in- 
 Tincible patriots between the richest Russian prov- 
 inces and the enemy ; shutting him completely, out 
 from their abundant fields and oppulent cities. 
 The Orel also, hy this admirable position, was bar- 
 ted from him ; and every long-cherished hope of 
 drawing suppliesffom that quarter, he was obliged 
 now to abandon. 
 
 Besides these judicious stiitions for his main ar^ 
 my, Koutousoff detached a large body of troops 
 under Major-General Dochtorotf, towards Moja- 
 rsk, to act on the rear of the French. He also 
 sent several corps of Cosi5acs and hUssars to inter- 
 cept the reinforcements and convoys that might be 
 on their way to join the enemy in Moscow, Thus 
 were the dillerent divisions of the Russian army 
 appointed at this awful crisis of the empire ; and 
 in the trying hour, happy were those whose cour- 
 age was jfiit to meet death alone. Agonies more 
 severe than the most torturing deaths, did they en- 
 dure, 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 n>ovement of Koutousoff, is particularly curi- 
 ous ; not for its military view of the matter, but 
 from the tarn which the writer wishes to give to tlie 
 demeanor of the Russian army on witnessing the 
 conflasralion of their ancient metropolis. 
 
147 
 
 •* The Russian army," observes this jotirnallst, 
 ** on evacuating the Kalomna road, made a tour of 
 half the city, at a distance of six worsts. The 
 wind setting in this direction, drove volumes of fire 
 and smoke tipon them. Our niarchi a Russian of- 
 ficer is reported to have said, jvas a march of 
 gloom J of smoke and of rdigioii. Dismay filled 
 €very breast; and we hecmnt so penttraied with lior^ 
 ror, both officers and men, that the most profound 
 nkfice reigned throughout the army, a silence as if 
 all were at prayer. ^^ 
 
 If this remark were ever . made, out of the pa- 
 ges 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 objects 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 
 Moscow. There perished the homes of their fa- 
 thers, the endearments of domestic love ; ^11 that 
 is precious to the parent, to the husband, and to 
 the friend ! Can men have hearts and mistake the 
 cause of the profound silence of the Russian sol* 
 diers, as they moved on and beheld this scene ? 
 Where is the superstition, (for this report would 
 Bo insinuate of religion !) of breathing a prayer at 
 such a moment ?j In beholding this demoniac proof 
 of man's ambitious enmity against man, where cap 
 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 mi- 
 |)erstitious gloom, then occupied the minds of the 
 Russian army : and, while their prayers called on 
 Heaven to pity the devoted city, they could hardly 
 fail from adding a. cry for retribution "^^ on the heads 
 of W\^ first authors of all these miseries." 
 
 The fall of Moscow, as the veteran Commandej- 
 jn-cliief ^xpre?9ed himself, was not that of the eonn- 
 
148 
 
 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 ex- 
 ists in ourselves !" The Imperial Alexander, wor- 
 thy of commanding such a people, sympathized 
 with their enthusiasm; and seeing the salvation of 
 the state in their heroic faith, reiterated the senti- 
 ment, " 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 in- 
 vader was in a state of blockade. Every hand was 
 raised against him, every device put in execution 
 to reduce him to extremity. Thousands of the 
 brave men left their ploughs to rangh. 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 them- 
 selves over the roads and by-ways, the woods and 
 the ravines, hunted out the foraging parties of the 
 enemy with the most deadly diligence and revenge. 
 Hordes of troops were continually arriving from 
 the foot of the Caucasus, and from the shores of 
 the Caspian. The farthest dominions of the empire 
 pressed forward their sons to avenge the ruin of the 
 Imperial City, and to convince its desolaters that 
 Alexander reigned in the hearts of all his people. 
 Bashkirs, Calmucs, and Tartars, crowded from the 
 east and the south to swell the glorious host destin- 
 ed to rid the empire of its proud invaders. 
 
 The Cossacs of the Don, not satisfied with the 
 proofs of loyalty they were already giving in the 
 field under the brave Hetman, had prepared an ar- 
 mament 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 begin the contest) were ready to 
 march at a few hours' notice. Six pieces of flying 
 artillery were to accompany them to the field. 
 
149 
 
 Independent of this force, not only raised but 
 equipped, on the banks of their native river, ano- 
 ther was to be formed in the same quarter under 
 the direction of the nobility of No vogorode. They 
 presented them with fifteen hundred horses ; and 
 the Cossac merchants, residing in that city, made 
 a subscription amongst themselves, amounting to 
 ninety-three thousand six hundred roubles, to fur- 
 nish a:rms for their brave countrymen. In fact, but 
 one feeling seemed to animate the souls of every 
 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, so concentrated a spirit of patriotism. 
 
 The French army, after having lost sight of the 
 Russian force, (a body of one hundred and fifty 
 thousand men !) for many days, at length, to their 
 astonishment, found it close to their rear; and 
 made the discovery at the very time when their 
 advanced parties were rambling about, at a con- 
 siderable distance^ in search of it. The General- 
 aide-de-camp, Baron Vinzingorode, being on the 
 opposite side of Moscow, at Twer, had pushed his 
 troops forward upon the roads in so many direc- 
 tions, that his right detachments reached the quar- 
 ter 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 Mos- 
 cow. 
 
 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 experienced officers,) could have allowed him- 
 
150 
 
 self fo remain in ignorance 6f motions so decisive 
 of liis fate. In this crisis he appears to, have lost 
 the penetration of a General, which leads him ta 
 Calculate with tolerable certainty on the probable 
 movements of his opponent. And, either he must 
 have been strangely negligent of seeking the ne- 
 cessary information, or those he employed were 
 Very erroneous in their observations and reports. 
 The infatuation which sometimes 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 influence. 
 
 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 re- 
 spective roads, from that of Kalumna to that of 
 Saint Petersburgh. 
 
 Tlie advanced gvard of KoutousofF's aftB*^ Was 
 stationed 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 
 ihe world had decreed he would issue his irreversi- 
 ble mandates, was now his prison ; and, in the 
 midst of his field-marshals and his legions, the 
 Oreat Napoleon found himself out-general led and 
 ^ captive. Disappointment and consternation spread 
 throughout the invading army. Little else had they 
 derived from the merciless sacking of the Russian 
 capital, than blood, and an accession of guilt. 
 Pressed with wants of every description, in vain 
 did they look with longing eyes ti^ards 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 reinforcements, and 
 their provisions, Thus, their military fame eclipi- 
 
151 
 
 ed, 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 con- 
 quered 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 wait- 
 ed in vain. No flags of truce anived. No gymp' 
 toms whatever were evinced of a, disposition in the 
 nation to compromise* its glory and its independence. 
 Nor could he find one friend, amongst the number 
 he boasted to possess in the empire, to lead the w ay 
 in bowing to the yoke of deception and slavery. 
 No art was left untried, no temptation unpractised, 
 to allure some individual to set the base example ; 
 but disappointment waited upon every attempt ; 
 and the tyrant was forced to see that he had to do 
 ^vith a Sovereign and a people determined to die 
 father than to submit. 
 
 Buonaparte, having allowed these vain expecta- 
 tions to usurp the time he might have actively used 
 for the service of his ambition, saw with increased 
 mortification that the delay had only augmented 
 his embarrassments 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 subsist- 
 ence 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 suffering3 
 of extreme hunger, and its attendant ilk, assailed 
 them, then their patience was exhausted ; and their 
 idolatrous adoration of the man who had brought 
 them into these miseries, was changed to disi*e- 
 
152 
 
 spectj to indignation, to loud demands for the pro- 
 mised reward of their military toils, for 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 famish- 
 ing 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 madness. Others, in troops, without orders, 
 and despising the commands that would withhold 
 them, dispersed themselves oyer the country, ma- 
 rauding every where in search of bread. Blood 
 tracked their steps ; for scattered in a hundred direc- 
 tions in quest of food or death, almost every where 
 these unhappy wretches were lost. Those in re- 
 mote places were sacrificed to the rage of the am- 
 bushed peasantry; and these who appeared in pub- 
 lic ways, were cut down by the numerous Cossacs 
 which scoured the roads. 
 
 Necessity, at last, forced even the dominant 
 pride of Napoleon ; and jfinding 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 con- 
 cern for the peace of Mankind, he condescended 
 to dispatch General Lauriston (the ci-devant am- 
 bassador 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 negotia- 
 tion with Prince KoutousofT. He was received by 
 the Russian Commander with every mark of polite- 
 ness, but not with a cordiality to invite the unfold- 
 ing 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 Empe- 
 ror Napoleon, who was actuated by considerations of 
 humanity alone and a desire to stop the effusion of 
 Russian blood, to communicate to their Command- 
 
153 
 
 er-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 effu- 
 sion of Russian blood, every man born in Russian 
 land, was ready to shed his blood in support of the 
 independence of the empire ; and to maintain it, 
 both his Imperial Majesty Alexander, and the na- 
 tion 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 Gene^ 
 ral was not permitted to press the subject farther ; 
 but the safe conduct was given to him, and he re- 
 turned 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 Com- 
 mander ; who, he expected, would have felt him- 
 self tbo much honoured by the overture, not at 
 least to open a negotiation. However, great as 
 was the French leader's resentment against Kou- 
 tousoff, the necessity for not driving his troops 
 quite to despair, was yet greater; and therefore 
 he tried to flatter his Generals that the desired pa- 
 cification would take place Avhenever his wish to 
 that purpose should reach the Emperor Alexander. 
 To soften to the soldiers the failure of this embas- 
 sy, every means were resorted to that might in- 
 spire them with an idea that Koutoilsoff w as 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 Napole- 
 on !) would punish his prestimption by immediately 
 sending peremptory orders that the French propo^ 
 sals should be discussed, and, probably, accepted. 
 jN^othing was omitted to be said, which could chfer- 
 ish this allusion in the minds of the miserable in- 
 mates of the camp and of the town. The madness 
 
 20 
 
> 
 
 154 
 
 of desperation was to be averted at any rate ; and. 
 where truth would have unveiled to the eyes of the 
 arnij, 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 reports, 
 from day to day, throughout the city and the lines. 
 Sometimes it was rumoured that Riga had been 
 taken by assault ; llien that Macdonald had made 
 his triumphant eritry into St. Petersburgb. Anoth- 
 er informant spoke of a considerable convoy that 
 was known to be on its way from ihe French re- 
 sources, and was bringing winter clothing and other 
 necessaries for the army ; and that it was so large, 
 and so Avell protected, as to cover the road from 
 Wilna to Sinolenzk. Besides these " flattering unc- 
 tions" with which he sought to medicine the venom 
 which had seized on his impatient and perishing 
 troops, he gave out that Marshal Yictor w^as ad- 
 vancing with strong reinforcements ; and to prove 
 that the good star of Napoleon was still in the as- 
 cendant, the Russian army was enduring still great- 
 er privations than the French ! It was dismember- 
 ed by universal discontents ! and the commanding 
 ofHcers 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 
 falsehood of his several informations could be prov- 
 ed, by the non-appearance of the succours he 
 promised. They, whose hardier constitutio^ns yet 
 contended with all the horrors of famine, and some- 
 limes of disease, gave their credence a little long- 
 er to the tales which kept them from despair. En- 
 couraged by the success of these artifices, he turn- 
 ed his attention towards conciliating the poor rem- 
 nant of the inhabitants v^^hich remained alive in 
 Moscow ; and from them, he extended his subtilties 
 (o the people of the villages that surrounded the 
 
155 
 
 capital. He issiied proclamations, in which he set 
 forward the briiiiilness of his own virtues as a hero 
 and a sovereign, and invited the dispersed natives 
 to return to their homes, and enjoy, in fraternity 
 with the Great Nation, the freedom and happiness, 
 of his protection. Cou3d a feeling of the ridicu- 
 lous 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 smok- 
 ing 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 Ruler, 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 v/ere not to be seduced by his 
 promises. Napoleon at last was forced to see that 
 the Russian nation was neither to be subdued nor 
 deceived. The most dreadful calamities could not 
 bow their spirit, nor the most magnificent tempta- 
 tions warp it. The people whom at a distance he 
 bad stigmatized with the names of slaves and barba- 
 rians, he was compelled to know as a race too no- 
 ble 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 
 accomplish 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. 
 
 DocHTOROFF, who was posted in observation on 
 the Mojaisk road, sent in hourly information to the 
 Commander-in-chief, of the various and successful 
 operations of annoyance made by the Emperor's 
 
156 
 
 troops against the French. On the night of the 
 22d he assembled his own detachment at the village 
 of Scharapovo, and thence dispersed his parties, 
 with orders to take or destroy every succour they 
 might find approaching 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 carriages, charged with sup- 
 plies from the French in Smolenzk to their breth- 
 ren in the capital. Besides this spoil, these vigilant 
 troops took, at different times, two thousand pris- 
 oners, (including twenty-six officers, and an aide- 
 de-camp of Marshal Ney's,) Avhich had formed the 
 escorts of the supplies. 
 
 Baron Korff's detachment did not halt behind 
 that of Dochtoroff, in active service. It took ma- 
 ny prisoners, intercepted the couriers and corres- 
 pondence of the enemy, and rescued too 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 Ponskoy, on the banks of the Netra. 
 This small river flows into the Moscva at the vil- 
 lage of Kosroguina, near the road leading to Yos- 
 creshinskoy. 
 
 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 oc- 
 cupied Tchernigrease 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 stationed Cossacs on the Dimit- 
 roff and Yarraslaff roads to observe the enemy, 
 who had not been slow in dispatching strong de- 
 tachments to oppose these movements. Every day 
 produced skirmishes, in which the Russians not on- 
 
157 
 
 ly took prisoners, but received hundreds of deser- 
 ters from the French lines. The distresses of the 
 French camp became so unbearable, 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 ap- 
 plication 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 betrayed to the most cruel of deaths. 
 To quiet the increasing tunmlt, their ruler founft 
 it necessary, so far to humble his pride, as to send 
 Count Lauriston again to the Russian head-quar-^ 
 ters. His offers for a renewal of friendship ber 
 tween the two empires were the same as before, 
 and the same answer was returned that he had rer 
 ceived 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 KoutousoiT, " since he refused himself to 
 open an amicable correspondence with the Empe- 
 ror Napoleon, to forward a letter from that Mon- 
 arch to his Imperial Majesty Alexander." " I 
 wdll do that, "replied the Prince, " provided the 
 word peace on the terms now offered is not ex- 
 pressed 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 or- 
 der to be destroyed in his presence. You already 
 know on what terms, and on them alone, will of- 
 fers of peace be listened to. His Imperial Majesty, 
 we know, will keep as firm to his resolves, as we 
 shall stand steadfast in ours, to support the inde- 
 pendence of the empire," 
 
158 
 
 Having said this, his Highness bade a polite 
 farewell to Lauriston, and begged him not to re- 
 peat visits which must be unavailing. 
 
 The return of his messenger with this reply, in- 
 censed Buonaparte to the most vehement expres- 
 sions of indignation. He found himself treated 
 with contempt 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 re- 
 venge. But he too plainly saw in the persevering 
 enmity of his adversaries, the situation, to which he 
 was reduced. He perceived that if, by some polit- 
 ical finesse, or military manoeuvre, he did not ex- 
 tricate his army from the dreadful dilemma into 
 which he had unwarily led it, he must forever aban- 
 don his designs on Russia, destroy the basis of his 
 empire in France, and blast his reputation through- 
 out Europe. No longer dazzled by the continued 
 blaze of his victories, the kingdoms he had delu- 
 ded 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 
 taught these subject nations to contemn as ignorant 
 savages and hereditary slaves. 
 
 After Aveighing both ways of escape, negotiation 
 still seemed the most feasible ; for the wants of his 
 troops, the spirit of desertion which prevailed 
 amongst those who were foreigners, and the in- 
 subordination 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 preliminary measure. Grasping at 
 
159 
 
 this new expectation, he again called Laiiriston in- 
 to his presence, and. ordered him to repair once 
 more to the Russian *pamp 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 artil- 
 lery and baggage, would retire upon Wiazma ; 
 and there station themselves in a place, which they 
 hoped would become the theatre of a future friend- 
 ly pacific conference. 
 
 No explanation need be offered of the ultimate 
 views of Buonaparte, in this proposal. Nor is it 
 requisite to make comments on what would have 
 been the result to the Russians, had they been 
 weak enough to be caught by the bait of the re- 
 possession of the capital. It must in common prob- 
 ability, have proved the destruction of their empire* 
 Alexander wouk! have been an Emperor in fee of 
 the Great Napoleon ; and the Russian people, a na- 
 tion of slaves, plunged into a gulpb of intellectu- 
 al darkness, more barren of lig^ht than that of the 
 remotest hyperborean hordes. 
 
 Delusive as might be the hopes of their Destroy- 
 er, the Russian people remained firm to the inde- 
 pendence of their empire ; and to that sun of men- 
 tal light and personal liberty, which rose with Alex- 
 ander's natal star upon their country. Their an- 
 swer spoke from the lips of Koutousoff, and it was 
 what might be naturally anticipated from an upright 
 and sincere people. Koutousoff was not slow in 
 comprehending the views of Buonaparte in adding 
 to these repeated applications for a negotiation of 
 peace, a proposal for an armistice. 
 
 " 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 diplomat- 
 
160 
 
 ic machinations with ansvyerable emotions. He 
 was compelled to see 'that no art could prevail on 
 his present enemies to bccom^f the sport of his des- 
 tiny ; and fearing that, on the contrary, he might 
 at least, be the victim of their's,; his apprehensions 
 became troubled with ten thousand foreboding ima- 
 ges. He saw the gigantic sceptre of his ambition 
 falling before the genius of Russia, and lying buri- 
 ed for ever under the pale shroud of a northern 
 winler ; 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 
 desarts they were invited to conquer ! 
 
 From the apparitions of such direful " coming 
 events," it is not surprising that the French Dicta- 
 tor should be anxious to fly. By removing himself 
 from the most prominent scene of his people's mis- 
 eries, he hoped to escape some of the tormenting 
 retrospections 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 universal throne upon that of 
 the Tzars, he determined that their ancient me- 
 tropolis should forever remember that the foot of 
 Napoleon was once upon its threshold. The de- 
 struction which the loyalty and despair of the Mus- 
 covites had begun, he was resolved should be so 
 finished by the French soldiers, that nothing should 
 remain of the golden palaces and shining minarets 
 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 
 conformity to this principle, he found that the hab- 
 
161 
 
 its of his followers' minds only too ready to execute 
 liis commands. Whije they aroused themselves 
 with mutual and horrid emulations to pursue the 
 work of destruction, their officers found some dif- 
 ficulty in keeping the devastation within such limits 
 as to allow of any vei^tige whatever being preserv- 
 ed, to carry to ParJs as a trophy of Moscow ! 
 Whilst rapine, murder, and flames, re-aAvakened 
 their uproar throughout this devoted city, all that 
 could be rescued for the purpose of a Parisian tri- 
 itmphy were the gilded cross and crescent which Na- 
 poleon had ordered to be stripped from the high 
 tower of the Great church of St. .Tohn ; and the 
 old standards from the Kremlin, which had been 
 taken from the Turks by the Russians during their 
 several v/ars 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 ap- 
 proach of the French, some had left their plate 
 behind them. Indeed a few of the churches had 
 been left in possession of their sacred, vessels. 
 And, as may be supposed, 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 different divis- 
 ions. They seized all that could be found, and 
 melting the gold and silver into bars, (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 abandonment of Mos- 
 cow ; and, therefore, without surprise they atten- 
 ded Napoleon's summons to the Petrofsky palace, 
 and heard his final decision respecting the ancient 
 capital of the Tzars. He commanded them to make 
 
 21 
 
162 
 
 it knovvn to his army that, in spite of all his exer- 
 tions, lie 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 af equal unimportance* to the enemy as to 
 himself ; and was totally unwortJhy the risque of 
 passing a winter within its ruins. The weather, to 
 be sure, was then (the beginning of October) warm- 
 er than, at that season of the year, they had it in 
 France. But as the climates were altogether dif- 
 ferent, with the succeeding mowth they must expect 
 cold. Out these considerations, it was his intention 
 Immediately to resign the boasted capital of the 
 Tzars to the solitude that must be tlie consequence 
 of its desolation ; and to lead his brave troops with- 
 out 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 
 winter -quarters, and if, during that period, the 
 Russian empire should persist in refusing his offer- 
 ed peace, the spring should see him spread his le- 
 gions o>7er 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 
 Petrofsky*^ 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. No- 
 thing was to be spared ; neither chiuch, nor pal- 
 ace, nor private dwelling, was to be left unsacked, 
 imdestroyed. The Foundling-hospital alone, (ha- 
 ving been made the asylum of the French sick, and 
 which now contained several thousand of the woun- 
 ded soldiers,) was to be exempt from the torch of 
 annihilation. 
 
163 
 
 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 apartments, and dragging forth the wi*etch- 
 ed owners from their Ijiding-places, stripped them 
 naked that their clothes might add to the heaps of 
 their plunder. Hundreds 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 
 streets, to lay amidst the piles of putrifying carca- 
 ses of horses and men which starvation had depri^ 
 ved 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 con- 
 gregation of devils let loose to riot in human mise- 
 ries, in human flesh ; for scenes of blood and cru- 
 elties were transacted there which puts to nought 
 the ravening of wild beasts, the horrid destruction 
 of cannibals in the midst of their most savage or- 
 gies. 
 
 How then must we start with horror when we un- 
 derstand that all these refinemerts on barbarism 
 were the effects of regular orders issued from Na- 
 poleon to his Generals, and from them to the indi- 
 viduals of the army ! Thus sanctioned, the sol- 
 diery no longer considered their rapine an unlaw- 
 ful act, but pursued their enormities with the confi- 
 dence 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 different 
 corps encamped around the city had their share in 
 finishing the work of ruin. 
 
 For eight days, without intermission, did this 
 
164 
 
 law of force continue. It is not possible for any 
 imagination tiiat has not seen the acts then commit- 
 ted, to form any conception of their variety of 
 wickedness ; of their demoniac Avantonness of cru- 
 elty. It would be doing ?i violence to the human 
 heart, even to recoimt them, or to read their re- 
 gister. 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 miseries since they en- 
 tered Russia, all fell upon the head of this devoted 
 city. The soldiers who had crossed the Wiemen 
 gaily caprisoned, and high in the hope of new glo- 
 ries ; 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 expecta- 
 tions, they met with opposition, overthrow, and want ; 
 what could exceed the depth of their disappoint- 
 ment, the fury with which tliey gave it utterance ? 
 First, in threatening fury against their leader, and 
 now, in sanguinary atrocities against a poor rem- 
 nant of the brave people whom 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 pro- 
 fession their deed stigmatized with disgrace. In 
 this wretched plight were all the followers of Buo- 
 naparte. His own personal guards were not better 
 clad ; haying nothing in their appearance that spoke 
 their military order but the arms they carried. 
 
 Impelled hj a sense of the hatred they deserved, 
 and the contempt that had lately been shown to 
 their demands for peace, they sought food at the 
 point of the bayonet, and clothed themselves with 
 the raiment of the murdered. The officers them- 
 selves being not much better furnished with apparel, 
 
1 
 
 165 
 
 found no shame in displaying an equal baseness of 
 mind ; and casting humanity off at once, followed 
 their rapacious comrades through all Iheir roiuids 
 of violence and robbery. 
 
 Some few indeed, whose i-ank in the army re- 
 quired some show of the gentleman at least, satis- 
 fied themselves 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 contained, leaving only bare walls, for 
 the fire to consume, 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 Macedo- 
 nian invader did their August Lord ; they knew 
 how to colour their avidity with the gloze of legal 
 devices. Under the pretext of a requisition for 
 the public service, they seized every article which 
 suited their purpose ; and Avhen they had thus emp- 
 tied one house, they moved on to another, with 
 the same demands, and the same principle of un- 
 blushing 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 sack- 
 ing of Moscow should become generally known. 
 Even with the effects of his own orders blazing be- 
 fore his eyes, he tried to sink his destruction of the 
 city, in the patriotic devotion which the Russians 
 had made of its magazines, v/hen they found it ne- 
 cessary to abandon it. 
 
 It was that devotion which had deprived Napole- 
 on of his needful resources. No ammunition, no 
 bread for his men, no forage for his horses, present- 
 ed themselves. 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 magnanimous 31astapchin left it, io his 
 
166 
 
 way to join the concentrated army of the empire, 
 he stopped before the walls of his summer-palace, 
 (which stood in the adjacent country,) and set fire 
 to its stores and its harvests with his own hand. 
 This disinterested example was followed by hun- 
 dreds ; and the fields of JMoscovy every where 
 showed the smoking ashes of the yellow treasures 
 of the year. Buonaparte had formed no idea of^ 
 such a spirit of loyalty ; be 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 French leader had promised to his followers ? 
 He found only a few dying invalids, or a band of 
 desperate patriots, with women devoted to their 
 fates, determined to abide by their native city to 
 the last ! It was impoverished ; it was become a 
 circle of barren houses and walls ! 
 
 Napoleon for a lime 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 despe- 
 rate by the miseries and rebellious state of his ar- 
 my, he formed 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. 
 
 8ucH was the state of Moscow when Napoleon 
 and his arm}' entered it ; sucli 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 bul- 
 letins of the JiourisMng condition of the French le- 
 gions of the overflowing ahimdance which met them 
 at the city's gates. 
 
167 
 
 We have it thus, in the twentieth bulletin, which 
 Buonaparte dates from Moscow, Septembei- 17th. 
 
 " The resoiu'ces the army have found here are 
 iTiuch diminished, by the attempts of the enemy 
 to destroy them entirely ; but our fortune has been 
 superior to their contrivance ; and we have gather- 
 ^ed, 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 inhabi- 
 tants 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 destroy all the fire engines. 
 
 " The army is recovering from its fatigues. Yie 
 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 
 soldiers continually find numbers of pelisses and 
 furs for winter. Moscow was the depot for these 
 commodities." 
 
 The next bulletin supplies any deficiency hi? 
 troops might have in arms, cannon or gunpowder ; 
 and shot and shells of every description, they found 
 by hundreds, 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 from all their wants and toils. But, sur- 
 prising to relate, on the 14th of October (only seven- 
 
16B 
 
 teen 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 reduced 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 behind ! 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 de- 
 solate. 
 
 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 perpetual memento of the patrotic firmness of the 
 Russian people. 
 
 The sacking and burning of the city of Moscow, 
 by this man of the earth, (to whom so many infatu- 
 ated spirits, even at Ihis hour, are ready to buUd 
 altars,) was immediately followed by an attempt 
 from the same godlike hand, to destroy the Krem- 
 lin. While he flattered himself with the probabili- 
 ty of maintaining his possession of the Capital, he 
 bad 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 gunpowder, ready for the 
 fusee. We cannot better express the comprehen- 
 sive plan of this destruction, nor describe the ef- 
 fects of the desolation he had already wrought, 
 than by transcribing a few paragraphs from his own 
 leport on the subject. 
 
 " When Moscow ceased to exist I" saiLh the Im- 
 perial amanuensis, " the Emperor had determined 
 to abandon 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 
 
169 
 
 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 embar- 
 rassed the army, without promising any adequate 
 advantage. If we attempt to protect Moscow 
 against the beggars and plunderers, who are watch- 
 ing 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 nox- 
 ious matter, where pestilence and death brood con- 
 tinually over the reeking mass. 
 
 " A desperate multitude ; two hundred thousand 
 houseless wretches, who all day wander in the 
 neighbouring 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 nature, some solitary vegetable, in the 
 exhausted gardens* 
 
 "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 j.Ioscow, is no longer a place of military im- 
 portance, or a point of political interest. 
 ^ " All tlie adjoining buildings having been emp- 
 tied with great care ; and the Kremlin being judi- 
 ciously mined, at two o'clock in the morning of 
 the 23d of October, it was blown into the ai?by 
 the Duke of Trevise (Mortier.) The arsenal, the 
 barracks,^ the magazines, all have been destroyed. 
 This ancient citadel, from whence is dated the 
 ioundation 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 
 hundred. It was reported that one fourth of the 
 whole number had escaped ; but in this false calcu- 
 lation, eight hundred churches were taken into the 
 
 22 
 
llfO 
 
 accouDf, and even they were almost all heavily 
 damaged. With palaces, churches, and public struc- 
 tures, 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 Ihousand villa- 
 ges which surrounds 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 direction, to a distance of twenty 
 leagues, to set lire to, and devastate every object 
 in their path. Such a general desolation^ observed 
 the advisers of this scheme, will teach the Mussians 
 to make war according to its received rules ; and not 
 like Tartars. If they hum one village or houses we 
 will punish the act hy 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 proprie- 
 tors of the castles proposed to be destroyed, there 
 were perhaps, but one hundred who were sincerely 
 the partizans of Rastapchin, the Marat of Russia ! 
 The other eight hundred, continued the great Na- 
 poleon, are brave men, already too much the vic- 
 tims of despotic power. We Avill not then, for the 
 sake of vengeance against a hundred guilty wretch- 
 es, uivolve eight thousand and nine hundred inno- 
 cent persons in utter ruin. And should we consent 
 to the destruction of the villages, would there not 
 be two thousand helpless peasants, left without re- 
 fjource 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 
 suffered so severely from the consequences of war." 
 
 HoAv gladly would humanity trace any affinity 
 
171 
 
 with its owii nature, in the character of even the 
 most cruel tyrant. It is greatful to the heart that 
 wishes the good of every fellow creature, to see 
 the germs of virtue in some transaction of the be- 
 ing whose ordinary actions are 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 
 Teach of his hands. Those which were in its im- 
 mediate 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 conducting 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, tanl mieux pour eux." 
 
 Could defeat and wretchedness have laughed io 
 derision 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 them- 
 selves enjoying the trimiiph of victory. 
 
 While these things were transacting in Moscow 
 and its adjoining camp, the detachments of General 
 Baron Vinzingorode continued to keep on the alert ; 
 and daily brought to his head-quarters at Klim, a 
 considerable number of prisoners. Colonel Ben- 
 kendorf, one of his Imperial Majesty's aide-de- 
 camps, at the head of his little division, (which 
 was stationed between the city of Volokolamsk 
 
172 
 
 and Mojaisk) ably fulfilled his duty of observation ; 
 and sent in, amongst other prisoners, one French 
 courier with dispatches.* 
 
 The object of the French, whenever they were 
 seen abroad, seemed solely to procure provisions 
 and forage. But in almost every attempt they 
 were disappointed, and so pressed by the Russian 
 light troops and the peasantry, that their comman- 
 ders 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 infant- 
 ry, with several regiments of cavalry, and six pie- 
 ces of artillery, under the command of General 
 Delson. It took the road to DimitrofF. The Cos- 
 sacs, who were in observation in that direction, en- 
 countered the detachment, but were soon obliged 
 to fall back ; leaving the road to Yarraslaff quite 
 open to the depredators. By this partial advan- 
 tage on their side, the communication between that 
 city and Baron Yinzingorode 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 in- 
 form the governor of that province of his appre- 
 hensions ; and to suggest similar vigilance on its 
 part with that of his own little army. He strength- 
 ened his reconnoitering parties with his best troops, 
 and so disposed them, that he did not allow the 
 enemy's flank a moment's repose. 
 
 Menacing as were now the columns which issued 
 from the French camp at Moscow, no idea v»'as en- 
 tertained of their object, but that of plundering in 
 greater security ; and the Cossac picquets corrobo- 
 rated this impression, by reporting the continued 
 
 * At the end of the volume.. Letters from Buonaparte, in these dis^ 
 patches, may be found. 
 
173 
 
 sacking and burning of the villages in the neigh- 
 bourhood of their excursions. 
 
 On the 10th of October the enemy pushed on, 
 and possessed himself of the city of Dimitroff; lay- 
 ing waste the country on all sides ; and then turned 
 his face towards Klim. On the same day, another 
 detachment left Moscow% taking the St. Peters- 
 burgh road, and passing through Tschernigrease, 
 halted about six wersts from that place. 
 
 These movements seemed for something more 
 than forage, and to threaten the force of General 
 Vinzingorode. He was too weak in the present 
 dismembered state of his division, to oppose an at- 
 tack ; 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 tov/n of Klim to 
 arrest the advance of the enemy in that direction. 
 
 Notwithstanding these hostile movements, no af- 
 fair of any consequence immediately took place. 
 Prisoners continued to be taken in slight skirmish- 
 es, and numbers of Westphalian Saxons, and oth- 
 er 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 informed him that the greater 
 part of the French army had broken up its camp 
 at Moscow, and under its ambitious leader had ta- 
 ken 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 direc- 
 tion, were only to conceal that of their main body 
 to the contrary point. 
 
 The Cossacs in the neighbourhood of DimitrolT, 
 gave information at head-quarters that the French 
 General Dalzel, after ravnoing ihe city, and mal- 
 treating the inhabitants, with every species of c.ru» 
 
174 
 
 elty, had abandoned the place, and followed by two 
 hundred carts laden with plunder, was retiring to- 
 wards Moscow. 
 
 Vinzingorode no sooner received this intelligence 
 than he put himself at the head of three regiments 
 of cavalry, which were composed of Hussars, Kal- 
 mucs, and Cossacs, and reached the despoiled city 
 on the evening of the 13th, 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 commands were obeyed with vigour ; 
 and the success that attended the Russian arms drove 
 the foe before them for several wersts, until dark- 
 ness, and the shelter of the woods, stopped the 
 operations of cavalry. Many prisoners were made ; 
 and one hundred carts re-taken, filled with the ef- 
 fects of the plundered citizens. They were sent 
 back to Dimitroff, and restored next day to the in- 
 habitants. 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 
 Vinagradouya, about seventeen wersts from Mos- 
 cow ; and the body of French which had been dis- 
 patched to Tschernigrease, also maintained its po- 
 sition in that place. 
 
 Baron Vinzingorode, while he planted his little 
 army before these posts of the enemy, informed 
 himself so thoroughly of the force left in Moscow, 
 that he soon understood how weakly it was appoint- 
 ed, 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 observ- 
 ed to have fallen back nearer to Moscow. Upon 
 
175 
 
 this report Vinzingorode gave orders to Major-Gen- 
 eral Iloviaskoy, to move forward on the great road, 
 and, with liis light cavalry reconnoiter, and discov- 
 er at what distances they had taken up their new 
 stations. AVhilst Iloviaskoy advanced, the Baron 
 meant to follow with the remainder of his division, 
 to be in readiness to support the Major-Gene ral, 
 should circumstances make it necessary. 
 
 A few troops of the light cavalry pushed on 
 vverst after werst, without meeting any obstacle, to 
 the very barrier of Moscow, which terminates the 
 St. Pete rsburgh road. They passed it, and saw on- 
 ly a few straggling soldiers in the subiubs. En- 
 couraged by this appearance of an almost complete 
 evacuation of the place, they proceeded a little far- 
 ther, 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 out- 
 side 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 ar- 
 rived at the moment, with his whole force. Though 
 powerful in resolution, it was inferior in numeric- 
 al strength to the French ; however, its brave Gen- 
 eral did not stand on nice calculations ; and, deter- 
 mined that his adversaries should not long drive his 
 gallant little advanced party before them, he at- 
 tacked their foremost ranks Avith a vigour that made 
 them stand. Many noble charges were made, and 
 thoxigh 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. 
 
176 
 
 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 desolated 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 reso- 
 lution of the detachment planted as its protection. 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Tchernisouloff, who was its 
 commander, carried his gallantry so far as to push 
 on to the high road between Ghatz and Wiazma. 
 The opposition he met in this enterprise was obsti- 
 nate and sanguinary, but his determined spirit over- 
 came every obstacle, and after a hard contest, he 
 took a whole detachment (including its officers) 
 prisoners. When he sent the account of his success 
 to head-quarters, he reported Ihat the road, on 
 which he was pursuing his advantage was covered 
 with countless waggons ; some, he said, he was in- 
 formed were filled with ammunition, but 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 with 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 
 government depot at Twer, nearly a thousand pri- 
 seners, officers and men ; and, in taking these proofs 
 of their successes, they did not lose more than twen- 
 ty Cossacs, forty soldiers of the line, and two of- 
 ficers. 
 
 Baron Vinzingorode, having thus nearly encir- 
 cled the capital with the forces under his command, 
 and finding that the enemy, as well as the victorious 
 
177 
 
 Russians, was daily drawing from its garrison, re- 
 solved 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 v^as indeed an animating 
 thought to every soldier that composed his little 
 army; and all were eager to follow their intrepid 
 General to an achievement so worthy of immortal 
 fame. 
 
 On the 22d of October, the determined Yinzin- 
 gorode 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 m.oment so critical to his sovereio-n 
 and to his own reputation, placed himself, with his 
 aide-de-camp the brave Captain Narishkin, at the 
 head of five hundred Cossacs. 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 protection 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 saeriiice of every soul un- 
 der his command, the white signal of amity was ta- 
 ken m the hand of the victorious Vinzingorode, 
 Avho, with his aide-de-camp Narishkin (a hero like 
 himself, as full of clemency as of courage,) gal-^ 
 loped forward, waving the pledge of honour and 
 ot mercy. 
 
 But they had not men to deal with who had been 
 educated m the school of heroes, iu which the 
 Montmorency and the Cond6 had been professors. 
 the toe to whom the generous sons of Russia now 
 ottered the affiance of reciprocal honour, had learnt 
 their creed of military policy from warriors of a 
 clitterent stamp ; from a leader, and his myrmidonsy 
 who set at nought the vows of man to man, the 
 
 23 
 
17^ 
 
 laws of religion, the bonds of national esteem, and 
 even tbe common respect of honesty to honesty in 
 the simplest transactions of life. From a banditti 
 of this sort, the gallant Yinziegorode could meet 
 with no reception answerable to the magnanimous 
 spirit, which brought him from the acclaim of yic- 
 tory, to offer, in the midst of their bleeding ranks, 
 the palm of mercy to his perishing enemies. ■ The 
 emblem of peace M'hieh he held in his hand, wafs 
 not regarded. They saw their conqueror in their 
 power, and the ungrateful wretches whom his clem- 
 ency 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 
 fi^lled up ; until the moment arrived when the hor- 
 rid mandate was given for destroying a structure 
 which had stood the storms of ages ; and then eve- 
 ry brave heart in the empire was wrung, as if it 
 had listened to the death-warrant of a revered pa- 
 rent. 
 
 The mines were completed : the walls, the tow- 
 ers, the arsenaJ, 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 rais- 
 ed ; and, even the most barbarous adversaries had 
 spared, in reverence to the patriarchal ages of 
 Russian heroism I 
 
 The morning of the 23d of October, at an early 
 hour, was destined to witness the destruction of 
 the Kremlin, and of all the buildings attached to 
 its bulwarks. Almost the whole of its French gar- 
 rison retired during the night preceding the moment 
 intended for springing the train, only leaving a 
 
179 . 
 
 small delacliment of desperate spirits, who, insti- 
 gated by a great reward, had pledged themselves 
 not to rejoin the army iinlil 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 medi- 
 tated an attack, seized on this signal of destruction, 
 as that for rushing on its perpetrators ; and before 
 another mine could be sprung, the dauntless Ilovi- 
 askoy with his 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 j 
 the glory of Moscow, which he thought to have ex- 
 tinguished in the ruin of the Kremlin, was preser- 
 ved ; and the ancient capital of the Empire, re- 
 stored to its lawful Sovereign ! Proud was the 
 moment to lioviaskoy, 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 compara- 
 tively trifling, with the mischief intended. Only a 
 small part of the wall, and one of the towers had 
 heen thrown down* The citadel, the palace, the 
 arsenal, and other public buildings were entire ; 
 and will henceforth stand, a monument to future 
 ages, not only of the magnificence of Russian Sove- 
 reigns, but of the impotent rage, and arrogant false- 
 hood of the ambitious tyrant of the French. He 
 boasted that all had been completely destroyed ; 
 his words are, " the Kremlin exists no more i" 
 Had his plan for its destruction been executed in 
 its full extent, hundreds of his own sick and wound- 
 ed followers must have perished in the various ex^ 
 plosions ; for the churches, and other large build- 
 ings of this immense fortress, were filled with themo 
 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 csirtridges, fifty-foui 
 
wo 
 
 waggons with pontoons, nine with implements of 
 war of all kinds, eleven with flying forges, and 
 thirtv-five intended for provisions. That these last 
 had been long empty and had no means of being 
 replenished was evident in the famished aspects of 
 the wretched invalids. Their state of sniFering 
 from their wounds, their diseases, and their wants, 
 was beyond immagination, 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 
 Russians, 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 la- 
 bour to clear a passage to their entrances, could 
 the poor creatures find a shelter in the cellars. In- 
 to these dismal vaults did the fainting and eager 
 multitude throw themselves in crowds, to find 
 protection from the inclemency of the approaching 
 season. Six or seven wretched families would press 
 together into ope narrow chamber, without light and 
 without heat, too happy to conceal their nakedness 
 from the day, and to still the pangs of hunger with 
 some of the food the charity of their brave coun- 
 men had prepared for them. Buonaparte, the cause 
 of all their miseries, had but too truely represented 
 their wretched state. They had been wandering 
 many dreadful weeks, in the adjacent v/oods, fam- 
 ine and suffering of every kind their constant com- 
 panions. 
 
 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 gee them die 1 And novr, when they re- 
 
181 
 
 iurhed to the ashes of their former dwellings, sad 
 indeed was the lamentation which was raised. Some 
 wept for their perished infants ; some for the hus- 
 bands of their hearts ; some for the several dear 
 connexions of liither, son, and brother ; and oth- 
 ers mourned their hearths, which no longer existed 
 to bear even the remembrance of happiness depart- 
 ed for ever. 
 
 General Iloviaskoy, as humane as brave, having 
 rescued the remains of Moscow, turned his whole 
 attention towards ameliorating the condition of the 
 inhabitants. Until the proper steps could be taken 
 for the re-establishment in the city of the ancient 
 military and civil institutions, he made every per- 
 sonal 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 
 captive, by sending the prisoners who were able to 
 move, (which amounted to no more than six him- 
 dred, many having died from the weakness conse- 
 quent to their antecedent wants) to Twer. The 
 sick and wounded, who still existed in the Found- 
 ling hospital, and other infirmaries of the Kremlin, 
 the merciful Iloviaskoy treated no longer as ene- 
 mies, but directed that their quarters should be 
 made comfortable, and put over them two of their 
 owm surgeons who had been taken prisoners. 
 
 Ye who have the blindness still to call the Rus- 
 sian, a barbarian nation ; ye who speak with what 
 the Scotch would call a glamoured vision of Napo- 
 leon's warfare ; compare these characteristics of 
 the two people, 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 emis- 
 saries of Buonaparte, were stopped by the vigorous 
 efibrts of the Russian soldiery ; the half-famished 
 
182 
 
 natives who poured in from the woods ; and the 
 perishing inhabitants, who crept from their vaulted 
 sanctuaries, in the city, offered themselves to as- 
 sist in clearing the squares and streets from the nu- 
 merous bodies, both of horse and man, which lay 
 in every direction, blocking 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 viola- 
 ter had expired under all the tortures of disease and 
 famine. But the exposed remains of human mor- 
 tality was not sufficient indignity in the eyes of 
 Jiim who had worshipped the Goddess of French 
 Republicanism ; and who had bowed to Mahomet 
 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 liv- 
 ing creature, on the pavement, Avho 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 bleeds 
 ing 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 cellers, and under all the ruins, were incaU 
 culable, and from the stench could not be removed. 
 The dread of a pestilence now spread itself over 
 the city ; indeed nothing could have averted its 
 
183 
 
 ravages but the rlgoiir of the season, which soon 
 put the atmosphere in chains. 
 
 On the 28th of October, Major-General Ivash- 
 kin, the chief master of police, returned to the city, 
 and resumed his functions. The Military Govern- 
 or, the magnanimous Count Rastapchin was soon 
 expected. All hearts opened to welcome a patriot 
 whose name must ever be remembered with vene- 
 ration and gratitude. Buonaparte, (whose personal 
 enmity to an enemy, is ever a proof of that ene- 
 my's fealty to his own country,) when he Avrites 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 
 nobleman 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 deserved the hatred of the enemies of 
 Russia. 
 
 • " For eight years, I found my pleasure in embelr 
 Kshing 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 do- 
 main, to the number of one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and twenty human beings, fly far av»^ay ; and 
 I put the fire to my house ! We abandon all, we 
 consume all, that neither ourselves nor our habita- 
 tions may be polluted v,'ith 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) Fedor, Count Rastapchin,^^ 
 
 The moment the news was brought to Field-Mar- 
 shal Koutousoff, that Moscow was again in the 
 
1S4 
 
 hands 01 his troops, he spread the happy intelli- 
 gence throughout the army and the empire in the 
 foUowiiiff animated address : — 
 
 ORDER ISSUED TO THE ARMIES, 
 
 OCTOBER 19th, O. S. 31st N. S. 
 
 The foUoTving Declaration is given for the Instruc- 
 tion of all the Troops under my Command. 
 
 "At the moment in which the enemy entered 
 Moscow, he beheld the destruction of those pre- 
 posterous 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 ne- 
 cessary of life ; harassed by the length of continu- 
 ed marches ; exhausted for want of provisions ; 
 Vv^earied and tormented by our parties intercepting 
 his slender succours ; losing without the honour of 
 battle, thousands of his troops, cut off by our provin- 
 cial detachments ; and no prospect before him but 
 the vengeance of an armed nation, threatening an- 
 nihilation to the whole of his army. In every Rus- 
 sian he beheld a hero, equally disdainful and ab- 
 horrent of his deceitful promises : in every state of 
 the empire he met an additional and insurmounta- 
 ble rampart opposed to his strongest efforts. After 
 sustaining incalculable losses by the attacks of our 
 brave troops, he recognised at last, the prehenzy of 
 his expectations, that the foundations of the empire 
 w ould be shaken by his occupation of Moscow. 
 Nothing remained for him, but a precipitate flight : 
 the resolution was no sooner taken, than it was exe- 
 cuted ; and he fled, abandoning nearly the whole 
 of his sick, to the mercy of an outraged people, 
 and leaving Moscow on the 1 1th of this month, 
 completely evacuated. 
 
 " The horrible excesses which he committed, 
 while in that city, are already well known, and 
 have left an inexhaustible sentiment of vengeance 
 
 I 
 
185 
 
 in the depths of every Russian heart ; but I have to 
 add, that his impotent rage exercised itself, in blow- 
 ing up part of the Kremlin, where, by a signal in- 
 terposition of Divine Providence, the sacred Tem- 
 ples and Cathedral have been saved. 
 
 "Let us then hasten to pursue this impious ene- 
 my, Avhile other Russian armies once more occupy- 
 ing Lithuania, act in concert with us for his des- 
 truction ! Already do we behold him in full flight, 
 abandoning his baggage, burning his war carriages, 
 and reluctantly separating himself from those 
 treasures, which his profane hands had torn from 
 the very altars of God. Already desertion and 
 famine spread confusion before Napoleon ; and be- 
 hind 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 mag- 
 nanimous monarch. Listen soldiers ! while he thus 
 addresses you ? " Extinguish the flames of Mos- 
 cow, 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 frontiers, will take her 
 august station, between Peace and Glory 1 
 
 " Russian warriors ! God is our Leader ! 
 
 (Signed) 
 ** Marechal Prince GoUnistsheff Koutousoff* 
 
 " General in Chief of all the Armies;" 
 
 The army of General Essen had remained, since 
 the affair of the 23d of August, without bling 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 
 . . 24 
 
188 
 
 elapsed, and still the enemy evinced no signs of 
 ventuirmg again to disturb its heroic vigilance. 
 
 The communication was uninterrupted betvt^een 
 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 iL 
 
 • Esfeen Was f informed that considerable bodies of 
 the tlivision opposed to him, had fallen back from 
 Mittau, and leftlhat city . with a very inadequate 
 guard. He lost no tinie in making preparations to 
 possess himself of a place which, he knew, had long 
 been the intermediate depot of the enemy for its 
 provisions, and other necessaries required in that 
 quafter. - ' 
 
 , With this view he ordered a strong force to ad- 
 fv-aut© tjo: Mittau. At the moment they set out, he 
 placed' himself at their head. As they proceeded, 
 he descriecC ^nie Prussian troops on the road lead- 
 ing to Baousk : but they retiredwith precipitation 
 oil perceiving the Rtissiaas, and left Ihe country 
 quite open to their operations. Essen pushed on 
 iiis cavalry, and, following soon after, entered the 
 ^•itv without opposition on the 29th of September. 
 He took fifty efiective soldiers prisoners, and found 
 about one hundred and fifty wounded in the hospi- 
 tal. Four pieces of brass ordnance fell into his 
 hands, and also a vast quantity of provisions, with 
 the %hole mass of pelisses which had been collected 
 from the requisition for furs, levied on the province 
 of Courland, These last articles were of the ut- 
 most consequence to the well-being of the army 
 that possessed them in the cold season. That Was 
 now fast approaching, and the want of furs during 
 a wintef '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 ordered General Grawart to move upon 
 
187 
 
 Riga through Eckaii, D'York hiiriseif advanced to- 
 wards Mittau, to drive Essen from his newly-ac- 
 qiured post. 
 
 The Russian General informed himself of his 
 adversary's strength ; and finding that it lay princi- 
 pally in cavalry, (a force particularly adapted to 
 die nature of the ground on which they wercj) and 
 QAvare that his own little army was much inferior iri 
 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. Be- 
 fore he made this movement he took possession of 
 all its military stores, and then retired from the 
 place in tiie direction of Riga. By this march, he 
 meant to unite his division with 1 hat of Lieutenant- 
 General Count Stiengel, who was acting in front of 
 the enemy, and who had left Riga r few days be- 
 fore, the belter to cover it fromtiie French, who 
 threatened to approach it from the vicinity of Pe- 
 tergolf, a town near which they hovered in great 
 numbers. This station afforded them many advan- 
 tages, as it was situated near the roads that led to 
 Dalenkirk and Eckau. 
 
 Difficulties only stimulated the military talents of 
 the gallant Steingel, and he distiibuted with admi- 
 rable judgment, the several corps of his detach- 
 ment 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 Ye- 
 liaminoff, some wersts in front of a small village 
 called Garossen, and which covered the road to 
 Eckau. His left was near thai town, and extended 
 along the high road on the opposite side of a neigh- 
 bouring rivulet. 
 
 On the morning of the 31st of September, the 
 whole of his advanced posts, consisting of Cossacs 
 and hussars, were attacked. They defended them- 
 selves in a style of such intrepidity that the enemy 
 was checked at this point with considerable logs?. 
 
The movement the French now made, induced 
 General Veliaminoff to suspect that their next as- 
 sault would be upon his left flank, the command of 
 which he had entrusted to Colonel Count Galatee. 
 His impression pro ved 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 open- 
 ed a heavy fire, which told so well upon the advan- 
 cing troops, that they retired with precipitation ; 
 but a reinforcement Avith some pieces of ordnance 
 coming to their support, after two attempts, their 
 infantry penetrated to the high road near the village 
 of Greden. Yeliaminoff observed the advantage 
 the French had gained, and determined to dislodge 
 them, dispatched a battalion of infantry, with Cos- 
 sacs and artillery, to attack them in this quarter. 
 The contest was obstinate ; but at last the brave 
 Russians had the satisfaction of compelling their 
 enemy to re-cross the rivulet, Avith a severe loss, 
 and the dismounting of two of his guns. Howev- 
 er he passed again, higher up the stream, sending 
 forward a considerable force of infantry and artil- 
 lery, with the intention of more effectually turn- 
 ing the Russian left flank. Here again the battle 
 re-commenced ; and, during four repeated efforts 
 on the side of the French, was maintained with 
 tremendous 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 
 
189 
 
 guard ; yet it was sufficient to sliovv them the de- 
 termined intrepidity of their foe ; and, Macdonald 
 made such reflections on the event ag to induce 
 him to move farther from his first position, and 
 draw nearer to the Prussians. He was the inore 
 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 rein- 
 forcement to the Russians had disembarked at Ri- 
 ga from Finland, under the command of Colonel 
 Ridinger. 
 
 This step on the part of the French General con- 
 siderably facilitated the operations of Count Fig- 
 tenstein, by liberating that part of his force v/hich 
 he had left to watch the enemy's motions near Di- 
 nabourgh and towards Jacobstadt. 
 
 Several slight affairs continued to take place 
 along the left bank of the Dwina ; and the activity 
 and spirit of General Steingel never failed to keep 
 Macdonald on the alert. The Prussians were, oq 
 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 de- 
 monstrations of the Russian Commander, 
 
 Early in October,, the General Aide-de-camp, 
 Marquis of Paulutchi, was appointed to the com- 
 mand at Riga. The changes he made in the posi- 
 tions formed under the direction of General Essen, 
 were very few ; and the most prominent was pla- 
 cing a corps, under General Lewis, on the right 
 bank of the Dwina at Kirkgolm, opposite to Gen- 
 eral Yeliaminoff's left flank, which was then sta- 
 tioned near Dalenkirke. This movement was to 
 prevent Riga being menaced on that side ; and also 
 to frustrate any attempts of the enemy to make ex- 
 cursions into Livonia. 
 
 From the troops of Steingel being permitted by 
 the enemy to push forward with so little opposi- 
 tion on his right, it was evident he meant to aban- 
 don these parts of the shores of the Dwina : indeed 
 
190 
 
 he maintained them with such carelessness, that the 
 town of Frederickstadt, almost withoiil 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 neces- 
 sity of keeping Avatch on their side of the Dwina ; 
 and, accordingly, they lost no time in recrossing the 
 river, and forming a junction with Veliaminoff, 
 Though the Russian General took every advantage 
 that offered itself from these extraordinary mover 
 ments of the French Generals, yet they could not 
 form any satisfactory 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 Frederickstadt, was soon fol- 
 lowed by a similar desertion all along its banks, 
 even to Dinabourg ; and the troops, as they with- 
 drew, were observed to take the road to Essoros. • 
 
 Meanwhile, the detachment in advance from Ri- 
 ga, 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 im- 
 mediately attempting an enterprise he had in me- 
 diation ; 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, by compelling him 
 to quit his strong position in the neighbourhood, 
 force him to retreat on the Yitepsk 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, Yigtenstein directed General Stein- 
 gel to second the main body on the right bank of 
 liie river, by driving the enemy from his posts at 
 
Bononia and Rondna ; and, if possible, to possess 
 himself of Eknmania, and then proceed to the vi- 
 cinity of Polotzk. The carrying of these points* 
 would prevent Gouvion St. Cyr from crossing the 
 Dvvina at that city, and the consequent success 
 must crown the most sanguine wishes of the Rus- 
 sian coadjutors. 
 
 The two Generals being thus in possession of 
 their mutual intentions. Count Vigtenstein prepar- 
 ep to move. 
 
 On the 18th of October, (the morning of h'm 
 first day's fighting for his present object,) his army 
 was posted in the. following manner. His right 
 wing extended 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 Yashyille, and commu- 
 nicated with others under General SassnofF, in the 
 heigljibourhpod of a small lake 'at Hbtouiychi. The 
 Count himself headed the left and strongest divi- 
 sion of his army ; and it was stationed on the road 
 leading to Nevel, at the village of Ourovichi. 
 ^ 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 pai'ties considerably in front, upon the roads 
 occupied by the Russians. Kis redoubts and en- 
 trenchments had long been receiving every addition 
 froiti military ar.t and the city itself was encircled 
 by a' double trench and a strong palisado. With 
 these protections, .in case of a defeat, the French 
 General thought- himself perfectly secure. The en- 
 terprise undertaken by his opponents was very dar- 
 ing, but the talents and pei^everance of Vigtenstien 
 and his Generals, promised a brilliant result. St. 
 Cyr was aware of the cljaraGters with which he had 
 to contend ; he knew that in proportion as the dif- 
 .ficuUigs of a Russian increase, 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 impetu- 
 osity of the Russians could not be resisted, and 
 every renewal of the attack compelled the French 
 to lose ground and numbers. Their right was 
 heavily pressed by Count Vigtenstein. He bore 
 down upon it with a concentrated force, and indi- 
 vidual acts of valour that seemed more like a scene 
 of chivalry Ihan a common battle. He had been 
 joined by a little army from St. Petersburgh, and 
 these fresh coldiers, full of indignation at the ene- 
 mvy and panting for glory, charged upon them with 
 nn enthusiasm of valour that performed deeds which 
 r<wiraanded the admiration of the oldest vetran 
 on the field. 
 
 St. Cyr, seeing his troops rapidly fall back, and 
 that, if his present position were Torced from him 
 tliey must be entirely lost, called up a formidable 
 support of Bavarians, Saxons, and Poles. These 
 sturdy soldiers caused the ground to be again con- 
 tested, and by the vigour of their exertions check-* 
 ed 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 ex^ 
 tended plani so bloodily disputed. 
 
 The French at length gave way. Their first re- 
 trograde symptom was observed on the instant, by 
 the vigilant eye of Yigtenstein. He pushed for- 
 ward a regiment of hussars, and a detachment of 
 light artillery, towards the retiring point ; and, by 
 the fierceness of theif charge, precipitated their 
 retreat. The confusion spread to the centre, where 
 the work of death was not less vehemently pursued. 
 The left too, partook of the dismay, and with one 
 accord the whole line turned about, and the flight 
 Was g'eneral. 
 
193 
 
 Count Vigtenstein pursued, till the breathless 
 enemy 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 up- 
 on their pursuers, 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 
 bis advance, and, though the stand was obstinately 
 maintained, he gave them a total overthrow ; and, 
 driving them across the river Dissna, cleared the 
 road through the city of that name. This last ad- 
 vantage he was the more eager to acquire, because 
 it would enable him (should it be required) to as- 
 sist the operations of his brave coadjutor. The 
 loud and lengthened cannonade he heard, convin- 
 ced bim that vigtenstein had been long engaged ; 
 and he lost no tune in executing his part of their 
 great military enterprise. 
 
 He sent immediate dispatches of his success to 
 the Count, and having received the answerp, he de- 
 sired, 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 over 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 contemplated the formidable array 
 of their adversaries, and opened on them the whole 
 range of their batteries with a tremendous cannon- 
 ade. The dauntless Russians grasped their bayo- 
 nets, and breasted this shower of balls, regardless 
 of destruction. The parapets were forced, the re- 
 doubts carried, and heaps of brave men fell on 
 
 25 
 
194: 
 
 both sides, choking up the very gorges of the works 
 with their accumulating bodies. 
 
 The resistance made by the enemy was worthy 
 of a better cause, but the determination of patri- 
 otism prevailed, and the emmissaries of tyranny 
 were driven in at all points, seeking a short protection 
 from the palisadoes, and then the city. Their re- 
 treating steps were fast pressed by their victors^ 
 and as the latter advanced, the winelows of the 
 houses were filled with French soldiers, Avho pour- 
 ed a heavy fire of bullets upon the heads of the in- 
 trepid Russians. This salute was answered by one 
 of more than equal power, with musquetry, grape^ 
 and ball. 
 
 Yi^tenstein gave orders for a 2"eneral assaults 
 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 exer- 
 tions of the generals and officers who headed these 
 overwhelming bands, and led their spirit to so de- 
 cisive a purpose. 
 
 Amidst the crash and ruin which resounded in 
 every quarter, General St. Cyr being severely 
 wounded, 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 throughout his discomfited rank, and, col- 
 lecting the remnant of his artillery, they extricated 
 themselves v/ith great effort from the confusion in 
 the city, and wilh their General precipitately began 
 to cross the Dwina. 
 
 Meanwhile, General Steingel bad not been less 
 fortunate. He succeeded in beating the enemy's 
 parties at Bononia, and drove them to within four 
 wersts of Polotzk, on the left bank of the Dwina. 
 This advantage threatened to block , up the retreat 
 of St. Cyr in that direction. . _ . 
 
195 
 
 Such demonstrations ur^ed th& French General 
 to lose nothne in accomplishing ws purpose. By 
 a prompt exertion lie had pas^d over the day be- 
 fore, 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, breakfng down the bridg- 
 es as they crossed, and taking every other meth- 
 od of throwing obstacles in the way of their pur- 
 suers. He took the road towards Yileyka, ho- 
 ping some where 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 dif- 
 ferent 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 stated ; but the kil- 
 led and wounded of the 1 9th must have amounted 
 to three thousand. Amongst the latter 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 
 destroy. ^ 
 
 The loss experienced by Yigtenstein, in the fail 
 of his brave companions, was not inconsiderable. 
 Amongst the officers wounded were Major-General 
 Balk, the Princes Sibersky and Gamen, and Colo- 
 nel Rott ; likewise the Chamberlain MordwinofF, 
 chief of the division of the St. Petersburgh arma- 
 ment, had his leg shot away while gallantly leading 
 forward his patriot followers. About fourteen hun- 
 dred of these brave defenders of their country re- 
 ceived indelible marks in their persons, of the glo- 
 rious deeds of these two memorable days. Well 
 do breasts deserve stars of honour from their sove- 
 
196 
 
 reigns, which are already stamped with the insigtiia 
 of heroism by tl^|scars of many a hard-fought field. 
 
 The list of woiiiiied was particularly numerous 
 in this victory, for the General-in-chief found it 
 impossible to qjieck 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 enltenchments and batteries of the 
 enemy. Such zeal gained in position what it lost 
 in numbers ; but it added to the honourable cata- 
 logue of those who bled, the Generals VlastofF, 
 SassnofF, and Dibsitch; Colonel Redigir, and the 
 brave Senator BibikoiT. 
 
 General Steingel, seconded by Major-General 
 Fock, added nobly to the renown of these two de- 
 cisive days. He took six hundred prisoners, amongst 
 whom Avere thirty-seven officers. And the cavalry 
 of his division, headfed 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 Yigten- 
 stein to Lieutenant-General Count Steingel. 
 
 " I have the honour to congratulate your Excel- 
 lency on the taking of Polotzk, for Avhich achieve- 
 ment I feel greatly indebted to the co-operation of 
 the corps under your command. 
 
 " I hope to see you to-m^^KPW in this city to con- 
 sult with you on our future^an^. 
 
 " I beg your Excellency will order Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Bedriaga to follow up the enemy as rapid- 
 ly 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 ram- 
 parts of the monastery with cannon, to open upon 
 the remnant 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.S," 
 
197 
 
 The success of Lieutenant-Colonel Bedriaga was 
 answerable to the hopes of the 0o commanders, 
 and a complete clearing of this |^rt of the country 
 of the enemy, was the result. By this important 
 series of events the city of St. Pet^sburgh was rid 
 of the alarm which had possessed son:|fi of its citi- 
 zens, that Macdonald would appear before her 
 gates. The total overthrow of that General, ren- 
 dered the imperial residence perfectly secure ; and 
 indeed it is not to be doubted but that the military 
 skill of the Commander-in-chief on the Dv/ina, and 
 gallantry of his army, wer^ the salvation of that 
 capital. But still, had it so happened that St. Pe- 
 tersburgh 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. Petersburgh ; 
 if St. Petersburgh become their prey, 1 have Arch- 
 angel ; if Archangel be lost, I have my fleets and 
 the hearts of my people, and Russia is still my 
 empire." » 
 
 As another instance of the system of falsehood 
 with which Napoleon and his Generals universally 
 deceive the I^^'rench 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 no- 
 ble day of Polotzk, byadding the French report of 
 the affair. ^JF 
 
 " General Vigt^stein bavins; been reinforced by 
 the divisions of Russians from Finland, and a great 
 part of the militia corps, attacked Marshal St. Cyr 
 on the 18th of October. Vigtenstein was repulsed 
 by the Marshal and General Wrede, who took up- 
 wards of three thousand prisoners, and covered the 
 field of battle with their dead. On the 20th, Mar- 
 shal Govion St. Cyr, having learnt that the Marshal 
 * Duke of Belluno (Victor) was on his march to re- 
 inforce him, re-passed the Dwina to meet him. Af- 
 ter having effected the junction, he means to attack 
 Yigtenstein, and to oblige him to repass the Dwina. 
 
198 
 
 " Marshal Govion St. Cyr bestows the highest 
 praises on his t|:oops. The division of Swiss has 
 distinguished itself by its coolness and bravery. 
 Colonel Guena of the 26th regiment of infantry, 
 has been wounded slightly. The Marshal St. Cyr 
 also has received a ball in his foot. The Marshal 
 Buke of Keggio (Oudinot) is arrived at the army 
 to replace him, and to re-establish the command of 
 the second corps." 
 
 1? 
 
 Victory having now declared itself on all points 
 for the valiant Russians, the whole attention of the 
 Commander-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 ex- 
 pire, like Antaeus, in the arms of his conqueror. 
 
 The perilous state to which Napoleon would be 
 exposed, after having been compelled by his neces- 
 sities to abandon Moscow, the extremities to which 
 he must be reduced to subsist his troops, and to 
 provide for them a place of refuge, were all before 
 the comprehensive eye of Marshal Koutousoff. 
 He sav/ with particular satisfaction the movements 
 of the enemy, and the direction in which they were 
 marching. He was directly in their front ; and, on 
 the moment of their evacuation of the city, he dis- 
 patched orders to the different branches of the Rus- 
 sian army, wherever they might be stationed, to 
 move inward, and draw rapidly around the invader. 
 By this manoeuvre he would meet an opposition at 
 every point whence he had thought it possible to 
 make a retreat ; and his troops, finding themselves 
 encompassed by walls of circumvallation more im- 
 pregnable than stone and iron bulwarks — the sted- 
 fast phalanx of the Russian empire in arms ! — < 
 must either surrender in despair, or perish within 
 the circle. 
 
 Couriers were dispatched to Vigtenstein, why. 
 
199 
 
 having freed himself from his antagonist, was com- 
 manded to move forward, and in a direction to 
 meet the armies of the Danube and of Tormozoft', 
 which had united on the 1 7th of September in the 
 neighbourhood of Loutzk. Orders were sent to 
 their commanders also, to push forward towards 
 Minsk, to check the French who moved in that 
 quarter. 
 
 General Tormozoff, after defeating the enemy in^ 
 August, (as has been stated,) I'etired upon Ko~ 
 brine, where he .remained for some time, annoying 
 the Saxon and Austrian divisions by continually in- 
 tercepting the convoys of every description, which 
 came from the Dutchy of Warsaw by the way of 
 Breslitofsky. 
 
 Having performed these services and being ap- 
 prised of the advance of the army of the Danube 
 under the command of Admiral TchitchagotT, he 
 took immediate steps to form a junction with that 
 army and to draw closer his chain of communication 
 with the division that was organizing at Mazir un- 
 der the direction of Lieutenant-General Hertel. 
 
 To effect these objects he fell back to the bank 
 of the river Styr, near the city of Loutzk. 
 
 The enemy not aware of the purpose of these 
 movements, revived in hope, and lost no time in 
 over-running the small part of Volhynia just left ; 
 and General Dombrofsky with his Polish division 
 (which had occupied Mohilotf on the departure of 
 Prince Poniatofsky,) showed himself in every quar- 
 ter. With an admirable activity he dispatched his 
 parties in every direction, and by these links (for a 
 short time at least) kept up an uninterrupted com- 
 munication with the corps of Renier and Prince 
 Swartzenburg. His detachments were at Gloutzk, 
 Pinzk, and the other towns and villages situated 
 between him and the divisions of the French and 
 Austrian Generals, whose line 'stretched to the 
 shores of the Boug, near Olesk and Kovel. 
 
200 
 
 During the time that Tormozoff awaited on the 
 banks of the Styr the coming up of the army from 
 Moldavia, his advanced posts and reconnoitering 
 parties had several smart skirmishes with those of 
 the enemy. They kept each other on the continual 
 alert, and renewed the contest day by day, at eve- 
 ry opportunity of meeting, although the one side 
 fought with the disadvantage of the fortune of the 
 hour almost constantly fixing itself upon the Rus- 
 sian sword. The Cossacs daily passed the river a 
 la nagCy and brought in numbers of prisoners. 
 
 On the 20th of September a rencontre took place 
 between some cavalry of both armies, which, from 
 its effects, may be considered as an affair of more 
 than usual consequence. 
 
 Count de Lambert (who commanded in the Rus- 
 sian army, and was stationed on its left at Tourgo- 
 vitch,) hearing that a strong body of the enemy's 
 dragoons was to march through a village at some 
 little distance on the opposite bank of the Styr, or- 
 dered several squadrons of Cossacs, under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Prince Bragation, and Count Buc- 
 hovden, two officers of the Imperial hussars, to 
 cross the river and advance to the place through 
 which the French cavalry were to pass. 
 
 The Cosaacs and their gallant leaders were soon 
 over the Styr, and reaching the village undiscover- 
 fed, fell suddenly upon the enemy ; who, not think- 
 ing to find their adversary so near, were taken by 
 surprise, and began the contest in some confusion. 
 It lasted only an hour, for the first consternation of 
 the French troops never subsided ; they fought in 
 disorder, and soon fled with precipitation, leaving 
 many of their comrades dead on the field. One 
 hundred and forty soldiers with eleven officers, 
 were taken prisoners, and three standards fell into 
 the hands of the victors. 
 
 The young soldiers who formed the division un- 
 der General Hertel, and who were stationed far to 
 the right of TormozoiF, w^ere not less actively em- 
 
201 
 
 ployed. They were eager to try their yet unprac- 
 tised arms; and their judicious commander did not 
 curb their enthusiasm, but led them to every oc- 
 casion of proving their courage. On the beginning 
 of August he learnt that Dombrofsky, who for 
 some time had occupied Mohiloflf, was preparing 
 to quit that place. He had two objects in this 
 movement; to re-establish his dispersed parties, 
 with an intention of investing the city and fortress 
 of Bobruisk, which was garrisoned by Russians ; 
 and to join a reinforcement which was arrived in 
 the neiglibourhood of Sloutzk. By accomplishing 
 these designs, he hoped to strengthen himself, and 
 to cut off the communication of the division at Ma- 
 zir with the other Russian corps. 
 
 Hertel was not backward in guessing at what the 
 change in his adversary's position pointed; and 
 forming an immediate plan to circumvent him, 
 he dispatched reconnoitering parties towards Voult- 
 sha and Garbatchvichi, at which places the enemy 
 had formed considerable magazines, and these 
 magazines the brave Russians were determined to 
 destroy. Meanwhile the General himself marched 
 to Bobruisk, and by his appearance, and the station 
 of his troops, not only defeated the hopes of Dom- 
 brofsky in that quarter, but completely separated 
 him from the approach of his expected reinforce- 
 ment. 
 
 This being effected, Hertel led on a strong body 
 of his forces to move towards Gloutzk. On their 
 march they hourly fell in with foraging parties of 
 the enemy, who were convoying droves of cattle, 
 and carts full of provisions for man and beast. 
 These the victors seized, and, taking the escort 
 prisoners, sent the plunder back to the villages 
 whence it had been ravaged. 
 
 On the 14th of September, Hertel reached the 
 neighbourhood of Gloutzk, and having a thick 
 wood to pass through, in which lay the roads lead- 
 ing to the town, he divided his little army into two 
 
 26 
 
202 
 
 colamns, composing their advanced guards, of CoS" 
 sacs, hussars, some light infantry, and a few pieces 
 of flying artillery. 
 
 As he proceeded to the openings of the wood 
 through which his columns were to. make their 
 way he discovered the enemy posted in front of the 
 suburbs of the city. His force appeared to be 
 chiefly cavalry, with about one thousand infantry, 
 and a few guns : the rest of his troops were in the 
 town. 
 
 No sooner were the Russian columns descried ap- 
 proaching from the wood, than the whole of the 
 French cavalry, to the number of six hundred, 
 rushed forward to the attack. The Cossacs and 
 hussars, supported by their artillery, gave them a 
 firm reception. Under cover of this war of sa- 
 bres and of guns, the Russian infantry rapidly form- 
 ed, and charging in their turn, soon drove the ene- 
 my back to the suburbs and thence into the town. 
 Here a short resistance was made, but the over- 
 whelming valour of the Russians overturned every 
 obstacle, and cutting down the enemy wherever they 
 presented themselves, every street was the theatre 
 of triumph, and with shouts of acclamation they 
 saw the last ranks of the French precipatately re- 
 treat and abandon the city. 
 
 The discomfited General hastily crossed the river 
 Ftitchy with his shattered army, and with as much 
 expedition destroyed the bridge by which his es- 
 cape was effected. 
 
 But these measures were but a short security. 
 Hertel soon restored the ruined arches, and with 
 his brave eUvcs passed over to complete the defeat 
 of the invaders of their country. 
 
 The enemy having consolidated his force, made 
 a show of resistance, but the Cossacs and hussars 
 charging his ranks with their usual determination, 
 compelled them to give ground. Still however they 
 maintained the conflict, receding and fighting, till 
 the Russians inflamed with impatience, assaulted 
 
203 
 
 lliem with such increased fury tliat they could no 
 longer stand ; and turning round, they fairlij took 
 to ffitir heels. I know no olher term that could so 
 truly express the haste and manner of their flight. 
 
 General Hertel being thus left in quiet posses^ 
 sion of the city and its environs, took two hundred 
 and fifty prisoners, and a large magazine of corn. 
 But determined to suffer no delay in the prosecu- 
 tion of his plans, which comprised the seizure or 
 destruction of the enemy's depots in Voultsha and 
 Garbatchvichi, and the prevention of the French 
 flying squadrons joining the detachment from Dom- 
 brofsky, then on its march towards Bobruisk, the 
 persevering Hertel again put his eager troops in 
 motion. 
 
 At the distance of ten wersts from Gloutzk his 
 advanced parties came up with a numerous body 
 of infantry, who were fugitives from his late victo- 
 rious field. Seeing themselves so closely pursued, 
 they hastily formed, covering their flanks with two 
 pieces of cannon and some light troops ; but the 
 completion of their line was not allowed to be 
 made, for their old enemies the Cossacs and hus- 
 sars, followed by a regiment of infantry precipita- 
 ted themselves upon their ranks, and mowed them 
 down in the midst of the disorder they occasioned 
 without the pause of a minute. While this death- 
 ful work was going forward in the van, the Russsian 
 General ordered the Wood in their flank to be pene- 
 trated, that he might gain their rear. This was 
 done ; and the enemy finding himself nearly sur- 
 rounded, rose with the occasion, and fought with 
 a desperation that almost made his opponents stag- 
 ger. After five hours hard fighting, in w^hich every 
 man in the opposing legions must have found him- 
 self a hero, the French wounded and faint, yield- 
 ed the contest by rushing into the woods; there 
 peeking a miserable shelter, ivhile their more fortu- 
 nate comrades lay dead or trying upon the disputed 
 field. 
 
204 
 
 The enemy lost upwards of one thousand men 
 in killed and wounded, in this action, and one 
 hundred and fifty as prisoners to the Russians, who 
 took them with their two pieces of cannon. 
 
 On the side of General Hertel, the loss was com- 
 paratively small, amounting to no more than two 
 hundred killed and wounded ; but even these were 
 great to him who lamented in each individual the 
 early fall of one formed to reflect increasing honour 
 on the soldier's name. 
 
 After compelling his indefatigable troops to take 
 a few hours' repose, they impatiently listened for 
 his command to pursue their career. That given, 
 they were again in array, and on the road to Voult- 
 sha, and Garbatchvichi. They needed only to ap- 
 pear before those places to receive the reward of 
 their toil in the crowning of their enterprise. Both 
 magazines fell into their hands ; and Dombrofsky, 
 hearing that the Russian force was coming upon 
 him, broke up his lines before the forti'ess of Bo- 
 bruisk, and fell rapidly back upon MohilofF. 
 
 Whilst this success attended the troops under 
 General HerteFs personal command, a detachment 
 from his army under General Zapolsky, had de^ 
 feated a party of Austrians close to the town of 
 Pinsk. The result was the abandonment of that 
 place by the enemy, who retired upon Lubaschevo. 
 A very large magazine filled with all kinds of stores 
 was found by the victors in Pinsk. 
 
 When General Renier and Prince Swartzenburg 
 were apprised of the union of the army of the Dan- 
 ube with that of TormozoiT, they made prepara- 
 tions for an immediate retreat towards Brest-Li- 
 tofsky. The Russians were as prompt in pursuit, 
 and the roads over which they passed presented a 
 thousand traces of the haste with which the dis- 
 comfited invaders retrod their steps. Dead horses, 
 broken tumbrils, cart§, and destroyed stores, were 
 every where strewed along the path. The advan- 
 ced parties of the retreating and pursuing armies 
 
205 
 
 were at hourly rencontre, killing numbers and ma- 
 king many prisoners. At last the Russian force 
 pressed so close upon Swartzenburg, that he was 
 obliged to hasten his march, and entirely evacuate 
 the country before the troops so recently driven 
 from Pinsk could make their way to his standard* 
 Thus was Yolhynia disencumbered of the load 
 which had so long burthened her fields, 5.nd her 
 cities ; but ere the enemy had reached the vicinity 
 of Vlodava and of Brest, he left upon the ground 
 he had so oppressed, upwards of two thousand kil- 
 led, and five hundred prisoners in the hands of his 
 pursuers. 
 
 When the Austrian Prince and his soldiers, with 
 Renier and his followers, halted at Vlodava and 
 Brest, they did not r^st there, but pushed across 
 the river Boug towards Brest-Litofsky. They were 
 about forty thousand men strong, and here took up 
 a position ; but finding it expedient to dispatch the 
 greater part of their force again to the opposite 
 bank, they recrossed the river near that town, and 
 entrenclied themselves between Mouchovitza and 
 tlie Lessna. The former is a little stream that flows 
 into the Boug, and the latter pays its tribute to 
 the game great river several wersts distant, near 
 Bratouyanib. 
 
 TchitchagofT's columns having kept on the right 
 bank of the Boug, followed the enemy's motions 
 in a parallel direction ; and, after crossing the 
 Mouchovitza at three places, arrived on the 11 th 
 of October opposite to their front. His reconnoit- 
 ering parties brought him information that decided 
 him on making an attack early next morning. But 
 lojig after dawn it continued so extremely dark that 
 the nearest object could hardly be discerned. On 
 the clouds clearing away he bore • down upon the 
 French position, when, to his infinite disappoint- 
 ment, he found that the enemy had abandoned his 
 lines and disappeared. In fact, Swartzenburg and 
 Renier had taken advantage of the night, and the 
 
206 
 
 obscurity of the morning to move off unperceived, 
 and to retreat across the Lessna, in the direction of 
 Vissoko-Litofsk. 
 
 Tile Russians lost no time in commencing the 
 chase, and their advance-guards soon came up with 
 the rear of the fugitives, even in the moment of 
 their passing the river. A hot contest ensued, and 
 many foil on both sides ; the Russians fought at 
 disadvantage, and the enemy crossed. Renier and 
 his coadjutor had foreseen the pursuit, and prepar- 
 ed for it by placing pieces of artillery on the oppo- 
 site bank, and lining the wood that overshadowed 
 it with chasseurs. These kept up a heavy fire on 
 their pursuers, and prevented them from immedi- 
 ately following the French rear across the stream. 
 Indeed it was not until the next morning that the 
 Russian commander found he could proceed with 
 advantage ; and then the pursuit was prosecuted 
 with such speed and effect, that the enemy were 
 driven far beyond Vissoko, and induced to make a 
 rapid march towards Bialistock. 
 
 During this whole affair from the first to the last 
 of the pursuit, the Russians had about two hundred 
 sixty men killed and wounded, besides six officers. 
 The enemy's loss was considerable. Four hundred 
 were left on the road dead or dying ; and seven 
 hundred men, including twenty officers, were taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 Meanwhile Major-General Dochtoroff and Colo- 
 nel Tschernicheff, with some regiments of light cav- 
 alry, had been detached to the opposite shore of 
 the Boug, at Brest-Litofsky, with orders to march 
 upon Bialo-Lublin, and to dispatch their troops to 
 the right and left, to destroy all the magazines 
 they could find, and to make observations for fu- 
 ture movements, in the event of a complete evacu- 
 ation of the country by the French. 
 
 The objects of this pursuit in so many points, 
 was not merely to harass the enemy, but to drive 
 him entirely out of that part of the country which 
 
207 
 
 horded upon the lands whence the Russian armies 
 in this quarter must draw their subsistence. 
 
 Admiral Tchitchagoff, being informed that the 
 retreating forces had passed the Nareva, dispatched 
 a corps which moved swiftly after them. It was 
 rtieant rather to observe than attack, and by hover- 
 ing over the movements of the enemy in the direc- 
 tion of Bialistock, it would greatly facilitate the 
 design of the Admiral to open a correspondence 
 Avith the army of the Dwina, and to cut off this di- 
 vision of the grand army from any communication 
 with Buonaparte. 
 
 One spirit of flight seemed now to pervade the 
 French forces throughout the whole empire. In 
 this quarter they retreated with a haste that did not 
 permit them to make any observations of what was 
 passing in their rear ; and therefore the brave 
 Tchitchagoff felt no uneasy anticipation of their 
 attempting to return, when his recall to the interior 
 should lessen the numbers of their pursuers* In 
 vain would the divisions under the immediate com- 
 mand of Napoleon have wished to partake the 
 escape of those under Renier and Prince Swart- 
 zenburg : Koutousoff had got them strongly hem- 
 med in, and to complete the circle he was drawing 
 around them and their dictator, he dispatched or- 
 ders to Admiral TchichagolT to hasten his move- 
 ments towards Minsk, as his troops were required 
 in that quarter to intercept the Grand Army, which 
 was then in full flight from Moscow. 
 
 This intelligence no sooner reached the Com- 
 mander of the army of the Danube, than he set 
 forward. He had already cleared Yolhynia, and 
 great part of the government of Grodno of their 
 iijivaders. The detachment which he sent into the 
 government of Warsaw, had carried terror to the 
 gates of its capital ; and returned to him, after ha- 
 ving destroyed numerous valuable magazines in 
 their path. 
 
 When the Admiral directed his march towards 
 
2m 
 
 Minsk, (wliich he did on the 1st of November,) 
 Lieutenant-General Sakin was left, at the head of 
 a body of troops at Brest-Litofsky, with orders to 
 remain in observation on the Duchy of Warsaw. 
 General Liders was then at Voline, and with Gen- 
 eral Hertel, had received commands to move with 
 all expedition upon Minsk. Liders was to proceed 
 by the way of Pinsk, and Hertel through Gloutz^k, 
 whilst the army of the Danube directed its course 
 towards Proujany. From that place it would con- 
 tinue its route through Slonim, Nes wick-mire, an^ 
 so onwards to Minsk, at which point the Admiral 
 hoped to arrive on the 19th of November. 
 
 Field-Marshal Koutousoff having had ac- 
 curate information of the growing miseries of the 
 French during their occupation of Moscow, and 
 of the extremities to which their leader was reduc- 
 ed, foresaw the speedy evacuation of that city, and 
 the consequent state of the enemy. He therefore 
 lost no time in making such preparations for the 
 event as would render it decisive of the fate of 
 Napoleon and his army. 
 
 The head-quarters of the Russian main army 
 had been removed from Krasnoy-Pocra to the vil- 
 lage of Touratino, where it was entrenched on the 
 2d of October ; but on the 4th it changed its posi- 
 tion to the village of Letachevka, further on the 
 Kalouga road. From these points the Command- 
 er-in-cheif dispatched his orders, and dispersed his 
 divisions into every avenue into which it was possi- 
 ble the enemy in his flight might attempt to pene- 
 trate. Myriads of armed men covered the country 
 from the vicinity of Bronitza to the grand road of 
 •Mqjaisk, and thence thro' Klim on the opposite side 
 io Dimitroff and Vladimer. The peasantry beheld 
 the hour of retribution at hand, and they presented 
 themselves every where in multitudes, «orae on foot 
 
209 
 
 and others on horseback, to assist the soldiery in 
 the destruction of their enemies. 
 
 At this juncture of affairs, the Field-Marshal's 
 own words will give the most satisfactory account 
 of the relative state of the hostile armies. He thus 
 writes : 
 
 "During the last eight days the Russian army 
 has occupied the right bank of the Nara, near the 
 •Tillage of Jarontino, where it now remains in a 
 
 Jstate of tranquillity, Avhile it augments its strength ; 
 every regiment is kept up in its original numerical 
 force, by troops continually arriving from the dif- 
 ferent governments. Prince LobanofF Shostousky, 
 General of infantry, superintends the formation 
 and discipline of these recruits ; who, daily exer- 
 cised in the camp, rapidly acquire military knowl-^ 
 edge, and become impatient for its display in active 
 service. Excellent water, and abundant forage, 
 give every advantage to our present situation : 
 the regulations for the distribution of provisions 
 are so admirably adapted to their object, that a 
 
 * want of any kind is unknown amongst our troops. 
 The roads are covered with numerous waggons la- 
 den with the superfluity of adjacent governments. 
 Convalescent officers and soldiers daily re-join 
 their regiments, while the sick and wounded, still 
 in the bosom of their country, enjoy the inestima- 
 ble privilege of being surrounded by the tender 
 cares of their own families. 
 
 " Meanwhile, that confusion which prevails in 
 the enemy's army, prevents him from attempting 
 to disturb our repose : his remoteness from his own 
 dominions deprives him of supplies ; his subsist- 
 ence, therefore, becomes hourly more precarious ; 
 and the prisoners unanimously confess that their 
 army have long had no other meat than horse-flesh, 
 and that bread was even scarcer than meat. The 
 total want of forage reduces their cavalry and horse- 
 artillery to the utmost wretchedness ; the greatest 
 
 27 
 
210 
 
 part of this cavalry has been alreatly destroyed m 
 the preceding combats, and particularly in the me- 
 raorable day of the 26th of August (7th Sept. N. 
 S>) a day so glorious to the Russian name ! The 
 iniserable remnant that is left, surrounded on all 
 sides by our detachments that cut off every supply, 
 sutfer from the severest scarcity. Pressed by wanty 
 and straitened in means, Ihe enemy can no longer 
 attempt any thing beyond some feeble efforts to 
 secure those escorts of provisions^ which' a>re uni- 
 formly beaten by our foraging parties. Our prin- 
 cipal detachments upon the roads of Mojaisk, of 
 St, Petersburgh, of Kolomna, and of Sespouehoff, 
 rarely suffer a day to pass without bringing in up^ 
 wards of three hundred prisoners ; even the peas- 
 ants, belonging to the villages bordering on the 
 seat of war, cause infinite vexation and loss to our 
 invaders. 
 
 " Russia, which in every age has distinguished 
 herself amongst the nations of the earth, by love 
 for her sovereigns, burns to-day with more than 
 Jier a^ncient zeal to defend the throne of her Empe- 
 ror, and to avenge her wrongs; filled with pat- 
 . riotic ardour, the peasants arrange themselves into 
 armies ; they post sentinels upon the tops of the 
 hills, and of the churches, to watch the approach 
 of the enemy, and when he is descried the tocsin is 
 . sounded, the patriot warriors rush into their self- 
 formed ranks, pour with the force of mingled tor- 
 rents upon these brigands, and stay their over- 
 whelming tide only by the total destruction of their 
 opposers. 
 
 " Every day they are seen crowding to the camp 
 bringing prisoners to head-quarters, and demanding 
 arms and ammunition ; the demand of these true 
 sons of their country is never denied, while there 
 remains' the means of gratifying it. In many pla- 
 ces these brave peasants have collectively taken a 
 solemn oath to continue embodied for the common 
 defence, and have at the same lime enacted laws. 
 
211 
 
 by which the severest punishments are decreed 
 for such as should basely desert their voluntarj 
 pledge. 
 
 ** That awfol arm, which sustains the just and 
 strikes the unjust, is now manifestly stretched forth 
 in wrath over the head of our enemies ! — Intelli- 
 gence has just arrived, that after completely routing 
 the French, the Spaniards and the English have re- 
 taken Madrid ; thus our invaders are discomfited 
 every where ; and while they are falling by thou- 
 sands at one extremity of Europe, at the other 
 their graves are digging in the soil of that empire 
 which they vainly menaced with annihilation !'" 
 
 The task of reconnoilering the great high road 
 leading to Wiazma and Gchatz, was entrusted to 
 the active zeal of Major-General Dorochoff'. Be- 
 sides this duty, he was ordered to attack the city 
 of Yereya, which the enemy had garrisoned, to 
 take it by assault, and to destroy the fortifications 
 which they had recently constructed. This ac- 
 complished, the left of the imperial army would be 
 freed from an impediment in its movements, and 
 the whole country would be clear to the Gchatz 
 road. 
 
 On the 2d of October, General Dorechoff joined 
 his advanced corps under Colonel Prince Yadbal- 
 sky and Colonel Davidoff, and pushed on to the 
 country between Seml^vo and Wiazma, Avhere he 
 surprised the enemy; and between the 2d and i3tlj 
 of October took upwards of a hundred carriages 
 of various descriptions laden with plunder and pro- 
 visions wrested from the peasantry, and nearly a 
 hundred head of cattle. During the rencontres 
 with convoys, foragers, and marauders, which put 
 him in possession of this spoil, he killed and took 
 of the enemy more than two thousand men, with a 
 great number of officers, and six pieces of can- 
 non. 
 
 Vereya had been strengthened by the French, 
 
212 
 
 and was considered by them a valuable depot for 
 their arms, plunder, and provisions. Napoleon 
 had placed there a garrison of one thousand five 
 hundred men, composed of French and Westpha- 
 lians ; and when the Russians under Dorochoff 
 approached to attack it, the town showed signs on 
 every side of a determined resistance. However, 
 the spirit that moved to the assault was as resolute 
 as that which opposed it. Although the Russian 
 General found the ascent to the fortifications ex- 
 tremely steep, and that they were rendered more 
 secure by firm rows of palisadoes, he gave orders 
 to carry the whole by storm. The deed followed 
 the command ; and the columns which led the at- 
 tack were conducted by four intrepid citizens of 
 Vereya. The native inhabitants of the town 
 watched with anxiety the salvation their brethren 
 had promised to bring them from Koutousoff's 
 camp, and hailed with bounding hearts the ap- 
 proach of the Russian legions. They descried the 
 standards of Dorochoff ; and in the rear of his line 
 a body of peasantry, with their hatchets and pick- 
 axes, led on by a venerable priest to destroy the 
 works and palisadoes. 
 
 At five o'clock in the morning of the 10th the 
 whole of the advanced party had passed the first 
 line of defence; this achieved, they rushed into 
 the ditch, and in less than half an hour the Russian 
 bayonets had made their way into the heart of the 
 town. The priest and his warlike band soon level- 
 led the parapets and bastions in all quarters, and 
 glided their brethren in arms to sweep the city of 
 its insolent intruders. 
 
 About five hundred of the enemy were slain, 
 four hundred made prisoners, and the standard of 
 Westphalia taken with five hundred muskets, which 
 w^ere distributed amongst the peasantry. Some 
 corn, flour, and biscuits Avere found, which were 
 given to the troops and people. 
 
 The loss on the part of the Russians did not ex- 
 
213 
 
 ceed forty men in killed and wounded. The brave 
 citizens who led the columns were amongst the 
 first to mount the ramparts and one of them was 
 wounded. The disaster was happily not mortal ; 
 and in recompence for the dangerous duty, he and 
 his three brave colleagues each received the military 
 medal of the order of St. George. 
 
 On finding the Russian light troops in the neighs 
 bourhood of Mojaisk, the enemy conceived appre- 
 hensions for the safety of Vereya, and dispatched 
 toils garrison a reinforcement of three battalions 
 of infantry and four squadrons of cavalry. They 
 were seen from the town, about eleven o'clock, at 
 a few wersts distance. Before they could perceive 
 that all was over with their comrades in that garri- 
 son, a reserve of troops (stationed by the Russian 
 General without the walls) instantly advanced and 
 fell upon them. Their resistance Avas short, but 
 while it lasted, so sanguinary that they seemed to 
 stand in blood. At length finding perseverance 
 would be unavailing, they gave up the contest and 
 fled. The dead they left on the field was terrifical- 
 ly increased by the swords of the Cossacs and oth- 
 er cavalry, which cut down hundreds as they pur- 
 sued them to the covering lines of Mojaisk. 
 
 From the movements of the several French di-^ 
 visions towards every point connected with any ave-^ 
 nue that led to the Dneiper, it was easy to under- 
 stand the object to which their leader now bent his 
 steps. His purpose was to retrace his march, to 
 escape the vengeance of an incensed country, and 
 to find himself once more in safety on the frontiers 
 of his subject nations. 
 
 From the instant he found all hopes vain of bring- 
 ing the empire of Russia to the necessity of solici- 
 ting a disgraceful peace, he decided upon retiring 
 to that pari of Poland wherehis magazines had been 
 prepared, for a very different consummation of his 
 campaign than the present retrograde motion. 
 
 Could he accomplish this retreat, which he flat- 
 
214 
 
 iered himself might be done with comparatively 
 trifling loss^ he would remain at the vast entrance 
 of the Russian empire, until the return of spring 
 should re-open to him her gates. During the inter- 
 val his harassed troops would be recovered from 
 their fatigues ; he would draw new levies and con- 
 tributions from France and the continental states ; 
 and, again crossing the frontiers with his host, he 
 would fall with interminable fury upon the Russian 
 empire, and compel it to acknowledge " a just sense 
 of its duty as an European state /" 
 
 It is evident that Ihe Russian people and the 
 Ruler of the French, see the " duty" of Russia 
 *' as an European state," in two opposite points of 
 view. Which is the right one, any honest mind 
 can affirm. 
 
 Being reduced to the necessity of putting his 
 hard alternative into practice, Buonaparte saw with 
 increased vexation the adjacent country so filled 
 with his adversaries, that he must take extraordi- 
 nary precautions to escape their vigilance. He 
 thought it well to divide his army from its spoil ; 
 judging by his own soldiers, he seems to have plan- 
 ned a bait for the Russian troops in one path, which, 
 when they were devouring, would have purchased 
 for himself and folloAvers a safe retreat beyond their 
 lines. To this end he sent forward on the great 
 road to Smolenzk, several hundreds of carts, car- 
 riages, and waggons, filled with ammunition and 
 plunder, sick and wounded soldiers, and a scanty 
 store of provisions and forage. 
 
 While these proceeded on their perilous journey, 
 he designed to set forward himself, with the grand 
 army, in a parallel direction, taking his course by 
 the way of Maloyarraslavitz Medyn, and crossing 
 the governments of Smolenzk and MohilofF, he 
 hoped to reach Minsk in safety. In that city he 
 had provided magazines of all kinds, and in its 
 neighbourhood he expected to meet the reinforce' 
 
215 
 
 merit of Marshal Victor, joined by the remains of 
 St. Cyr's division. 
 
 Buonaparte encouraged his army with the assu- 
 rance that if they gained Minsk, the country di- 
 .verging from it, and along their future march, was 
 so prolific, that while they remained on it they 
 would scarcely again feel any privations from the 
 war. Famished and worn with the calamities they 
 had suffered and inflicted, they were eager to press 
 towards so desirable a goal ; and to insure a fa- 
 vourable issue to these hopes, their leader made 
 his first movement in an attempt to deceive Prince 
 KoutousofF. He wished to give him an idea that 
 the object of the French troops was to pierce the 
 main Russian army, to possess themselves of Ka- 
 louga, and to winter in the rich provinces around 
 it. To make this impression, which was to be the 
 operating seal of his great plan, he directed Mural 
 to march forward upon the Kalouga road, with a 
 formidable division of the army, to attack the Rus- 
 sians, and by prolonging the contest, afford time 
 for the rest of the troops and their sovereign to gain 
 an unmolested retreat. 
 
 Prince KoutousofF v/as too good a master of the 
 science of information to be ignorant of this scheme 
 of his adversary. He made instant dispositions to 
 render it abortive, and accordingly ordered a great 
 part of his army to break up their position at Tou- 
 ratino, on the 17th of October, and march out 
 imder the command of General Baron Benningson. 
 Their advance was to be as sudden as unexpected 
 by the enemy, and they were to fall upon him a 
 Vimproviste near Maloyarralavitz. The Baron and 
 his brave troops hastened to the enterprise with an 
 ardour answerable to its importance, for they could 
 not but see that in proportion to the expectations 
 of advantage which Napoleon had founded on tha 
 success of his plan, would be his despair on its fail- 
 ure. In such a dilemma they perceived no option 
 
216 
 
 for bis followers but a miserable flight through the 
 desolate ways of Wiazma. 
 
 Wiazma, which the Russians looked to as the 
 probable temporary asylum of their defeated ene- 
 my, was fated to be the field of his severest conteist. 
 It is situated on the right bank of the river Louja, 
 and stands upon high commanding grounds, at the 
 foot of which are extensive woods that stretch to a 
 vast plain, beyond which the country becomes, to 
 a considerable extent, imeven and intersected with 
 ravines and small rivers. 
 
 Benningson having drawn the battalions selected 
 for this duty from the chief part of the right wing 
 of the main army, they left their lines at seven 
 o'clock in the evening of the 17th. His gallant 
 corps Avas composed of the second, third, and fourth 
 battalions of infantry, ten regiments of Cossacs 
 under Count Orloff-Denisoff, the twentieth regi- 
 ment of chasseurs, and four other regiments from 
 the first division of cavalry under the orders of Ma- 
 jor-General Baron Miller-Zakomelsky. 
 
 Tlie whole body moved on in three columns* 
 The first, composed of Cossacs under Count Or- 
 loif-DenisofF, and seconded by the force under 
 General Miller-Zakomelsky, was to form Benning- 
 ton's right, and endeavour to turn the left flank of 
 the enemy. The second column consisted of a 
 body of infantry preceded by a brigade of chas- 
 seurs, and four pieces of light artillery ; the rear 
 of this column was formed of the divisions of Lieu- 
 tenant-^General Baggavout and Major-General 
 Count Strogonoff, and supported by a formidable 
 train of artillery. The third column was command- 
 ed by Count Osterman-Tolstoy, and consisted of 
 tlie fourth corps of infantry, with a battery of 
 heavy guns. 
 
 These divisions, headed by their Commander, 
 soon crossed the Nara, while the rest of the army 
 followed their movements, and advanced along the 
 great road. The day had not dawned before the 
 
217 
 
 leading corps had gained the various points whence 
 they were to commence their operations. 
 
 When information .was brought to Murat of the 
 Unexpected approach of the ilussians, he hastily 
 formed in order of battle, and, taking advantage 
 of some rising grounds in the rear of a village close 
 to his line, he planted it with a heavy battery of 
 guns. The body of his army presented a vast front, 
 extending its flanks to the extremities of the neigh- 
 bouring woods. It consisted of fifty thousand men, 
 and was commanded by himself and Beauharnois. 
 
 Previous to the Russian columns presenting them- 
 selves to the enemy, the brigade of chasseurs had 
 spread themselves upon the plain ; giving time, by 
 this manoeuvre, for the light artillery to come up 
 and form at some distance from the head of its res- 
 tive advancing corps. 
 
 The guns of the centre column were the first to 
 open the fire. This was the signal for Count Or- 
 loff-Denisoff to lead near the edge of the wood, to- 
 wards the enemy's left. Count Osterman-Tolstoy 
 at the same moment moved to his left, to join the 
 corps of General DochtorofF, which had been pre- 
 viously employed in observation in the vicinity of 
 Maloyarraslavitz. The centre was led on by the 
 gallant Lieutenant-General Baggavout, who form- 
 ed on the heights near the town, and covered them 
 with cannon. 
 
 The action commenced with a tremendous fire ; 
 for some time both sides sustained the shock with 
 admirable firmness, but the steady discharge of the 
 Russian infantry began to shake the enemy's line, 
 and what completed its disorder from his centre to 
 his left, was the sudden opening of a battery hasti- 
 ly thrown up by the Russians on their left, and 
 which added a heavy cross fire to that already pour- 
 ed upon the falling enemy. Nearly at this juncture 
 Count OrlofT-DenisofT turned the left flank of the 
 French and fell upon their rear with great havoc. 
 The confusion in this point was very great, and to 
 
218 
 
 render it decisive he seconded the unremitting fire 
 of his musketry, with repeated discharges from the 
 whole of his light artillery. . While the dismayed 
 nmltitude before him were deserting their ground 
 in crowds. General Baron Miiler-Zakomelsky came 
 up with his cavalry and Cossacs and completed the 
 destruction. 
 
 The success of the right column of the Russians 
 was immediately observed by Benningson, and to 
 redouble the advantage, he ordered his infantry 
 and cavalry to press forward. The dragoons char- 
 ged w^ith vehemence, and the resolute infentry bore 
 down with a weight that overthrew all opposition. 
 The enemy rallied, and made a show of resistance, 
 but the attempt was as short as vain, and they w^ere 
 driven at the point of the bayonet with dreadful 
 slaughter from the field. 
 
 Owing to an unforeseen circumstance Count Os- 
 terman-Tolstoy had not been able to form a junc- 
 tion with Dochtoroff, but the rest of the Russian 
 army appearing in sight, the right of the enemy 
 followed the example of his centre and left, and 
 precipitately fled before the victors towards Me- 
 dyn. 
 
 The l<f>ss of the French in this day's battle 
 amouted to two thousand five hundred killed, and 
 one thousand taken prisoners. They also lost the 
 great standard of honour belonging to the Napole- 
 on regiment of cuirasseurs, thirty-eight pieces of 
 cannon, forty ammunition waggons, all the baggage 
 belonging to the division, an immensity of plunder 
 smassed at different times by individuals of the ar- 
 my, the carriages of Murat, and other spoil of va- 
 rious descriptions. Amongst the slain on the ene- 
 my's side were many officers of rank ; one Gene- 
 ral named Derie, was piked by a Cossac, and the 
 bodies of twelve field-officers were found on the 
 field. 
 
 The loss on the part of the Russians was trifling 
 in number, not amounting to more than three bun- 
 
219 
 
 dred killed ; but in that small list they had to la- 
 ment the brave General Baggavout, who was struck 
 by a cannon-shot at the comiiienccment of the ac- 
 tion, and instantly expired. The veteran comman- 
 der in tiiis most glorious day, Ihe intrepid Ben- 
 ningson, was also wounded by receiving a severe 
 <:!ontusion in his leg ; but he would not leave the 
 field till he beheld the dauntless perseverance of 
 bis heroes crowned wilh victory. 
 
 The force by wdiich it had been achieved was in- 
 ferior in numbers to that of the eneujy, but the 
 spirit by which they were animated gave a more 
 than mortal determination to their courage, and 
 the effect was answerable to the inspiration. 
 
 The praise given to the troops for their conduct 
 on this day, both by Benningson and Koutousofij 
 does not pay a more deserved tribute to the men 
 than to the officers, whose discipline and example 
 trained them to this glorious proof of the soldier. 
 The venerable Field-Marshal thus expresses him- 
 self:— 
 
 " The circumstance in this victory that I dwell 
 on with the greatest satisfaction is, that all the col- 
 umns performed their movements with an order 
 and tranquillity, more resembling the calm evolu- 
 tions of a field-day than the tumultuous hour of 
 battle." 
 
 General Benningson speaks the same language. 
 
 " I cannot sufficiently express my approbation of 
 the good order and courage with which the troops 
 executed their different movements, and made their 
 attacks. Their coolness and intrepidity, as well as 
 discipline cannot be excelled. They have covered 
 themselves with glory. In justice to the other part 
 of the army, which circumstances did not permit to 
 join in the action, I must add what is due to them, 
 that the commanding disposition wdiich they took 
 
220 
 
 on the farther extended heights to the left, materi-. 
 ally facilitated the brilliant issue of this memorable 
 day," 
 
 This defeat of Murat, so unlooked-for by his 
 master, was a dreadful omen of the fate that await- 
 ed his devoted army. When the news reached Na- 
 poleon, he then felt the. pangs of desperation in 
 their full force. He found it impossible to deceive 
 himself any longer, and he saw how improbable it 
 would be much longer to deceive his wretched fol- 
 lowers. The moment was come when the bonds by 
 which he had linked so many varying interests into 
 his were to burst asunder; when, perhaps, the 
 thousands he had beguiled into this measureless 
 distance from their homes, would turn upon their 
 deluder, and wreak their vengeance in his blood. 
 These natural suggestions rung a dreadful denunci- 
 ation in his ears ; not ten thousand spectres from 
 their bloody graves could have been more terrible 
 to his soul, than the voice that then spoke within 
 him. Not a moment was to be lost. The great 
 object he had in view, to open a path to his army 
 by misleading Koutousoflf, had been frustrated. 
 Instead of his Generals falling unexpectedly on the 
 Russian army, KoutousofT's Generals had fallen 
 unexpectedly upon his. 
 
 The movement upon Yarralavitz had drawn up- 
 on him the whole force of the country, and at a 
 moment when he ought to have endeavoured by 
 every stratagem he could devise, to have kept the 
 Russians in their entrenchments at Touratino, while 
 his famished legions were drawing off by degrees, 
 and at least getting the start of their enemy. It is 
 true, that in such a retreat they would have had 
 many thousand squadrons of Cossacs and light 
 troops to encounter and to pass ; but still, had he 
 directed Murat's force to have moved in a parallel 
 direction nearer to the Mojaisk road, the Russian 
 main army would not have been m soon aroused. 
 
221 
 
 and with it the whole Russian people en masse. 
 The division was now disconiiiled wilk disgrace, 
 which he had hoped would have covered his move- 
 ments towards a place of restoration and rest for 
 his troops ; and the direful effect of the disaster 
 was not merely tarnishing his glory, but compel- 
 ling him to take a route that was pregnant with ca- 
 lamity to his soldiers and mortification to himself. 
 The legions of Russia pressed around him, and he 
 was forced to seek a way to the promised winter 
 quarters over the desolated waste which his people, 
 high in pride and anticipated conquest, had trod 
 under foot in their progress to the ancient capital 
 of the empire. 
 
 On the 19th of the month, tw^o days after the de- 
 feat of Yarralavitz, Napoleon quitted Moscow, 
 His troops were more eager to obey than he to give 
 the word, that rid the groaning city of its ruthless 
 invaders. This once splendid and jocund army 
 were now naked and dispirited, with scarcely a 
 day's biscuit for each man, or a mouthful of forage 
 for the numerous horses. With despair in their 
 looks they heard the commands of their Generals 
 to move upon Mojaisk, by the ways of Borosk and 
 Veraya. Murat and Beauharnois were to attempt 
 gaining the same point by Medyn. 
 
 Buonaparte and his share of the troops proceed- 
 ed to the proposed rendezvous by the old Kalouga 
 road, and halting at Disna, his twenty-sixth bulle- 
 tin reports him to have arrived on*the twenty-third 
 of the month at Borosk. It is thus expressed :— 
 
 " The head-quarters were at the castle of Troitz- 
 koy (near Disna) on the nineteenth, and there re- 
 mained all the twentieth. On the twenty-first they 
 were at Ignatieffj the twenty-second at Fomin- 
 skoy ; and the army having made two Jiank move- 
 ments, it arrived on the twenty-third at Borosk." 
 
 After the victory of the 18th, Field-Marshal 
 
22^ 
 
 Ivoutousoff resumed his position at Touralino, and 
 strengthened his advance-guard under Milorado- 
 vitch, which was stationed at Tchernichnaya, and 
 spread its parties beyond Yoronova. He also dis- 
 patched a reinforcement of twenty-five new regi- 
 ments of Cossacs, to disperse themselves, under 
 the direction of the intrepid PlatofF, throughout 
 every part of the country between the late scene of 
 action and Mojaisk. 
 
 The enemy felt the full effects of these hostile 
 preparations. In his march towards Moloyarrasla- 
 vitz, every step he took was marked by the perish- 
 ing bodies of his followers, fallen by the grasp of 
 famine, or the swords of the flying parties of Rus- 
 sian cavalry which infested every village and every 
 wood in their path. Koutousoff had no longer to 
 stand on the defensive ; his Avhole array was at his 
 disposal to follow in any direction the breathless 
 retreat of the enemy, and he did not fail to make 
 active use of that part of his force which was cal- 
 culated to bring back the best account of the fugi- 
 tives. He possessed a body of horse that amounted 
 to more than forty-five regiments, and great part 
 of these he dispatched, with hordes of Bashkirs, 
 Tartars, and other irregular troops, to traverse and 
 destroy the French troops in every direction. 
 
 Amongst the numerous sanguinary rencontres 
 which took place between these warriors of the de- 
 sert and the soldiers of Napoleon, a more than or- 
 dinary brilliant" affair took place under the brave 
 leading of Colonel Prince Koudascheff. He per- 
 ceived a strong body of the French approaching, 
 and putting himself at the head of about six hun- 
 dred Cossacs, he rushed suddenly from a thick 
 wood upon the enemy, and charged them with a 
 fury that levelled the first ranks with the earth on 
 the first assault. It was the advanced guard of Se- 
 bastiani, but was taken off its guard. It was, how- 
 ever, commanded by a brave officer, and made sev- 
 eral bold essays to recover the distinction of its 
 
223 
 
 name ; but the ovenvhelniing power of the Cossac 
 arm was not to be resisted, and nearly the whole of 
 the party were put to death. 
 
 This success Avas followed up by the victors with 
 an increased ardour for new exploits. They set 
 forward, and proceeding some little distance on the 
 same road, came in upon a ravine, where they sur- 
 prised another detachment from the grand army, 
 which appeared as negligent of preparing against 
 an attack as its predecessor. The gallant Koudas- 
 cheff bore down upon it immediately, and though 
 its numerical force more than doubled his, the ene- 
 my fell before him as before a mighty wind ; and 
 mounting their dead bodies to seize the trophies of 
 his victory, he took from the field a park of twelve 
 cannon, thirty baggage and ammunition w^aggons, 
 and above one hundred and twenty carriages of all 
 descriptions, in some of which were the spoils 
 which had been gathered by Sebastiani and the of- 
 ficers of his division. 
 
 Even the French allow the defeat they suffered 
 in this rencontre ; and in two of their bulletins 
 wherein they mention it, acknowledge that eight 
 hundred men were killed ; but, as if there were a 
 principle within them never to speak truth without 
 breathing along with it a neutralizing quantity of 
 falsehood, they add, (as an excuse for the unmilit- 
 ary conduct of their line in permitting a double 
 surprise,) that the Russians, pjken they made this 
 attack, hroJce 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. JXapoleon mov- 
 ed forward like the demon on the pale horse, with 
 hunger and pestilence and death in his train ; and 
 the myriads of famished human beings who follow- 
 ed in the dreadful march, saw before them a vast 
 barren track of nearly four hundred wersts, before 
 they could hope to reach any sustenance for ex- 
 
224 
 
 piling nature, any shelter 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 
 exhausted and emaciated frames. The famished 
 horses dropped dead beneath the powerless limbs 
 of their riders, and the fainting riders threw them- 
 selves upon the stiffened bodies of their horses, 
 for rest and for death. The wretched survivors, 
 embracing hope in the very bosom of despair, lis- 
 tened eagerly to the promises of Smolenzk from 
 the lips of their commanders; and, without other 
 food than the flesh which tliey tore from the wasted 
 limbs of their dying cavalry, they pressed on. The 
 officers, wiiose information on the subject, render- 
 ed fatally piescient, saw with even more dismay 
 than their men, the desperation of their circum- 
 stances. An enraged enemy hovered 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, brooded with 
 all its horrors over their heads. Neither was Na- 
 poleon ignorant of what was suffered, of what must 
 yet be endured. British heroes regard their sol- 
 diers as the sinews of their strength ; the French 
 leader considers his as the machines of his ambi- 
 tion, and he treats them accordingly. He saw 
 what was before his array in this his enforced re- 
 treat from Russia. He would not see any alterna- 
 tive that would 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 nousfht 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 man- * 
 ner of their retreat be truly described. Even while 
 the encouraging exhortations of Napoleon, and his 
 
225 
 
 promises of honours and rewards for their perse- 
 vering heroism, were soimding in the ears of his 
 deluded and too faithful followers ; even in that 
 hour, when they were looking to him as to the (al- 
 most) demi-god for whom they had suffered all, and 
 from whom they expected protection to the last — 
 he resolved to abandon them ! Escape was now his 
 object, and taking with him a chosen few, he re- 
 peated the scene of EgypU 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 de- 
 feat, hoped that on reaching Medyn he might be 
 able to penetrate a few wersts into the unexhausted 
 country in its neighbourhood. But no ; the inde- 
 fatigable Cossacs were already there, and the pike 
 and the sword shut every avenue against the attemps 
 of his most resolute corps. Finding every effort 
 vain, to gain relief in that quarter, he and Beau- 
 harnois 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 vie^v they joined their fugitive comrades 
 on the road to Mojaisk. 
 
 On these circumstances being reported to the 
 Russian Commander-in-chief, he put his whole army 
 in motion, moving its main body towards Wiazma, 
 whilst the advance under Miloradovitch should fol- 
 low in a parallel direction between him and the 
 Mojaisk road. The advance division was fully 
 competent to this important service, as it had been 
 reinforced with a power that rendered it the com- 
 plete half of the army. 
 
 While the main bodies thus moved on, every 
 surroundino; track, whether of wood or open ground, 
 
 29 
 
22G 
 
 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 Dom- 
 brofsky's division at Mohiloff, Koutousoff detach- 
 ed Lieutenant-General Shepeleff with a strong 
 corps composed of the Kalouga armament, and 
 supported by six pieces of cannon, with a party of 
 cavalry, besides tiiree regiments of Cossacs. He 
 soon executed his orders^ and informed the Com- 
 mander-in-chief that his division had taken posses- 
 sion of the city of Roslav, 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 gal- 
 lant young Count Ogerofsky was dispatched to the 
 same quarter at the head of a tine body of regular 
 light troops. 
 
 Platoff, whose indefatigable zeal and active valour 
 bad been conspicuous from the first of the cam- 
 paign, pursued the same animated course in the 
 expulsion of a retreating foe, as he had taken in re- 
 pelling his advance. Having learnt that a large bo- 
 dy of the enemy, together with a considerable con- 
 voy, had passed on the night of the 30th through 
 the village of Staroy on their way to Mojaisk to- 
 wards 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 ordered tvyo brigades of 
 his Cossacs to attack the enemy'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 perceiv- 
 ed their intention, he ordered another brigade to 
 fall upon their right, whilst he, v/ith a strong divi- 
 sion well supported by artillery, would bear down 
 upon their rear. A terrible slaughter ensued, but 
 
227 
 
 several times the French General endeavoured to 
 stop his troops during their flying conflict, that 
 some steady resistance might be offered. He at- 
 tempted 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 can- 
 non, that he found it impossible 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 col- 
 ours. In this aflair the French had two battalions 
 completely destroyed, hundreds fell by the sabres 
 of the Cossacs, and the earth was strewed with dy- 
 ing bodies, from the grape of the Russian guns. 
 The full amount of the dead could not be ascertain- 
 ed, for the nature of the warfare did not allow of 
 these calculations i no prisoners were taken, as it 
 was a regular system with the Cossacs in their bat- 
 tles with the French never to burthen themselves 
 with men as prisoners whom they had found exter- 
 minating enemies. 
 
 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 
 attached 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 the army having reached Ghatz at 
 the same time. Sad was the junction to all parties, 
 for it brought nothing with it but a communication 
 of miseries. In vain did that hope which, Phcenix- 
 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 
 
228 
 
 lip with the mam body some of his miseries would 
 be relieved. He arrived, and they were increased 
 by the pang of disappointment, 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, ha- 
 ving already felt the evils of wai% 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 Avoods 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 dy- 
 ing, perishing 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 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 be- 
 neath 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 
 
229 
 
 were yet between them and Smolenzli, their first, 
 depot, and the nearest spot in wliicb they could 
 venture to rest. The divisions of Bavoust, Ney, 
 Beauharnois, and I\lurat, crowded last upon each 
 other, whilst the unceasing attacks of their pursu- 
 ers obliged them yet more closely to compact 
 themselves in the narrow way left open for their 
 passage. 
 
 Platoff, while han2;ing over their ranks, thus de- 
 scribes their situation and his own proceedings : 
 " The retreat of the French is a flight without ex- 
 ample, abandoning every thing that demands car- 
 riage, 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 vic- 
 tims of famine and fatigue. In two days, even in 
 sight of my division, their despair has blown up 
 one hundred ammunition waggons, while the sud- 
 den movement of my troops has caused them to 
 leave untouched an almost equal number. We de- 
 stroy 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 appa- 
 rently 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 Platoif perceived this array, he ordered 
 ten pieces of Cossac artillery, and a body of chas- 
 seurs, 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 enemy's wings. After a combat 
 of two hours he gave way ; another charge put him 
 to flight ; and, until night checked their reins, the 
 
230 
 
 victorious Cossacs pursued. Soon as morning 
 dawned, they re-comnienced the chase, and ceased 
 not till Ihe poor wreck of their adversary came up 
 with a strong body commanded by Marshal Davoust, 
 and which was hastening towards 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 pris- 
 oners. 
 
 On the same day of the Hetman's success over 
 this great division, on the 2d of November, Count 
 OrlolF-DenisofF fell in with a vast concourse of the 
 enemy. It v/as literally a mob composed of num- 
 bers, who had wandered in various directions from 
 a hundred regiments, and being hunted in all quar- 
 ters by the Cossacs, Vv^ere 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 Orlofl-Denisofl*. Vv ithout order or command 
 they attempted to repulse his charge, but on the 
 iirst 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 be- 
 longed 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 present- 
 ed themselves close to Wiazma on the morning of 
 the third of November. Here the enemy were col- 
 lected in great strength ; and wishing to give time, 
 if possible, for their part of the army in advance to 
 proceed, they made a formidable show of giving 
 
231 
 
 battle. Marshals Davoust, Ney, and Beaiiharnois 
 formed at a small distance from Wiazma. Tiiey 
 had not chosen ground the best adapted to exten- 
 sive military operations, nor had they been allow- 
 ed time even to take advantaoe of the points with- 
 in their reach to improve their position. Neither 
 order nor discipline seemed to exist amongst the 
 numerous ranks ; all was confusion and uproar ; 
 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 adversaries with a fury which nothing but the 
 crudest injuries 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 resolved to sell his life dearly. 
 The contest was very short. A heavy and regular 
 discharge from the Russian cannon and musket- 
 ry swept down whole lines of the French, and com- 
 pelled the rest to give v/ay. 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 devot- 
 ed heads myriads of balls and grape, w^ith an exe- 
 cution as horrible as it was elFectual. 
 
 Beauharnois fled with his shattered division to- 
 wards the road leading to Douchovchina. Davoust 
 and Ney took the high road to Dorogobouche ; 
 whilst thousands ran, they scarcely knew whither, 
 along both banks of the Dneiper. 
 
 Twenty-eight pieces of cannon fell into the Rus- 
 sian hands in this affair. The French loss was 
 tremendous. Six thousand killed, and three thou- 
 sand five hundred taken prisoners ; amongst the lat- 
 ter was a general of artillery and his aide-de-camps. 
 
232 
 
 the quarter-master general of Davoust's division, 
 and an immense number 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 ob- 
 ject upon it that was not considerably above its sur- 
 face. The cold was intolerable, and now it was 
 that the loud complaints of human nature, suffer- 
 ing under every ill, burst from every lip. Then, 
 O Napolepn ! were thy magnificent titles of Con- 
 queror, King, and Emperor, forgotten in the general 
 accusation bf Tyrant, Betrayer, Murderer ! 
 
 The mornihg 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 spec- 
 tacle, this whitened world, which shut from their 
 emaciated hands every root of the earth, every 
 blade of grass for their fainting cattle, was like the 
 ciy at the judgment day — 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 
 experience the utmost stretch of evils that humani- 
 ty could bear. It was now that they knew, by ten 
 thousand nameless horrors, what was imported in 
 the term a 7iorihern 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 foresight, his preparations. They should 
 cheer its gloom witli full boards and festivities ; they 
 should create a southern sun in its dreary atmos- 
 phere, by the glow of victory, and the glory of re- 
 
233 
 
 nown* Tliis had been the promise ; but what the 
 reality? His foresight was, to lead them to des- 
 truction ; 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 ! 
 
 Th)e frost commenced with an intensity uncom- 
 inon even in Russia. The wretched fugitives of 
 Napoleon were obliged to bivouac upon the naked 
 gnow, with no other covering than the drifting sleet 
 which drove against their (exposed bodies like the 
 piercing points of arrows* In these terrible nights 
 of more than mortal cold, they attempted to light 
 fires; and round the half-kindled sparks they hud- 
 dled together, to participate the vital heat each yet 
 contained. But it was so small, that in a few ^im^irs 
 many hundreds died, and when morning dawned, 
 their surviving comrades beheld them in gha&tly 
 circles of death around the glimmering 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 
 infancy to endure its annual return, and wer« never 
 unprovided with means to repel any extraordinary 
 violence. The Emperor and the patriotic spirit of 
 his nobles, had abundantly furnished the Russian 
 army with provisions and winter clothing ; and 
 though out under all the inclemencies of the sea- 
 son, 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 ; and their constitutions knew no 
 habits answerable to the attacks which would be 
 made on them in cold climates, and as no fictitious 
 means had been prepared of shielding them from 
 
 30 
 
234 
 
 such inevitable evils, the consequence Could not be 
 but fatal. 
 
 Day after day these unhappy men dragged on 
 iheir wretched existence. All military ideas were 
 thrown aside ; it was no longer an army that was 
 retreating, but a multitude of famishing individu- 
 als, each seeking his own preservation, and careless 
 of all other objects in the world. To speak of dis- 
 cipline, or order, was mockery to them. They 
 spurned at 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 eflfort 
 of the Generals to maintain 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 at- 
 tempts, tore down every obstacle in their path to 
 procure food and raiment. Friend and foe were 
 assailed ; self-preservation was their sole motive, 
 and when no Russian property presented itself for 
 plunder they fell upon their ow^n waggons, and pil- 
 lacedtheoi of their contents. A horrible destrac- 
 tion seized upon thousands, and wherever they mov- 
 ed the direst spectacles tracked their steps. Their 
 iigures now appeared hardly human ; the faces of 
 some were disfigured by the loss of various features 
 from the inveteracy 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 bodily sufferings (hitherto unknown 
 in the annals of the world) Avhich fell upon many, 
 and produced diseases for which there is yet no 
 name. The most horrible Golgotha of human vic- 
 tims sacrificed to the Molochs of India, could not 
 be more fraught with the wrecks of mortality, than 
 this road of death. Here perished man put on 
 every shape of horror, and vast and deep w^ere the 
 heaps of his remains. Some lay in enviable rest -, 
 but history will have the abhorrent fact to relate^ 
 
235 
 
 4. 
 
 that many were the mangled bodies lorn by the 
 hands of their maddened comrades, who, wrought 
 to frenzy by the pangs of unappeased hunger, seiz- 
 ed on the limbs of the dead, and devoured the loath- 
 some 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 faculties. 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 fu- 
 ry 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 afflicted. The poor animals which 
 the French army had made the companions of their 
 invasion, also suffered, but death sooner relieved 
 them from their pangs. In every part of the re- 
 treat it was 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 rrljfsery of 
 the French army, no care was taken to shoe the 
 animals for their icy march, and the consequence 
 was injurious to their feet which nothing could cure. 
 
236 
 
 and a weakness of limbs which debilitated the crea- 
 ture 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 accomplish ; 
 thus, instead of the usual complement of horses to 
 draw a heavy piece of artillery or a waggon, twelye, 
 fourteen, and often twenty, were put to the task. 
 But even this with 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 Avere abandoned. The cavalry, (all ex- 
 cepting the cavalry 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 wa^ 
 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 
 their owners by the hovering Cossacs. 
 
 The grand army of Russia, continuing its march 
 by cross roads, kept in a parallel line with the re- 
 treat of the enemy. General Miloradovitch ceas- 
 ed not to press upon their left flank, while he pro- 
 ceeded with Platoff and his clouds of the Don, 
 which, with a fiercer fire than ever shot from the 
 Boreal-Morn, hung on the corps of Beuabarnios. 
 The passage of the Dneiper at Uorogobouche, had 
 been anticipated by the Russians ; and a strong 
 corps from the 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 
 retribution on their heads. The great, the aged 
 Koutousoff, rested neither day nor night, but ex- 
 posed himself at all hours, and under every inclem- 
 ency of »tbe season, 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 
 
237 
 
 tiie merits of his own anlmatlno; example, and lhu«> 
 unequivocally demands the gratitude of posterity 
 for the men he led to conquest. 
 
 ** The Cossacs perform miracles of bravery. 
 They not only destroy whole columns of the ene- 
 my's infantry ; but fall with undaunted resolution 
 upon his flaming artillery. They destroy all that 
 opposes them. Indeed the same spirit animates 
 the whole of the Russian army." 
 
 On the 7th November, General PlatoflT, at the 
 head of his band of warriors, passed swiftly along 
 the right side of the road leading to Dorogobouche. 
 His pursuit was Beauharnois, and to post his Cos- 
 sacs in situations to prevent the marauding parties 
 of the fugitives from destroying the villages which 
 had yet escaped the ravages of war. As he came 
 down upon the way which leads from Dorogobouche 
 to Douchovochina, not far from the village of Ze- 
 selia, he fell in with a division of Beauharnois. 
 
 The gallant chief of the Cossacs, even on the in- 
 stant 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 as- 
 saulted at the same time, while he with a chosen 
 squadron would bear down upon the centre. Vic- 
 tory now seemed to sit upon his helm. The ene- 
 my's right and left were turned, and the centre, not 
 able to stand the united charge of chasseurs, artil- 
 lery, and Cossacs, gave way in every direction ; 
 some fled, but many fell, dyeing the pale snow with 
 torrents of human blood. Discomflted 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 Smolenzk. PlatofF despatched a strong corps in 
 pursuit of the latter, while he himself followed the 
 former, (at whose head was Beauharnois,) with a 
 
238 
 
 body of troops determined to seize or pursue its 
 commander to the verge of the empire. 
 
 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 ar- 
 dour was sufficient, and the battle was renewed. 
 Beauharnois made a firmer resistance than before ; 
 his soldiers received the charge of the Russians with 
 a furious recoil, and the combat raged for a little 
 time with a grappling kind of courage. But it was 
 not the courage of military order ; the voice of 
 command was not heard ; all was the result of indi- 
 vidual feeling, at one moment cutting down his ad- 
 versary, and in the next, hurried on by frantic des- 
 pair 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. A- 
 mongst the latter were General Sanson, many chiefs 
 of regiments, and rnore 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 
 Beauharnois' division, moved down upon Doucho- 
 vochina to finish its destruction, and then dispatch- 
 ed eight regiments 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 turn- 
 ing on the heads of the enemy's advancing columns, 
 cut them off in van and rear. 
 
 A short time after this affair, some of Ihe Rus- 
 sian parties intercepted a French courier with let- 
 ters from the defeated division, to that at Smolenzk, 
 Two are here subjoined from Beauharnois, and 
 they will give no "faiot. impressions of his own idea 
 
239 
 
 of the sufferings of the unhappy wretches under 
 liis command. 
 
 Letter from the mccroy of Italy to the Prince of 
 Neufchatel, dated from the village of Zeselia, No- 
 vember 1th, 1812. 
 
 " I have the honour to inform your Highness that 
 i put myself in motion at four o'clock this morn- 
 ing, but the badness of the roads, and severity of 
 the frost opposed so many obstacles to the march 
 of my division, 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 
 dragoons. 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 cannon which had been stopped by a 
 steep acclivity at some distance from their escorts. 
 The 9th regiment, ran to cover them, but they had 
 been already carried off. 
 
 " On the real -guard the enemy opened a fire from 
 four guns, and General 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 
 quantity of baggage with which I have been forced 
 to encumber myself, and by a long train of artille- 
 ry of which, without exaggeration, four hundred 
 horses have died this day. Nevertheless I shall con- 
 tinue my march by dawn to-morrow with the inten- 
 tion of reaching Polloggi, where I shall endeavour 
 to o;ain that information which must determine 
 
240 
 
 whether 1 shall proceed to Douchovochma or id 
 Pneva. 
 
 " I will not conceal from your Highness (hat af- 
 ter making every exertion to cjM:ry forward the ar- 
 tillery, I am at last under the^ecessity of aban^ 
 doning so fruitless an attempt. In our present sit- 
 uation we must be prepared to make great sacrifi- 
 ces, and this very day several guns have been 
 spiked and buried. 
 
 " I have the honour, &;c." 
 
 Jjctter from the Viceroy of Italy to the Prince of 
 Neufchatel., dated November Sthy 1812, at the 
 passage of the Vope. 
 
 '' I enclose to your Highness a letter which, 
 though written by me yesterday, failed of reaching 
 you ; the officer who was to have delivered it hav- 
 ing 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 
 active in quitting Zeselia by five this morning, but 
 the road is so cut with ravines that it required near- 
 ly miraculous efforts to reach even thus far. It is 
 with the most painful feelings that I discover the ne^ 
 cessity 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- 
 Ihhds of our artillery, and of the troops, four hun- 
 dred horses died yesterday, and to-day we have 
 lost double tliat number, not including any of those 
 I was obliged to procure 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 per- 
 ceived Cossacs without artillery, but that circum- 
 stance not being usual, it may be a mistake. If the 
 report of one of the I'olligeurs, who was sent out 
 
241 
 
 on a marauding party, may be believed, he was 
 followed by a colamn of infantry and artillery ta- 
 king" the same direction with ourselves. 
 
 " To-night I send a strong rcconnoisance upon 
 Douchovochina, which place I expect to reach to- 
 morrow, provided the enemy does not oppose a se- 
 rious resistance to my march ; for I must not con- 
 ccal from your Highness that the sulFerings of these 
 tlu-ee last days 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 them- 
 selves to be taken by the enemy. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c.*' 
 
 By njoving upon Douchovochina, Beauharnois 
 cut off the communication between him and the 
 greater body of the French army, and his taking 
 Buch 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 Yitepsk, and joining the remnant of his 
 division v^illi the forces of Victor and Oudinot, 
 who were supposed to be then in that neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 Wliatever might have been his future object, the 
 njeans 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 stall' to 
 the gates of Smolenzk ; and saw the poor wretches 
 who had formed the last fragment of his division, 
 dispersing 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 lead- 
 er for persisting in leaving Moscow with so im- 
 mense a train of artillery. The delay it occasion- 
 ed in their retreat, and the vast consumption of 
 
 ai 
 
242 . 
 
 cattle it occasioned to trans|)ort it along, was one 
 great cause of the future calamities of the army. 
 Time, infinitely valuable at this crisis, was worse 
 than lost. The various impediments which lay in 
 ,the w^ay of these heavy appendages of flight, stole 
 away the hours and days in attempting to surmount 
 them ; thousands of horses, taken from the riders 
 too enfeebled to bear the toil of walking, perished 
 in the harness of the guns ; and the guns themselves 
 Avere 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 faint- 
 ing 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 ca- 
 lamity which had befallen the army, hastened to 
 take advantage of its misfortune. He surrounded 
 every column with €ossacs, 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 formidable by the favour 
 of circumstances alone." 
 
 All the hopes and false calculations of Buona- 
 parte relative to the conquest of Russia, have been 
 dissipated 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 em- 
 pire. Never since nations existed has there been 
 manifested so imanimous a patriotism, and with that 
 patriotism a succession of resources equal to every 
 exigency of the time. The calamities of the invar 
 sion 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, be only made it 
 
243 
 
 apparent that in the empire of Russia still exists 
 the polity of the patriarchal ages. Tliere 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 
 pedigree 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 con- 
 sider 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 ser- 
 vitude 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 prepar- 
 ed 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 Avould bear. Such is ever 
 the conduct of wisdom. Nations are like children. 
 They are not set at perfect liberty till education 
 had made them a law to themselves. The Russian 
 Sovereign and his princes are not ignorant of this 
 ordinance of nature. The circumstances of the 
 French invasion have called forth the characters of 
 the people. The high and the low are made sensi- 
 ble of their relative duties to the common weal : 
 they are acquainted with their own powers ; they 
 are aware of each others virtues :— and the conse- 
 quences are obvious. Alexander is the Father of 
 his Empire ! and the Russian nation must become 
 as great in internal policy, as it is now renowned 
 for loyalty and arms. 
 
244 
 
 CotTKt Ogekofsky continued to moTe tov^^ards 
 the country in the direction of Krasnoy, while 
 Lieutenant-Generai Schepeleflf, after reconnoitering 
 and clearing all in his front, moved on his right to 
 Elnia. He found a strong body of the enemy in 
 that city, but he did not allow theoi to remain 
 there : in a few hours they were completely driven 
 from the place and its neighbourhood. 
 
 Miloradovitch, with the advanced guard of the 
 great army, pushed on through Semlevo towards 
 Dorogobouche. On the 7th of ?^ovember he dis- 
 covered the enemy constructing an additional bridge 
 over the Dneiper. That river intersects the great 
 road in two different places about eight v»'ersts from 
 Dorogobouche. 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 improtected ; 
 and Miloradovitch gave instant orders that it should 
 be attacked. Beins: struck with terror at the unex- 
 pected charge, the men M'ho 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 de- 
 stroyed, Miloradovitch passed the whole of his 
 forces over, and proceeded towards the town. 
 
 The French army on arriving there, had taken 
 up an advantageous position ; but, like most of 
 their late efforts, it was of no avail. The Russian 
 General dispatched 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 soldiers. 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 ihe field. During the flight upv»'ards 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 
 
245 
 
 thousand prisoners ; and when tbe victors had re- 
 connoitered what had been the position of their ad- 
 versary, they found it one line of dead and dying; 
 the snow was blackened with their bodies ; and eve- 
 ry where around, the foot of man or liorse could 
 not step witliout trampling on tbe wrecks of human 
 nature, destroyed by tiie sword, or cold, or famine. 
 Count Orlofi-Denizoff moved his force in a par- 
 allel direction between the great army and that of 
 Miloradovitch ; and during his mardi very success- 
 fully continued his exertions against the enemy, 
 destroying their men, and binning their waggons. 
 This gallant division had been greatly increased by 
 numbers of organized peasantry, and seveial noble 
 partizans who assisted the general in his glorious 
 toils. When he reached the villages of Kolpitka 
 and Doubasichi, which are not far from Dorogo- 
 bouche, he learnt that the enemy to the amount of 
 nine thousand men, under the command of Brig- 
 ade-General Augereau, were divided amongst the *; 
 villages of Yazvine, Liachovo, and Dolgomostia.*'^ 
 On receiving this information, (it vras on the llth" *" 
 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 Avho, throughout the W'hole of this desola- 
 ting war, gave unceasing proofs of courage and mil- 
 itary 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 marking them W'ith horrid chasms, they deem- 
 ed it prudent to retire again to the pro sect ion 
 of the houses. Coimt Orloff-DenizofF, with his 
 troops, immediately surrounded the place. The 
 French Commander, seeing the inevitable conse- 
 quences of his situation, did not hesitate, but lay- 
 ing down his arms, offered to capitulate. This di- 
 vision, all taken prisoners, consisted of two thousand 
 men, and sixty officers, including their General. 
 The detachment, w^hich occupied Dolgomastia, find- 
 
246 
 
 ing that Augereau was attacked, dispatched a corps 
 of cavalry to his support. These were met, char- 
 ged and destroyed, nearly at the very moment in 
 which their General and brethren-in-ai'ms surren- 
 dered. 
 
 This was the first example of such a capitula- 
 tion since the enemy's retiring from Moscow. 
 
 Next day, the victorious Count scoured the rest 
 of the villages of their hostile jn mates. On his ap- 
 proach to Prenninia he learnt that a large convoy of 
 provisions, cattle, horses, and other necessaries for 
 the French army accumulating at Smolenzk, was 
 on its way from MohilofF, under the guard of strong 
 detachments of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, the 
 whole amounting to six thousand men. His infor- 
 mation v/as 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 di- 
 visions closing in upon them, the whole was made 
 his prize. One thousand five hundred of the ene- 
 my were killed, thirteen hundred were made pri- 
 soners, and four hundred waggons laden with bis- 
 cuit, 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 spar- 
 ed, and there was none to tell of a loss so terrible 
 to an army whose wants rendered the smallest as- 
 sistance 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 
 
247 
 
 Biiuations of the several great divisions of the Rus- 
 sian army. His flio;ht to this point had been prose- 
 cuted under circumstances of such speed and 
 alarm that he had not had the power of sending out 
 parties of reconnoisance to any distance. Howev- 
 er, he flattered himself, fiom the rapidity with 
 which he had moved, that he must now be conside- 
 rably in advance of the enemy, and might reach 
 Minsk before Admiral Tchitchagoif could ap- 
 proach it from Yolhynia. 
 
 The division of Marshal Ney, (which now 
 amounted 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 en- 
 deavours 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 with the imperial troops he 
 lost nine hundred and eighty men, twenty-two pieces 
 of cannon, and sixty ammunition vraggons. 
 
 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 exceeded one hundred thousand men when it left 
 the gates of the ancient capital, and at Smolenzk 
 sLvti/ thousand could with difiiculty be mustered, 
 and even the greatest mmibers of them w^ere hard- 
 ly able to bear arms. Though too enfeebled by 
 want and fatigue to contend with any effect against 
 their armed enemies, they were still only too prompt 
 to obey the cruel orders of their leader to avenge 
 their defeats and their miseries upon the last re- 
 mains of the native inhabitants of Smolenzk. Ever 
 since this wretched city fell into the possession of 
 the French it had exhibited one uninterrupted scene 
 of tyranny. The authorities instituted by Buona- 
 parte, had exerted their powers of aggression botb 
 
248 
 
 upon the town and the adjoioino; country with eve-- 
 rj act of avidity and ferocious violence. Amongst 
 the many loyal Russians whose blood was daily of- 
 fered by these monsters of cruelty to the ambition 
 of their master, was the brave Colonel Engelhart. 
 He was a private gentleman of Smolenzlc, 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 par- 
 ties were ordered out to destroy him and his little 
 fortress together, but his courage was more than 
 numbers, 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 Engelhart was betrayed into the 
 power of his enemies. The joy they manifested at 
 the sight of their captive fully testified the merit of 
 his opposition, and when he was interrogated 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 dis- 
 turb the peace of our legitimate sovereign, and de- 
 stroy our country, is imposed by the Bivine Law 
 upon us all : and I have nothing to regret, but that 
 I am restrained by these fetters from dying in the 
 act of inflicting 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 ^he streets of Smo- 
 ienzk ; 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 ex- 
 ecution he pointed out to the French their error in 
 Ibelieving that Ihey could, ever enslave Russia ; he 
 
249 
 
 predicted the destruction of her invaders, and 
 thanked heaven that even his murder would prove 
 a service to the empire. 
 
 Death had so few terrors for him who had been 
 conducted to the scafibld by his virtues, that, when 
 the executioners would have blindfolded him, he 
 removed 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 soldier 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, 
 beaten by the tempest raised by their crimes and 
 the elements, remained at Smolenzkj but those 
 few days were marked with every horror the most 
 wanton cruelty could inflict. It was the reign of 
 violence. Maddened by privation, and infuriate 
 with every vengeful 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 oflScers 
 were set at defiance, and while any sustenance 
 could be rifled from the magazines, the men despis- 
 ed subordination, and rioted in all the excesses 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 watery grave. There was ruin in every mo- 
 ment of this system being endured ; and to check it 
 at last, by changing the object of their avidity, 
 Buonaparte gave orders that his disorganized peo- 
 ple should be marched from the town towards the 
 abundant granaries he had provided in Poland. 
 
 The last tragic act of fire and devastation that 
 was to be performed in Smolenzk, was left to the 
 
250 
 
 direction of Marshal Davoust, and to be executed 
 by those of his division who had happened to suf* 
 fer the least under the late fatigues and privations. 
 The orders to this effect were transmitted to him 
 hj Berthier, at the command of their August Dic- 
 tator, and they may be found in the following in* 
 tercepted letter : 
 
 The Prhice of NeufcJiatd io the Prince of McknmhL 
 
 " PRINCE d'eCKMUHL, 
 
 " It is the Emperor's command, that you support 
 the Buke d'Elchiugen in the retreat of his rear- 
 guard. The Viceroy goes to-morrow to Krasnoy : 
 you will be careful, therefore, to occupy and re- 
 lieve such posts as may be necessary for the securi- 
 ty 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 
 16lh or 17tk 
 
 " General Charpentier, with his garrison, con- 
 sisting of two-thirds of the Polish battalions, and 
 one regiment of cavalry, will quit the city with the 
 rear-guard. 
 
 " Previous to the evacuation of the town you 
 must blow up the fortifications around Smolenzk, 
 by setting fire to the mines already prepared ; you 
 must personally superintend the burning of the am- 
 munition, 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 Chasse- 
 Jopp and Laribaissiere, remain here, to execute 
 their share in the foregoing 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 
 
2r>i 
 
 sick, so that as few as possible may be left in the 
 hospitals. 
 
 (Signed) " Alexander , Ike Prince of Ncufchatd, 
 
 '■' Major-GmeralJ'' 
 Smolenzk, the — Nov. \ 7 in the inorninEf. 
 
 2 O. S.J 
 
 :, the — Nov. > 7 i 
 
 14 K. S.) 
 
 The orders of Napoleon were still held in re- 
 spect by his Generals, and with regard to the ruin 
 in Smolenzk they were strictly obeyed. The com- 
 mand 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 case it was augmented to enjoy- 
 ment, 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 bursting mines, 
 and the tremendous fragments of stone and wood 
 that were hurled into the air, and fell back in blaz- 
 ing ruin, created the appearance of a volcano iu 
 the midst of the wintry desert. And beneath this 
 burning shower, and wrapped in clouds of smoke, 
 Davoust issued from the falling suburbs of the city, 
 to join his master, who had departed on the iStb for 
 Krasnoy. 
 
 Napoleon, as usual, had chosen his companions, 
 taking with him his guards only, who, indeed, were 
 the only troops who now aflected any zealous at- 
 tachment 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 Miloradov itch's movements upon 
 the enemy's rear. That excellent officer having 
 
252- 
 
 approached 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 Pla- 
 tofF was following the rest in the directions of Dou- 
 chovochina and Smolenzls ; and that Ney was also 
 flying for refuge to the latter place. The whole 
 Russian corps to a man participated in the zeal of 
 their General, and they marched eagerly on, hop- 
 ing to intercept some of the enemy's columns be- 
 fore they could quit Smolenzk. 
 
 The great body of the Russian forces, now mov- 
 ing in a concentrated form, under the command of 
 so consummate a General as KoutousofT, awakened 
 an universal expectation in the coimtry that the de- 
 cisive 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 be- 
 ing now well aware that his pursuers were much 
 nearer than he either wished or expected, he await- 
 ed with the greatest anxiety the coming up of Mar- 
 shal Davoust. However, to provide against acci- 
 dents, he made the best dispositions for his troops 
 that the city and its environs would admit, taking 
 some advantageous stations in the village of Do- 
 broe and on the Orcha road to secure his escape in 
 a case of extremity. 
 
 On the 17th of November, Miloradovitch mask- 
 ed his advance with the village of Merlino and the 
 imeven grounds in its neighbourhood, in order to 
 allow the troops of Davoust (which were then pro- 
 ceeding towards Krasnoy) to pass his line. This 
 done, he would attack their rear, whilst their left 
 flank should meet a similar greeting from their 
 corps and second division of cuirassiers under Gen- 
 eral Prince Galitzen. At the same time, three strong 
 
253 
 
 divisions of infantry and artillery, with detadimenis 
 from the corps of Ogorofbliy and Borosdin, sup- 
 ported by eight regiments of Co^sacs and chasseurs, 
 shoidd pass tlirough the villages of Soiikovo and 
 Sorokino, towards Dobroe, to cut ofi' the flight of 
 the enemy by that route. 
 
 Davoust, though always expecting annoyance, 
 moved forward without any idea that the enemy 
 menaced him with such a force. Unconsciously he 
 passed through their deep, and to him invisible de- 
 iiles near Merlino ; and, marchingon v/ilh feelings 
 almost of security, he had just gained the village 
 of Koutovo, about three wersts from Krasnoy, 
 when he was confounded by finding himself assail- 
 ed at once, in flank and rear, as if by an army ris- 
 en out of the earth. Fearing that he should be to- 
 tally encircled, he halted to form and prepare for a 
 battle ; but the hot and heavy fire of the Russian 
 jnusketry and guns pressed his people so close up- 
 on each other, and the groimd on which they stood 
 was so unfavourable, that in endeavouring to pro- 
 duce order, and to force his men into some shape 
 of defence, he only redoubled their confusion. 
 Miloradovitch gave them no time to recover from 
 their first dismay, but ordering his men forward 
 they precipitated themselves upon their foes with 
 uplifted sabres, and the bristling points of countless 
 bayonets. These relentless weapons soon gave a 
 movement to the enemy, but it was to fly. 
 
 The Great Napoleon, from amidst his guards, wit- 
 nessed the commencement of this terrific route ; 
 but, 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 divis- 
 ion of his army, to which he had hitherto affixed so 
 much consequence, and leave to the fury of an in- 
 censed enemy a Field-Marshal whom he had always 
 aflected to regard with peculiar esteem. 
 
 The complete destruction of the whole corps of 
 Davoust succeeded to the acclaim of victory from 
 
254 
 
 the Russian lines. The cries of his deserted and 
 dying soldiers must have followed the flying steps 
 of Napoleon, as he vanished from the field. He 
 was deaf to the appeal, and ^^as seen no raoi^e. 
 The wretched creatures, who escaped the swords 
 of their conquerors, sought shelter in the neigh- 
 bouring woods which skirt the Dneiper, for an ex- 
 tent of five wersts. There these desolate beings, 
 wounded, starving and naked, laid them down un- 
 der the frozen thickets, and soon forgot the deser- 
 tion of their leader and their own miseries in the 
 sleep of death. 
 
 It is impossible to pass over the shameful flight 
 of Buonaparte from the field of Krasnoy, and to 
 v;itness 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 paternal love for their people, 
 which never can exist in the breast of a strange 
 prince. It would be difficult to persuade ourselves 
 that Henri Quaire 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 Yarennes, would he have allowed hi» 
 friends to fire upon the suspicious persons who ap'- 
 proached his carriage — " Spare my people !" he 
 said, and his own death on the scaffold was the re^ 
 ivard of his tenderness 1 
 
 If Napoleon dkl not act as became a sovereign, 
 Davoust possessed so much more honour than his 
 master, that he maintained his character of a Gene- 
 ral to the last. He fought without receding a step, 
 imt.il 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 
 Krasnoy was, two Generals, fifty-eight officers of 
 different ranks, nine thousand one hundred and 
 seventy soldiers, taken prisoners. The killed 
 
255 
 
 anioiinied to four thousand : and the remainder of 
 the division flying in every direction, perished in 
 the manner before described. 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 Na- 
 poleon's. 
 
 By the defeat of this branch of the army, the 
 corps of Ney was completely cut off. Indeed, the 
 discomfited General had no means of apprising 
 Ney of what had happened, that he might avoid a 
 similar destruction. His division was to leave Smo- 
 lenzk on the very day of this victory. And Prince 
 Koutousoff being informed of his march, took in- 
 stant measures to mislead him, and to make his de- 
 tachment follow the fate of his friend's. To sepa- 
 rate him entirely from any communication with the 
 main body of the French army, the Commander- 
 in-chief dispatched a strong division to Milorado- 
 vitch. These troops were posted near the villages 
 close to the high road, and a range of batteries 
 were constructed of forty pieces of cannon, com- 
 manding 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 mui^t inevitably fall in 
 with the great body of the Russians which was post- 
 ed close to Krasnoy. 
 
 On the 19th 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 des- 
 troy him. 
 
 The French M.arshal 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 Bavoust and 
 their Emperor at Krasnoy ! Full of this expecta- 
 tion, he bad no idea but that Koutousofl was at a 
 considerable distance from him, and he proceeded 
 
2ci6 
 
 confidently forward till he arrived within Iialf ^ 
 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 best but a 
 small detachment. " Je sauria me faire jour !" ex- 
 claiimed he, and rushed to put into execution his 
 determination. 
 
 The answer to this reply w^as immediately made 
 by tbe Russian guns, and then indeed was he con- 
 vinced of his mistake. He saw his men at the dis- 
 tance 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 commander. The surprise only 
 seemed to elicit the full blaze of their courage, and 
 they charged upon the batteries with the most furi- 
 ous impetuosity. The carnage was dreadful : show- 
 ers of grape mowed down hundreds, but still the 
 vacuum was filled. A valour worthy of the noblest 
 cause was exhibited by column after column pres- 
 sing towards the batteries, to glory or the grave* 
 At this crisis they suddenly found theit rear as- 
 saulted, and were obliged to alter their position. 
 A Russian division under the command of General 
 Paskevitch, had issued from the villages and be- 
 hind the high road (which had been the screen of 
 the main army) and attacked the enemy's rear with 
 the bayonet. At the same moment his right was 
 turned by the Bulans of the guards, and his left 
 pushed by the grenadiers of the Pauvlofsky bat- 
 talions. 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 vv^ere surrounded, their po- 
 sition was raked from side to side by the Russian 
 guns, and Miloradovilch and his brave followers 
 setting their lives at nought, unless they could re- 
 duce this division to the same state as its predeces- 
 sor, penetrated the ranks of the enemy with so re- 
 
257 
 
 sistless a force that their order was destroyed. A 
 ruinous confusion increased every moment, and 
 the slaughter re-doubling 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 exterminating sword ! The wretched sur- 
 vivors 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 
 tile 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, 
 excepting their Marshals, lived to tell the story of 
 their disasters. 
 
 Scarcely had the shores of the Dneiper witness- 
 ed 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 countrymen, and were pressing forward in 
 the same direction> when a battery of twenty pie- 
 ces opened upon them and checked their speed. 
 A few minutes afterwards their rear was charged 
 by three thousand Russian cavalry, and every de^ 
 monstration being made to convince them of their 
 disability to resist, their Commander yielded to ne- 
 cessity, and dispatched a flag of truce to General 
 Miloradovitch to ask for quarter. It was instantly 
 granted, and the whole of the French division sur- 
 rendered and laid down their arms before the Rus- 
 sian troops. Eleven thousand men were made 
 prisoners, and one hundred otTicers ; five thousand, 
 v/ith four Generals, were left dead in the field. 
 iNot a single dragoon was with these columcs, con- 
 sequently they had no means of reconnoitering, 
 
 33 
 
and were more ilian usually at the mercy of iheh 
 enemies. Fifty pieces of cannon, the military 
 chest, and all the baggage, (which contained much 
 ©f the plunder from Moscow) fell into the hands of 
 MiloradoTitch. The loss sustained by the Russians 
 during thes*^ two brilliant days, wars 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 November. Its ashes were still throwing forth 
 mingled cohnnns of Hame and smoke, when Pla- 
 toff approached it. He left within it a regiment of 
 chasseurs, and a party of Cossacs, and then procee- 
 ded on the right of the Dneiper to take vengeance 
 on the enemy who retreated along its banks. The 
 brave Hetman was accompanied by fifteen regi- 
 ments of Cossacs, and an adequate proportion of 
 the horse-artillery of the Don. He set forward to- 
 wards Katane in the way to Doubrovna. General 
 Orloff-DenizofT, with his two Cossac regiments, 
 two light guns, and eight squadrons of dragoons 
 were detached in his front. 
 
 Previous to Plafoffs reaching Smolenzk, at about 
 seventeen wersts from the town, and on the 15th of 
 the month, he fell in Avith twelve pieces of cannon, 
 and a train of carriages stretching to an incredible 
 length, which had been abandoned by the French 
 anny in its progress to its promised depot of plenty. 
 On examining the waggons they were found laden 
 with spoil and plunder ; with the moveable proper- 
 ties 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 victims to previous v/ounds. 
 Many had sunk down from their seals on the top of 
 
259 
 
 the carriages, stifTened into deatli even before Ibev 
 were conscious of its approach. Wherever Platoli' 
 turned his eyes he saw nothing but images of mor- 
 tality. The ground was covered Avith the enemies 
 of his country, but they no longer lived : it seem- 
 ed like a scene of enchantment : and he marched 
 by the insensible array as he would have passed a 
 legion of marble statues which some mighty wind 
 had levelled with the dusL 
 
 Buonaparte had defied the victorious arm of Rus- 
 sia; though beaten from Borodino, and forced from 
 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 
 €very quarter ; 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 omnipotent ; then it was that he first 
 spoke the truth. Il is not necessary to expatiate 
 here upon the general falsity of his bulletins, when- 
 ever a true narrative might check the oracle of 
 " Caesar and his fortunes !" The pen of a gallant 
 British officer, who is also a distinguished military 
 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 
 Napoleon that he could no longer hope to deceive 
 the nations. The" dreadful truth must eventually 
 contradict such an attempt ; and, therefore, from 
 policy he took up an honest pen. On the lUh of 
 November, in his twenty-eighth bulletin, he com- 
 mences his confessions. But they were not made 
 from a free heart, confident in its motives, and 
 therefore fearless of events. He garbles and quali- 
 fies ; in short, he gives you a sketh of events through 
 
 * Sir Robert Wilson, 
 
260 
 
 a dimmed glass, and though you may eatch an idea 
 of the outline, you must look for the particulars in 
 some clearer medium. 
 
 Whilst the grand army of the Russian Empire, 
 so successfully drove before it the main body of the 
 French and its ambitious leader. Count Vigtenstein 
 pursued the advantages he had gained by the fall 
 of Polotzk and the defeat of St. Cyr. Soon after 
 the flight of that General, Yigtenstein was inform- 
 ed by Count Steingel, that in following up his vic- 
 tories over the enemys his parties of reconnoisance 
 had brought him information of large bodies of Ba- 
 varians 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 Vig- 
 tenstein 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 before the enemy in the environs of that vil- 
 lage. 
 
 His cavalry showed themselves in great force, 
 and a considerable party of infantry came out to 
 form and oppose the Russians ; but the Count's ad- 
 ditional troops made him so superior in every re- 
 spect to his opponents that they were soon forced 
 to quit the field, leaving three hundred men killed, 
 and one hundred taken prisoners. Their precipi- 
 tation was so great, that they passed a convoy of 
 their own not far distant from the scene of their 
 
261 
 
 defeat, and had the rnortificalion of seeing it seized 
 by their pursuers without any resistance. It con- 
 sisted of forty waggons, with a considerable 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 v/ere to- 
 tally cut ofi* from the corps of Gouvion St. Cyr. 
 That General 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 
 bad arrived in that neighbourhood. 
 
 Count Vigtenstein having passed the Dwina at 
 Polotzk, was now in full pursuit of the enemy in 
 the direction of Lepel. The roads over which his 
 conquering troops urged forward their glorious 
 chase, presented an epitome of those leading from 
 Moscow. Dead bodies of men and horses, and 
 abandoned cannon and carriages, every where strew- 
 ed 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 
 force in the neighbourhood of Tchasniki, having 
 ordered Major-General Flastoff to remain with a 
 formidable detachment in the defiles between Drou- 
 ja and Bretzlau, to watch the corps of Macdonald, 
 and to maintain the communication with the troops 
 of General Lev/is, which had already moved from 
 Riga along the left bank qf the D^vina with such 
 brilliant success. 
 
 By these manoeuvres, having secured the atten- 
 tion of the enemy to that part of the country, the 
 brave Vigtenstein found himself at liberty, with- 
 out any apprehensions for what he left behind, to 
 follow up his present object, Vi'hich was to prevent 
 Victor's joining the main army under Buonaparte. 
 While he thus aimed to divide the Marshal from his 
 
262 
 
 leader, be hoped at the same time to form his owft 
 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 
 Polotzk, reached Lepel ; and, on the 30th of Oc- 
 tober, had the good fortune to join Yictor, whose 
 corps, consisting of fifteen thousand men, were 
 posted upon the Oula, close to the town of Tchas- 
 niki. The Russians halted not far from his line ; 
 and Count Vigtenstein 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 advantageous country on its right 
 and left, where he could securely remain until he 
 were fully apprised of the movements of Koutou- 
 sofF and of the army of the Danube. 
 
 According to these plans, early in the morning 
 of the 31st the Russian Commander put his army 
 in motion. The enemy on perceiving this, hasten- 
 ed to form, but after a very slight affair, between 
 his troops and the covering cavalry and light artil- 
 lery of the Russians, he retired across the river 
 Loukomnia. With that in his front, he attempted 
 to make a stand, but Vigtenstein poured such a 
 shower of balls upon him from his artillery, and 
 infantry, that, after sustaining a considerable loss, 
 he put himself in motion again, and fell back be- 
 hind another river. The Russians followed him 
 close, galling him with the fire from their guns, and 
 so harassing his movements with their cavalry and 
 musketry, that at length, after three hours expo- 
 sing 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, be- 
 
263 
 
 sides having eight hundred men and twelve officers 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 Vigtenstein now fixed his head-qarters 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 reaching Beshenkovich, and proceed on 
 both sides of the Dwina to Vitepsk. 
 
 These orders were executed with alacrity : and 
 on the 7th of November, General La Harpe's ad- 
 vanced guard appeared before the city. At so un- 
 expected 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 approach- 
 ing adversaries. Both these attempts to impede 
 their progress failed. The Russians attacked the 
 enemy even in the act of destroying the bridge, ex- 
 tinguished 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 suburbs 
 to the Smolenzk road. While one part of the vic- 
 tors pursued the defeated for nearly twenty wersts, 
 making an immense havoc, and returning with a 
 considerable number of prisoners, the other took 
 possession of the town. La Harpe had the satis- 
 faction of finding there the French General Prouje, 
 who Avas the Governor, and the Commandant Co- 
 lonel 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 ammunition, and the two guns 
 which had in vain sought to command the bridge. 
 
 The joy of the people on their liberation from ' 
 the French j^oke, and at the presence of their coun- 
 trymen, b not to be described. At once it turned 
 
2U 
 
 Ibe s(!ene of war into that of festival, and " long 
 live the Emperor Alexander !" resounded from eve™ 
 ry quarter. While the citizens rejoiced in their 
 freedom, the brave soldiers of Yigtenstein were 
 greeted in their turn with the most inspiriting tid- 
 ingSjfor it was afVitepsk that they received full in- 
 formation of the French grand army having evacu- 
 ated 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 pros- 
 pect of meeting the retiring foe, filled the Count 
 and his brave followers with the most triumphant 
 ardour. The impatience of the men could hardly 
 be controlled, and the officers entreated for the 
 moment of command when tliey should be ordered 
 to rush onward, to assist in avenging the wrongs 
 of the Empire upon the most obdurate and mur- 
 derous enemy that ever broke the peace of nations^ 
 and steeped the race of man in blood. 
 
 Victor felt too severe a^ mortification at the de- 
 feat 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 parties from all quarters, determined in 
 his turn to dislodge Yigtenstein from his position 
 on the Oula. He was assisted in his plans to carry 
 forward this resolution, by the counsel of Oudinot, 
 who had once more taken the command of the re- 
 mains of his division. These colleagues quitted 
 Senno in good order and on the 14th moved upon 
 Smolnya. 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 Smolnya. 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. 
 
 Vi,^teosteio's information of the enemy's designs 
 
265 
 
 Was so excellent, and his measures to counteract 
 Ihem 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 prepared on the instant to render every 
 scheme abortive. 
 
 The advanced guard retreated according to the 
 commands they had received, and the enemy, find- 
 ing 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 Vigtenstein's centre. The surprise did not 
 disconcert him, but urging his men forward to re- 
 deem the losses of former conflicts in the one be- 
 fore them, his whole body fell with fury upon the 
 Russian line. The village of Smolnya was his im- 
 mediate 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 ta- 
 ken. 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 re- 
 pulsed ; and with a wonderful valour on both sides, 
 Smolnya was taken and re-taken six different times 
 at the point of the bayonet. The streets were 
 blocked up with the dead, and the ground so slip- 
 pery from the blood, that the combatants could 
 hardly have kept their feet had they not been al- 
 most grappled together in the resolute contest. 
 
 While this was going forward at the centre, the 
 Russian wings were formidably threatened by sev- 
 eral heavy columns of French infantry, which were 
 well supported with artillery, and were bearing 
 down with a very determined front. They were per- 
 mitted it approach, without molestation, to within 
 a few paces of the Russian flanks ; but w^hen ar- 
 rived at that point the guns and tirailleurs of their 
 antagonists poured on them ceaseless showers of 
 
 34 
 
ball and grape, and soon levelled most of their tooi^ 
 confident ranks with the snow. 
 
 In vain was the attempt renewed. Victor exert- 
 ed all his powers, he collected his broken columns, 
 he brought them in one strong body again to the as- 
 sault, but again the Russian guns and the Russian 
 bayonet harrowed up his lines ; and the disappoint- 
 ed Marshal found himself compelled to leave the 
 field vchile be had yet the semblance of 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 
 tiie hope of getting round the right flank of bis vic- 
 torious enemy ; but here again he was disappoint- 
 ed, by an unexpected rencontre with General Fock, 
 who commanded the Russian reserve. The dark- 
 ness 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 re- 
 treat, retracing the greater part of his steps, and 
 then proceeding to Tchemernino, where he halted, 
 on the two roads which lead to Senno and to 
 Tcberia. 
 
 The Russians sustained a loss, in this day's con- 
 test betweeu Vigtenstein and Victor, of eighteen 
 officers killed and wounded, and one thousand men ; 
 but they made eight hundred prisoners in the fields 
 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 Vlastofi drove their cavalry from Vid- 
 zy, anfl 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 TchftrnicheflT 
 gained Count Vigtenstein's head-quarters. He had 
 been dispatched by Admiral Tchitchagoff, at the 
 head of a regiment of Cossacs, to discover how for 
 the army of Vigtenstein had advanced, and to give 
 
267 
 
 Chat !>'eneral information of the Admiral's approach 
 to Minsk. 
 
 Much intrepidity and military skill were requir- 
 ed to execute this arduous commission- The brave 
 TchernichefF liad to make his way through many 
 detachments of the enemy, some advancing and 
 others retiring, before he could reach his destined 
 point. But he undertook the task with eagerness, 
 and performed 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 prevent- 
 ed 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 or- 
 ders, 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 destroyed, 
 whole convoys ; making their escorts his prisoners, 
 or giving them to the dust, which had so deeply 
 been saturated with the blood of his countrymen. 
 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 person- 
 ally intimate with Count TchernichefF, with the 
 comprehensive powers of his mind, which grasps in 
 one sublime view the past, the present, and the fu- 
 ture ; which sees the fate which hangs on the deci- 
 sion 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 supernatural power with which his 
 spirit seems to mingle with the minds of his men, 
 and to stimulate them to the most heroic daring ; 
 none who thus knew Count TchernichefF, can deem 
 any thing marvellous which tells of his bravery, and 
 
268 
 
 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 Vinzingorode owes his life and lib- 
 erty ; and also, that the Russian empire is indebt- 
 ed to the same resolution for the return 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 Saigon and Austrian troops. A few days after 
 the arrival of this animating report, all was sub- 
 st?intiated by Vigtenstein finding himself in direct 
 communication with PlatofT and the main army. 
 The General aide-de-camp Golenischeff Koutou- 
 soff, 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 retreating di- 
 visions of Napoleon Buonaparte. 
 
 Yictor and Oudinbt 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 ; they marched at their head, 
 sharing alike the evils of defeat with the triumphs 
 of victory, and commenced their evacuation of the 
 invaded ground on the 22d of November. They 
 moved in the direction of Toutchino, with the hope 
 of falling in with the fugitive divisions from the in- 
 terior, and Dombrofsky's corps from Mohiloff", 
 Yigtenstein observed all their motions, and his adr= 
 vanced guard followed them, 
 
 ^ See Note. .. 
 
269 
 
 The army of Admiral Teh itch agolT had been on 
 its march towards Minsk, from the 27th of Octo- 
 ber, leaving as has before been stated, a strong; 
 corps under General Saken in the neighbonrhood of 
 Brest-Litofsky. Major-General Liders was on his 
 way from Yoline ; and General Hertei 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 col- 
 ours, 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 impedi- 
 ment to Minsk, which place they took possession of 
 on the 16th of November. Admiral Tchitchagofi 
 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 fugitives whom he took prisoners. 
 
 No sooner was the admiral in full occupation of 
 Minsk, then he ordered the gallant De Lambert, 
 (whose corps he greatly strengthened,) to proceed 
 with all expedition to Borrisoflf, where he w^ould 
 fall in upon Dombrofsky. That Polish General lay 
 there in much force, having augmented his num- 
 bers 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 be- 
 fore them, and precipitated the enemy with a ter- 
 
270 
 
 rible 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 offi- 
 cers, and four thousand soldiers, with eight cannon, 
 and two pair of colours, were taken by the victors 
 in this contest. Borrisoff, 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 which Buo- 
 naparte 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 the Avounded 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, imagin- 
 ed 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 soldiers ! Such would then be the 
 grand army of France ! Once an usurper, the 
 mighty Augustus of Rome, demanded v/ith grief 
 and indignation of his discomfited General, " Give 
 me my legions !'* What would Napoleon answer, 
 if France were to demand of her Augustus, " 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 be- 
 fore mentioned Marshals, as if already in his lines. 
 
271 
 
 jind with eager calculation he enumerated the ad- 
 vantages of the country to which he was proceed- 
 ing, where he must meet the vast magazines he had 
 ordered to be prepared ; and the fidelity of a whole 
 people, who had once been under the jurisdiction 
 of Russia, but were now devoted to France in him. 
 Full of these anticipations 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 w^ere 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 Rus- 
 sians 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 
 Napoleon might wish to discredit its truth, he found 
 it impossible for the sad proofs of the univeri^al 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 wretched- 
 ness and the groans of despair. No parasite would 
 venture to contradict to his master the evidence of 
 his own eyes ; and that master would no Ibnger 
 flatter himself into a dis^>elief that the Generals of 
 Russia now held his fate in their hands. He learnt 
 that Yigtenstein had been powerfully reinforced by 
 Steingel, and was then in actual communication 
 with Tchitagoff, making all their movements in 
 concert. 
 
 This formidable junction in his path presented 
 to the mind of Napoleon fresh scenes of defeat and 
 disgrace ; 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 w^as indeed new to him; he saw before him 
 
272 
 
 nothing but death or captivity ; and yet he trusted 
 to his fortu7iate star I 
 
 Delay was accompanied with danger, and he de^ 
 termined to advance at any rate. To this end he 
 collected 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 us-^ 
 ing 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 ]4tl5; nearly destitute of caval- 
 ry, of artillery^ and of transport-carriages. With^ 
 out cavalry it was impossible for us to reconnoiter, 
 beyond the distance of a quarter of a league ; while 
 without artillery Vv'e could not risk a battle, and 
 firmly remain in expectation of the enemy. It was 
 indispensable for us to occupy a certain space of 
 ground to avoid being turned, and that without 
 cavalry to unite the columns and advance for the 
 purpose of observation. This difficulty, joined to 
 the suddenness of the intense cold, rendered our 
 situation extremely vexatious* Those feebly-con- 
 structed men, to whom nature had denied the pow-^ 
 er of 'rising above the chai)ces of place and fortune, 
 appeared shaken, lost .their gaiety and good hu- 
 mour, and brooded solely over present suffering 
 and future calamity ; but such as she had creat- 
 ed superior to every accident, preserved their spir- 
 its and their ordinary temper, and saw in every new 
 obstacle but additional glory." 
 
 Tliose whom " nature had created superior to 
 every accident," and had enabled " to preserve 
 their ordinary temper," and even their lives, under 
 all the attacks of a northern winter, without shel- 
 ter or laiment, and accompanied with every " ca- 
 
273 
 
 iamity" (not in prospect but in reality) of war^ 
 disease, and famine ; those that were thus temper- 
 ed 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 fear lends wings. The flight of 
 Buonaparte 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 Russian army from Krasnoy having to make 
 a short halt to give time for the arrival of their pro- 
 visions, which the rapidity of their late movements 
 had left considerably in their rear, Buonaparte us- 
 ed this moment of breathing to the best advantage* 
 He had been joined by some of his fugitive Gene- 
 rals, \Vhom 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 ap- 
 proach the shores of the Berezina. 
 
 Having made these dispositions, on the 20th of 
 November he evacuated Orcha, and took the Bor- 
 risoff road through Kockanova, leaving many strag- 
 gling 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 executing his resolution to leave Orcha, for not 
 long afterwards it was entered by Ogerofsky and 
 his Cossacs. 
 
 That officer, and his brave coadjutor. General 
 Borosdin, 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 quan- 
 tity of baggage, and upwards of six hundred pri- 
 soners. The rest fled, and the Russians continu- 
 Jed to pursue the fugitives till they led them to the 
 gates of Orcha. They entered within them, and 
 found the town just as it had been evacuated by 
 
 35 
 % 
 
274 
 
 Btienaparte. Twenty-six cannon fell into theif 
 liands with some prisoners, and an immense num- 
 ber of sick and Avounded. 
 
 Ogerofsky proceeded in the great pursuit by 
 moving on bis left towards Gorki, in the direction 
 of MohilofF, which road was covered with thou- 
 sands of the flying enemy. 
 
 Count Platoff maintained his victorious career on 
 the right shore of the Dneiper, where he continu- 
 ed 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 prisoners-, and happy were many of them so 
 to be rescued from famine and constant exposure 
 to the elements.. 
 
 While thus employed, the brave Ketman receiv- 
 ed intelligence that Marshal Ney, with a part of 
 his shattered division, had been seen near the woods 
 at the village of Goussinovo, where he was collect-^ 
 ing stragglers, to form a tolerably eifective force 
 to move towards Orcha. Platoflf 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 
 iN'ey must pass, while, covering his Cossacs and 
 other troops with the woodsy he stood to overwhelm 
 the unsuspecting enemy. In the moment of their 
 full entrance into this well concerted ambuscade^r 
 a dreadful fire of grape was opened upon tbem^ 
 and the exhausted troops finding death surround 
 them, with one accord dispersed and fled into the 
 woods. Tiiere the Cossacs met them, and slew 
 about two thousand. Eight hundred were taken 
 prisoners by the other troops. 
 
 Marshal Ney, ¥/ith a few of his followers, wa* 
 so fortunate as to escape the search of his con- 
 querors. But he passed the whole of the wretched , 
 night in the snows of the forest. He did not sleepJ|l 
 for sleep in such a situation, under these malignant 
 skies, would have been death. He wandered stbout 
 
275 
 
 with llie dread at every step of rousing his him- 
 lers 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 despe- 
 ration. 
 
 A short time before tliis 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-Gene- 
 ral ErmollofF, who crossed the Dneiper near Ras~ 
 sasna. 
 
 The advanced-guard under Miloradovitch, pass- 
 ed the Boristhenes at Koscis on the 23d, in order 
 to follow up Piatoff 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 w^ere at Dobrae ; on the 
 20th at Romanova ; the 21st at Laniki, where it 
 halted. On the 23<l it reached Garranii. It then 
 passed through the village of Morosovo, and gain- 
 ed Kopis on the 25th, where it crossed the river, 
 directing its march by Staroselia to the city of Zez- 
 ^inya. From this place the Field-Marshal propos- 
 '^oving, according to circumstances, upon Bo- 
 ' the Berezina. 
 
 ' ^-^rvation on the enemy now convinced 
 
 '^at he intended to force a passage 
 
 'een BorrisofF and Yassilevo. To 
 
 ;n army moved on towards Ou- 
 
 , vvmist a strong detachment proceeded to 
 
 Jbi^rressino and took possession of that town. 
 
 The corps under the General-aide-de-camp Kou- 
 
 tousoff, which had long acted on the extreme right 
 
 of Piatoff, marked its advance with a success equal 
 
 to that of the Gossans. During its various engage- 
 
276 
 
 ments with the enemy it took upwards of six thou- 
 sand 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 Yigtenstein. This junc- 
 tion was the prime object of his march, and when 
 he arrived, he was to put himself under the orders 
 of the Count, Vigtenstein was tob 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 evi- 
 dent 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 di- 
 visions of the French army might extend themselves 
 in their flight, still they were held within the ring 
 of their enemies. There appeared not an avenue 
 of escape. The French soldier seemed to have no- 
 thing now to do, but to .surrender or to die. 
 
 To force Napoleon to one of these alternatives 
 was now the object of the Russian General ; an<^ 
 before many days Count Yigtenstein, seconded 
 Platoff" and the advanced guard of the main 
 had the glory of striking a decisive b^" ' 
 
 his destruction, on the banks of the P 
 final stroke w^as left to the arms < Lia 1 
 
 the Danube and their intrepid '^^ ' 
 
 The corps of Oudinot and 'Victo± tuo^i . 
 pid march towards Borrisoff*. The wretched Ux vi- 
 sion of the latter was supposed to form a rear- 
 guard of the once formidable grand army. General | 
 Vigtenstein followed these troops through Tcherie 
 to Holopolichi, while his advanced-guard under 
 
277 
 
 General Vlastoff followed the general pursuit, and 
 fell in with a part of the enemy at the village of Ba- 
 toury. This rear division was commanded by Ge- 
 neral Dentelne. Vlastoff attacked it without a, 
 halt, overturned every opposition, and saw its dis- 
 persed members fly before him in x;very direction. 
 He pursued them for two days, during which time 
 he made General Dentelne Ir'^ prisoner, with forty 
 officers and two thousand men. 
 
 On finding the enemy retreat in such haste, and 
 in such numbers. General V iglenstein made a move- 
 ment from the city of Holopplichi, to his right, 
 towards the village of Barani, in order to cut off 
 their escape by Lepel, and to enable himself to act 
 upon Vesselovo and Stoudentzi. At these two 
 places the fugitives had collected in great multi- 
 tudes, and were then constructing bridges, over 
 the Berezina, the old ones having been broken 
 down to prevent their passage. 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 dif- 
 ficult task, he hoped to intercept the prime mover 
 OF THE world's DISCORD at ouc or other of these 
 bridges. To this end he sent instant advice to Pla- 
 toff, not to delay a moment, but to push forward 
 with all expedition towards Borrisoff. Vigtenstein 
 accompanied these orders with his own movement 
 from Barani to Kostritzi. From thence, in the af- 
 ternoon of the 26th, he came down upon Staroy- 
 Borrisoff a short Avay from Stoudentzi. By the 
 rapidity of this march, and its disposition, he com- 
 pletely cut off Marshal Yictor 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 w^as given them to 
 form. The Russian artillery at once opened their 
 flaming njouths, and pouring grape and shot upon 
 them they were drove from every quarter into one 
 concentrated mass of t-^rror and of death. Col- 
 
278 
 
 umns of Russian infantry spread themselves along 
 the bank of the river, presenting an insurmounta- 
 ble barrier against them who would have attempted 
 |;0 cross. Four hours did the torrent of destruc- 
 tion, from cannon and from musketry, shower upon 
 thelieads~\5f-the:^ devoted men, cooped up with- 
 in a narrow circle ctiid almost unresisting. They 
 could not fight, but "^hey attempted to fly. No 
 avenue could be found ; and Count Vigtenstein, 
 feeling for the distress of even so ruthless an ene- 
 my, sent a flag of tr^uce to their General, telling 
 him that as no hop'^s of retreat were left he must 
 instantly surrender, or see his whole division aban- 
 doned to the rage of the Russian soldiers. For a 
 few minutes hesitation seemed ready to precipitate 
 these devoted people to the horrible fate of merci- 
 less exiirpation, but in the moment of their doubt, 
 and of the impatience of the indignant victors, the 
 invincible chief of the Don and his followers made 
 their appearance, and decided the council of war. 
 They gave themselves up to the clemency of Vig- 
 tenstein, laying down their arms, and, in the sur^ 
 render, put into his hands the four Generals Bil- 
 liard, De Letter, Kamuse, and Blamont. In the 
 conflict 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 soldiers. Three peices of cannon, two stan- 
 dards and a vast quantity of baggage, were also 
 taken ; but the trophy of the greatest consequence 
 was the seizure of two whole regiments of cavalry 
 in excellent condition ; the one had arrived to Vic- 
 tor from the Duchy of Berg, and the other was 
 composed of fresh Saxons. 
 
 Buonaparte not having been found in the one 
 spot, no time v/as lost in seeking him at the other ; 
 and immediately on the submission of the eneniy 
 under the Geoerak Billiard, &c. PlatofF was dis^ 
 
279 
 
 patched by the way of BorrisofT to the opposite 
 fihore, to join Admiral Tchitchagoff, and in con- 
 junction 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 
 Vigtenstein 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 Stubentzi, and the other near Yesselovo. 
 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 number of his guards to render the Avay 
 tolerably safe from immediate molestation ; and the 
 moment that was ascertained he followed with his 
 suite and principal Generals, a promiscuous crowd 
 of soldiers pressing 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 ke^t with the hordes that pour- 
 ed towards its passage for escape and life, for the 
 Russians were in their rear ; the thunder of Yigten- 
 stein 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. On 
 the right and on the left there was no escape ; can- 
 non, bayonets, and sabres, menaced them on every 
 side ; certain death was on their rear j in their front 
 alone was there any hope of safety ; and, frantic 
 with the desperate alternative, thousands upon 
 thousands flew towards the Berezina, some plung- 
 ing 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 disorganized the French army, and in the 
 present dismay no voice of order was heard ; the 
 tumult was tremendous, was destructive of each 
 
280 
 
 other, as the despairing wretches pressed forward 
 and struggled for precedence in the moment of es-^ 
 cape. 
 
 '. Yigtenstein stood in horror, viewing this chaos 
 of human misery ; to close it at once in death or 
 in capitulation was the wish of his brave heart: 
 but the enemy was frantic ; nothing could he heard 
 but the roar of cannon and the cries of despain 
 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 these passages were 
 so filled with desperate fugitives that they crushed 
 on each other to suffocation and to death. Trains of 
 artillery, baggage, cavalry, and waggons of all 
 kinds, being intermixed and driven pell-mell to one 
 point, hundreds of human beings were trodden down, 
 trampled on, torn and mashed to pieces* Officers 
 and soldiers were mingled in one mass ; self-pre* 
 servation 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 tlie river, thousands 
 threw themselves into the 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 
 jBhrieks (it was something more horrible than cries) 
 of the dying, wounded, and drowning ; but they 
 were only heard at intervals, for one continued roar 
 seemed to fill the heavens, of the Russian artillery 
 pouring its floods of deathful retribution on the 
 heads of the desolaters 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 crowding 
 feet of his comrades, who" expired amid the crashing 
 
281 
 
 liorrors 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 con- 
 tinued to press each other forward 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 Bere- 
 zina. 
 
 This desperate expedient prevented Yigtenstein 
 from immediately crossing to the other side to pur- 
 sue 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 oppo- 
 site shore. 
 
 It is scarcely possible to Calculate accurately the 
 amount of the enemy that were lost on this dread- 
 
 « occasion ; certainly more than five thousand 
 re killed, and nearly the same number drowned, 
 lirteen 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 pillage 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 to- 
 gether that it was impossible for either a horse or a 
 man to find a way through them. Several colours 
 and eagles were taken amidst these 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 Yigtenstein 
 looked to the army of the Danube to put the Trouh- 
 ler of the Earth into their hands. 
 
 All this havoc could not be made on any people 
 however paralyzed by terror, without some despe- 
 i:ate resistance ; and accordingly during these three 
 
 36 
 
282- 
 
 c>r foiir tremendous days the French did make some 
 sho^v ef opposition, but in a desultory and unmili- 
 tary manner. Not more than two thousand men 
 fe]i on the part of Count Vigtenstein. 
 
 As soon as that General discovered that Buona- 
 parte had crossed the Berezina, he dispatched the 
 General-aide-de-camp KoutousofF towards Lepel, 
 charging him to pass the river there, and come 
 down upon the flank of the enemy on the opposite 
 side. Meanwhile,, he ordered a detachment under 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Teltenborne to move against 
 the Bavarians at Dockschitzi. These commands 
 were punctually obeyed. Tetlenborne reached the 
 Bavarian rear-guard, which he attacked and de- 
 feated, making twenty-six officers prisoners, with 
 one thousand men. This success and the occupa- 
 tion 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 fr 
 tiers of Poland. Hope dared hardly rest upon t 
 prospect, for those frontiers seemed now divide 
 from them by a w^orld of horrors, whose least ter- 
 rible apparition was that of death ! 
 
 
 BuRiKS the conflagi'ation^^ of the bridges, and 
 pursued by the horrible shrieks of his deserted peo-^ 
 pie perishing in the flames, Buonaparte speeded on 
 bis flight till the wind no longer brought the sounds 
 1o 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 tiie Berezina, near the village 
 Tchatchovo, and leading to Brilovo. Here, in its 
 closest recesses, he souglit a temporary covert for his 
 tears and his shame. The greater mass of fugi- 
 tives, the thousand victims of his auibition, who- 
 had desperately forced their way over the bridges 
 
■ODO 
 
 l)efuTe they were set on fire, having also s^'ainecl the 
 opposite shore, ran in crowds towards siiiiiiar pla- 
 ces of refuge, and hid themselves behind the thick- 
 ets and under the trees which spread every where 
 upon the margin of this river. 
 
 But these hapless wretches did not pass to tiieir 
 shelter unobserved. Z>[igirf alone prevented the 
 parties of TchitchagofF from driving them back 
 into the w^ater ; for, until its shadows covered theoi 
 from their enemies, the Russian guns and musket- 
 ry poured upon their heads, and strewed the line of 
 their flight with the dead bodies of their compan- 
 ions. 
 
 The next day (the 28th of November) tlie brave 
 Admiral bore down upon the last array of the ene- 
 my. That any should be attempted after such 
 coriintless defeats, and such complete destruction, 
 seemed as vain as surprising ; but Napoleon had 
 one more point to gain, and the spectre of an army 
 ^as therefore raised to stand between his last re- 
 fpreant acts and the eyes of his pursuers. 
 
 During the night the poor fugitives had been col- 
 lected into the semblance of a force ; and what ar- 
 tillery and baggage they had saved, being gather- 
 ed into one point, they were told that if they hop- 
 ed to reach the Polish frontiers they must exeii 
 themselves like true soldiers, and make themselves 
 a way to Wilna ; for the road by Minsk v^as too 
 thickly covered by the enemy to allow of even an 
 attempt. The French Generals might exhort and 
 issue their commands for some show of order ; but 
 it was to a desperate multitude they spoke, no long- 
 er 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 Tchitcha- 
 gofF were impatient to give the final blow to their 
 merciless adversaries ; and the fire of their mus- 
 ketry kept time with the shov^ers 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, endeavouring to animate 
 hy their example, or force by their threats the ex- 
 hausted courage of Iheir soldiers. Ney rode amongst 
 them, calling to the men who seemed to have the 
 most power, to remember the days of their victo- 
 ries and glory. Mortier and Victor, and several 
 others followed him with similar excitements, but 
 all in vain ; the men weie resolved and sullen : 
 they would fight man to man for their own lives, 
 but no more battles for the author of their mise- 
 ries ! 
 
 Oudinot had been more successful in his exhor- 
 tations ; but in the moment of his bringing up an 
 ill-assorted band of dismounted cavalry and infant- 
 ry 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 combaty and 
 afforded his reluctant followers a good excuse to 
 take him and themselves into the rear. * 
 
 While this extraordinary and bloody scene wa^ 
 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) mov- 
 ed 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 kis own, and totally abandoned every 
 idea of making any attempt to save an individual, 
 or an article belonging to his once vast army. Buo- 
 naparte was now the sole object in Buonaparte's 
 mind ; Buonaparte without faith, without honour, 
 without courage 1 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 of their fate. 
 
 For some hours after bis desertion his Generals 
 strove to keep up the appearance, at least, of re- 
 sistance to the triumphant career or their enemies ; 
 and by this valour on their side time was afforded 
 
285 
 
 him to make his flight more distant, and therefore 
 more secure. But their utmost exertions could not 
 continue very long to oppose the force of the Rus- 
 sian troops, and the enfeebled state of their own ; 
 and at last they found themselves compelled to take 
 to flight, while their wretched followers again broke 
 into scattered multitudes, and fled in every direction 
 into the forests, along the roads, and over the dis- 
 tant wastes. In sliort, 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 or- 
 ders to throw some pontoon-bridges across the Be- 
 rezina, to accelerate the advance of Count Vigten- 
 stein. This was speedily done, and the victorious 
 Count was soon by the side of his brave coadjutor. 
 By a parallel movement on the Admiral's right his 
 eager troops pursued the general object in concert 
 with the army of the Danube. 
 
 iThe General-aide-de-camp Koutousoif, together 
 with his able colleagues. Generals Borosdin and 
 Tettenbome, received orders to push on from the 
 neighbourhood of Yilyky, even to beyond Wilna» 
 to destroy the bridges as they passed, and if possi- 
 ble to intercept the flying Napoleon before he could 
 reach the Neimen. 
 
 Count Platoff, in full houra ! with his clouds of 
 Donskoy heroes, followed the fugitives with blood 
 and slaughter along the roads leadinor to Molodet- 
 chino and Smorgon. Tchit€ha2:ofr's advanced- 
 guard, under Major-General Tchaplitz, moved m 
 the same direction ; whilst that of the main army, 
 under Miloradovitch, 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 
 was overwhelming the remains of the French anny, 
 its fugitive chief was endeavouring by every sub- 
 terfuge of falsehood to conceal iVom France and 
 
286 
 
 his allies its ruined condition. Even his own Gen- 
 erals at Wilna were kept in ignorance of his com- 
 plete discomfiture ; and it was not until the dearth of 
 intelligence from the grand army created in them 
 some alarm, and the information that Minsk was 
 surrounded by the army of the Danube struck 
 them with a conviction of disaster, that they had 
 any suspicion of the universal defeat their master 
 had sustained. 
 
 It is related, but 1 do not affirm it as a fact, that 
 after twelve days of suspense, during which no in- 
 formation whatever arrived from Buonaparte, Ma- 
 ret dispatched a young Polander, disguised as a 
 w^oman, 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 ma- 
 zes filled with the pursuing enemy ; and he brought 
 with him a true statement of the case. If this an- 
 ecdote 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, implht- 
 ing that Napoleon was moving along the banks of 
 the Berezina at the head of the main body of his ar- 
 my, while the rest remained in good garrison at Smor 
 lenzk ; 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 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 dispatched General Loison (who had some time 
 before arrived from Koningsberg with ten thousand 
 men) towards Ochmania, 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 
 
287 
 
 tFian three thousand men before they came within 
 sight of their fugitive comrades. 
 
 The way v;as long and disastrous between the 
 banks of the Berezina and the Polish frontiers^ 
 There was no where a stan<], but an unceasing 
 chase from that river's brink to the passage of the 
 Neimen. Prisoners, arms, standards, baggage, eve- 
 ry where fell into the hands of the pursuers. Noth- 
 ing can better depict the extreme abandonment of 
 hope, and the excessive misery of the enemy dur- 
 ing this dreadful period, than a letter which one of 
 the brave Russians, then in pursuit, addressed to a 
 relation in St. Petersburgh- 
 
 "Though besieged with miseries, and assailed 
 with all the fury of our cannon and bayonets, it is 
 certain that nearly forty thousand of our merciless 
 invaders escaped to the nearest bank of the Berezi- 
 na. But there, even in the moment in which they 
 believed themselves safe, they met their destruction; 
 th«y plunged in to gain the opp'osite shore, and ma- 
 ny 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 conflagra- 
 tion 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 in- 
 creasing the cold to a degree that was almost intole- 
 rable 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 howl- 
 ing amongst each other, exclaiming aloud against 
 their betrayer, and demanding death at the hands 
 of their equally distracted companions. Thou- 
 
288 
 
 sands of these poor wretches were nearly naked ; 
 few had either shoe, or boot, or pantaloon to pro- 
 tect then' freezing limbs. Many had endeavoured 
 to shield them from the severity of the weather, by 
 wrapping about them the raw hides they had strip- 
 ped from their perished horses. Others covered 
 their bodies with old matting, canvass, women's 
 clothes, priests' vestments, or any other thing that 
 might assist in sheltering their ematiated 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 plundered country- 
 man his winter sheep-skin, or saved a pelisse from 
 the geperal pillage ! Officers and men shared in 
 the same want of covering. The wretched frag- 
 ments which decency would still wrap aroimd them 
 were tattered into a hundred shreds ; but from the 
 inclemencies of the iron season there was no shelter. 
 Thousands became benumbed and stupified ; many 
 dropped in silence into the grasp of death ; others 
 moved on their gradually freezing bodies, moankig 
 their pangs, and cursing the name of him and all 
 his race who had brought them into such depths of 
 unimaginable human sutfering. 
 
 " Every corps, and every rank of officers, par- 
 took of the general distress. The guards, once the 
 proud favourites of their proudest chief, were alike 
 the sport of the angry elements, were alike expos- 
 ed to nakedness and privation. Their gay capari- 
 sons were changed into loathsome rags ; and, a 
 prey to every evil of squallid wretchedness, to hun- 
 ger and to cold, they dropped down dead in heaps>, 
 groaning out the reproaches their tongues were io9 
 feeble to utter. 
 
 " Defence was now totally out of the question. 
 Flight, not escape, was their object ; for none pos- 
 sessed within himself sufficient strength to promise 
 him an existence of many hours. It was not life 
 they sought, but relief from the agonies of fear. 
 An unde^nable terror hung on the soul of the 
 
289 
 
 famished wretch who, stretched on the chilling snowj 
 called fervently on death to release him from his 
 misery. Even in this state, let but the simple cry of 
 ihe Cossacs ! be sounded in his ear, and it would be 
 sufficient to arouse him to temporary 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 prisoners 
 to a band of perhaps no more than a hundred Cos- 
 sacs. 
 
 " 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 per- 
 ishing and dismembered 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 
 conflict than a night's rest. Cold and fatigUe be- 
 numbed many into their last i-epose ; but scarcely 
 did the hand of death close their eyes before they 
 became a spoil ; nay, even whilst they yet breath^ 
 ied, their comrades WoUld seize 6n their expiring 
 bodies, and strip them of their ragged coverings t6 
 defend themselves. Vast are the circles of the per- 
 ished they leave behind them in these dismal night 
 watches ; and Avhen 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 sufl^erings. Hun- 
 dreds hasten to the blazing scene to enjoy a few mo- 
 ment's 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 
 
 37 
 
290 
 
 bouses are siirroimded v/ith the expiring remains of 
 their helpless consumers. Many of those who es- 
 cape immediate destruction from the fire, scarred 
 hy its flames, blackened in part by the smoke, and 
 pale^ as the snow itself, range themselves like a host 
 of ghastly spectres upon the lifeless bodies of their 
 countrymen, and there remain in motionless apa- 
 thy till the benumbing hand of death steals by de- 
 grees 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 help- 
 lessness, and being left upon the road, were forced 
 to abandon themselves to the death they might oth- 
 erwise have averted for yet some days. In those 
 days, now so cruelly cut ofl* from their chance of 
 prolonged existence, some succour might arrive ! 
 The idea alone seemed to speak a hope, of which 
 they were irresistibly deprived ; and their despair 
 broke out in cries of the bitterest anguish ; it was 
 a lameatation 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 follow^ 
 ers. 
 
 " Multitudes of these desolate fugitives lost their 
 speech, others were seized with phrenzy, and many 
 were so maddened by the extremea of pain aud hun- 
 ger, that thev tore the dead bodies of their com- 
 rades 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 v^ho have witnessed such extremes of distress, 
 can form any idea of the horrors 1 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." 
 
291 
 
 To be nearer tlie goal of his glorious race, in 
 this career after the most ruthless enemy that ever 
 invaded a brave people, Field-Marshal Koutousoff 
 removed his head-quarters from Ilauenitai to Ko- 
 vossino. He made the movement on the 4th of 
 Decemben 
 
 TchitchagofT continued in full pursuit, Milorado- 
 vitch the same, and the main army followed with 
 answerable zeal the steps of its advance. The di- 
 vision under Count Ogerofsky, having proceeded in 
 a parallel direction with its left wing, arrived in 
 full force at the town of Volshine. 
 
 Meanwhile, Buonaparte continued his flight; and 
 «t 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 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 de^ 
 lay ; and on the evening of the 10th, sheltered his 
 head in safety in the Polish capital ! The final es- 
 cape 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 infatuated people had 
 raised to be their tyrant, and who, not content with 
 the sovereignty of half Europe, aspired to univer- 
 sal dominion ; thus did he pass from Russia the last 
 <)bject of his ambition, in obscurity and dishonour ; 
 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 ! Tin- 
 
292 
 
 fair 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 
 paralyzed 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 Talour of true soldiers. Buona- 
 parte alone proved himself a slave in spirit. Had 
 he possessed a soul worthy the confidence reposed 
 In him, on the bridge of Berezma he would have 
 died, 
 
 Platoff, Tcbaplitz, and other Russian Generals, 
 with their advanced corps, proceeded with great 
 speed, gathering thousands of prisoners, cannon, 
 baggage, and ammunition waggons, in their path. 
 Large convoys of the latter, with provisions, had 
 been dispatched from Wilna to meet the retreating 
 French, and hence augmented the spoil of the -Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 When Platoff entered Oschimiani, he fell in with 
 the remaining three thousand of Loisson's corps, 
 which he instantly cut in pieces, and took from 
 them twenty-§ve pieces of cannon. Near Smorgo- 
 ni, Tchaplitz came up with the small pretensions 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 envi- 
 rons on the 10th, He had the satisfaction of meet- 
 ing at the same rendezvous 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 gain- 
 ed over a corps of French cavalry which had pre- 
 sented itself before the town. Six guns and one 
 standard had been taken in this affair ; but the vic- 
 tors did not think themselves in sufficient force to 
 follow up their advantage by pushing on to the city:^ 
 
293 
 
 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 
 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 abandoning it. They had ta- 
 ken their measures in such haste and confusion, that 
 nothing had been destroyed. Yast magazines, filled 
 with all kinds of stores, and upwards of thirty pie- 
 ces 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 Niemen. The General- 
 aide-de-camp Koutousoff adopted the same plan 
 on the right of the city, stretching his people in the 
 direction of Wilkomer, 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 No- 
 vember 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 
 phecked by his having broken down the bridges, 
 but the exertion of a few hours restored us a pas- 
 sage, and by forced marches we soon gained upon 
 our object. The advanced-guard did not lose sight 
 of him for an instant; coming up and defeating him 
 continually in a variety of encounters ; daily taking 
 from him numbers of cannon, and making priso- 
 ners to the amount of some thousands, besides 
 
294 
 
 forcing his harassed troops to march during th^ 
 night. 
 
 " From the passage of the Berezina, until the ar- 
 rival of the Imperial troops at Wilna, we have our- 
 selves taken one hundred and fifty pieces of can- 
 non, more than seven hundred ammunition wag- 
 gons, and so considerable 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 mur- 
 muring 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 ven- 
 geance fails 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 allovt 
 the enemy time to remove any thing from the city. 
 Independent of all that has been mentioned before 
 of our spoil, great acquisitions Avere madfe there in 
 cannon and stores. Amongst the sick and wound- 
 ed w^ho had been abandoned, were found several 
 Generals : Saiontschiki 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 arrange- 
 ments. 
 
 " An aide-de-camp of Marshal Davousfs was 
 
295 
 
 taken at Oschimiani, havino; been left by the Mar- 
 shal to await the arrival of his rear-guard, and to 
 ascertain the number of troops in pursuit. But 
 tlie rear-guard having been destroyed, this young 
 officer was surprised by seeing instead of it, the 
 Kussian advance enter the town. He was in amaze- 
 ment, and could not conceive what was become of 
 the troops he expected. 
 
 " 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. In- 
 deed 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 interval which divided the cannonades 
 between the respective rear and vanguards." 
 
 The Admiral followed Tchaplitz with his main 
 body, and next day the head-quarters of Kou- 
 tousoflf, were established at Wilna. On the 8th they 
 had been at l^iodetchino, on the 9th at Smorgoni, 
 on the 10th at Oschimiani, and on the 12th at 
 Wilna. 
 
 No sooner were the troops of his Imperial Majes- 
 ty entered into the city than they were hailed by 
 the most rapturous acclamations. Z/ong live the 
 Emperor Alexander ! resounded from every quar- 
 ter ; and the inhabitants with the eloquence of na- 
 ture, 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- 
 marshal made the following statement to the Empe- 
 ror Alexander. ^-^ ■ . 
 
 «' Dec. 2d, O. S. 
 
 14th, N. S. 1812. 
 
 " On the occupation of Wilna by our troops on 
 
296 
 
 the lOtli of December (N. S.) the enemy fled to^ 
 wards Pogoulianka ; and Count Platoff, in ordef 
 to cut off his retreat upon the Kovna road, entirely 
 occupied that road with Cossacs, hussars, and dra- 
 goons. Having allowed the first mass of fugitives 
 to pass, he ordered Count Orloff-Denizoff to open 
 a fire of 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 surrounded by heavy 
 discharges of artillery and musketry, 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 baggage, fell into 
 the hands of the Cossac chief. 
 
 " Ever since the occupation of Wilna by your 
 Imperial Majesty's troops, I have been employed 
 in restoring all things to their ancient order ; hence 
 I have not had time to collect a particular statement 
 of the stores found in the city. However, the quar- 
 ter-master-general, Stavrakoff and General Bes- 
 rodny, say that in some of the magazines which 
 have been inspected they have found fourteen thou- 
 sand measures of corn, five thousand measures of 
 flour, besides an equal number of biscuit ; an im- 
 mense quantity of uniforms, muskets, cartouch- 
 boxes, saddles, cloaks, helmets, and other military 
 necessaries. 
 
 " Seven Generals were made prisoners in the 
 town, namely, Yivier, 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 prisonets from the 
 environs of the city. As reports are made to me. 
 
297 
 
 I will not fall communicating them to your Imperial 
 Majesty." 
 
 The enemy had not nesflected to raise contribu- 
 tions on the people of Wilna, according; to his usual 
 custom in the places he honoured with his presence ; 
 but as that city was the great link of communica- 
 tion 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 treat- 
 ed with a lenity in pecuniary respects that might 
 sooth them into his interests. He also managed to 
 hold them in awe of his colossal powder, by a con- 
 stant concealment of the tremendous reverses it 
 sustained in the series of his invasion. Conse- 
 quently when the truth did burst upon these deceiv- 
 ed people, by the sudden entrance of the Russian 
 army, the effect was as striking as it was frought 
 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, Napo- 
 leon had occupied its palace, with an Imperial and 
 military pomp never before equalled by the proud- 
 est legitimate 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 w^ere fated to 
 return. An ambition, even more fierce than that 
 of the Persian monarch, had dried up the sources 
 of pity in Napoleon's heart ; rivers of blood had 
 long washed aw^ay the purer drops from his relent- 
 less 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 
 fugitive at the bottom of a wretched sledge, find it 
 possible to weep over the disappointment of his 
 own pride. 
 
 38 
 
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 ar- 
 tillery with which he vvas to proclaim his conquest 
 and his dominion, from the shores of the Baltic to 
 the boundaries of Asia ? And where those myri- 
 ads of his own subjects, whom he had brought arm- 
 ed at all points into Kussia, to subdue the people, 
 and to cover themselves with spoils and military 
 glory ? 
 
 The whole had disappeared. The same all- 
 powerful hand, Avhich had baffled the ambitious 
 enterprizes of the Persian monarch, turned the 
 plans and the vast preparations of the French Ru- 
 ler 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 
 (including the Austrian force) not more than twen- 
 ty-five thousand, exclusive of Swartzenburg's corps, 
 repassed the IXiemen. Out of one hundred thou.- 
 sand horses, scarcely one survived. More than 
 one Inmdred thousand prisoners fell into the hands 
 of tlie Russians, from the day in which the French 
 army quitted Moscow, until its arrival at the Nei- 
 men ; and above twelve hundred pieces of cannon ; 
 for not one single gun was carried by the fugitives 
 across the barrier stream. Thus did the very in- 
 struments, with v^hich the invader intended to pro- 
 claim his victory become the trophies of Russia in 
 witness of having discomfited its enemy, and cover- 
 ed 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 virtu- 
 
.299 
 
 ous monarcbs that ever swayed a sceptre ; and in 
 subversion of the happiness of a people, who loved 
 liis equitable rule, and every day increased in po- 
 litical wisdom and moral vigour. Russia, aware 
 of her pivileged destiny, with one unanimous exer- 
 tion, freed herself from the inroad of the Usurper 
 and his emmissaries, and exulted in the contrast 
 between her own magnanimous Emperor and the 
 selfish aggrandisement of his opponent. She stood 
 as Hercules, with Virtue on the one side and Se- 
 duction on the other : behind the former, whose 
 stern visage was armed in complete steel, devolv- 
 ed rocks and ghastly precipices ; but beyond was 
 the paradise of the gods. Around the latter bloom- 
 ed a labyrinth of verdure ; but at the close of each 
 enchanted thicket, yawned a treacherous gulph 
 evergrown with sweets, that betrayed the trusting 
 feet to bottomless perdition ! The Russian people, 
 and the Russian Monarch, spurned the blandish- 
 ments of the Deceiver, and destroyed with the 
 vigour of true bravery his most formidable warfare. 
 The Imperial Alexander, not satisfied with having 
 achieved the independence of his own nation, gene- 
 rously 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 glo- 
 rious 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 live in the memory of pos- 
 terity. 
 
 " The deliverance of your country from a host of 
 confederate powers leagued against her very exist- 
 
300 
 
 ence has been purchased by your blood. Yoa 
 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 val- 
 our and your perseverance, that against hearts fil- 
 led 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 iunuortal 
 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 testimo- 
 nies, the reward of valour and of constancy. 
 
 "You have all shared the sam^hardships and 
 the same dangers. You have ^ihad one soul. 
 This ennobling conviction should make you proud 
 of these equal military honours. They will every 
 where proclaim 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 iriedal glows an imperishable valour ! Imper- 
 ishable, because it is not founded upon ambition 
 or impiety, but on the immutable basis of patriot- 
 ism and religion ! 
 
 (Signed) * " Alexander." 
 
 "1813." 
 
NOTES 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OF SUBJECTS REFERRED TO IN THE 
 BODY OF THE WORK. 
 
 NOTE I. II. III. [For Page 32.] 
 
 1 HESE three patriots distinguished tliemselves at the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century, after the death of Demetrius ; when the 
 Poles on the one side, and the Cossac Zaroutki on the other, were con- 
 tending for the supreme power, and rendering the empire a field of 
 blood. 
 
 Kozma-Minim, butcherer of Nijhi-Novogorode, formed the bold de- 
 sign of collecting a body of patriots to oppose the factions of Sigis- 
 mond and Zaroutzk. He assembled his fellow-citizens, exhorting 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-Novogorode did 
 indeed strip themselves of every worldly possession ; but these sacrifi- 
 ces were found inadequate for their great purpose. 
 
 It was then that Palitzen, a monk eminent for his piety, called to- 
 gether the holy brotherhood of his monastery, and with the most af- 
 fecting eloquence conjured them to embrace real poverty, by volunta- 
 rily bestowing the treasures of their community upon the new levies. 
 The proposal was unanimously agreed to, and the money was deposit- 
 ed in the hands of K9zma-Minim. 
 
 Regarding this act as a testimony of the" Divine favour. Minim hast- 
 ened to Pojarskoi, a Russian nobleman whose valour had been hon- 
 ourably proved in many a victorious field, but who, now incapable of 
 breasting singly the torrent that was overwhelming his country, had re- 
 tired in despair to a small estate at some distance from Nijhi-Novogo- 
 lode. 
 
 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 prospect of 
 heading even a handful of patriots animated with the same spirit. 
 
 Minim then hailed him General of the brave band of JVijki-JVovo- 
 gorode ! and laid at his feet the treasures 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. 
 
302 NOTES. 
 
 NOTE 11.— [For Page 92.] 
 BUONAPARTE'S THIRTEENTH BULLETIN. 
 
 Smolenzk, Aug. 31. 
 
 The 16th, in the morning our troops covered the heights of Smo- 
 lenzk, and that city exhibited to us a walled circumference of four 
 thousand toises, ten feet in thickness, and twenty-five high, with 
 towers at intervals, many of which were mounted with cannon of a 
 very large size. 
 
 On the right of the Boresthenes, the enemy's forces were seen hasti- 
 ly marching back to protect the city, their Commander-in-chief, ha- 
 ving received, as was know^n, repeated orders from his master to give 
 battle in order to save Smolenzk. The Emperor having reconnoitered 
 the place, made the following disposition of the army, which remain- 
 ed in its disposition the 17th. The Duke of Elchingen had charge of 
 the left, which was covered by the Boresthenes, the Prince of Eck- 
 muhl, commanded the centre, and Prince Poniatofsky the right. The 
 Imperial guard was stationed in reserve in the centre ; the Vice-Roy 
 in reserve on the right, the extreme of which was protected by the 
 cavalry under the King of Naples ; in consequence of having missed 
 the road, a false movement was made by tlie 8th corps under the Duke 
 of Abrantes. The 16tli and part of the 17th the armies remained in 
 observation, a firing being kept up from the lines. Of the enemy, thir- 
 ty thousand occupied Smolenzk, and the residue were posted on dje 
 heights of the sliore, opposite the city, between which is a communi- 
 cation by means of three bridges. Smolenzk, is considered by the 
 Russians as a very strong city and the bulwark of Moscow. At two 
 in the afternoon of the 1 7th, on perceiving that the enemy had not de- 
 bouched, and that their commander notwithstanding the positive orders 
 he had received, and the excellent position he could have taken, with 
 his right resting on Smolenzk, and his left covered by the Boresthenes, 
 was fearful of risking a battle, the Emperor hastened to the right, 
 and ordered Prince Poniatofsky to change his front, and advancing 
 with his divisions, his right protected by the Boresthenes, take posses- 
 sion of, and fortify one of the suburbs and destroy the bridge to inter- 
 cept the communication with the city from that quarter. At the same 
 lime the Prince of Eckmuhl was directed to attack two of the suburbs, 
 which the enemy had fortified at two hundred toises distance from the 
 city, each of which was defended by seven or eight thousand infantry 
 and a number of heavy cannon. General Count Friand also received 
 orders to complete the investment, supporting his right by the corps of 
 Prince Poniatofsky, and his left on the right of the attack of the Prince 
 of Eckmuhl. At two in the afternoon. Count Bruyere's division of 
 cavalry, having driven off the Cossacs and the enemy's horse, took 
 possession of tlje platform next the upper bridge. A battery of 60 
 pieces of cannon was immediately erected upon this platform and com- 
 menced a fire with grape-shot, on that part of the enemy which had re- 
 mained on the right shore and soon compelled the masses of Russian 
 Lnfantry to evacuate that position. 
 
NOTES. 303 
 
 The enemy then placed two batteries of twenty pieces of cannon in 
 a convent, to silence that of ours which fired on the bridge. The 
 Prince of Eckmuhl confided the attack of the suburbs on the right, to 
 Count Morand, and that on tlie left to Count Gudin, 
 
 At three, the cannonading commenced, at four, a very hot fire of 
 musketry was opened, at five, the divisions of Morand and Gudin, pos- 
 sessed themselves of the suburbs, which had been fortified by the enemy, 
 with an uncommon degree of coolness and intrepidity, pursuing the Rus- 
 sians to the covered way which was strewed with their dead bodies. 
 On the left the Duke of Elchingen attacked the enemy's position with- 
 out the city, took it, and pursued them as far as the glacis. 
 
 At five, the communication betAveen Sraolenzk and the right shore 
 had become difficult, and was kept up only by a few isolated individuals. 
 
 Three batteries of tYrelves for tlie breach, were directed against the 
 walls at six in the evening, one by Friand's division, and the others by 
 those of Morand and Gudin. The enemy was dislodged from all the 
 towers that he occupied by some howitzers Avhich set fire to them, while 
 Count Sorbier, General of artillery, enfiladed him in such manner with 
 his batteries, as to render it impossible for him to maintain his covered 
 ways. 
 
 At two in the afternoon, the Ilussians perceiving that we intended a 
 serious attack on the city, sent over two divisions and two regiments of 
 infantry of the guards to reinforce the four divisions in ihe city. These 
 forces united composed one half of the Russian army. The action 
 continued the wbole night ; the batteries in breach, kept up their fire 
 with the greatest activity, while two companies of miners were em- 
 ployed at the walls. 
 
 At length the city was discovered to be on fire, and Smolenzk, in 
 the middle of a night in August, offered to the French, a similar 
 spectacle to that which an eruption of Vesuvius presents at Naples. 
 
 An hour past midnight the Russians abandoned the city, and repas- 
 sed the river. At two the grenadiers who mounted to the assault, met 
 with no resistance. The place was evacuated : two hundred pieces 
 of cannon and mortars of great size, and one of the finest cities of 
 Russia, being thus left in our powder in sight of the v/hole of the ene- 
 my's force. 
 
 The battle of Smolenzk, for it is justly entitled to that appellation 
 since one hundred thousand men were engaged on one side and the 
 other, cost the Russians four thousand seven hundred men killed, from 
 seven to eight thousand wounded, and two thousand prisoners, the 
 most of Avhom w^ere wounded. Among the dead were found five Rus- 
 sian Generals. On our part we lost seven hundred men killed and 
 from three thousand one hundred, to three thousand two hundred 
 wounded. The General of Brigade^ Grabouski, was killed, and 
 Generals Grandeau and Dalton wounded ; all the troops vied with each 
 other in intrepidity. The field of battle offered the spectacle of from' 
 seven to eight dead Russians for one Frenchman, a fact prcveable by 
 two hundred thousand persons who w^ere eye witnesses of it, notwith- 
 standing the enemy were for a part of the 16th and ITth, entrenched 
 and protected by the fire oi^ the battlements. 
 
304 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 On the 18th, the bridges over the Boresthenes, which the enemy had 
 burned, were restored, but the fire in the city could not be got under 
 until the 19th, though our sappers laboured with the greatest activity 
 in extinguishing it. All the houses of the city are filled with dead 
 and dying Russians. 
 
 Of "twelve divisions, which composed the grand Russian army, tw^ 
 were cut up and dispersed at the action of Ostrovna, two at that of Mo- 
 hiloff, and six at Smolenzk. The Guard and two divisions of Ney, 
 are the only ones which have sustained no loss. 
 
 The displays of courage that have honoured the army in general, 
 and distinguished so many individuals at the battle of Smolenzk, will 
 be detailed in a particular report. Ne\'er did the French army mani- 
 fest greater intrepidity than in this campaign. 
 
 To prevent misapprehending who may be meant under these titles 
 of Prince, Duke, &.c. a catalogue of the French General's names and 
 their titles is subjoined. 
 
 FRENCH. MARSHALS, GENERALS, &;C. AND THEIR TITLES. 
 
 Joachim 
 -JMaishal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 
 Marshal 
 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 Marshal 
 General 
 General 
 
 Murat 
 
 Junot 
 
 Victor 
 
 Augereau 
 
 Lefevre 
 
 Davoust 
 
 Ney_ - - 
 
 Bcssieres 
 
 Beauharnois 
 
 Caulincourt 
 
 Maret 
 
 Champagny - 
 
 Duroc (^dead) 
 
 Mortier - 
 
 Macdonald 
 
 Oudinot 
 
 Jerome Buonaparte 
 
 Berthier [dead) - 
 
 Massena 
 
 Soult - 
 
 Kellerman 
 
 Marmont - 
 
 Sebastian! 
 
 Loison 
 
 Rapp 
 
 King of Naples. 
 Duke of Abrantes. 
 Duke of Belluno, 
 Duke of Castiglione. 
 Duke of Dantzig. 
 Prince of Eckmuhl- 
 Duke of Elchingen. 
 Duke of Istria. 
 Vice-Roi of Italy. 
 Duke of Vizenza. 
 Duke of Bassano. 
 Duke of Cadore. 
 Duke of FriuUi. 
 Duke of Treviso. 
 Duke of Tarente. 
 Duke of Reggio. 
 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 Empire. 
 Count of the Empire. 
 
KOTE III.— [For Page 164.] 
 
 As tliere are people ill the habit of expressing doubts of tbe 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 representa- 
 tions, by drawing together several witnesses bearing evidence of the 
 same kind of acts committed by the same man and his followers in dif- 
 ferent parts of the world. His soldiers perpetrated acts of atrocity 
 while in Rrussia, too horrible for description ; and in the following 
 letter, written by a distinguished British naval officer, and lately pub- 
 lished 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 «n- 
 mentionuble manner in Spain* 
 
 His Majesty's Ship SurveiUante, cff Castro. 
 25th June, 1813. 
 
 irV L0Rl>j 
 
 1 have the satisfactioii of acquainting your Lordship, that the sup- 
 plies of the garrison of Castro having been cut off by His Majesty's 
 cruisers on this coast, and the total want of meat, obliged the Com- 
 manding 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 detail- 
 ed by the few surviving old women, are too shocking to be made the 
 subject of a public 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 
 Guaturiato Santona is evacuated by the enemy. 
 I have the honour to be, &.c. 
 
 (Signed) George R. Collier, 
 
 To Admiral Lord, Keith, <^'C. 
 
 [Vide Gazette, 3d July.] 
 
 NOTE IV.— [For Page 172.] 
 
 In the letters below of Buonaparte, (which Colonel Benkendorff 
 intercepted by taking the courier who conveyed them) may be found 
 a pretty accurate epitome of the Great JVapoleon's character, and 
 drawn by his own hand. 
 
 39 
 
305 NOTES, 
 
 Inteiccpted letter from the Emperor Napoleon to (Maret) t)uke of 
 Bassano, Minister for Foreign Affairs, dated Moscor/, October J 6th, 
 N. S. 1812-. 
 
 " MoNSIEUA ! DUEE OF Bassano ! 
 
 " I have two Prussian regiments here, which have gallantly distin- 
 guished themselves in the advanced-guard of the army, and of course 
 thej liave suffered in the same proportion. Might not the King of 
 Prussia raise two new regiments ? And then the regiments, 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 neces- 
 sity for him to remount the regiments immediately, and by that means 
 lie will increase his number of disciplined squadrons that have acquir- 
 ed 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. I 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 as- 
 sembled there may be equivalent to my seventh division. The King 
 taay easily draAv these troops from Koriingsberg, Colberg, and Graud- 
 enz, 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 Prus- 
 sia will have in line four thousand horse and twenty thousand foot. It 
 cannot be difficult for you to make him comprehend, that his own inter- 
 est should urge him to activity in this business, because the sooner 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, tliat in consequence of the 
 great military resources we possess, not only in our states, but in those 
 uf our allies, his hope of wasting away oUrarmy by degrees is unfound- 
 ed and illusory. 
 
 " You will use the same arguments to Austria, to Bavaria, to Staut- 
 gardt ; 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 yoil understand that the Prussian corps at Memel are not 
 to be reckoned amongst the reinforcements. 
 
 " I pray God to hate yon 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 compar- 
 ing the twenty-ninth bulletin with the following intercepted 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 diiferent depots early in December ; and 
 also something will be seen illfistrative of the credit to be given to his 
 assurance, in the same bulletin, that the artillery had repaired i.'s losses. 
 
NOTES. 307 
 
 *' TO THE DUKE OF BASSANO. ♦ 
 
 " Smolenzk, Nov. llth, N. S. 1812. 
 
 *' Four despatches have arrived at the same time, so that I have all 
 your letters up to the 7lh. 
 
 " 1 am quite satislied 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 thousand more. 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 n^ust 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 cuirassieuis, or for cfragoons, or light cavalry, or ar- 
 tillery, 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 to tiie places in Vv^hich they are to raceive the fresh horses. 
 Be very careful not to suffer the least delay in this affair. 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. 1 have sent him back with positive 
 orders. 
 
 " I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. 
 
 (Signed) Napoleon," 
 
 NOTE v.— [For Page 190,1.} 
 
 Captain Willoughby, 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 t his Imperial Majesty granted this permission ; 
 and Captain Willoughby 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 intrepidity 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. Ob-^ 
 
308 NOTES. 
 
 sealring two Russian soldiers eruelly wounded, who were attempting tt» 
 drag their bleeding limbs from the scene of slaughter, Captain Willough- 
 hy dismounted, and calling on the Cossac that attended him to do the 
 same, he placed the sufferers upon their horses, and was leading them 
 away, when a party of French hussars surrounded and took them pri- 
 soners. This action, so worthy of the British character, could not fail 
 of meeting an answering feeling in the heart of the magnanimous Alex- 
 ander : 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 Buonaparte 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 se^ 
 duce or to subdue a spirit born in British land : and at this time his 
 ambition was doubly racked by the report of Lord Wellington's victo- 
 ries in Spain ; and his knowledge that the representative of the British 
 monarch at St. Petersburgh, was not only a statesman of the first charac- 
 ter, but a soldier eminent in talents and in fame. Buonaparte may 
 sometimes flatter, but he cannot fail to hate the virtue that is opposet^ 
 to him. 
 
 NOTE VL— [For Page lie.] 
 BUONAPARTE'S EIGHTEENTH BULLETIN. 
 
 BATTLE OF MOSCVA (oR BORODINO.) 
 
 Mojaisk, loth Sq>tember, 1812. 
 
 On the 4th, the Emperor set out from Ghjaf, and encamped near the 
 post of Gritneva. 
 
 The 6th, at 6 o'clock in the morning, the army put itself in motion. 
 At two in the afternoon we perceived the Russians formed with their 
 right upon Moskvva, the left upon the height on the left bank of the Ko- 
 logha. At 1200 tpises in advance of the left, the enemy begun to for- 
 tify a fine height, between two woods, where they had placed nine or 
 ten thousand men. The Emperor having reconnoitered it, resolved not 
 to lose a momentj and to carry this position. Orders were given to the 
 King of Naples to pass the Kalougha, with the division Compans and 
 the cavalry. Prince Ponoiatofsky, who had marched on the right, was 
 in a condition to turn the position. At four o'clock the attack com- 
 menced. In one hour the redoubt was carried, with the cannon ; the 
 enemy's corps driven from the wood, and put to flight, leaving the third 
 part on the field of battle. At seven in the evening the firing ceased. 
 
 On the 6th, at two o'clock in the morning, the Emperor surveyed th^ 
 enemy's advanced posts ; the day was passed in reconnoitering. The 
 enemy were m a position much contracted. Their left was weakened 
 by the loss of the position the day before ; backed by a large wood. 
 
KOTES. 309 
 
 supported by a fine height, crowned hy a redoubt, planted with twenty- 
 five pieces of cannon. Two other heights, crowned with redoubts at 
 one hundred paces from each other, protected their line, as tar as a large 
 village, which the enemy had destroyed, to cover the ridge with artille- 
 ry and infantry, and to support the centre. The right extended behind 
 tlie Kalougha, in the rear of the village of Borodino, and was supported 
 hy two line heights, crowned with redoubts, and fortified with batteries. 
 This position appeared strong and favourabl-.. It was easy to mancfiuvre 
 and to oblige the enemy to evacuate it, but that would have been re- 
 pouncing our object, and the position was not judged sufficiently strong 
 to render it necessary to avoid fighting. It was easy to perceive that 
 the redoubts were but half formed, the fosse shalluw, and neither palli- 
 sadoed nor defended with chevaux de frise. We reckoned the enemy's 
 forces at about one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty thou- 
 sand men. Our forces were equal, but the superiority of cur troops 
 was not doubtful. 
 
 On the 7th, at two o'clock in the morning, the Emperor was surroun- 
 ded by the marshals in the position taken the evening before. At half 
 past five o'clock the sun rose without clouds — it had rained the precede 
 ing evening. " This is the sun of Austerlitz," said the Emperor. 
 Though but the month of September, it was as cold as December in 
 Moravia. The array received the omen — the drum beat and the foU 
 lowing order of the day w^as read : — 
 
 " SoLDIERSi ! 
 
 " Behold the field of battle you have so much desired ! henceforth 
 ▼ictory depends qn you ; it is necessary to us ; it will give us plenty, 
 good quarters for the winter, and a speedy return to our country. Be-- 
 have yourselves as you did at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Vitepsk, at 
 Smolenzk : and that the latest posterity may speak of your conduct this 
 day with pride, that it may say of you, " He was at that great battle 
 under the walls of Moscow." 
 
 " At the Imperial Camp on the heights of Borodino, 
 7th of Sept. 2 o'clock A. M." 
 
 The army answered with reiterated acclamations. The ground on 
 which the army stood was strewed with the dead bodies of the Russians 
 killed the preceding day. 
 
 Prince Poniatofsky, who was on the right, put himself in motion to 
 turn the forest on which the enerny rested his left. The Prince of Eck- 
 muhl marched on the skirt of the forests, the division Compans at the 
 head. Two batteries of 60 cannon each, commanding the enemy's 
 position, had been constructed in the night. At 6 o'clock General Count 
 Sorbier, who had armed the battery on the right with the artillery of 
 the reserve of the guard, commenced the fire. General Parnetty, with 
 thirty pieces of cannon, put himself at the head of the division Compans, 
 (4th of the 1st corps) who skirted the wood, turning the head of the 
 enemy's position. At half past six. General Compans was wounded, at 
 seven the Prince of Eckmuhl had his horse killed. The attack advan- 
 ced ; the musketry commenced. The Vice-Roy, who formed our left, 
 
310 NOTES. 
 
 attacks and carries the village of Borodino, which the enemy could not 
 defend ; the village being on the left bank of the Kologha. At seven 
 the Marshal Duke of Elchingen put himself in motion, and under the 
 protection of 60 pieces of cannon which General Foucher had placed 
 the evening before against the enemy's centre, bore upon the centre. 
 A thousand pieces of cannon spread death on all sides. 
 
 At eight o'clock the positions of the enemy were carried, his redoubts 
 taken, and our artillery croWned his heights. The advantage of position 
 which the enemy's batteries had enjoyed for two hours now belonged to 
 us. The parapets which bad been occupied against us during the at- 
 tack, were now to our advantage. The enemy saw the battle lost, 
 which he thought had only commenced. A part of his artillery was 
 taken ; the rest was withdrawn to his line in the rear. In this extrem- 
 ity he attempted to restore the combat, and attack with all his masses 
 those positions whieh he was unable to protect. Three hundred pieces 
 of French cannon placed on these heights, thundered upon his masses, 
 and his soldiers died at the foot of those parapets which they had raised 
 with so much labour and as a protecting shelter.. 
 
 The King of Naples, with the cavalry, made various charges. The 
 Duke of Elchingen covered himself with glory, and displayed as much 
 intrepidity as coolness. The Emperor ordered a change of front, the 
 right in advance ; this movement made us master of three parts of the 
 the field oi battle. Prince Poniatofsky fought in the woods with vari- 
 ous success. 
 
 There still remained to the enemy his redoubt to the right. General 
 Count Morand marched thither and carried them — but at nine in the 
 morning, attacked on all sides he could pot maintain himself there. The 
 enemy encouraged by this advantage made his reserve and his last 
 troops advance to try his fortune again. The Imperial Guards formed 
 a part of them. He attacked our centre, which formed the pivot to our 
 right. For a moment it was feared they might carry the village, which 
 was burnt — the division Friant advanced thither — 80 pieces of French 
 cannon immediately arrest, and then annihilated the enemy's columns, 
 which stood two hours in close order under the chain-shot, not daring to 
 advance, unwilling to retire, and renouncing the hope of victory. 
 
 The King of Naples decided their uncertainty. He caused the 4th 
 corps of cavalry to make a charge, who penetrated through the breaches, 
 which our cannon shot had made through the masses of the Russians, 
 and the squadrons of their cuirassiers^-they dispersed on all sides. The 
 General of division Count Caulincourt, Governor of the Emperor's Pages 
 advanced at the head of the 5tli regiment of Cuirassiers, overthrew ev- 
 ry thing, and entered the redoubt on tire left by its gorge. From this 
 moment there was no longer any uncertainty. The battle was gained. 
 He turned upon the enemy the twenty-one pieces of cannon which were 
 found in the redoubt. Count Caulincourt, who had distinguished him- 
 self in this fine charge, has terminated his career. He fell dead, struck 
 by a bullet — a glorious death, worthy to be envied. 
 
 It was two in the afternoon — the enemy had lost all hope — the bat^ 
 tie was ended ; the cannonade still continued ; the enemy fought foy 
 retreat and safety, but no longer for victory. 
 
NOTE&i 311 
 
 The loss of the enemy is enormous ; from tr/elve to tliirleen thou- 
 sand men, and from eight to nine thousand Russian horses have been 
 counted on the field of battle ; sixty pieces of cannon and five thou- 
 sand prisoners have remained in our power. 
 
 We have had two thousand five hundred killed, and thrice that 
 number wounded. Our total loss may be estimated at ten thousand 
 men ; that of the enemy at from forty to fifty thousand. Never wa& 
 there seen such a field of battle. Out of six dead bodies there were 
 five Russians to one Frenchman. Forty Russian Generals were kil- 
 led, wounded, or taken. General Bragation was wounded. 
 
 We have lost the General of Division Montbrun, killed by a can- 
 non-ball ; General Caulincourt, who was sent to occupy his place, was 
 killed by a shot of the same kind, an hour afterwards. 
 
 The Generals of Brigade Compere, Piauzonne, Marrion, and Hu- 
 art, were killed ; seven or eight Generals were wounded, the most of 
 them slightly. The Prince of Eckmuhl has received no injury. The 
 French troops covered themselves with glory, and displayed their 
 great superiority to the Russian troops. 
 
 Such, in a few words, is a sketch of the battle of Moscva, fought a 
 hw leagues in the rear of Mojaisk, and twenty-five leagues from 
 B'loscow, near the little river Moskwa. We fired sixty thousand can- 
 non-shot, which are already replaced by the arrival of eight hundred 
 artillery carts, which passed Smolenzki previous to the battle. All 
 the woods and villages from the field of battle to this place are covered 
 with dead and wounded. We have found here two thousand killed or 
 amputated Russians. A number of Generals and Colonels are privsoners. 
 
 The Emperor was never exposed ; neither the foot nor horse-guards 
 were engaged, or lost a single man. The victory was never uncertain. 
 Had the enemy when driven from their entrenchments, not endeav- 
 oured to retake them, our loss would have been greater than his ; but 
 he destroyed his army by keeping it from eight o'clock till two, under 
 the fire of our batteries, and in obstinately attempting to regain that 
 which was lost. This was the cause of his immense loss. 
 
 Every one distinguished himself. The King of Naples, and Dulce 
 of Elchingen, were peculiarly conspicuous. 
 
 The artillery, and particularly that of the guards, surpassed itself. 
 The actions which have rendered this day illustrious shall be made 
 known in detailed reports. 
 
 NOTE VII.— [For Page 211.] 
 
 BUONAPARTE'S TWENTY-NINTH BULLETIN. 
 
 Molodetchino, Dec. 3,181 2. 
 
 The weather was very good till the 6th of Nov. and the movements 
 of the army was executed with the greatest success. The cold weath- 
 er commenced the 7th ; from that time, we have lost every night many 
 
312 KOTES. 
 
 hundreds of horses, which died while mounted on guard. Since oiitf 
 arrival at Smolenzk, we have lost many horses belonging to the cavalrj" 
 and artillery. The Russian army of Volhynie was opposed to our rightt 
 Our right quitted the line of operations on Minsk, and took for it 
 that of Warsaw. The Emperor was apprised at Smolenzk, on the 9th, 
 of this change in the line of operations, and presumed how the enemy 
 would act. — However difficult it appeared to him to put himself in mo- 
 tion in this severe season, the new state of things compelled him to do 
 so. He hoped to arrive at Minsk, or at least on the Berezina, before 
 the enemy— he left Smolenzk on the 13th, the 1 6th he arrived at Kras- 
 noy.-^The cold weather which commenced the 7th, increased daily* 
 and from the 14th to the 15th and 16th, the thermometer was at 16 and 
 18 degrees below freezing. [Reaumur.) The roads were covered with 
 ice, the horses of the cavalry, artillery, and baggage, perished every 
 night, not by hundreds but by thousands, particularly those of FraHC« 
 and Germany. More than thirty thousand horses perished in a few 
 days ; our cavalry were dismounted, our artilleryj and our baggage 
 waggons were without horses. It became necessary to destroy a great 
 part of our artillery, provisions and munitions of war. This army in 
 so fine a condition the 6th was very different on the 14th, almost witb- 
 out cavalry, without artillery, and without waggons — we could not guard 
 without cavalry more than a quarter of a league — notwithstanding^ 
 without artillery we could not risk a battle or maintain a position ; we 
 must march, not to be forced to a battle, which the want of artillery and 
 cavalry prevented us from wishing — we must occupy a certain space 
 not to be turned, and that without cavalry which protects and unites the 
 columns. These difficulties, together with extensive cold, rendered our 
 situation distressing. Men whom nature had not gifted with that for- 
 titude which places them above the frowns of fortune, appeared alarm- 
 ed, lost their gaiety, their good humour, and saw nothing before them 
 but m.isfortunes and catastrophes ; those whom she had created supe- 
 rior to every thing, preserved their gaiety and ordinary manners, ahd 
 saw a new glory in the various difficulties they had to surmount. 
 
 The enemy who saw on the roads the traces of this awful calamity 
 which attended the French army, sought to profit by it. They filled 
 up all their columns vi^ith Cossacs, who carried off like the Arabs in the 
 desarts, the carriages and train that were lost. This contemptible cav- 
 alry, who make nothing but noise, and is not capable of breaking one 
 company of voltigeurs, render themselves formidable by favour of cir- 
 cumstances. Notwithstanding the enemy had reason to repent of all 
 the L^erious enterprizes which they undertook. They were beaten by 
 the Vice-King, and lost many men. The Duke of Elchingen, who 
 with three thousand men composed the rear-guard, and scaled the ram- 
 parts of Smolenzk. He was surrounded and found himself in a criti- 
 cal situation — he extricated himself with that intrepidity which distin- 
 guishes him. After having kept the enemy at a distance the whole of 
 Sie 8tl), and constantly repulsed them, he made a movement at night, 
 by the right flank, passed the Boresthenes, and disappointed all the 
 calculations of the enemy. The 19th the enemy passed the Boresthe- 
 nes at Orza and the Russian army fatigued after having lost many men, 
 gave over this enterprise. The army of Volhynie had marched since 
 
NOTES. 313 
 
 Ih6 16tli upon Minsk, and was going against Borisow. General Dom- 
 brofsky defended the head of the bridge of Borisow with three thou- 
 sand men. 
 
 The 23d they were attacked and forced to evacuate that position. 
 The enemy then passed the Berezina marching npon Boli, the division 
 of Lambert compassing tlie van guard ; the second corps cominanded by 
 the duke Reggio, who was at Teberein, had received orders to advance 
 to Borisow, to insure the passage of the Berezina. The 24th tl)e Duke 
 of Reggio encountered the division of Lambert, four leagues from Bo- 
 risow, attacked and beat them, made two hundred prisoners, took six 
 pieces of cannon, five liundred waggons of the baggage of Volhynie's 
 army, and drove the enemy to the right bank of the Berezina. General 
 Berthier, with the fourth Cuirassiers, distinguisiied himself by a hand- 
 some charge, tbe enemy only saved themselves by burning the bridge, 
 which was more than three hundred toises long. 
 
 Nevertheless, the enemy occupied all the passages of Berezina, this 
 river is forty toises broad, and was filled with floating ice, but its bor- 
 ders were covered with marshes three hundred toises long, and which 
 renders it a ditficult obstacle to overcome. The enemy's General 
 placed his four divisions in different passes when he supposed the 
 French Army would attempt a passage. The 26th, at day-break 
 the Emperor after having deceived the enemy by divers move- 
 ments made on the 26th, marched against the village of Studzianca, 
 and caused likewise, two bridges to be thrown over the river, notwith- 
 standing a division of the enemy were opposed,. The Duke of Reggio 
 passed, attacked the enemy and kept them engaged two hours. Tlie 
 enemy retired to the head of the bridge of Borisow, General Legrand, 
 an officer of the first merit, was severely but not dangerously wounded, 
 the army passed on the 26t.h and 27tii. The Duke of Bellune com- 
 manding the 9th corps had received orders to follow the movement 
 of the Duke of Reggio, to compass the rear guard, and to detain the 
 Russian army of the Dwina which followed him. The division of 
 Partonaux composed the rear guard of this corps. The 27th, at noon, 
 the Duke of Bellune arrived with two divisions at the bridge of Studzi- 
 anca. The division of Partonaux left Borisow at night ; one brigade 
 of this division which formed the rear guard, and which was ordered to 
 burn the bridges, set off at seven in the evening ; it arrived between 
 ten and eleven o'clock, endeavoured to find its first brigade, and the 
 General of division, who had set out two hours before. The search 
 was fruitless-^they then became uneasy. All that we have been able 
 to hear since is, that this first brigade set out at five o'clock, missed 
 their way at six, took the right instead of the left and went two or three 
 leagues in that direction, that in the night, and chilled with cold, it 
 was roused by the fire of the enemy which they took for the French 
 army. Thus surrounded, they must, have surrendered. This cruel 
 mistake has Jost us two thousand infantry, three hundred horses and 
 three pieces of artillery, it is rumoured that the General of the division 
 was not with his column but had marched on ahead. All the army 
 having passed on the morning of the 28tii, Duke of Bellune guarded the 
 head of the bridge on the left bank, the Duke of Reggio with all the 
 army were on the right bank. 
 
 40 
 
314 l^OTES, 
 
 Borisow having been evacuated, the armies of the Dwina and Vol' 
 hjnie communicated, they concerted an attack ; the twenty-eigth at 
 day break, tlie Duke of Reggio caused the Emperor to be informed 
 that he was attacked ; in half an hour afterwards the Duke of Bellune 
 knew it on the left bank, the army was under arms. Tlie Duke of 
 E'lchingen went to the assistance of the Dulie of Reggio, and the Duke 
 of Trevise followed him. The fight became brisk, the enemy wished 
 to break our right, General Doumarick commanding the fifth division of 
 Cuirassiers and composing part of the 2d corps who remained on the 
 Dwina ordered a charge of the 4th and 5th of the Cuirassiers, at the 
 moment when the legion of the Vistula was engaged in the woods tcr 
 pierce the centre of the enemy, which was beaten and put to rout. 
 Tliese brave Cuirassiers surrounded successfully six battalions of infan- 
 try and put to rout the enemy's cavalry, which came to the assistance 
 of its infantry ; six thousand prisoners, two colors and six pieces of 
 cannon fell into our hands. 
 
 The Duke of Bellune caused the enemy to be vigorously charged, 
 made five or six thousand prisoners, and drove them out of the reach of 
 the cannon of the bridge. General Fournier made a handsome charge 
 of the cavalry. In the battle of Berezina the army of Volhynie suf- 
 fered much. The Duke of Reggio was wounded, but not dangerously, 
 by a ball which he received in bis side — The morning of the 29th we 
 remained upon the field of battle. We bad two routes to choose ; 
 that of Minsk and that of Wilna. The road to Minsk is through a 
 forest, and uninhabitable marshes, and it would have been impossible 
 for the army to subsist. The road to Wilna, en the contrary, is through 
 a very fine country. The army, without cavalry, with but little am- 
 munition, very much fatigued with fifty days march, bringing after it 
 the sick and wounded of so many battles, required rest. The 30th, 
 the headquarters were at Plechnitsi ; the 1st of December at Slaiki, 
 and the 3d, at Molodetschino, where the army received the first con- 
 voys frora^ Wilna. All the wounded oflicers and soldiers and every 
 thing that encumbered us, such as baggage, &c. were sent to Wilna. 
 The result of the exposition just made, is, that it is necessary for the 
 anny to recruit itself, to remount the cavalry, to provide artillery, and 
 obtain provisions. Its greatest want is rest. The provisions and horses 
 have arrived. 
 
 General Bourcier has already more than twenty thousand horses in 
 the different depots. The artillery has repaired its loss. The gener- 
 als, the officers and the soldiers have suffered much with fatigue and 
 want. Many have lost their baggage in consequence of the loss of 
 their horses — some by the ambuscades of the Cossacs. The Cossacs 
 have taken many stragglers and engineers employed in making drafts 
 and wounded officers who marched without precaution, preferring to 
 run risk than march with the convoys. The reports of the General of- 
 ficers and soldiers who have most distinguished themselves, are in the de- 
 tails of these memorable events. In all his movements, the Emperor 
 has marched in the middle of his guards, the cavalry commanded by 
 Marshal Duke of Istria, and the infantry commanded by the Duke of 
 Dantzic. His Majesty is satisfied with the good conduct that his guards 
 have shown — ^tliey have always been ready to go where circumstance* 
 
l^OTES. 315 
 
 lequiped — ^I)ut circumstances have always been such, that his simple 
 presence has sufficed to inspire confidence and ensure success : 
 
 The Prince of Neufchatel, the Grand Marshal, the Grand Master of 
 the horse, and all the aide-de-camps and military officers of the house- 
 hold of the Emperor, have always accompanied his Majesty. 
 
 Our cavalry was so dismounted, that we could scarcely unite the 
 ■officers who had horses, to form four companies of 150 men each. 
 The Generals performed the duties of captains, and the Colonels those 
 of sub-officers. This squadron, commanded by General Grouchy, 
 and under the direction of the King of Naples, never lost sight of the 
 Emperor in all his motioiis. The health of his majesty was nevei- 
 •better. 
 
 NOTE VIII. [For Page 268.] 
 
 When General Baron Vinzingorode, and his aide-de-camp Captaia 
 Narishkin, were made prisoners at Moscow, in violation of every law 
 civil or military, Buonaparte ordered them to be brought before him. 
 The command being obeyed, the French leader, swelling with rage, 
 •but with an air of triumph, addressed 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," sa:id 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 victims who had been 
 treacherously taken and iniquitously butchered by the commands of the 
 French despot. 
 
 The escort had reached the government of Minsk, when at the skirt 
 «f a wood one of the -wheels which belorxged to the carriage in which 
 the prisoners were, gave way. The General and his companion were 
 feoth asleep at the time, but the noise awoke Captain Nari&hkin, 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 communicated what he had seen. His observation, and 
 his consequent hopes, were true ; for immediately some Cossacs pre- 
 sented themselves, and moved forward unobserved by the gens d'armea. 
 
316 NOTES* 
 
 Vinzingorode put himself forward in the carriage, and placed him- 
 self so that the heroes of the Don saw his Imperial star. A glance 
 was sufficient : thej charged the escort : a few minutes decided the 
 contest ; the French took refuge in the woods ; and the Russian Gene- 
 ral and his aide-de-camp were, in perfect safety, in the hands of 
 Colonel Tchernicheff and his brave little band. 
 
 On their arrival at tlie head-quarters of Count Vigtenstein, the Bar- 
 on, together with Narishkin and other prisoners of consequence whom 
 the Cossacs had set free, set off for St. Petersburgh. 
 
 Baron Vinzingorode, who hardly believed himself liberated till he 
 was again in the track of glory, soon after re-joined the army, and is 
 now commanding a large division against his enemies 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 out 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. When they had seized every 
 thing dead or alive, even to the very cat, one of the brigands took the 
 left hand of the honest Russian, and with a 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 PoJe^ 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.— [For Page 287.] 
 
 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 presenting itself at every 
 step to their conduciors, 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 un- 
 
NOTES. 317 
 
 til 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 Nei- 
 men, many of them also fell into the hands of their pursuers ; and 
 those who did escape into Poland, were soon after seized with diseases 
 incident to their sufferings, which either numbered them with the dead, 
 or completely disabled most of them from future service. 
 
 NOTE X. — [Referred 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 cour- 
 age which repelled the outrage, and of the favour of the Almighty Pow- 
 er 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 mernorial 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 characteristic of 
 the Russians. They have a medal, which was struck by Catherine II. 
 in commemoration of the battle of Tchesma. Its device is the ene- 
 my's fleet on fire, and the inscription the Russian word which signifies 
 *' It was." It has been suggested to carry the same irapresse 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, December 
 25th 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 
 monunient, to future generations, of the deliverance of Russia, and of 
 the magnanimity and devotion of its people. 
 
 His Imperial Majesty likewise ordained that a patriotic offering 
 made by the Holy Synod should immediately be appropriated 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 fur- 
 nish relief to priests and preceptors, and to such ecclesiastical semina- 
 ries as have suffered by the invasion of the French. 
 
 The glorious issue of the Russian campaign, even more than answer- 
 ed the high expectations which the patriot nation of Spain had formed 
 of its termination. The sentiments of the Spanish Reg;ency are so 
 
318 NOTES, 
 
 worthy of themselves, and of the noble people whose cause was that ot 
 all Europe, that I cannot resist concluding this note with their address 
 on the struggles and hopes of Russia, to their brave countrymen en- 
 gaged in the same contest. 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF THE REGENCY OF SPAIN TO 
 THE SPANISH NATION, 
 
 Spaniards ! 
 
 The Emperor of Russia, Alexander, a prince who dunng the few- 
 years of a peaceful reign, had rendered himself celebrated for his 
 virtues and the idol of all hearts throughout his vast dominions, and 
 who, from tlie generosity of his feeling and liberality of his views, 
 appears to have been destmed by providence to ameliorate the con- 
 dition of the human race, could not be persuaded that a man who 
 might have added to his name the glorious title of the benefactor of 
 nations, who so often in his writings, in his conversation, in his per- 
 sonal interviews with Alexander himself, professed to be actuated by 
 the same wishes, and convinced of the truth of the same principles, 
 could, under these appearances, have concealed the heart of a Nero, the 
 treachery of a Tiberius, and the ferocity of an Attilla, with a disposi- 
 tion to become the execration of all mankind ; But his continual viola- 
 tion of treaties, his constant acts of aggression towards kings and na- 
 tions, in order successively to dethrone the one and subjugate the other, 
 his barbarous system of warfare in carrying robbery and devastation 
 into all parts, have at length convinced the generous and magnanimous 
 Alexander, that it was his duty to become the protector of liberty and 
 civilized society not only in tiie North, but also in the South of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 It is in this light that we ought to view him considering the treaties 
 lie has formed ; his alliance with Spain, his acknowledgment of the 
 Cortes, of the Constitution and of Ferdinand VII. who is to reign in 
 conformity to it, are the sure guarantees of our freedom. Alexander, 
 whose heart is so noble, is so elevated, and whose virtue could not even 
 form a conception of his enemy possessing that depravity necessary to 
 have plotted such dark and horribly infamous perfidies as those which 
 he has practiced towards our beloved sovereign, seized with indigna- 
 tion as the veil was torn from his eyes that concealed such horrid crimes 
 And treachery, and feeling interested for the firmness and heroic loyalty 
 of the Spaniards, will doubtless be as constant and unshaken in his 
 aoble undertaking to rescue Spain, as his faithful Russians in second- 
 ing the wishes of their magnanimons Emperor, and of sparing no sac- 
 rifice to secure the triumphs over the common enemy, and deliver hu- 
 manity from the greatest of scourges that has ever overwhelmed the 
 civilized world. The Regency will not pretend to dwell on all the 
 benefits that you may reasonably expect from the undisputed valour .of 
 the Russian soldiery^ 
 
IVOTES. 319 
 
 The recollection of the frequent humiliations which it caused t© 
 Frederick the Great, is not yet effaced ; nor of its rapid victories so 
 often won in Italy over tlie proud legions of those fickle slaves who 
 then assumed the name of Republicans, nor the dreadful lesson which 
 it gave them at Eylau and on other fields of battle, when having dis- 
 carded that appellation, they assumed the one of humblers of tyranny. 
 Even now do we again hear the report of its first exploits against the 
 same enemies, commanded as they were then in Poland, by the mad- 
 man who wishes to be thought invincible. 
 
 If in the history of national emigrations we should seek for reasons 
 to account for the resemblance of character between the Russians and 
 the Spaniards we might a-sign some very probable causes, but what it 
 imports us to know, is that the Russian, like the Spaniard, is firm and 
 religious ; that he possesses a sprightliness of character superior to 
 that of other nortliern nations of Europe, and that governed and con- 
 ducted by a Prince as great as Alexander, he will continue unshaken 
 in the noble enterprize of opposing the common enemy, of pursuing 
 him and consolidating our liberty and our glory. On our part the 
 efforts and sacrifices which remain for us to make will not be inferior 
 to those which we have already made with such firmness, and for so 
 long a time, that they have at length produced the triumphs of our 
 allies and the period of our hopes. 
 
 (Signed) The Duke De L'Infantado, 
 
 Cadiz, September l$t, 1812, 
 
320 
 
 JfOTES. 
 
 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 tlie fugitives across the 
 Neimen. 
 
 to 
 
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 3 a i, 3 5 (T> 
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 te- O t' fD ft) 
 
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 field of 
 battle. 
 
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 Officers 
 
 Wound- 
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 follow, 
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 power of 
 
 the 
 enemy. 
 
 Under Officers 
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 Officers 
 
 Died of 
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 fatigue. 
 
 en 
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 Under Officers 
 and soldiers 
 
 -1 
 
 Officers 
 
 Left be- 
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 zen, or 
 
 from 
 sickness 
 
 or fa- 
 tigue, are 
 supposed 
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 the hands 
 of the 
 enemy. 
 
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 Under Officers 
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 ::^| Officers 
 
 U5 W^ 
 
 to 
 
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 and soldiers 
 
 J-S 
 
 Officers 
 
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 under 
 arms. 
 
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iirotEs. 
 
 321 
 
 ^ Officers 1 
 
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 Under Officers 
 
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 soldiers 
 
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 soldiers 
 
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 the 
 
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 63 
 
 Under Officers 
 
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 soldiers 
 
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 Died from 
 cold and : 
 fatigue. 
 
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 Under Officers 
 
 and 
 
 soldiers 
 
 o 
 
 Officers 
 
 Left behind 
 frozen, or 
 from sick- 
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 supposed 
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 the hands 
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NOTES, 
 
 323 
 
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 2- a> 0) S 
 
 rt> W "^ CO 
 
 ►3 ■< 513 (t> 
 
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 soldiers 
 
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 Under Officers 
 
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 ■soldiers 
 
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 Co O c-K -IT- <-T- cr- 
 
 Officers 
 
 Under Officers 
 
 and 
 
 soldiers 
 
 0«? flj 
 
 ►-] Officers . 
 
 Under Officers 
 
 and 
 
 soldiers 
 
 o 
 
 S- c "■ 2. o 
 
 =^■1 s? ^. r ^ 
 
 w n> 2 
 
 ^ » |g.j§ 2^ § K 5 I 
 
 «l 
 
 Officers 
 
 Under Officers 
 
 and 
 
 soldiers 
 
 o 
 
 Officers 
 
 O 
 
 a 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 IT 
 
 Under Officers 
 
 and 
 
 soldiers 
 
 Cu >T3 
 
 »3 O 
 
 8 
 
 =5 a. 
 
 -» i:^ 
 
 
 I— I ra 
 
 

 Officers. 
 
 Men. 
 
 4th regt. 
 
 - 29 -. 
 
 232 
 
 6th regt. 
 
 -^ 27 - 
 
 470 
 
 6th regt. 
 
 - 31 - 
 
 300 
 
 4th regt. 
 
 V. 32 - 
 
 427 
 
 Total 
 
 11.9 
 
 1,449 
 
 324 NOTES, 
 
 Thus these four regiments 
 on quitting Smolehzk had pre- On the 16th and ICthof 
 
 ^eat under arms : December. 
 
 Officers. Men. 
 
 - - - - 12 - - 10 
 -. , - - 17 - - 24 
 
 - - . ^ 14 - - 10 
 , ... 26 - - 29 
 
 Total 69 73 
 
 In so short a period the loss to this small part of the army amounted 
 in officers to fifty, and in men to 1,376. 
 
 By the above document we see how greatly Napoleon's private ac- 
 counts differed from his public reports ; and how very wide the latter 
 were from the fact, is now generally known in the present seat of war. 
 
 In the 15th number of a periodical work published at St. Peters- 
 burgh, entitled " Sons of their Country," we find an entertaining es- 
 timate of the Russian and French losses, during the late campaign : 
 the following result is drawn from twenty -nine of the French Bulletins. 
 
 " According to Napoleon, the loss of the Russians amounted to 
 40,528 killed ; 70,810 wounded; and 67,269 made prisoners: ma- 
 king a total of 178,607 men, besides 82 Generals, 1167 pieces of 
 cannon, and two standards. 
 
 The loss of the French, on the contrary, consisted but of 1,198 
 killed; 18,317 wounded ; and 3,170 taken prisoners; amounting al- 
 together to 27,685 men ; it lost also, 33 Generals, 115 cannon, 30,000 
 horses, and 2,138 empty ammunition waggons. We must recollect 
 that Napoleon was generally acknowledged to have entered Russia with 
 480,000 men ; deducting the above-mentioned loss of 27,686, there 
 remains 452,315 : — ^by supposing that about 20,000 men had the good 
 fortune to reach Berlin, Thorn, Dantzic and other places, what has 
 become of the remaining 432,315 men ? Thanks to the able disposi- 
 tions of their Great Captain, they are all starved to deaths either hy 
 cold or hunger ! 
 
 " Yet further : — Napoleon brought with him, at least 1200 pieces of 
 artillery ; by adding to them the 1,157 which he professes to have taken 
 from the Russians, he must have had altogether 2,357 : he owns howev- 
 er that he lost 115 ; pray may we not ask what he has done with the 
 otlier 2,242 ? Very likely they are to be found in the grand depot of 
 67,269 Russian prisoners ; (not ten thousand of which have been $eea 
 to cross Germany) that is to say — in the Russian army .'" 
 
A NARRATIVE 
 
 OF THE EVENTS WHICH FOLLOWED BUONAPARTE's 
 
 CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA TO THE PERIOD OF 
 
 HIS DETHRONEMENT. 
 
 At the termination of the year 1812, the power 
 of Napoleon Buonaparte had received the shock 
 from which it never recovered. The destruction 
 of human life in that memorable year is unparal- 
 leled in the records of our globe. The havoc and 
 suffering in the south of Europe, though in them- 
 selves enormous, are lost, and the whole attention 
 of the observer is occupied by the cotemporaneous 
 events, so stupendous in magnitude and character, 
 so momentous in their consequences, which were 
 passing in the north. 
 
 We have seen the vanquished emperor deserting 
 the wreck of his mighty host, and flying recreant 
 towards his capital ; while the victor, from Wilna, 
 on the first day of the ensuing year, issues his con- 
 gratulations to his triumphant armies and subjects 
 rescued from a foreign master. But still much was 
 to be done ; and the events which followed the cam- 
 paign in Russia are no less worthy the pen of the 
 historian and the admiration of mankind. The in- 
 tention of the present writer is to give a brief chro- 
 nological narrative of the important transactions in 
 the north of Europe and in France, which termina- 
 ted in the abdication of the French Emperor, 
 
 The first public act of Napoleon Buonaparte af- 
 ter his return to Paris, is his address to the depu- 
 ties of the legislative body of the empire. He 
 tells them, with rather a greater mixture of truth 
 than the rulers of Europe usually display in their 
 
326 
 
 communications to their subjects and the world, 
 that he has met with great reverses 6f fortune, and 
 sustained severe losses ; he asserts that " the French 
 dynasty will reign in Spain," and " the Russians 
 re-enter their frightful climate :" he announces his 
 satisfaction with the conduct of all his allies, and his 
 determination to defend them ; he calls upon hi$ 
 people to make every sacrifice rather than submit 
 to a bad peace, which would cause the loss of" all, 
 even of hope ;" and concludes by sayings " I have 
 need of great resources to meet the expenses which 
 circumstances exact, but notwithstanding the differ- 
 ent means which my minister of finance will pro- 
 pose to you, I hope not to impose any new burdens 
 on my people." 
 
 While Napoleon was assuring his people of his 
 confidence in his allies, those allies were taking 
 measures to make their peace with the conqueror, 
 and to secure a portion of the spoil which a contin- 
 uation of the war against Fi-ance promised. The 
 King of Prussia Avas the first to reconcile himself to 
 Alexander the liberator, who cut asunder the bonds 
 which united him to France, and engaged with the 
 same sword to defend him from the vengeance of 
 Napoleon. The monarchs of Russia and Prussia 
 agreed to unite their late hostile legions against 
 their brother of France, and the Prussian Ambassa- 
 dor, M. the Baron de Krusemarck, made known 
 this league, offensive and defensive, to the French 
 court on the 27th of March, 1813,. 
 
 The Prussian manifesto is long, enumerates many 
 subjects of complaint, as is usual on these occa- 
 sions, and concludes with this paragraph : " In such 
 a state of things, it could not long remain doubtful 
 what part the king should take. For years past he 
 had sacrificed every thing to the preservation of 
 his pGlitical exjstencie ; now France herself puts at 
 hazard this existence, and does nothing to protect it. 
 Russia has the power to aggravate his misfortunes, 
 and yet generously offers to defend him. The 
 
327 
 
 king cannot hesitate. Faithful to his principles and 
 his duties, he joins his arms to those of the Empe- 
 ror Alexander, changing his system without chang- 
 ing his object. He hopes by breaking with France, 
 and attaching himself to Russia, to obtain by an 
 honourable peace, or by the strength of his arms, 
 the sole object of his wishes, the independence of 
 his people, tlie benefits which result from it, and the 
 inheritance of his fathers, the one half of which has 
 been wrested from him. The king will adhere with 
 all his power to all the propositions conformed to 
 the common interest of the sovereigns of Europe. 
 He ardently desires that they may produce a state 
 of things in which treaties shall be no longer mere 
 truces, in which power may become the guarantee 
 of justice, and every one, confining himself to his 
 natural rights, may be no longer tormented in all 
 the points of his existence by the abuse of force." 
 
 There is certainly much truth and wisdom in this 
 paragraph, containing a profound political lesson to 
 rulers and people ; and the desires of his Prussian 
 majesty are most^natural to a little despot like him- 
 self, surrounded by great ones. 
 
 The Duke of Bassano, on the 1st of April, 1813, 
 answered the Prussian manifesto in a style of bit- 
 terness the more caustic from its constant recurrence 
 to facts. He begins, " Prussia solicited and con- 
 cluded an alliance with France in 1812, because the 
 French armies were nearer the Prussian states than 
 the Russian armies were. Prussia declares in 1813 
 that she violates her treaties, because the Russian 
 armies are nearer her states than the French armies 
 are ;" and then proceeds to take a retrospective 
 view of the fluctuating conduct of the King of Prus-^ 
 sia from 1792 to the present time, concluding with 
 threats of chastisement. 
 
 In the mean time, the then pretender to the throne 
 of France, residing at Hartwell, in England, with 
 great political wisdom, under the title of Louis 
 XVni. issued an address to " Ms oppressed sub- 
 
328 
 
 jects." In this paper Louis acknowledges his in- 
 ability, and pretends that he has no inclination to 
 obtain the throne of France but through the wishes 
 of the people. He reiterates assurances formerly 
 made, that the administrative and judicial bodies 
 shall be maintained ; that those holding places shall 
 retain them ; that all prosecutions for acts commit" 
 ted since the revolution shall be prohibited ; that 
 the present code of laws shall be continued ; that 
 the present holders of lands shall be unmolested ; 
 that the organization of the army in all its grades 
 shall be maintained, and the conscription abolished. 
 Bernadotte, who, under the title of Crown Prince, 
 is the actual monarch of Sweden, though elected to 
 this dignity by the intrigues of Buonaparte, seems 
 to have acted exclusively for the benefit of himself 
 and the people over whom he had become the ruler. 
 Foreseeing the danger to Sweden from the power 
 of Russia, he is supposed to have aided Russia se- 
 cretly, by his advice, against France, and it has 
 even been asserted that the Russian plan of the last 
 great campaign was suggested by him ; he, howev- 
 er, in the uame of Charles XIII. now openly broke 
 terms with his former master, and prepared to march 
 the Swedish conscripts (for the French system of 
 conscription Avas fully established in Sweden) to the 
 aid of the Russian autocrat. By a treaty signed in 
 the names of the Kings of Great Britain and Swe- 
 den, at Stockholm, on the 3d of March, 1813, Swe- 
 den engages to send thirty thousand men under Ber- 
 nadotte to operate in Germany against France; 
 England on her part assenting to the annexation of 
 Norway to the crown of Sweden, Russia having* 
 by a previous treaty, agreed to give that country, 
 belonging to Denmark, to Sweden, and to conquer 
 it for her if necessary. England likewise engages 
 to pay Sweden one million sterling, and give her 
 the Island of Guadaloupe. 
 
 Thus the despot of France saw the coalition 
 against him strengthening daily in consequence of 
 
329 
 
 his Russian defeats and disasters ; but he on his 
 part was not inactive in calling forth the mighty re- 
 sources of the great nation over which he ruled with 
 a rod of iron. The plans adopted by the French 
 government put at the disposal of the emperor an 
 army of four hundred thousand men for the Elbe, 
 and two hundred thousand on the Rhine, beside fil- 
 ling up the armies of Italy and Spain. 
 
 The report of the minister of exterior relations to 
 the emperor and king, when speaking of Prussia, 
 says, " the defection of General D'Yorck called 
 the enemy into the states of the King of Prussia, 
 and compelled our armies to evacuate the Vistula 
 and proceed to the Oder. Prussia, to disguise her 
 intentions, offered to furnish a new contingency. 
 She had in Silesia, and on this side the Oder, a suf- 
 ficient number of troops already formed and of cav- 
 alry which would have been so useful in opposing 
 the light troops of the enemy. But she had deci- 
 ded not to keep her promise. The king abandoned 
 a residence in which he was covered by the Oder to 
 go into an open city in order to hail the approach 
 of the enemy. Hardly had he arrived at Breslaw, 
 before General Bulow, imitating the treason of 
 General D'Yorck, opened his lines to the Russian 
 light troops, and facilitated their passage of the 
 Oder. The king at length threw off the mask, and 
 by three successive ordinances called to arms first 
 the young men rich enough to equip themselves, 
 then the whole of the youth from seventeen to 
 twenty-four years of age, and last the men above 
 that age." 
 
 In fact, the Russian armies had advanced with 
 little opposition, had taken possession of Warsaw 
 on the 8th of February, and niarched as friends 
 Into Berlin on the 4th of March. The Hanoverians 
 hM displayed the British colours, and Hamburgh 
 had received the Russian troops with acclamations, 
 and proclaimed its ancient government, under as- 
 
 42 
 
surances of protection from the Emperor Alexan- 
 der. 
 
 In April the Russian armies had been augmented 
 to three hundred and fifty-eight thousand men ; 
 beside which Count Tolstoy had crossed the Nie- 
 men with reinforcements of one hundred thousand 
 men, principally Cossacs. The advanced corps 
 (T arriiee Ci^ i\\Q Swedes had arrived on the Elbe from 
 Pomerania, and were to be followed by twenty-five 
 thousand men under the immediate command of the 
 Crown Prince Bernadotte. The Prussian army, 
 under the command of the celebrated Blucher, had 
 advanced into the vicinity of Erfurth. 
 
 On the 5th of April the Russians and Prussians, 
 who had so lately met at the point of the bayonet, 
 and inflicted on feach other all the miseries of glo- 
 rious war, were arranged in perfect harmony under 
 the orders of Count Wittgenstein, and opposed to 
 the French under the Viceroy of Italy. The 
 French corps d'aj-mee was composed of four divi- 
 sions, amounting to about twenty-two thousand 
 men ; and had been plundering the country around 
 Magdeburgb, on the right bank of tlte Elbe. 
 Wittgenstein resolved to attack them. tie for 
 that purpose concentrated the corps of Generals 
 D'Yorck and Yon Berg near Zerbst, and fixed his 
 head-quarters at that place. Generals Yon Borstel 
 and Yon Bulow w^ere pushed on from Siesar with 
 orders to attack the enemy on the 5th when they 
 should hear the commencement of the cannonading. 
 On the morning of the 5th of April General 
 D'Yorck's corps advanced to Leitzkau, and Gen- 
 eral Yon Berg's to Ladeberg. General Yon Bors- 
 tel had advanced towards Mockern, and General 
 Yon Bulow to Hohenziatz. It was late in the 
 afternoon before the van guard of D'Yorck came 
 up with the French at Banighow, and the different 
 corps of the allies soon after commenced their at- 
 tacks upon Beauharnois' army at every point, and 
 with a great superiority of numbers. The French 
 
331 
 
 fought with their usual valour until dark, and then 
 retreated, with a loss of near two thousand men 
 killed and wounded. Wittgenstein by this victory 
 siipposed that he had prevented an attempt upon 
 Berlin. 
 
 ^ About this time (April 3d) the Emperor of Rus- 
 sia in a proclamation addressed to the Germans 
 and signed "Prince Koutusotf Smolenzk," declares 
 the intention of Russia and Prussia to reduce 
 France to her ancient limits, and restore liberty 
 and independence to the princes and nations of 
 Germany. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon having appointed his 
 consort Regent of France, and made every other 
 necessary disposition for what he would call the 
 security and glory of the empire, left Paris to take 
 command of the numerous hosts which, as if bv 
 supernatural power, had been assembled and array- 
 ed m hostile opposition to ihe late conquerors of 
 the armies of France, Austria, and Prussia. On 
 the 24th of April Napoleon left Mayence. Upon 
 his joining the army every thing announced his in- 
 tention to act on the offensive. In consequence of 
 these appearances the combined Russian and Prus- 
 sian armies had been united between Leipsic arid 
 Altenburg, a position highly advantageous in all 
 cases either of attack or defence. The French, 
 having concentrated their forces, were dehouchin^ 
 by Mereseburg and Weissenfels, at the same time 
 that a considerable corps under Lauriston was sent 
 on towards Leipsic, which appeared to be the main 
 object of operation; this movement determined 
 Count Wittgenstein to make the attack when it 
 Avould be out'of the power of Lauriston's corps to 
 co-operate with the main army. 
 
 Marshal Prince Koutousoff Smolenzk had been 
 left ill on the march at Buntzleau, where he died ; 
 but his death was not published. Count Wittgen- 
 stein, who had virtually commanded the allied 
 forces, was now appointed commander in cheif. 
 
332 
 
 The battle of the 2d May commenced by the attack 
 of Beauhariiois upon the village of Listenau, and 
 the bridges in front of Leipsic. Vfhile Napoleon 
 was waiting the result of this attack with the inten- 
 tion to move on Leipsic, Wittgenstein, following 
 his plan of operations, attacked the centre of the 
 French army at the village of Gross-Gorchen. 
 Generals D'Yorck and Blucher commanded this 
 attack, which appears to have been unexpected by 
 the French, and made with an overwhelming force. 
 The battle became general, but was hottest at the 
 central point, the village of Gross-Groschen, which 
 was taken and retaken, at the point of the bayonet, 
 six several times with , immense slaughter. The 
 French centre, repeatedly broken, was at length 
 supported by the troops which had moved on Leip- 
 sic, who made an attack on the right of the allies 
 which Avas irresistible. To oppose this corps, the 
 whole cavalry of the allied army were ordered from 
 the left, where they had been employed with alter- 
 nate success and repulse in charges upon the French 
 columns of infantry, and were intended for a com- 
 bined charge upon the French left : great expecta- 
 tions were raised of complete success from this 
 manoeuvre, but darkness intervened before the cav- 
 alry could be brought into actiop. The next morn- 
 ing the allies Avere prepared to renew the baltle, but 
 the French were already in march towards Leipsic, 
 the object of their first movements, and the allies 
 did not deem it expedient to follow them. As far 
 as can be judged from the statements of both par- 
 ties, twenty thousand men were killed and wounded 
 on this day of slaughter, and e^ch party announced 
 a glorious victory obtained by himself. The se- 
 quel, however, proves that the advantage was with 
 the French : the allies occupied the point of their 
 attack, and their adversary possessed and moved 
 forward upon his ; the loss on each side was proba- 
 bly about equal. This battle has been denomina- 
 ted the battle of Lutzen. 
 
333 
 
 On the 6th of May, General Wittgenstein had 
 placed his army between the Elbe and the Elster, 
 with the command of several of the bridges over 
 the Elbe. 
 
 Hamburgh, notwithstanding the power and the 
 assurances of protection made by her Russian de- 
 liverer, was again doomed to experience the miser- 
 ies of foreign domination. A body of Swedish 
 forces had been thrown into the city for its defence, 
 but upon the approach of an army of Danes and 
 French under General Bruyere, the Swedes retired, 
 and the city again became subject to the French 
 despot. The city w as laid under a contribution of 
 forty-eight millions of francs, among other modes of 
 punishment for having rejoiced at its liberation 
 from its gracious master, and for having taken 
 measures to insure its freedom. 
 
 Tke allied armies, after the battle of Lutzen, ap- 
 pear to have made successive retrograde move- 
 ments, until they had chosen an exceedingly strong 
 position in advance of Wurtchen and Hochkirk, a 
 place celebrated in the history of the seven years 
 war, where they concentrated a force of from one 
 hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty thou- 
 sand men, and strengthened themselves by every 
 means which the art of defence could suggest. 
 
 On the 10th of May the French army passed the 
 Elbe. On the 15th it took up its position in front 
 of the allies at Bautzen. On the 19th the French 
 emperor arrived from Dresden at his camp near 
 Bautzen, and immediately reconnoitered the ene- 
 my's position, and formed his plan of attack. 
 
 On this same day a corps of the French under 
 Lauriston, which was advancing to join the main 
 army, were met and partially defeated by the corps 
 of D'Yorck and Barclay de Tolly. The allies 
 claimed a victory with the acquisition of ten pieces 
 of cannon and one thousand five hundred prisoners ; 
 but the affair does not appear to have been sufficient 
 to disconcert Buonaparte's intended attack upon the 
 
334 
 
 lines of the allied armies, which took place on the 
 morning of the 20th. 
 
 The right of the allied armies was supported by- 
 mountains covered by woods. Bautzen contained 
 their centre ; this town having been covered with 
 redoubts. The left of the allies leaned upon forti- 
 fied rising grounds which defended the debouches 
 from the river Spree. All their front was covered 
 by the Spree. They had a second fortified posi- 
 tion in the rear of the first ; the left in front of the 
 village of Hochkirk ; the centre covered by three 
 intrenched villages and some marshes ; and their 
 right by rising grounds and intrenchments. 
 
 Marshal Oudinot, Duke of Reggio, commanded 
 the right of the French army, leaning upon the 
 mountains to the left of the Spree, and separated 
 from the left of the allies by a valley and the river; 
 Marshal M'Donald, Duke of Tarentum, comman- 
 ded before Bautzen on the Dresden road ; Marshal 
 Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, was upon the left of 
 Bautzen, opposite the village of Niemenschutz : 
 to the left of Marmont, General Bert rand com- 
 manded a corps intended to debouche from Jaselitz 
 upon the right of the allies. Marshal Ney, Prince 
 of Moskwa, General Lauriston, and General Reg- 
 nier were at Hoyerswerda, thrown out of the line, 
 into the rear of the French army by the battle of 
 the 19th. 
 
 From the heights near Bautzen, Napoleon di- 
 rected the battle. He ordered Oudinot to pass 
 the Spree and attack the mountains which support- 
 ed the left of the allies. Marshal M'Donald was 
 directed to throw a bridge over the Spree between 
 Bautzen and the mountains. Marmont was order- 
 ed to throw another over a turn which that river 
 takes to the left of Bautzen. Marshal Soult, Duke 
 of Dalmatia, to whom the command of the centre 
 was given, had orders to pass the Spree and attack 
 the right of the combined armies ; whilst Ney, 
 Lauriston, and Regnier were ordered to push for- 
 
335 
 
 ward on Klix, pass the Spree, turn the right of 
 the allies, and establish themselves from Wiutcheii 
 to Weissenburg. 
 
 About noon on the 20th the battle began by can- 
 nonading. Marshals McDonald and Marmont cros- 
 sed the Spree, and the latter, after a severe contest, 
 gained possession of the heights and works opposed 
 to him. A French division under general Com- 
 pans, after a severe struggle of six hours, gained 
 the occupation of Bautzen. At seven in the eve- 
 ning the French had gained several points of the 
 first position of the allies, and with advantages 
 which more than compensated in a hero's mind the 
 immense loss of men, stood ready to renew the at- 
 tack on the return of day. At five in the morning 
 of the 21st the Emperor of the French, having ta- 
 ken his stand on the heights in advance of Bautzen, 
 Marshals Oudinot and McDonald were directed to 
 attack the left of the allies, and by keeping up a 
 continued discharge of cannon and musketry there- 
 by hide the real point of attack. Marshal Mortier, 
 Duke of Treviso, kept up a cannonade in front of 
 the centre of the allies ; while Ney, who had in the 
 manoeuvres of the preceding day been separated 
 from the main army by a part of the right of the 
 allies, now attacked and beat his opponents at the 
 village of Klix and advanced fighting to Preiletz. 
 This village was carried by his troops ; but the re- 
 serve of the allies advancing, the French were 
 beaten back again with slaughter. About noon 
 Marshal Soult, who led the centre, dehoxiched; but 
 Count Wittgenstein directing his greatest elForts 
 against this point, repulsed the attack of the cen- 
 tre of the French with loss. At this moment Buo- 
 naparte led the guards, the divisions of Maubourg, 
 and a powerful artillery, to the attack of the right 
 of the allies commanded by the veteran Blucher, 
 and by this movement decided the bloody contest in 
 favour of the French arms. The allies were obli- 
 ged to uncover their right to meet this new attack. 
 
336 
 
 and Marshal Ney, taking advantage of the circum- 
 stance, regained the ground he had lost, carried by 
 assault the village of Preisig, and pushed on to 
 Wurtcher. Buonaparte having turned the right of 
 the allies they were obliged to retreat, and left the 
 field of battle covered with the mingled wounded, 
 dying, and dead, in the possession of the French 
 army. During the whole night the allied armies 
 continued their retreat, and by four o'clock in the 
 morning of the 22d the French commenced the 
 pursuit. 
 
 The allies made a stand at Reichenbach, and 
 were again attacked, and again obliged to retreat. 
 The battle was again bloody and obstinate. The 
 French brouglit into action all their cavalry. Ge- 
 neral Regnier with the Saxon corps gained the 
 heights beyond Rettenbach, and pursued their ad- 
 versaries as far as Hottendorf. The French army 
 rested near Gorlitz, the allies continuing to retreat 
 in the direction of Schweidnitz. 
 
 Thus the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22d of May pre- 
 sented a succession of carnage in four successive 
 battles fought by at lea&t 300,000 of the finest 
 troops in the world. The killed and wounded were . 
 iiorribly great on both sides. Of the losses on ei- 
 ther part we can make no accurate estimate ; but 
 some idea may be formed of the slaughter and suf- 
 fering by the Frencli statement, that the allies lost 
 in wounded alone 28,000 men, of whom 10,000 
 were left on the field. The French acknowledged 
 a loss of 12,000 killed and wounded ; which proba- 
 bly may be doubled, and not equal the carnage of 
 these four bloody days. Several general officers 
 were killed, among whom general Kirgener, and. 
 Marshal Duroc, duke of Frhdi, were destroyed by 
 the same cannon ball. 
 
 On the 41h of June an armistice was signed, to 
 continue from that time to the 20th of July. This 
 vvas preceded by the arrival of Count Shouvaloff 
 and the Prussian general Kliest at the head-quarters 
 
^31 
 
 of the victorious ^Emperor, where they had a con- 
 ference of many hours. It was stipulated that the 
 allies should, during the above-mentioned time, 
 remain in East Prussia, and the French in Saxony 
 and Silesia, having the privilege to provision the 
 garrisons of Dantzic, Stetten^ Custrin, Molsk, &ic» 
 every five days* with a free use of a French league 
 of ground in the rear of each. A corps of the 
 allies that blockaded Magdeburg was removed. 
 The principal privilege gained by the allies was 
 exemption from attack in their weakened condition. 
 
 The events and termination of this short cam- 
 paign of one month, were subjects of astonishment 
 to the civilized world ; and various and strong were 
 the hopes and fears of mankind during the nego- 
 tiations for which this armistice gave time. The 
 Prussian government made public declaration that 
 the time gained should be employed in preparations 
 for securing its independence. The governor of 
 the country between the Vistula and the Russian 
 frontier, calmed the minds of the people by assur- 
 ances that the armistice would not terminate in 
 peace, and the crown prince of Sweden took a po- 
 sition with an army of 70,000 men on the lower 
 Elbe, to be ready for the recommencement of hos- 
 tilities. Notwithstanding these warlike appearances 
 a congress of plenipotentiaries met at Prague, and 
 negotiations for a peace were carried on formally 
 under the mediation of the emperor of Austria, by 
 whose interference the armistice was extended to 
 the 10th of August. 
 
 On the 14th of August the emperor of Austria 
 published a manifesto, in which he announces the 
 failure of the negotiations at Prague, and charges 
 his son-in-law. Napoleon, with being the cause. 
 He announces as a consequence, his joining the 
 league against France, that being the only mode 
 left him of preserving his independence, and pro- 
 curing peace for Europe. 
 
 Thus the war was renewed, and the power of 
 
 43 
 
338 
 
 Austria not only withdrawn from Napoleon, hiii 
 set in array against him — a power stated at 150,000 
 soldiers. The total force in arms of the allies was 
 said to be 477,000, exclusive of 70 or 80,000 Swedes 
 under the command of Bernadotte. All these 
 mighty armies were under the command of men 
 who had learned the m.ost approved mode of war- 
 fare, either hj fighting against or under the orders 
 of Bounaparte. 
 
 Hostilities recommenced by an attack upon a 
 position of the allied army in front of Lauenburgh,. 
 which Marshal Davoust, with a superior force of 
 French and Danes, carried at the point of the bayo- 
 net. The allies on their part recommenced the 
 bombardment of Stetten* 
 
 The French having concentrated an army of 
 80,000 men in the environs of Beyruth, under Mar- 
 shal Oudinot, made a movement on the 21st of Au- 
 gust which threatened Berlin. They advanced by 
 the way of Trebbin, and forced all the positions of 
 the allies, until they occupied the country between 
 Mittenwalde and the Soare. On the 23d general 
 Bertrand debouched upon the Prussian corps of 
 Tauenzein, but was repulsed ; but another part of 
 the French army carried the village of Gross Be- 
 reuy and the whole advanced upon Ahrendorf. 
 The action was renewed by an attempt of the allies 
 to regain Ciross Beren. A division of the French 
 army having threatened the village of Ruhldsdorf,, 
 Bernadotte sent a force to take them in flank, which 
 decided the day in favour of the allies, who took 
 26 cannon, 1,500 prisoners, beside baggage and 
 ammunition. 
 
 It appears that the plan of the allies for opening 
 this second campaign of 1813, was to advance from 
 Bohemia by the passes into Saxony, and commence 
 offensive operations in flank and rear of their ene- 
 my, should he maintain his positions in Lusatia and 
 on the right bank of the Elbe. While the main 
 Russian army under Barclay De Tolly, including 
 
339 
 
 the corps of Wittgenstein and Milaradovitcb, the 
 Prussian corps of Kleist, and the whole of the 
 Austrian army were to act offensivel}^, under the 
 chief command of Prince Schwartzenburgh. Gen- 
 eral Biucher with a corps d'armt'Cy composed of a 
 division of Prussians under general D'York, with 
 two Kussian divisions, were to move from Silesia on 
 Lusatia, and threaten the front of the French army. 
 In conformity with this plan, Blucber advanced 
 in three columns on the 20th of August, the French 
 withdrawing their posts before him; but on the 21st 
 Buonaparte advanced upon the allies at Euntslau, 
 Louenburgh, andLauan, attacked, and after an ob- 
 stinate contest, forced the Prussian veteran to re- 
 treat with a loss of upwards of 2000 men. The 
 grand army of the allies was at the same time pas- 
 sing the frontiers of Bohemia and Saxony ; the 
 columns of Wittgenstein and Kliest by the passes of 
 Peterswalde, and the Austrians by Komotau. On 
 the 22d Wittgenstein's corps fell in with a portion 
 of the French army under general St. Cyr, and 
 after a sharp action, drove this corps of 1 5,000 men 
 with considerable loss into Koni2;stein and the en- 
 trenched works near Dresden. The other corps of 
 the French army retreated before the allies to the 
 same point. The allies now pressed forward on 
 every side, and encircled Dresden. On the 26th 
 of August the advanced guards of the Russians, 
 Prussians, and Austrians encamped upon the heights 
 above Dresden, and on the 27th the French aban- 
 doned all the ground in advance of the city, and 
 withdrew into the suburbs and their different works. 
 These movements were not unaccompanied by los- 
 ses of life on either part, in actions of minor im- 
 portance, but which in other wars might have been 
 deemed battles, and recorded for the gallantry dis- 
 played, and the slaughter inflicted; but now the 
 conflicts of armies, in which thousands are engaged, 
 or even thousands slain, sink into insignificance, in 
 «omparison with the great days of conflict in which 
 
340 
 
 hundreds of thousands were engaged in deeds of death* 
 and the victims of ambition by tens of thousands lay 
 mangled with wounds in mingled heaps of dead and 
 dying, on the horrible fields of their contention. 
 
 The 27th of August is memorable in the records 
 even of this war. The French had scarcely retir-^ 
 ed to their posts in and around Dresden, when the 
 allied armies, as if with an intent of terminating 
 the war by the destruction of Buonaparte and his 
 legions, made a combined attack upon all the French 
 works. At four o*clock in the afternoon the troops 
 moved to the assault. A tremendous cannonade 
 from all the artillery of the allied armies began the 
 operations of destruction, and was answered by an 
 equal and more destructive discharge of cannon up- 
 on the unsheltered and advancing assailants. On 
 all sides the troops of Russia, Prussia, and Austria^ 
 closed upon the works of the French, and in seve- 
 ral places with unavailing valour stormed the re- 
 doubts literally in the cannon's mouth. The Aus- 
 trians gained one redoubt of eight guns not above 
 sixty yards from the main wall, but the French on- 
 ly quitted it for a shelter behind other works from 
 whence they mowed down their enemies, themselves 
 in security. The artillery of the allies made no 
 impression upon the walls of the city, and the 
 troops were exposed to an unavailing slaughter, 
 where there were no breaches to facilitate their at- 
 tacks, and where they were exposed to the fire of an 
 enemy whom they could not reach. Buonaparto 
 seeing his assailants completely checked, ordered a 
 sortie of 30,000 of his guards ; and it required all 
 the skill of the allied generals to withdraw their 
 troops from the combat. Prince Maurice of Lich- 
 tenstein sustained the attack of the guards, and 
 prevented the retreat from becoming a rout. The 
 allied armies regained their encampments, leaving 
 many thousands of their best troops dead and dying 
 on the field. 
 The French Emperor, who had entered DresdeR 
 
341 
 
 immediately after the victory he had obtained over 
 Blucher, and just in time to direct these important 
 operations, determined upon following up the re- 
 pulse of the allies by an attack upon their encamp- 
 ments the next day. The troops who had made 
 the sortie of the 2*7th remained upon the field, and 
 on the morning of the 28tli Buonaparte marched his 
 whole army to the attack. 
 
 The allies occupied a very extended position on 
 the heights surrounding the city of Dresden, and 
 although to assault an army in its camp which the 
 day before had been considered strong enough to 
 carry the redoubts and walls of a city defended by 
 130,000 men, or, perhaps, more, was an arduous 
 undertaking, yet the French commander knew that 
 he had the advantage of directing troops triumph- 
 ing in the success of the preceding day, who if 
 checked could retire to the shelter of the ramparta 
 lined with cannon which supported their rear. The 
 day was hazy with a great fall of rain, and the bat- 
 tle was principally maintained by the artillery of 
 both armies and by frequent charges of cavalry. 
 
 Towards the middle of the day a catastrophe oc- 
 curred which awakened more than ordinary sensi-' 
 bility and regret throughout the allied army : Gen« 
 eral Moreau, whilst in earnest conversation with 
 the Emperor of Russia, on the operations of the 
 day, had both his legs carried off by a cannon shots 
 the ball going through his horse. This distinguish- 
 ed warrior had quitted his retirement in the United 
 States, in consequence of a previous arrangement 
 with the allied monarchs, and had accepted the com- 
 mission of Major-General from the Emperor of 
 Russia, and acted as chief of the stafi' of the allied 
 armies. It has been supposed, in addition to the 
 weight which his name and talents threw into the 
 common cause of Europe, that it was expected that 
 the French armies might be induced to rally round 
 him in case of any reverse of fortune on the part of 
 Napoleon, and that Moreau, the former favourite 
 
I 342 ■ 
 
 general of France, would be the champion and re- 
 storer of the Bourbons. If such were the plans of 
 the allies they were frustrated by a random cannon 
 ball ; for after suffering all the torture of a double 
 amputation. General Moreau expired during the 
 retreat which followed the battle of Dresden. 
 
 Buonaparte perceiving that the left wing of the 
 allies, composed of Austrians, was in some meas- 
 ure separated from the main army by the intersec- 
 tion of ihe valley of Plauen, ordered Murat to fall 
 upon it with a great force, and seconded him by 
 other able manoeuvres. The attack succeeded so 
 far as to throw the enemy into confusion, and make 
 many thousand prisoners. The allies, perceiving 
 that the French Emperor had pushed a large body 
 of forces across the Elbe at Koningstein and Pina, 
 to possess himself of the passes in their rear, and 
 having suffered severely by the actions of these 
 two bloody days, began their retreat in the evening 
 of the 28th. The French claim on this day, with 
 propriety, a victory, but their boasts of taking 
 30,000 prisoners, 60 cannon and 40 pair of colours 
 are in the usUal style of European official despatch- 
 es, where exaggeration of the enemy's losses, and 
 careful concealment of their own disasters, appear 
 to be the main object of the writers. By the sub- 
 sequent events, the observer is enabled in some 
 measure to separate truth from falsehood. 
 
 General Vandamme had the command of the 
 troops which Buonaparte had pushed forward upon 
 tiie great road of Peterswalde to embarrass the re- 
 treat of the allied armies. This movement caused 
 another sanguinary battle on the 29th of August. 
 The Russian column under Count Osterman, who 
 was to return by the pass of Osterwalde, found 
 Vandamme in possession of the pass in the moun- 
 tains, and most gallantly forced their way through 
 with the bayonet. The Russian guards, under the 
 Grand Duke Constantino, came to their support, 
 znd though the French repeatedly returned to the 
 
343 
 
 charge they were kept in check the Whole day and 
 Iheir plan evidently frustrated. The allies ac- 
 knowledge, however, on this occasion, a loss of 
 3000 men, and suppose the French loss at least 
 double. 
 
 The allied armies found themselves xmder the 
 necessity of making a more general attack on the 
 30th, upon that division of the French army which 
 had been engaged the preceding day, not only to 
 give time for those columns of the army to fall 
 back which were retiring upon the Altenberg 
 and Dippoldswalde road, but to extricate the Prus- 
 sian corps of General- Kleist, which had not disen- 
 gaged itself from the mountains. A great propor- 
 tion of the artillery train and baggage of the allied 
 army had not yet got clear of the mountains when 
 the French appeared at Hollendorf and Kulm, 
 about three German miles from Toplitz. The at- 
 tack being determined upon, 12,000 Russians and 
 12,000 Austrians began the battle of Toplitz, the 
 remaining part of the troops collected for this 
 service remaining in columns of reserve in the 
 adjacent plain. The village of Kulm is situated at 
 the bottom of a range of mountains which forms m 
 barrier between Saxony and Bohemia ; from this 
 point branch of! two distinct ranges of mountains. 
 East and West ; between these ranges the ground 
 is generally flat, affording, however, some good de- 
 fensible positions. Upon this ground, immediately 
 fronting the village of Kulm, the French collected 
 a strong force of infantry and artillery, and kept 
 up a galling fire upon the Russians under Milara- 
 dovitch. Such was the able disposition of the French 
 general, that the allies declined a direct attack upon 
 him, but the Austrians were ordered to move along 
 the high ground upon the right, while the Russians 
 guards and infantry were to commence their attack 
 upon the left so soon as the Austrians were suf- 
 ficiently advanced. Yv'hile these movements were 
 executing, the Prussian corps under Kleist unex^ 
 
344 
 
 pectedly appeared in the rear of the French, de« 
 cending the road by which they would retreat if 
 necessary, and joining in the attack, the French 
 were completely defeated with great confusion, loss,, 
 and slaughter. The fruits of this victory to the 
 allies were General Vandamme and six other gen- 
 erals prisoners, 60 pieces of artillery, 10,000 sol- 
 diers prisoners, and 6 standards. The commander- 
 in-chief of the allies in the battle of Toplitz waa 
 Barclay de Tolly. 
 
 In Silesia the absence of Buonaparte, and the 
 drafts made from that army which had recently 
 beaten Blucher, was taken advantage of by that 
 skilful veteran to attack the French, now under the 
 command of Marshal M'Donald. On the 29th of 
 August, M'Donald was defeated with the loss of 
 15,000 men prisoners, and 100 pieces of cannon. 
 The number of slain does not appear, or what pro- 
 portion of loss fell to the share of the victors. 
 
 In the mean time the allied army under Berna- 
 dotte, which was opposed to the French troops 
 commanded by Marshal Oudinot, who threatened 
 Berlin, was attacked on the 23d of August at the 
 village of Gross Beren. The contest, though se- 
 vere, was not long doubtful ; Oudinot was repuls- 
 ed and beaten with the loss of 1500 prisoners, 26 
 pieces of cannon, 30 caissons, and his baggage. 
 This success not only prevented the corps under 
 Girard, which manoeuvred upon Berlin from Mag- 
 deburg, from combining with Oudinot, but exposed 
 it to a separate attack on the 27th at Belzig, where 
 it was completely defeated with the loss of 3500 pri- 
 soners, 8 pieces of cannon, and part of its baggage. 
 These successes enabled the crown prince to press 
 rpon the retreat of Oudinot towards Wittenburg. 
 On the 28th the town of Luckau surrendered to 
 General Tauenzein, with its garrison 1000 men, 
 and on the 30th the allied army had its advance 
 between Interbock and Zinna. 
 
 On the lower Elbe hostilities commenced imme- 
 
345 
 
 diately on the cessation of the armistice, and Mar- 
 shal Davoiist attacked the allies under Count Wal- 
 modin, but without any decisive advantage, or any 
 consequence but a mutual slaughter of the soldiers 
 of either part. 
 
 Early in September the allied army of reserve 
 under General Beningsen, crossed the Oder, and 
 advanced upon the Bober. The troops which had 
 been at Toplitz for some time, waiting supplies, 
 were again put in motion. The Russians and Prus- 
 «ians, under Barclay de Tolly and Wittgenstein, 
 with some Austrian divisions, re-entered Saxony 
 by Peters walde, and Marienburg, and approached 
 Dresden again. Prince Schwartzenberg with a corps 
 of Austrians threatened the right of the French in 
 Lusatia. 
 
 On the 8th of September the Russians and Prus- 
 sians under Count Wittgenstein, who had advanced 
 through the mountains beyond Peterswalde and 
 Zehista, on the road to Dresden, were attacked by 
 the French and defeated. The chief contest was 
 for the village of Dohna, which the French finally 
 forced the allies to abandon ; and Wittgenstein re- 
 treated to Peterswalde. The allies acknowledged 
 a loss of 1000 killed and wounded. On the 9th 
 Buonaparte joined this portion of his armies and 
 pressed upon the allies, who retreated fighting, un- 
 til they had accumulated a force sufficient to justify 
 giving battle ; they were accordingly drawn up for 
 the contest on the 12th with 100,000 men and 800 
 pieces of cannon, in strong position. Buonaparte 
 declined the risk, and commenced a retrograde 
 fnovement towards Dresden, breaking up the roads 
 in his retreat. 
 
 Marshal Davoust having despatched a corps un- 
 der General Pechaux to\vards Magdeburg, Count 
 Walmoden crossed the Elbe on the 14tb, and sur- 
 prised the French corps, which was routed with a 
 loss of 3000 men killed, wounded, and prisoners. 
 
 The grand armies of France and of the allies 
 
 44 
 
346 
 
 frotn the 13th to the 16th had several affairs ancf 
 skirmishes each occasionally advancing or receding. 
 On the 16th Buonaparte made an attempt to turn 
 the right of the allies before Culm, at the same 
 time assailing the centre and left. The French 
 succeeded in gaining the flank of the allies unper- 
 ceived, and forced them from their position. The 
 Russians and Prussians were saved from absolute 
 defeat bj general Coloreda with a corps of Austri- 
 ans, who advanced and held the French in check. 
 The French likewise succeeded in throwing the 
 centre of the allies into confusion, but finally with- 
 drew to their position on the mountains, keeping 
 possession, however, of the village of Nollendorf, 
 from which they had driven the allies. The loss of 
 men in this affair was considerable, but is not stated 
 in the despatches. 
 
 A French corps under the command of general 
 Lefebre Denouette, consisting of 8000 cavalry, 
 700 infantry, a squadron of Mamelukes, and a par- 
 ty of Tartars, were attacked near Altenburg by 
 Platoff" and his Cossacs, and completely put to 
 rout. Fifteen hundred prisoners and five guns 
 were the fruits of this achievement. 
 
 On the side of the army of Bohemia, the allied 
 sovereigns having been joined by the corps of gen- 
 eral Beningsen, determined to move forward by 
 their left. The army was ordered to march on the 
 first &i' October. A variety of manoeuvering and 
 some fighting took place in the crossing of the 
 Elbe. General Blucher crossed on the first and at-- 
 tacked the French entrenched posts between War- 
 tenberg and Bledin. The resistance of the French 
 under general Bertrand was, as usual, obstinate, 
 and the contest long and bloody. General D' Yorck's 
 corps carried the strongest position, took above 
 1000 prisoners, 16 pieces of cannon with their train. 
 In this action the Prussians suffered severely. A 
 body of 2000 men of the French threw themselves 
 into Wittenberg, the rexnainder falling back upon 
 
347 
 
 Kemberg. Bliicher pursued them in the direction 
 of Leipsic. Marshal Ney, with his corps, retreat- 
 ed from Dessau towards Leipsic, to which point 
 the two hostile armies now tended, as" if by consent 
 there to settle the destiny of Europe. 
 
 It appears that the plan of the French Emperor 
 had been to strike at Prague, and establish himself 
 on the line of supply of the Austrian armies. For 
 this purpose General Vandamme had been pushed 
 forward with assurance of support, which failing, 
 caused his destruction, and the failure of the plan 
 of supply. The French troops in the mountains of 
 Bohemia had suffered extreme distress in conse- 
 quence. At Dresden great scarcity and conse- 
 quent misery had been experienced, and the French 
 corps who retraced their steps across the Elbe, 
 were in a deplorable state of suffering. 
 
 The army of the allies continued to advance in a 
 direct line to Leipsic, near which place the head 
 quarters of Prince Schwartzenberg were establish- 
 ed early in October. The Prince Royal and Gen- 
 eral Blucher, having advanced towards the same 
 point, the allied forces had nearly formed a junc- 
 tion ; a rideau was thus drawn across this part of 
 Saxony, extending from Dessau to Marienburg on 
 the Bohemian frontier. In the mean time Gen. 
 Beningsen drove the French from their intrench- 
 ments at Gieshubel and advanced towards Dresden 
 on the great road from Toplitz. The great force 
 brought against Buonaparte, especially by the 
 command of the great resources of Russia and the 
 talents displayed by Bernadotte, who was the prime 
 mover of the allies, placed the French armies in 
 extreme jeopardy, though so lately triumphant be- 
 fore Dresden. 
 
 The Crown Prince intended by a movement of 
 the whole allied force to the left bank of the Saale 
 to force Buonaparte to a general battle with forces 
 much superior to his in number and condition, or 
 to embarrass and harass his retreat, if he should 
 
348 
 
 determine tipon a measure which the combined 
 movements of the armies^of Bohemia, Silesia, and 
 of the north of Germany on his flanks, and all his 
 communications, seemed to render so necessary. 
 
 Napoleon manoeuvred from Dresden with a large 
 body of cavalry on the right, and all his infantry on 
 the left bank of the Elbe, as far down as Archlau; 
 He made a strong demonstration with 20,000 men, 
 as if to oppose Blucher in his passage of the Elster. 
 But the allies were not to be turned aside from pur« 
 poses which they knew they had strength to fulfil, 
 and the army of Blucher, being now in close com- 
 munication with that of the Prince Royal Berna- 
 dotte, was marched from Dieben on Jamilz on the 
 9th, and passed the Mulda ; and the Crown Prince 
 concentrated his forces between Zorbig, Radegast, 
 and Bitterfeld. 
 
 The French Emperor now concentrated a part of 
 his forces about Eulenberg and Oschatz, between 
 the Mulda and the Elbe. The allies passed the 
 Saale, and were placed in order of battle with their 
 left upon that river, waiting the further movements 
 of Buonaparte. In the mean time the various corps 
 d' armee of the allies continued to advance, hem- 
 ming in their adversary until he had taken his stand 
 around Leipsic. But before the decisive events 
 which took place on that memorable field of action, 
 we must record more particularly the movements 
 of the allied armies in their advance, and a bloody 
 battle fought between the French and allied army 
 of Silesia on the 14th of October. 
 
 When the allies received certain intelligence that 
 the French armies were withdrawing from the right 
 bank of the Elbe to collect about Leipsic, the Crown 
 Prince occupied with his advanced guard the left 
 bank of the Mulda, and General Blucher had his 
 advance atMerzeberg and Schednitz. On the 14th 
 Blucher pushed his advanced sjuard on the great 
 road to Leipsic, occupying the villages on each side 
 of it. The French were in force in his front, hold- 
 
349 
 
 ing DebTiJideiviN-^i Bitterfeld 'A-i^'i some tiobps along 
 the Mulda. The Crown Prince issued orders to 
 march to Halle in the night of the 14th ; but when 
 his troops were in march he took up his head quar- 
 ters at Sylbitz, and placed the Swedish army with 
 its right at Wilten and its left near Petersberg. Gen. 
 Bulow occupied the centre of his line between Pe- 
 tersberg and Oppin, and the corps of Winzingerode 
 was on the left at Zorbig. Blucher found the fourth, 
 sixth, and seventh corps of the French army, and 
 part of the guard, under Marshals Marmont and Ney; 
 General Bertrand occupying a line with its right at 
 Freyroda and its left at Lindenthal. 
 
 The country is open and very favourable to cav- 
 alry around these villages ; but in frpnt of Kade- 
 feld, the French were covered by a wood, and had 
 the advantage of more intersected ground. The 
 plan of attack of the allies was that General Lan- 
 geron should assault and carry, first Freyroda, and 
 then Radefeld. General D'Yorck, with his corps 
 d'armee, was to move on the great causey leadiiig 
 to Leipsic -until he reached Sitzchera, and then to 
 turn to his left and force the French post at Lin- 
 denthal. A corps of Russians was to press on the 
 main road to Leipsic. The corps of General St. 
 Priest was to follow General Langeron. About 
 mid day the cavalry were formed, and the troops 
 at their stations. 
 
 The onset was made as directed, and the French 
 retired from their post in advance, but obstinately 
 contested the posts covered by w^ood on their right, 
 and the villages on their left. At Mockern a most 
 sanguinary conflict ensued, and it was taken and 
 re-taken several times with prodigious slaughter on 
 both parts. This was the hottest part of the field, 
 and most of the superior officers were either killed 
 or wounded. At length, numbers prevailed where 
 valour was equal, and the victorious Silesians car- 
 ried all before them and drove the French beyond 
 the Parthia. 
 
350 
 
 The resistance oiV4;^e right of thfe'-i^^^*<ih was 
 Dearly as persevering. Here the Russians bore the 
 brunt of the fight, and they were equally successful 
 wilh their allies. Though the allies gained the vic- 
 tory, it was night alone which put an end to the ac- 
 tion. The veteran Blucher held as trophies of con- 
 quest 18 cannon, one eagle, and a few hundred pri- 
 soners, and acknowledged a loss of between 6 and 
 7000 men. 
 
 Before we enter into a detail of the battles of 
 Leipsic, on which the fate of the campaign and of 
 Europe depended, let us take a view of the state of 
 that unfortunate city immediately previous and at 
 the time. 
 
 Leipsic, the greatest commercial city of Germa- 
 ny, had been open in its declaration of ill will to 
 the French dospot, and had consequently suffered 
 a full portion of the miseries and oppression he 
 knew so Avell to inflect ; and all the surrounding 
 country was rendered desolate by an immense 
 army which gathered on all sides, and subsisted in 
 the most licentious and wasteful manner upon the 
 product of the soil and the property of the people, 
 whose own despot was in alliance with the leader of 
 these locust-like protectors. All that had been 
 spared to Saxony from imposts, contributions, and 
 quarterings, was now literally devoured, and the 
 peasant and the villager gladly escaped with their 
 lives from the allies of their king. The citizens of 
 Leipsic could look from their steeples and see ar- 
 mies which seemed innumerable, literally encircle 
 them. Bodies of troops were constantly entering 
 and passing from the city. The public buildings 
 were hospitals filled with sick and wounded, and 
 supported by the city. Scarcity of food reminded 
 the inhabitants that unless some change soon took 
 place they were doomed to all the horrors of fam- 
 ine. In this state of things they anxiously beheld 
 the approach of the allied armies, forming another 
 and a greater circle around the host that surround- 
 ed their city. 
 
351 
 
 The order in which the allied armies approached 
 to the attack of the French was as follows : Tha. 
 corps of General Giujay, Prince Maurice Lichten- 
 stein, Thielman and Platoff, were collected in the 
 neighbourhood of Markradstadt, with orders to 
 move forward on Leipsic, keeping open a com- 
 munication on the one side with Blucher's army,, 
 and on the other these corps were to detach from 
 their right to facilitate the attack of the corps of 
 General Mereveldt and the division of Bianchi 
 Weissendorf, upon Zwackau and Connewita ; at 
 which latter place the bridge across the Pleisse was 
 to be carried. General Wosteiz's cavalry were to 
 form on their right. In case of retreat these corps 
 were to retire upon Zeitz. The reserves of the 
 Russian and Prussian guards were to move on to 
 Kotha, where they were to pass the Pleisse and 
 form in columns on its right bank. The reserves 
 of the Prince of Hesse Homberg^, Generals Mere- 
 veldt and Wittgenstein, were also to take post at 
 this station ; General Barclay de Tolly to com- 
 mand all the columns on the right bank of the Ple- 
 isse. Generals Wittgenstein, Kleist and Klienau, 
 were to advance from their respective positions on 
 Leipsic, the Russian guards forming their reserve. 
 General Colloredo advanced from Borne as reserve 
 to General Kleinau. The retreat of Colloredo's 
 corps was to be on Chemnetz, and that of Witt- 
 genstein, Kleist, and Kleinau on Altenberg and 
 Penig. The army of General Beningsen was to 
 push on from Coldlitz on Grimma and Wurtzen. 
 
 The reader may, after this detail, with the aid of 
 his map, have an accurate notion of the situation 
 and intention of the allies, previous to one of the 
 greatest battles ever fought. 
 
 Buonaparte, thus encircled, did not wait to be at- 
 tacked. Though under disadvantageous circum- 
 stances, he had still the spirit of a conqueror, and 
 the skill of a consummate commander. With an 
 army inferior in numbers, the cavalry of which was 
 
35^ 
 
 eontemptible in comparison with their adversarie^j 
 the French Emperor himself led the battle, and on 
 the 16th of October, the first day of this long scene 
 of carnage, broke the ranks of the allies, and seem- 
 ed still to be the favourite of victory* 
 
 Taking a view of the surrounding hosts from Leip- 
 sic, Ihe French army Avas seen stretching in a vast 
 semicircle from Paunsdorf to Brobstheide, and wat 
 lost to the eye in the woods of Konnewitz. Their 
 reserves were in an inner circle near the city. To- 
 wards the north and west, the columns W'ere more 
 detached, though the form of the lines was the same. 
 The morning of the 16th was foggy, rainy, and 
 cold ; and the first indication of battle was given by 
 the roaring of cannon from Liebert Wolkowitz. 
 Six hundred pieces of artillery were at once brought 
 into action. Two solitary buildings which the 
 French occupied near their centre, were attacked 
 by the Russian infantry, and, after an amazing car- 
 nage, carried. The French cavalry, poor as they 
 were, made a desperate push under the direction of 
 Murat, and broke through the line of the allies. 
 Here the combined army suffered most on this day; 
 for thougli the French were partially repulsed by 
 the Austrian cuirassiers, they carried their point, 
 and caused a change in the order of battle. Other 
 divisions of the allies, advancing towards the city, 
 according to the fjlan detailed, came successively in- 
 to action, and the cannon of the allies from Kleins- 
 chacher were answered by the French artillery 
 from Lindenau. The allies endeavoured to force 
 the French at Lindenau, but were repulsed by the 
 voltigeurs with great loss. In the afternoon Napo- 
 leon claimed a victory, and ordered the bells of 
 Leipsic to be rung ; but the battle raged until six 
 in the evening, and then seemed only to cease by 
 mutual consent at the approach of darkness. The 
 killed and wounded of the day was immense, yet 
 this was but a prelude to the battle of Leipsic. 
 
 On the night of the 16th the inhabitants of Leip- 
 
353 
 
 sic were ordered to rejoice for a victory obtained 
 by their protectors over the allies ; but they still 
 beheld the same hostile circles around their city, 
 marked by lines of fires encirclino^ each other until 
 lost in distance, and saw their public buildings and 
 the corn magazines crowded with mutilated wretch- 
 es who were brought groaning from the field of 
 their monarch's glory to suffer and die ; and those 
 were fortunate who found shelter and assistance in 
 these abodes of misery; for such were the multi- 
 tudes, that hundreds (it has been asserted that thou- 
 sands) lay on the pavements without aid, or food, 
 or w^ater to quench their burning thirst. 
 
 The 17th of October was passed without renewing 
 the action, and in preparations on both parts for the 
 struggle of the succeeding day. The allies inten- 
 ded to attack on the 18th, and it was determined to 
 commence from their different points of assembly 
 on the principal villages situated on the great road 
 leading to Leipsic, The armies of the north and 
 Silesia were jointly to attack from the line of the 
 Saale, and upon the French position on the Partha 
 river. General Blucher reinforced the Crown Prince 
 Bernadotte with 30,000 men to attack from the 
 heights of Faucha, while Blucher was to use his 
 utmost endeavours to gain possession of Leipsic. 
 In the event of the whole French force being brought 
 to act against either of these armies they were to 
 support each other and concert further movements. 
 
 The French force which had been opposed to 
 Bernadotte and Blucher, had taken up a strong po- 
 sition on the left bank of the Partha, having its 
 right at the strong point of Faucha, and its left to- 
 wards Leipsic. The 17th of October appeared to 
 be kept holy because it was the Sabbath, but we 
 know that heroes do not cease from the w^ork of 
 destruction either at the command of God or Na- 
 ture. Comparative silence reigned throughout the 
 late scenes of death, but the smoke of burning vil- 
 lages, and the groans of wounded soldiers, and the 
 
 45 
 
354 
 
 imm of preparation for further misery, marked ihy 
 hollow truce as only the deceitful calm which pre-»' 
 cedes the tempest. 
 
 The morning of the 18th of October arrived^ 
 The fate of Europe was to be decided by the joint 
 talents of Bernadotte and Blucher, Wittgenstein, 
 Barclay de Tolly, and Schwartzenberg,, placed in 
 opposition to Napoleon Buonaparte. Monarcha 
 were engaged as their engines, or stood by as spec- 
 tators of the scene. 
 
 The battle began with the dawn of the day, and 
 before nine o'clock in the morning it raged througlt 
 the whole line. To force the right of the French* 
 and gain possession of the heights of Faueha, was 
 the first object of Bernadotte. The Russian corps 
 of Winzinzgerode, and the Prussians under Bulow, 
 were destined for this purpose, while the Swedes- 
 were ordered to force the passage of the river, at 
 Pfosen and Mockau. These first operations were 
 successful, and General Winzingerode took 3000 
 prisoners at Faueha and some guns. The centre of 
 the allies being engaged with the centre of the 
 French near the villages of Stollentz and Probes- 
 theyda, General Blucher put his army in motian ; 
 and Bernadotte's army had not sufficient time to 
 make their flank movements before the French in- 
 fantry abandoned the line of the river and retired 
 over the plain, in line and column, towards Leipsic, 
 occupying Paunsdorf, Somerfeldt and Schonfeldt. 
 Nothing very rem.arkablc happened in this part ot 
 the field until near the close of the day, when Gen- 
 erai Langeron, who had crossed the river, attacked 
 the vil'lage of Schonfeldt with great fury, and was 
 repulsed with proportionable loss. He, however, 
 returned to the attack and took it ; but was driven 
 out again By a charge of the French. Blucher,. 
 hearing of these actions,, sent him the most positive 
 order to re-occupj it at the point of the bayonet — 
 and it was done. During the action 22 guns of 
 Saxon artillery joined the allies and two Westphali- 
 
355 
 
 an regiments. The Saxons composed a principal 
 part of the seventh corps nnder general Regnier, 
 nnd were posted in the left wing near Faucha. 
 They had just come into action, and the allies had 
 already brought up a great number of guns against 
 them. To the astonishment of their leader, they 
 marched forward in close files with their muskets 
 clubbed, and went over to the enemy with all their 
 artillery. The artillery was immediately turned 
 upon the French. 
 
 The most desperate resistance made by the 
 French on this day was at Probestheyda, StellerJitz 
 and Konnewitz ; but the columns of the allies, to 
 whom the attack was assigned, carried every point, 
 though at great loss, by a valour and perseverance 
 which was irresistible. 
 
 Night closed this bloody contest, in which the 
 French army was defeated with a loss of 40,000 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners, 65 pieces of artille- 
 ry, 17 battalions of German infantry, which came 
 over to the allies during the action, with all the stafi 
 and generals, besides the Saxon artillery and West- 
 phalians, before mentioned. 
 
 Buonaparte was already on the retreat, and con- 
 tinued during the night of the 18th to withdraw 
 his shattered battalions, and to make such prepara- 
 tions for the defence of Leipsic as should place 
 that city as a barrier between him and the victors. 
 He has in the latter part of his career proved that 
 he was deficient in one essential quality of an ac- 
 complished general : he has never provided for 
 the safety of his armies in case of defeat. With- 
 out recurring to the examples of the greatest gene- 
 rals, without mentioning Frederick, or Moreau, or 
 "Wellington, even the Duke of York, the military 
 genius of the English royal family, was better at a 
 retreat than Buonaparte. 
 
 On the morning of the 19th the town of Leipsic 
 was attacked and carried ; the resistance made by 
 the" French was scarcely sufficient to give time to 
 
356 
 
 their retiring columns to press out of the city by the 
 Ranstadt gate, and retreat by the line of the Saale, 
 the only road open to them. The armies of Blu- 
 cher, Bernadotte, and Benin^sen, with the grand 
 army under Wittgenstein and Barclay de Tolly, all 
 pressed upon the retiring foe, and entered Leipsic 
 almost as soon as the French Emperor quitted it. 
 
 The horrors and confusion of the retreat has 
 been vividly described by an eye witness. The 
 columns of the French, which entered the town by 
 three gates, had to press their way out through one, 
 while the artillery of the allies thundered upon the 
 city, and their shells had set it on fire in several pla- . 
 ces. Cries and shouts resounded from every quar- 
 ter. The retreat of the remaining troops, even 
 before Buonaparte had left the city, had become a 
 disordered rout. Horse and foot guards were ming- 
 led together, and their progress impeded by wag- 
 gons and cannon frequently locked together and 
 choaking the way, while droves of cattle were anx- 
 iously urged forward for the future sustenance of 
 the fugitives. In the midst of this confusion the 
 emperor was seen with a numerous retmue, all on 
 horseback, making his way with difficulty through 
 the surrounding chaos. A by road was afterwards 
 pointed out to him through a garden, by which he 
 passed the outward gate. 
 
 Prince Poniatowsky, who had been charged with 
 the defence of that part of the Leipsic suburbs 
 nearest the Borna road, finding his retreat cut off, 
 rushed, at the head of a few Polish curaissiers and 
 the officers of his suite, upon the nearest column of 
 the allies. He had already two wounds, and now 
 received a musket ball in his left arm. He pushed 
 through his enemies, and threw himself into the 
 Pleisse, the opposite bank of which he reached 
 with the loss of his horse ; he mounted another, 
 and proceeded to the Elster, the banks of which 
 were already lined by the enemy. He plunged 
 into the river, and with his horse instantly sunk. 
 
357 
 
 After Buonaparte and his marshals had made then- 
 escape the rout became more and more confused 
 and destructive. In the mean time, the allied prin- 
 ces, at the head of their respeclive armies, entered 
 Leipsic at different points, and met in the great 
 square, there to enjoy the acclamations of victory, 
 and rejoice over the downfal of their great enemy. 
 
 The retreat of the French from the 20th of Oc- 
 tober to the 3d of November, from the Saale to the 
 Rhine, was a succession of woe and disaster, only 
 exceeded by the miseries of their retreat the pre- 
 ceding year from the Dneiper to the Neimen. 
 Although it was only during the first six or seven 
 days of the retreat that out of the whole coalesced 
 armies, some divisions of the Silesian army under 
 Blucher could keep up close enough to harass their 
 enemies, yet upwards of 10,000 prisoners were 
 made, 70 pieces of cannon taken, and the route of 
 Buonaparte, as in Russia, was marked by desola- 
 tion, pillage and conflagration, and by thousands of 
 the lifeless or expiring victims of his cruel ambi- 
 tion. The disasters of the French did not solely 
 proceed from the enemy that pursued them, or the 
 necessary evils of precipitate flight ; Czernichoif 
 with a body of Cossacs and other light troops had 
 gained the front of the French army, and though 
 not in force suflScient to ofler battle, preceded their 
 march, preparing for them an endless succession of 
 vexations. They lay in wait for and cut off* de- 
 tached parties ; they broke down bridges and de- 
 stroyed the magazines which had been provided in 
 the towns the French had to pass. In these opera- 
 tions alone Czernichoif is said to have taken 4000 
 prisoners from the French. 
 
 Thus hunted and harassed, they learned, as they 
 approached the Maine, that a severer trial awaited 
 them. General Wrede, with an army, was waiting 
 for them at Kirzig, and the scenes of the Berezina 
 seemed preparing to be enacted anew. Wrede, like 
 Tchitchagoff, stood in the way of further progress, 
 
358 
 
 and Blucher, like Wittgenstein, pressed lliem on from 
 behind. But Field Marshal Prince Schartzenberg 
 bad made too sure of the effectual opposition which 
 Wrede could make atKirzig, and had ordered Gen- 
 eral Blucher to turn off towards the Cahn and Cob- 
 lentz. Buonaparte attacked Wrede with great skill, 
 and was seconded by the desperate valour of the 
 shattered remains of his armies. He burst through 
 the barrier opposed to him and perhaps with -an 
 equal loss on his own part strewed the field with 
 10,000 of his opposers. The allies were obliged 
 to retreat and to evacuate Hanau. This battle was 
 fought on the 30th of October. 
 
 The French army pursued their march, leaving 
 a garrison in Hanau, which General Wrede attack- 
 ed by storm. He was severely wounded in the on- 
 set, but the place was taken, and the whole French 
 garrison put to the sword. 
 
 For the purposes of freeing the north of Germa- 
 ny of the enemy, of strengthening general Walmo- 
 den in his operations against Marshal Davoust, 
 who still held his position on the right bank of the 
 Elbe, of possessing Bremen, the mouths of the 
 Weser and the Elbe, of reducing Hamburg, of re- 
 storing Hanover to the king of England, of cutting 
 off Davoust from Holland, and facilitating opera- 
 tions upon that country, the Crown Prince moved 
 with his army towards Hanover and the north. 
 
 On the line of the Rhine the operations of the 
 grand allied army under Prince Schwartzenberg 
 brought this portion of the allies to the vicinity of 
 Frankfort on the Maine by the 5th of November. 
 The Emperors of Russia and Austria entered 
 Frankfort on that day, and v/ere joined by the king 
 of Prusssa on the 13tlu The kings and princes 
 whom Buonaparte had created hastened to abjure 
 their connexion with France $ind secure the pro- 
 tection of the conquerors. 
 
 Field Marshal Blucher continued his march for 
 Hie lower Rhine, and arrived with the army of Si- 
 
359 
 
 jesia at Miilheim on the 13ili of November. On 
 the 2d of December a body of troops crossed the 
 river at DusseldoriF, surprised the French garrison 
 at Neiiss and destojed the magazines. 
 
 Switzerland, after the overthrow of the French 
 army at Leipsic declared itself neutral. The act 
 of neutrality was passed by the diet at Zurich on 
 the 20ih of November. Deputies were sent to 
 Buonaparte and to the allies for their consent, and 
 troops raised to protect their frontiers. 
 
 The advance of the army of Bernadotte reached 
 Hanover on the 1st of November, and the inhabit- 
 ants hastened to abjure King Jerome. The naviga- 
 tion of the Weser was restored by the reduction of 
 Carlfort and Blexen. An assault uporj Stadt was 
 repulsed ; but the French garrison, fearing a repe- 
 tition, withdrew and crossed the Elbe to Hamburg, 
 W'here Marshal Davoust soon after shut himself up 
 with his army. 
 
 When Buonaparte assembled his forces at Leip- 
 sic, he left Marshal St. Cyrwith his corps and the 
 remains of the corps of Yandamme to defend Dres- 
 den and cover his flank. On the 17th of October, 
 St. Cyr attacked and defeated the corps of Russians 
 under Tolstoy which was left to mask Dresden, 
 After the battle of Leipsic General Kleinau was 
 sent against St. Cyr, and finally succeeded in making 
 prisoners of his garrison. The garrisons of Stetten, 
 Erfurt, and Dantzig, shared the same fate. 
 
 The troops under the direction of Bernadotte 
 continued to advance. Winzingerode established 
 his head quarters at Bremen, and detached troops on 
 Oldenburg and East Friedland, thence they crossed 
 the Ems, entered Holland, and took Croninjen with 
 its garrison. Other Dutch towns shared the same 
 fate. The corps of Von Bulow entered Holland 
 by the side of Munster, sweeping every thing before 
 it, and putting the garrisons of Doesburg and Arn- 
 heimtothe sword. 
 
 On the news of the approach of the victorious 
 
3G0 
 
 allies the inhabitants of the Hague, Amsterdam, 
 Rotterdam, Haerlam, Leyden, and some other 
 towns, rose in refiistance to the French ; who sub- 
 mitted to circumstances, and by agreement with- 
 drew their troops, A provisional government be- 
 ing established at the Hague, deputies were des- 
 patched to England to invite the prince of Orange 
 to assume the government and to solicit aid from 
 the ministry. Some troops w^ere immediately sent 
 off, and an armament under Sir Thomas Graham 
 assembled in the Downs. The prince of Orange 
 arrived at Schevelin, on the 30th of November, and 
 he was saluted as sovereign prince of the Nether- 
 lands. 
 
 Buonaparte re-entered France a second time as a 
 fugitive. His first attention was turned to the 
 finances of the empire, and by a decree of No- 
 vember 11, the taxes and duties were augmented, 
 and measures were adopted soon after to anticipate 
 the revenue. On the 19th the emperor met his 
 senate. In his address he tells them that the 
 splendid victories he had obtained in the last cam- 
 paign,, were rendered useless by the unparalleled 
 defection of his allies; that as he had never been 
 seduced by prosperity, he will be foimd superior to 
 adversity ; that a preliminary basis of negotiation 
 for a peace had been presented to him by the allies, 
 and negotiations entered into threon ; that the 
 delays attendant upon assembling a congress at 
 Manheim are not to be attributed to France ; that 
 he wishes for peace, and regrets the necessity of 
 calling upon his people for new sacrifices; that 
 Denmark and Naples alone remain faithful to him; 
 that he has recognized the neutrality of the nine- 
 teen Swiss Cantons ; and concludes by calling upon 
 the senate for their support. 
 
 A new levy of 300,000 conscripts had already 
 been ordered by Buonaparte ; which measure cal- 
 led forth a declaration from the allied powers, da- 
 ted at Frankfort, Dec. 1, 1813, in which they " pro- 
 
361 
 
 stiulgate anew, in the face of the world, the views 
 which guide them in the present war." They say 
 that they do not make war upon France, but against 
 that preponderance which, to the misfortune of 
 Europe and of France, " the Emperor Napoleon 
 has too long exercised beyond the limits of his em- 
 pire ;" that the first use they have made of victory 
 is " to offer peace to his majesty the Emperor of 
 the French ;" that the conditions offered are found- 
 ed on the independence of the French empire, as 
 well as on the independence of the other states of 
 Europe ; that they desire that France may be great, 
 powerful, and happy, as being one of the founda- 
 tions of the social edifice of Europe ; that they 
 ^confirm to the French empire an extent of territory 
 which France under her kings never knew ; that 
 they desire a partition of strength, by which to pre- 
 serve their people from such miseries as have been 
 experienced ; and that they will not lay down their 
 arms until this object is obtained. 
 
 In the mean time preparations for war, offensive 
 and defensive, were carried on with unremitting 
 exertion. Napoleon made his last effort to- recruit 
 his exhausted armies, and the allies prepared ta 
 cross the Rhine and invade France. On the 20th 
 of December 160,000 men entered Switzerland and 
 crossed the Rhine at Basle, without opposition. 
 
 On entering the Swiss territory the commander 
 in chief of the allies, Prince Schwartzenberg, is- 
 sued an order by which his soldiers were notified 
 that they entered the Swiss territory as friends. 
 Other armies of the allies passed the Rhine at Dus- 
 seldorf and at Coblentz. The force that entered 
 France was stated at 300,000 men. Lord Welling- 
 ton, with the English, Spanish, and Portuguese 
 armies, had previously entered the territory of 
 France by the south, and had gained several bloody^ 
 battles over Marshal Soult near Bayonne. 
 
 The allies had left behind them the strong fron- 
 tier places of the Rhine in possession of their ene- 
 
 46 
 
mieg, and entered France by its most vulnerable' 
 part ; taking their route through Franche Compte 
 and Lorraine. They had akeady addressed a proc- 
 lamation to the French people in the same style of 
 dignified moderation and wisdom which had charac- 
 terized their preceding declaration in respfect to 
 peace, and which marks such superior talents in the 
 councils of the emperor of Russia. They assured 
 the French people that they did not make war upon 
 them, but only wished to repel the attempts of the 
 government of France to subjugate the states of 
 the confederacy. They promise to respect public 
 order and private property. They disclaim all 
 motives of retaliatory vengeance. They conclude 
 by expressing their desire for that peace which they 
 had offered before entering the territory of France. 
 
 Buonaparte, on this as on very many other oc- 
 casions, had been blind to his own interest through 
 an inordinate wish to promote it. He might have 
 remained and been confirmed on the imperial throne 
 of France ; but he demanded Italy. The ministers 
 of fate moved on, and he prepared for the last 
 struggle against his destiny. 
 
 On the 30th of December, tlie senate addressed 
 the French emperor for the last time in the tone 
 and terms of adulation. They told him that they 
 came to offer him the tribute of their attachment 
 and gratitude ; that he had given the strongest 
 pledge in his power of his desire for peaee > tha^ 
 he acted upon the belief that power is strengthened 
 by being limited, and that the art of promoting the 
 happiness of their people was the chief policy of 
 kings ; that the French united under him would not 
 suffer their invaders to triumph ; and they conclude 
 with requesting him to obtain peace by a last effort 
 worthy of himself, and then sign " the repose of 
 the world." 
 
 In his answer he tells the £f nate that they have 
 seen what he has done for peace, but in the mean 
 time. Beam, Alcase, Franche Compte, Brabant^ 
 
363 
 
 are invaded ; be talks of the tenderness of his heart, 
 and calls upon the French to succour the French ; 
 concluding with " the question is now no more to 
 recover the conquests we have made." 
 
 In this extremity the tottering Emperor was de- 
 serted by almost his last ally ; Denmark entered 
 into treaties of peace and alliance with Sweden and 
 England, and engaged to furnish to the allies 10,000 
 men, England paying willingly a subsidy of 400,000^. 
 for the purpose of opening new markets to her ships 
 and manufactures. England had before entered 
 into a treaty with Sweden to give her Norway, and 
 in case Denmark would not consent England was to 
 assist in the conquest. To this arrangement Den- 
 mark now acceded by force ; but the Norwegians 
 refuse to be transferred, and declare themselves 
 independent. 
 
 Marshal Davoust continued to hold Hamburgh, 
 and indicated a determination to defend the place 
 to the last extremity. He had ordered the inhabit- 
 ants to lay in a stock of provisions for six months. 
 The period allowed to procure this supply having 
 expired, he issued an order directing all those Avho 
 had neglected fulfilling the injunction to quit the 
 city, and 5000 inhabitants were in consequence ex- 
 pelled. 
 
 In the mean time the armies of the allies moved 
 on to their destined point without any obstacle of 
 consequence, until Buonaparte in person put him- 
 self in opposition to the veteran Prussian General 
 Blucher at the battle of La Rothiere. The French 
 emperor, having appointed the empress Maria Lou- 
 isa again regent, left Paris on the morning of the 
 25th of January, 1814, to take the command of the 
 armies of France. 
 
 Field Marshal Blucher having been compliment- 
 ed with the command of the Austrian corps of Count 
 Guilay and the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg, in 
 addition to the Russian and Prussian armies before 
 under his orders, found himself opposed in his ad» 
 
364 
 
 vances towards Paris by an army commanded by 
 the Emperor in person. The allied forces were at 
 least 80,000 at this point, the French perhaps nearr 
 ly equal in nnmber. 
 
 Marshal Blucher, after a reconnoisance made on 
 the morning of the 1st of February, gave the fol- 
 lowing directions for an attack. 
 
 The corps of General Baron Saclien was order- 
 ed to move forward in two columns from Trannes, 
 one taking the direction of Brienne by the road of 
 Dienville, and the second on the village of La Ro- 
 thiere. The corps of General Count Guilay form- 
 ed the reserve of the first column, and that of Gen- 
 eral Alsufieff the second. The Russian guards 
 were ordered to form a reserve for the whole, on 
 the heights between Trannes and Eclance. 
 
 The Prince Royal of Wirtemberg w as ordered 
 to march from Eclance upon Chaumenil, leaving a 
 small wood in front of the right of the position of 
 the allies occupied by the French, on his left, with 
 a view of turning it and opening a communication 
 with General Count Wrede, who was advancing 
 upon Chaumenil from Doulevent* 
 
 The attack commenced precisely at 12 o'clock. 
 The French were in position at Deinville and La 
 Rothiere, having their left at the small village of 
 La Gibrie. Their cavalry, as well as that of the 
 allies, was drawn out in the plain between the two 
 positions. The French infantry disposed in large 
 masses on the flanks of, and within the villages, 
 which were lined with artillerj^ 
 
 Skirmishing and cannonading in the plain were 
 the preludes to the attack, which was made with ir- 
 resistible impetuosity by the Prince Royal of Wir- 
 temberg, who drove the French from the village, 
 but had scarcely occupied it when in their turn they 
 attacked, beat, and expelled him. A brigade of 
 grenadiers were ordered to his support ; he again 
 attacked, and after a long and sanguinary contest 
 remained master of the wood and the village. Du- 
 
365 
 
 ring these operations, the result of which remained 
 doubtful for three hours, the French emperor me^ 
 naced the flank position of the allies, but the veie- 
 ran Blucher was not to be turned from steadily pur- 
 suing the combinations on which the result of the 
 day depended. The efiect of the combination of 
 General Wrede's movement was accurately fore- 
 seen, and before the village of La Gibrie was in 
 the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg's possession eve- 
 ry requisite order was given for the execution of 
 movements depending upon that event and the ap- 
 proach of Wrede. 
 
 Buonaparte having moved a corps to his left. 
 General Baron Sachen drew all his force to the at- 
 tack of La Rothiere, which formed the key of the 
 French position. 
 
 General Count Guilay attacked the town of Dien- 
 ville, but was repeatedly repulsed ; the conflict 
 continued through the whole day with various suc- 
 cess, but with nearly equal carnage. Night inter-' 
 rupted, but did not terminate the struggle, and it 
 was nearly midnight before the French abandoned 
 this post, and then only in consequence of the gen- 
 eral movement of the army. i 
 
 The most bloody and obstinate resistance, how- 
 ever, was made to the superior force of veteran 
 troops, by the French, who were posted at La Ro- 
 thiere. Baron Sachen carried the place by an ir- 
 resistible attack, but was in his turn expelled from 
 part of the village, and the artillery and musketry 
 of the French was directed from the church and 
 adjoining houses, while the Russians kept up an 
 equally destructive fire from others. Buonaparte 
 in person led on an attack at the head of his young 
 guards, and had a horse shot under him. Here too 
 the fight continued longer than the day, but about 
 10 o'clock the village was abandoned to the Rus- 
 sians. 
 
 The French retreated about midnight in two col- 
 umns upon Lesmont, Lessicourt, and Ronay, On 
 
366 
 
 the right of the village of La Rothiere, Gen. Sa- 
 cben took twenty pieces of cannon and some hun- 
 dreds of prisoners. The Prince Royal of Wirtem- 
 berg advanced upon Chaumenil, and formed his 
 junction with General Count Wrede. The former 
 took six pieces of cannon, the latter seventeen. 
 The loss in killed and wounded was very great. 
 
 Immediately after the battle commenced the em- 
 peror of Russia and king of Prussia, with Field 
 Marshal Prince Schwartzenberg, came upon the 
 field. Field Marshal Blucher immediately after- 
 wards proceeded to the front to carry into effect 
 the dispositions he had made. He was among the 
 foremost in the attack of the village of La Rothiere 
 when on the other part his great adversary led the 
 attac^., This battle is called by the allies, the bat- 
 tle of La Rothiere, by the French, of Brienne. 
 
 The French columns began to retire about mid- 
 night, but they still occupied the position of Bri- 
 enne at day light on the 2d of February ; on which 
 day General Guilay moved with his corps along the 
 Aube upon the right of the French army, the Prince 
 Royal of Wirtemberg marched upon Brienne, 
 General Wrede advanced upon the right of the 
 Prince Royal. The French continued to retire 
 upon Lesmont, Lessicourt, and llonay. Several 
 minor actions took place during the day. 
 
 Prince Schwartzenberg received a sword from 
 the Emperor Alexander, in testimony of his admi- 
 ration of his skill and talents in bringing his army 
 without loss from the frontiers of Switzerland, tra- 
 versing all the defences on this side of France, and 
 forming a junction with Marshal Blucher in time 
 to gain so distinguished a victory, nor was the high 
 merits of the veteran field m.arshal, so often oppo- 
 sed in person to Buonaparte, or that of the other 
 generals, forgotten or unrewarded by distinguish- 
 ing marks of approbation. , 
 
 On the 5th of February an affair took place be■^ 
 feveen the advance of the corps of general D'Yorck, 
 
367 
 
 and the rear of that of Marshal M'Donald near La 
 Chaussee, between Vitry and Chalons. M'Donald 
 continued to retire upon Chalons. Three cannon 
 and some hundreds of prisoners were taken by the 
 allies who followed upon the road to Chalor^, and 
 on the French entering that town, immediately 
 commenced a bombardment. Marshal M'Donald 
 entered into a capitulation to save the town, by 
 which he agreed to evacuate the place on the 6tb, 
 which was accordingly done, the French retiring to 
 the left bank of the Marne. 
 
 Troyes was taken possession of by the allies on 
 the 7th of February. The Prince Royal of Wir- 
 temberg had on the day preceding turned the 
 French position near Ravigni ; they abandoned 
 Troyes in the evening, and the prince entered it 
 next morning. 
 
 Thus, while Prince Schwartzenberg's army, 
 which had separated from Blucher after his victory 
 of La Rothiere, was advancing upon Paris by the 
 Seine, Blucher drew by forced marches towards 
 the Marne, with the design of approaching Paris in 
 the direction of that river. 
 
 This separation was not only judicious but ne- 
 cessary, from the facility it gave of gaining supplies; 
 however, it appears that the angle of these two 
 lines of operation was too contracted. Buonaparte, 
 who retreated towards Paris, was between the two 
 lines of march, and in advance, and with the same 
 troops might operate upon both at short intervals, 
 and could on occasion cut oif all communication 
 between the two armies. 
 
 The army of field Marshal Blucher on the lOtb 
 of February occupied a very extended position, 
 its head under general Baron Saehen was at La 
 Ferte sous Jouarre ; General D'Yorck was at 
 Chateau Thierry ; an intermediate division under 
 General AlsufiefFwas at Champaubert, and Blucher 
 himself, with Langeron's corps, at Vertus. 
 
 Buonaparte saw and seized the opportunity given 
 
36g 
 
 him by the extension of Blucher's army, broke up 
 from Nogent on the 9th of February, and on the 
 10th attacked the Russian division under Alsufieff 
 at Champaubert, which after a valiant resistance, 
 was killed, wounded or taken prisoners, including 
 their general; not more than 1600 men escaping, 
 who joined the division under the immediate care 
 of Blucher. On the 11th of February Marshal 
 Blucher's head quarters were at Bergeres, and on 
 that day Generals D'Yorck and Sachen, in conse- 
 quence of the successful attempt which Buonaparte 
 had made to break the line turned about, and after 
 forming a junction, marched on Montmirail. Here 
 a severe action ensued^ The generals of the allies 
 withstood the attacks of the French emperor with 
 great firmness, and held their position through the 
 day, though with immense loss» The hottest part 
 of the action was at the village of Marchias, which 
 Was repeatedly taken and retaken. Buonaparte suc- 
 ceeded in cutting off the allies from the main divis- 
 ion of Blucher's army, and they retreated in the 
 night upon Chateau Thierry, with the loss of four 
 cannon. At Chateau Thierry, Generals Sachen and 
 D'Yorck passed the Marne on the 12th, destroyed 
 the bridge and by circuitous routes retreated to- 
 wards Chalons. On the 13th Marshal Mortier, hav- 
 ing repaired the bridge, crossed the Marne in pur- 
 suit of Sachen and D'Yorck, and the same day 
 Buonaparte arrived at Chateau Thierry, with intent 
 to follow in the same direction, but be was the same 
 evening recalled by new events to Montmirail. 
 
 Field Marshal Blucher, with the two corps of 
 Kliest and Langeron, had broken up from Yertus 
 on the 13th to attack the corps of Marmont, which 
 Buonaparte had left at Etoges as a corps of ob- 
 servation upon the Prussian veteran. Blucher ad- 
 vanced his head quarters to Champaubert. Mar- 
 mont had a small corps of from 9 to 10,000, and 
 was obliged to retreat, fighting, to the neighbour- 
 hood of Montmirail, where he was joined by Buo- 
 
369 
 
 iiaparte, wlio bad made a forced march with the 
 whole of his guards and a large body of cavahy. 
 A very severe action now took place. Marshal Blu- 
 cher being inferior in numbers, particularly in caval- 
 ry, formed his infantry into squares, and commenced 
 a retreat. The French made repeated and desperate 
 charges with their cavalry upon these squares of in-, 
 fantry, v;hich, although sustaining great loss, retir- 
 ed with that admirable firmness which characterizes 
 the German troops. After a very severe and une^ 
 qual contest, carried on during a retreat of nearly 
 four leagues, the Prussian marshal observed a large 
 body of cavalry posted on the ChaUssee in his rear 
 near Etoges. He resolved to force his way through 
 this obstacle, and by opening a heavy fire of artil-- 
 lery and musketry upon this cavalry, posted in a 
 solid mass on the Chaussee, he succeeded in forcing 
 them to retire. Upon reaching Etoges, towards 
 night, the French made a new attack upon the allies 
 with a body of their infantry, which Buonaparte 
 liad pushed through by-roads upon the flank and 
 rear of his retreating adversary. Through this im- 
 pediment the Prussians with renewed slaughter 
 made their way. In this manner Field Pdarshal 
 Blucher regained his former position near Yertus, 
 with an acknowledged loss of 3,500 men. 
 
 Blucher continued his retreat to Chalons, where, 
 on the 16th, he was joined by the corps of Sachen 
 and D*Yorck, and here the Silesian army which 
 had sustained an acknowledged loss of 13,000 men, 
 w^as forthwith put under re-organization. 
 
 It is not likely that Buonaparte would have left 
 his veteran adversary undisturbed at Chalons, to 
 recruit his strength and prepare again for offensive 
 operations, but that his presence was called for to 
 oppose the progress of Prince Schwartzenberg 
 with the main army of the allies. The French 
 emperor was under the necessity of facing both 
 armies of the allies with the same troops, and had 
 no sooner beaten back all the corps of Blucher 
 
 47 
 
.270 
 
 tlian he Was recalled to fight the divisions of 
 Schwartzenberg which threatened Paris. 
 
 The corps which Buonaparte had left on the 
 Seine, under Victor and Oudinot, to observe 
 Schwartzenberg's movements, were too weak to act 
 with any effect even on the defensive. The allies 
 imder Prince Schwartzenberg moved from Troyes 
 on the 10th. Nogent and Sens were taken by 
 storm, and the French forces retired from the left 
 to the right bank of the Seine, after destroying the 
 bridges. Count Wittgenstein advanced towards 
 lont-sur-Seine, General Wrede towards Bray, and 
 having replaced the bridges, followed in pursuit. 
 Wrede advanced upon Provins. The corps of the 
 allies under the prince of W^irtemberg, Bianchi, 
 and Guilary, made good their passage against an in- 
 effeetual resistance, and on the 16th of February 
 the head-quarters of Prince Schwartzenberg were 
 advanced to Bray, and the next day Platofi' entered 
 Fontainbleau. The. same day the advance of the 
 grand army was within 40 miles of Paris, at Nan- 
 gi's. 
 
 But here, too, the activity and valour of the 
 French emperor and his troops changed the aspect 
 of aflairs. On the 1 71h Buonaparte had placed him- 
 self in a situation to commence offensive operations 
 upon the grand allied army, and on the 18th he at- 
 tacked Count Wittgenstein's corps at Nangis, and 
 beat it back with a great loss of men and artillery. 
 Prince Schwartzenberg was obliged to retrace his 
 steps, and recross the Seine. The French pursued 
 with repeated attacks upon his rear. 
 
 On the 19th Buonaparte attacked the corps of the 
 prince royal of Wirteinberg, posted on Blontereau, 
 and occupying the bridge at that place. The allies 
 contended against the fury of repeated assaults 
 until late in the day, when the French succeeded 
 in driving them from their positions, and occupying 
 the bridge. 
 
 On the 21st the French head quarters were again 
 
371 
 
 atNogent; and on the 23d Buonaparte appeared 
 before Troyes. To seciiie the town from destruc- 
 tion, an agreement was entered into, by which the 
 allies were ])ermitted to leave the place without 
 molestation, and on the 24th the French emperor 
 entered. 
 
 Meanwhile Marshal Blucher, after resting his 
 army a few days and collecting every reinforce- 
 ment within reach, had set out to form a junctioQ 
 with the grand army under prince Schwartzenberg. 
 On the 21st of February, he had scarcely arrived 
 at Mery upon the Seine, and relieved Wittgen- 
 stein's corps, when the town was attacked by tw^o 
 corps from the opposite side, witJiout any further 
 result than burningthe tow^n. Blucher maintained 
 his position. This movement of Marshal Blucher 
 facilitated the retrograde movements of Prince 
 Schwartzenberg, and both armies now retired. 
 
 Marshal Blucher broke up from Mery on the 
 23d of February, crossed the Aube the next day 
 near Auglure, and marched across the country to- 
 wards La Ferte Gaucher. This movement appears 
 to have been with a view of being reinforced by 
 the corps of Bulow, Woronzow, and Wiiazingerode, 
 which were advancing from the north, the latter 
 having already taken Soisj^ons by assault, and made 
 prisoners its garrison of 2000 men. By effecting 
 a junction with these corps, Blucher would have 
 command of a most imposing army, and might 
 change front and operate from the northward againsl 
 Paris, placing himself in such a relative situation to 
 Schwartzenberg, that Buonaparte should no longer 
 xDperate with the same forces upon both. 
 
 Thus the first attempt of the allies failed to gain 
 possession of the capital of the French empire. It 
 has been seen that on the lllh of February, the 
 army of Silesia under Blucher had reached Ferte 
 sous Jouarre, only 45 miles from Paris ; on the 1 6th, 
 it had retreated 78 miles, to Chalons, collecting its 
 Scattered divisions 123 miles from the French capi- 
 
372 
 
 tal. On the 17th the grand army under Schwart- 
 zenberg occupied Fontainbleau and Nangis, 45 
 miles from Paris; on Ihe 19th it had fallen back 75 
 miles to Troyes, or 1 1 1 from Ihe metropolis. 
 
 Great was the exultation of the French emperor 
 at these successes, which were magnified beyond 
 all bounds to inspire the people with confidence. 
 The armies of the allies were represented as not 
 merely repulsed, but dispersed, broken, annihilated. 
 It was soon, however, seen that these annihilated 
 armies were not only in being, but in greater force, 
 advancing to new conflicts, to be terminated by a 
 glorious peace. 
 
 When Marshal Blucher marched upon La Ferte 
 Gaucher, Marshal Marmont retired with his corps to 
 La Ferte Jouarre, on the Marne, where he was join* 
 ed by the corps of Mortier, who had been posted at 
 Chateau Thiery to observe Winzingerode. By a 
 skilful demonstration upon Meaux, which menaced 
 Marmont's communication with Paris, Blucher com- 
 pelled him to evacuate La Ferte sous Jouarre, and 
 leave open a passage for the allies, which was ef- 
 fected without opposition by crossing the Marne 
 on the 28th of February. Meanwhile Buonaparte, 
 having intelligence of the movement of Blucher, 
 broke up from Troyes on the 27th of February, 
 and leaving an inefficient force to watch Prince 
 Schwartzenberg, marched to oppose the army of 
 Silesia. On the 1st of march, Buonaparte arrived 
 upon the Marne, but Blucher was advancing upon 
 Soissons. This place, which had been several times 
 taken and retaken, was now in the possession of 
 the allies, and served as the point of concentration 
 for ail the troops destined to act under Blucher. 
 On the 3d of March the field marshal was joined by 
 the corps of Winzingerode, Woronzow, and Bulow, 
 and his army extended from Soissons along the 
 Aisne as far hs Craone. 
 
 On the 4th Buonaparte arrived on the Aisne, and 
 next day attempted to force a passage at SoissonSo 
 
373 
 
 An obstinate contest took place, but he was baffled 
 with loss. He then defiled the principal part of 
 his army to the right, and on the 6th succeeded in 
 crossing the river higher up, at Bery le Bee. On 
 the 7th he attacked the left wing of Blucher's army 
 at Craone. Here was fought a bloody battle. The 
 left wing of the allies commanded by Winzinge- 
 rode, where the principal attack was made, sulFered 
 an immense loss, and Blucher once more retreated 
 before Buonaparte with a loss of 10,000 men, put 
 hors de combat. 
 
 After the battle of Craone the veteran marshal 
 took another and a stronger position in a very 
 commanding situation, immediately in frorst of 
 Laon. On the 9th Buonaparte appeared in front of 
 Blucher's position, and with about 80,000 men 
 made a general and murderous attack, which lasted 
 during that and the next day. During this tre- 
 mendous contest, which terminated in the retreat 
 of the French, the right and centre of the allies 
 could do no more than maintain themselves in their 
 strong position ; but in the left wing, where the 
 corps of D'Yorck and Sachen fought, the French 
 assailants were finally discomfited with great loss, 
 leaving 6000 prisoners and 48 pieces of artillery 
 with the allies. 
 
 Though repulsed with this loss, Buonaparte left 
 his adversary unable or unwilling to pursue him, 
 and immediately moved upon Rheims, where on 
 the 12th the allies under GeneralSt. Priest had 
 taken a position. Buonaparte attacked him on the 
 13th with the advance of his army, consisting of ar- 
 tillery and cavalry. The Russian artillery and in- 
 fantry maintained the conflict for some hours. St. 
 Pirest was struck from his horse by a cannon ball, 
 and carried off the field. The Russian cavalry 
 were borne down by numbers and cut to pieces. 
 The allies at length fled precipitately through 
 Rheims, pressed upon by an overwhelming force 
 
374 
 
 of cavalry, and lost, beside killed and wounde^d, 
 5000 prisoners. 
 
 During the removal of the main French army 
 and emperor from the Seine, Prince Scbwartzen- 
 berg, who was undoubtedly obstructed by a very 
 inferior force, moved forward to re-occupy the 
 ground he had lost, but gained no advantages of a 
 decided or important nature. On the 4(h his head 
 quarters were at Troyes, at which place he con- 
 tinued until the 13tb. "On the 15th of March, in 
 consequence of Buonaparte's retreat from before 
 Blucher at Laon, Schwartzenbergr moved to 
 Pont sur Seine and assumed an aspect of offence. 
 Several corps were put in motion, but the news 
 of the defeat of St Priest at Rheims checked all 
 these movements. On the 16th the head quarters 
 of prince Schwartzenberg were at Arcis, and Buo- 
 naparte advancing from Rheims upon Fere Cham- 
 penoisse. The movements of the commanders of 
 the allies were now directed towards forming a 
 junction, and those of Buonaparte to obstruct that 
 object. Frequent changes of position, with actionis 
 between small corps of the contending armies, took 
 place. On the 19th we find Buonaparte in posses- 
 sion of Arcis, and the next day the allies concen- 
 trated all the corps of the main army before Arcis, 
 and offered battle, but about one o'clock the French 
 army were perceived filing off on the other side of 
 the Aube, and their columns taking the direction of 
 Vitry. Their rearguard, in Arcis, was attacked 
 by the Prince of Wirtemberg, but they valiantly 
 defended themselves, and covered the movement of 
 the army. 
 
 Marshal Bkicher, being joined by the remains of 
 the corps of St. Priest, moved upon Rheims, which 
 bis advance entered as the rear of the French re- 
 treated. The army of Silesia moved forward to 
 their junction with the grand army. 
 
 In the evening of the 21st of March, the whole 
 of the French army was in march for Vitry. That 
 
375 
 
 night the French emperor remained at Sommessiis ; 
 on the following clay the advance of his army ar- 
 rived at Vitry, and summoned the place to sur- 
 render. A Prussian colonel, with 4000 men, held 
 it for the allies and refused to surrender, which 
 obliged the French commander to cross the Marne 
 by bridges which he constructed near Frignicourt. 
 Buonaparte here passed his whole army on the 23d 
 and 24lh of March, and immediately took the di- 
 rection of St. Dezier. Marshals Ney and M'Don- 
 ald were in front of the allies, filing to join the 
 emperor at St. Dezier. 
 
 Buonaparte might now have had one of these 
 three objects in view : either by movements round 
 the right of the allies to force them back ; or, if 
 that failed, to operate upon their communications, 
 and even proceed to form a junction with marshal 
 Augerau ; or, lastly, by moving to his fortresses of 
 Metz, ifec. prolong the war by resisting on a new 
 line, while he placed the allies in the centre of 
 France, having taken the best precautions in his 
 power for the safety of his capital. 
 
 It is said that the allies knew this last to be his 
 plan by means of an intercepted letter, and that 
 Prince Schwartzenberg regulated his movements 
 accordingly. The bold resolution was taken of 
 forming the junction of the two armies to the west- 
 ward, thus placing themselves between the French 
 army and Paris, and proceeding wath a united force 
 of at least 200,000 men to the capital of the French 
 empire. 
 
 In order the better to mask this movement, the 
 march of the allied army was made from Pougey, 
 Lesmont, and Arcis on Vitry ; the emperor of 
 Russia, by two extraordinary marches of 18 and 12 
 leagues, established his head quarters, with those of 
 the marshal prince Schwartzenberg, at Yitry on 
 the 24th of March. 
 
 On the 25th the combined armies marched in 
 three columns to Fere Champenoisse. All the 
 
376 
 
 cavalry of the army formed tbe advance, arid were 
 to push forward to Sezanne. Marshal Blucher had 
 arrived at Chalons, and his cavahy, under Winzin- 
 gerode and Czernichofr, had entered Vitry on the 
 23d, and had been immediately despatched to fol- 
 low up Buonaparte's march to St. Dezier and threat- 
 en his rear. Winzingerode's infantry had remain- 
 ed with Blucher at Chalons, together with Wo- 
 Tonzoff and Sachen's corps. Bulow had marched 
 to attack Soissons; and Generals D'Yorck and 
 Kleist had moved on the line of Montmirail. It 
 is pretty obvious, from these movements, that if 
 Buonaparte had not crossed the Aube, and, passing 
 between the armies of Blucher and Schwartzen- 
 berg, thrown them between himself and Paris, 
 he would have found himself in a similar situation 
 to that which proved so fatal to him at Leipsic. 
 
 It appears that the corps of Marshals Marmont 
 and Mortier had been ordered by Buonaparte to 
 join him, previous to his adopting his late plan ; or 
 perhaps, were, without instructions, retiring from 
 before Marshal Blucher, and, ignorant of their em- 
 peror's plans, were moving down towards Vitry to 
 join him. Certain it is that Marmont's advance 
 was within a very short distance of Vitry on the 
 night of the 24th, without any suspicion that tbe 
 place was in the hands of the allies. 
 
 On the morning of the 25th of March the ad- 
 vanced guard of the Prince Royal of Wirtemberg 
 fell in with the advance of Marmont soon after he 
 had commenced his march. The French, perceiv- 
 ing a great force advancing upon then), retired. 
 The cavahy pursued, and the Russian guards 
 charged the French cuirassiers, and afterwards the 
 infantry, taking iOOO prisoners, 10 cannon with 
 caissons, waggons, (&c. 
 
 Upon the arrival of Prince Schwartzenberg at 
 Fere Champenoisse, a large body of French were 
 observed marching directly upon head quarters. 
 This. -proved to be a detached column of 500O 
 
37^ 
 
 hien under General Ames, which had been making 
 its way under the protection of Marmont's corps 
 from the neighbourhood of Montmirail to join 
 the emperor's grand army* This corps had in charge 
 an immense convoy with 100,000 rations of bread 
 and ammunition. The cavalry of Marshal Blucher 
 had first discovered this corps, and had driven it up- 
 on Fere Champenoisse, as the cavalry of the grand 
 army was advancing. Some charges of cavalry had 
 been made upon this corps, principally composed 
 of young troops and national guards ; they were 
 formed in squares, and defended themselves with 
 the skill and firmness of veterans. When they 
 Were completely surrounded by the cavalry of both 
 armies, some officers were sent to demand their sur- 
 render, but they refused, and seemed determined to 
 cut their way through their enemies, marching on 
 and firing without cessation. A battery of Russian 
 artillery was opened upon them, which broke down 
 their ranks with terrible slaughter ; and this was 
 followed by renewed charges of cavalry, which 
 completed their destruction. The corps of Mar- 
 mont and Mortier retreated upon Paris, and left in 
 the hands of the allies on this occasion between 80 
 and 90 pieces of cannon, from 6 to 7,000 prisoners, 
 beside the convoy above mentioned. 
 
 Generals D'Yorck and Kleist who had moved 
 from Montmirail to La Ferte Gaucher, arrived on 
 the 26th in time to augment the discomfiture of this 
 portion of the French army. General D'Yorck's 
 corps made 1500 prisoners. Nothing but a con- 
 tinued series of forced marches could have enabled 
 Marmont and Morlier to carry off the remains of 
 this army into Paris. 
 
 On the 26th of March the grand army of the 
 allies was in motion in three columns from Fere 
 Champenoisse. The head quarters of the emperor 
 of Russia and Prince Schwartfenberg were at 
 Treffou ; the cavalry of Count Pahlen were pushed 
 on beyond La Ferte Goucher, and joined Generals 
 
 48 
 
D' Yorck and Kleist ; the cavalry and reserve Were 
 bivouacked at La Yergere, on the right of the great 
 road ; the 6tlj and 4th corps were in the centre ; 
 the 5th on the left, and the 3d remained in the rear 
 to cover all the baggage, artillery, parks, and train, 
 and to make the march of the whole compact. 
 Some partisan corps occupied the country about; 
 Arcis and Troves, between the Marne and Seine 
 rivers. 
 
 Generals Winzingerode and CzernichofF, who 
 continued to folJow on the rear of Buonaparte with 
 10,000 cavalry and 40 pieces of cannon, found that 
 he was marching by Brienne to Bar sur Aube and 
 Troyes, thus hastening back to the capital with the 
 utmost precipitation. " 
 
 On the 28th and 29th of March the united armies 
 of Prince Schwartzenberg and Marshal Blucher 
 passed the Marne at Triport and Meaux. The 
 French opposed but a feeble resistance to the pas- 
 sage of the river. About 10,000 of the national 
 guard endeavoured to make a stand before a part 
 of the army of Silesia between La Ferte Jouarre 
 and Meaux, but General Home, placing himself at 
 the head of some squadrons, pierced the French 
 infantry and took their commander prisoner. Ori 
 the evening of the 28th General D'Yorek was se- 
 verely engaged near Claye ; he however, succeed- 
 ed, after some obstinate fighting, in dislodging the 
 French troops from the woods about that place. 
 
 On the 29th the whole army (with the excep- 
 tion of the corps of Wrede and Sachen, which were 
 left in position at Meaux) advanced upon Paris, 
 Continual skirmishing took place, but the French 
 retired, giving up Pantin, on their right, and the 
 ground in front of Montmartre on their left. 
 
 Previous to the junction of Marshals Marmont 
 and Mortier's corps with the garrison of Paris, that 
 capital had only for its defence a part of General 
 Gerard's corps, with about 8000 regular troops, and 
 the national guards, amounting to about 30,000 
 
379 
 
 men, under General Kulin. .Tosepb Buonaparte, 
 with this inadequate force, had charge of the defence 
 of the capital of France. Marmont and Mortier 
 rendered him every assistance in their power. 
 
 On the 30th of March the French occupied with 
 their right the heights of Fontenoy, Romainviilej 
 and Belleville ; their left was on Montmartre, and 
 they had several redoubts in the centre, on the canal 
 de rOurque, and on the whole line a train of ar- 
 tillery of above one hundred and fifty pieces. This 
 position was strong from the intersected nature of 
 the ground on its right. The heights of Montmar- 
 tre commanded the plain in the rear of the canal 
 del'Ourque, and added strength to the French posi^ 
 tion ; but it is easily seen, that the force of the de- 
 fenders was by no means adequate to resist an army 
 of 200,000 Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, flush- 
 ed with victory, inured to discipline, and directed by 
 generals equal, at least, to the marshals of France. 
 
 In order to attack the French positions^, the Sile- 
 *ian army was directed upon Montmartre, St. Denis, 
 and the villages of La Yalette and Pantin ; while 
 the grand army attacked the right of the French, on 
 the heigbtsof Fontenoy, Romainville and Belleville. 
 The 6th corps, under ReifFsky, moved from Bon- 
 dy, in three columns of attack, supported by the 
 guards and the reserves. Leaving the great route of 
 Meaux, they attacked the heights of Romainville 
 and Belleville, which, as w^ell as Montmartre, are 
 very commanding, the ground between being cover- 
 ed with villages and country seats. These heights 
 command Paris, and the country around. 
 
 Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, with his division 
 of the 6th corps, commenced the attack, and en- 
 dured for a long time a most galling fire of artille- 
 ry, but being supported by the reserves of grena- 
 diers, he carried the heights of Romainville, and 
 the French retreated to those of Belleville. The 
 Prince Royal of Wirtemberg supported this attack 
 hy a simultaneous movement, upon the heights of 
 
380 
 
 Rosney and Cbarenton. The 3d corps of the army 
 was placed in echellon, near Nuilly, in reserve, as 
 well as the cavalry. 
 
 The attack of the Silesian army was delayed by 
 some accident and did not commence so soon as 
 that of Prince Schvvartzenberaj. But the columns 
 of Blucher were soon seen debouching under Gen- 
 erals D'Yorck and Kliest, and attacking the French 
 positions at Auberville and Saare« At Pantin 
 the French made a gallant resistance to the over- 
 whelming numbers of their enemies, but the place 
 was carried by the allies at the point of the bay- 
 onet. 
 
 In the centre a strong redoubt and battery kept 
 General D'Yorck in check for a long time, but the 
 right flank of the French having been gained by 
 the successful attack upon Romainville, they were 
 obliged to retire from this position. 
 
 The French commanders, seeing the unavailing 
 resistance which their brave troops were making 
 to superior numbers, demanded a cessation of hos- 
 tilities, offering to give up all the ground without 
 the barriers of Paris, until further arrangements 
 could be made. 
 
 The chiefs of the allies, guided by that wisdom 
 which has so eminently distinguished their councils, 
 and so conspicuously led them to victory, imme- 
 diately acceded to the proposition. Count Par, 
 aid-de-camp to the emperor of Russia, and Colonel 
 Orloff, aide-de-camp to Prince Schwarizenberg, 
 were sent to arrange the cessation of hostilities. 
 At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the battle had. ceased, 
 and Count Nesselrode, his imperial majesty's min- 
 ister, entered Paris. 
 
 It is sometimes useful, and always agreeable, to 
 follow the thought which so often suggests itself, " If 
 such an event had not happened, what would have 
 been the consequence ?" for although the destined 
 chain of causes and effects is undeviating and un- 
 changeable, we can imagine a link removed, and 
 
381 
 
 replace it by anolher, Avhose consequences inevita- 
 bly lead to a result widely difTerent from Ihe reali- 
 ty. Thus, if Buonaparte had, instead of throwing 
 himself in the rear of the allies, kept himfelf be- 
 tween them and Paris, we must imagine from this 
 day's conflict, in which the French had so slender 
 a force to oppose to the immense host of their as- 
 sailants, that all the army of Buonaparte, w^iththe 
 unbroken corps of Marmont and Pvlortier, w^ould 
 have given a fearful, perhaps a fatal check to the 
 progress of the allied sovereigns. But happily for 
 mankind, Napoleon rushed blindly in more than 
 one instance, to his destruction ; and the moment 
 had now arrived when empire and power were to 
 fall from him, and a new^ system of things commence 
 under the guidance of those councils which had 
 overthrown him. The day after the battle of Paris, 
 the allied princes entered that capital, and their 
 entry may be considered as the signal of the com- 
 plete downfal of Napoleon Buonaparte ; perhaps 
 by previous agreement with the leaders of the 
 French people. 
 
 Before we enter upon the detail of the arrange- 
 ments by which peace was restored to Europe, we 
 will look back to the events which were passing in 
 the north, in Italy, and in the south of France, du- 
 ring the march of the allies to Paris. 
 
 We have seen that the crown prince of Sweden, 
 in November, entered Hanover, and pushed foi- 
 w^ard his troops into Holland. In both these coun- 
 tries this prince was deservedly popular. His great 
 talents and consummate prudence, which had been 
 so eminently useful in the councils of the allies du- 
 ring the progress of the war, were now usefully 
 exerted in the north ; while Russia, Austria, and 
 Prussia attracted the gaze of the world on a more 
 splendid scene of action. In February he was si ill 
 in Hanover, and addressed a proclamation to his 
 countrymen, the French, in which he declares that 
 the intention of the allies is not to divide Franca, 
 
382 
 
 but to secure tbeir own independence ; be accuses 
 Buonaparte of being the author of all the evils 
 which Frenchmen suffer, but somewhat ludicrously 
 reproaches them with serving a man not born among 
 them. On the 12th of February, when crossing 
 the Rhine and entering with his Swedes the territo- 
 ry of his native country, he again addressed his 
 French countrymen ; he tells them that at the com- 
 mand of his king, he had taken up arms for the de- 
 fence of Sweden ; that he had avenged the Swedes, 
 and assisted in effecting the liberation of Germany ; 
 that the object of the war, on the part of the allies, 
 is to secure themselves, not to injure France, and 
 that his principal happiness will consist, after ful- 
 filling his duty to his adopted country, " in secur- 
 ing the future happiness of his former countrymen." 
 
 Hamburg, in possession of the French, under 
 Marshal Davoust, continued to experience the 
 misery resulting from the presence of a garrison of 
 foreigners, who seized upon every resource, which 
 the city presented, to retard that event which the 
 inhabitants most wished. 
 
 In Holland the leaders of the people, not content 
 with the restoration of the ancient constitution, and 
 the hereditary stadtholdership in the house of Or- 
 ange, changed the character of the government to 
 that of a limited monarchy. On this occasion the 
 prince of Orange issued an address, on the 2d of 
 December, 1813, in which he disavowed all inclina- 
 tion to assume any other title than that of stadt- 
 holder, but submitted his will, like a dutiful soye^ 
 reign to the w411 of his subjects. The sovereign 
 prince issued a decree, annulling all the duties and 
 restrictions established by the French government. 
 The work of rectification and re-establishment went 
 on happily; and on the 3d of Blarch, 1814, Wil- 
 liam of Orange and Nassau, Sovereign Prince of 
 the United Netherlands, issued a proclamation, in 
 which he says, that having been called to the sove- 
 reignty by the people, he "has declared that be un- 
 
383 
 
 tfertooli the same, only under the guaranty of a 
 constitution, which should secure the freedom of the 
 people against all abuses : that he had considered it 
 his duty to summon together " men of considera- 
 tion," and to charge them with the task of establish- 
 ing a fundamental code corresponding to the habits, 
 wishes, and necessities of the people ; that this had 
 been performed and submitted to him ; that he ap- 
 proves of it, but as it concerns the whole of the peo- 
 ple, the people must be consulted thereon ; that the 
 people must receive the strongest assurance that 
 their interests are attended to by the constitution, 
 that religious freedom shall be secured, that educa- 
 tion shall be attended to, that personal freedom 
 shall be no longer an empty name, that the admin-- 
 istration of justice shall be impartial, that com- 
 merce, agriculture, and manufactures, shall not be 
 obstructed, that no restraint be imposed on the do- 
 mestic economy of the people, that by the co-ope- 
 ration of the two principal branches of the govern- 
 ment, the general laws shall be founded on the true 
 interests of the state, that " the finances, and the 
 arming of the people, the main pillars of the body 
 politic, be placed in that central point upon which 
 the greatest and most invaluable privilege of a free 
 people — their independence — may be firmly fixed." 
 After taking a glance at the miseries the country 
 has suffered, he calls upon the people to support 
 him in his efforts to re-establish the country, and 
 states, that in order to be enabled to judge whether 
 the constitutional code, thus framed, be a means of 
 obtaining the end wished, he purposes to submit it, 
 for maturer consideration, to an assembly of the 
 best qualified persons ; he has, therefore, appointed 
 a special commission, to choose, out of a list given 
 in to him, 600 persons, in due proportion to the 
 population of the existing departments, who, when 
 confirmed by the people (as after directed) shall 
 meet on the *28th of March, 1814, at Amsterdam, 
 and determine this weighty business," The prinpe 
 
384 
 
 goes on to say, that a list of the persons chosen for 
 each department shall be made public ; that any 
 inhabitant, being a house-keeper, may, by signing 
 his name in a register which shall lay open for eight 
 days in each canton, disapprove of any person ot 
 persons whom he may deem unqualified ; and that^ 
 when it shall appear to him, from summing up the 
 registers, that the majority are satisfied with the 
 persons thus submitted to their election, he shall 
 consider them as the representatives of the whole 
 Dutch people, call them together, appear in the 
 midst of them, and salute them as such ; that they 
 shall, in freedom, proceed in their labour, and re* 
 port by a committee their progress to him, and as 
 the constitutional code is adopted, he will take the 
 oath prescribed, and be installed in state. 
 
 In the mean time, the English army which had 
 been sent to the Netherlands to co-operate with the 
 allies appears to have sustained a series of defeats 
 and disasters. Sir T. Graham, distinguished in the 
 history of the present war by the sanguinary as- 
 saults of St. Sebastian, met with repulse in two 
 attempts upon Antwerp early in February, but 
 his defeat in an attack upon Bergen-op-Zoom, on 
 the 8th of March, was singularly disgraceful to 
 the English arms. This almost impregnable mas- 
 ter-piece of tlie great engineer Cohorn was assault- 
 ed by the orders of General Graham, and attempt- 
 ed to be carried by a coup de main^ without the 
 requisite breaching being made, or, as it appears^ 
 any sufficient ground to justify the assault. 
 
 The attack was made in four columns on the 
 night of the 8th of March. It had been given out 
 that an attempt was to be made on Fort Lillo, be- 
 tween Antwerp and Bergen-op-Zoom. Bergen is 
 on a rising ground, or hill, protected by a marsh 
 on the southeast, and watered by the little river 
 Soon, vv'hich is distributed into dykes and canals. 
 On the west it is washed by a branch of the Scheldt. 
 It is slated that the French commander wished to 
 
385 
 
 evacuate the place and that the inhabitants were in 
 favour of the assailants. 
 
 On the southeast side, and on the north side next 
 to Molen, the attack was made simultaneously, and, 
 at first, with some success* Assisted by the ice, 
 the English traversed the morass, scaled the em- 
 palements and chevaux-de-frize, and gained posses- 
 sion of part of the ramparts The garrison was ta- 
 ken by surprise, and made feeble resistance to the 
 first divisions of assailants, but no confusion ensu- 
 ed ; the Fi-ench flew to their posts, and made their 
 Usual skilful and valiant defence. Major General 
 Cooke commanded the left column of the English, 
 Major General Skerritt and Brigadier General 
 Gore accompanied the right, which was the first 
 that forced its way into the place. The two col- 
 umns were to move along the rampart, so as to form 
 a junction as soon as possible, clear the ramparts, 
 and assist the centre column, or force the Antwerp 
 gate. The left column was thrown into disorder by 
 finding a difficulty in passing the ditch on the ice* 
 and their attack was delayed until half past 11 
 o^clock. They assaulted by escalade, but their ene- 
 my was prepared for them. The French, from the 
 tops of the walls, raised up the ladders with hooks, 
 and dashed down the men on the frozen ditches. 
 The gates were opened from within, and the great- 
 er part of this column likewise gained the ramparts. 
 Meanwhile General Gore and Colonel Carleton 
 were killed. Major General Skerritt severely woun- 
 ded, and the right column fell into disorder, and 
 suffered proportionably in killed, wounded, and 
 prisoners. The English guards were drawn up, 
 and prepared to fire by platoons, when they were 
 ordered to throw out their priming, and charge ; 
 they advanced at the pas de charge^ but were mow- 
 ed down by showers of balls which laid nearly the 
 whole brigade prostrate. A detachment of the 
 guards which had been sent to the a'jsistance of 
 
 49 
 
Colonel Carleton, and to secure the Antwerp gatej- 
 were totally cut off'. 
 
 The centre column, having been forced back 
 with great loss, and its commanders both killed, 
 wer^ re-formed under the command of a major, and 
 marched to the assistance of General Cooke. 
 
 After a night of confusion, disaster, and slaught* 
 er, the day broke, only to show the English their 
 forlorn situation, and to expose them, unprotected, 
 on the ramparts, to the surer aim of their enemies* 
 guns. The reserve of the fourth column, the Roy- 
 al Scotts, getting under a destructive cross fire, 
 threw down their arms. The French commander, 
 General Bizanet, took the first opportunity . which 
 day light afforded to send an officer to General 
 Cooke with a summons to surrender ; which he 
 very wisely complied with, and the remainder of 
 the English laid down their arms on the ramparts of 
 Bergen-op-Zoom. 
 
 General Bizanet drew forth the admiration of 
 his enemies more by his humane attention to his 
 suffering assailants than by his excellent defence. 
 He entered into an agreement for a suspension of 
 hostilities for three days, suffered all prisoners, not 
 too severely wounded, to depart on parole, and al- 
 leviated by every means in his power the miseries 
 which a rash attempt had brought on the English 
 troops. 
 
 In Italy Buonaparte was deserted by another 
 king of his own manufacturing ; and King Murat 
 was received as a legitimate sovereign by the allied 
 monarcbs of Europe. On the 17th of January, 
 1814,v Murat announced th3« event to the world, in 
 a curious manifesto. On the 19th his Neapolitans 
 entered the papal territories ; established a pro- 
 visional government at Home on the 24th, and, 
 progressing northward, occupied Florence. Anoth- 
 er army of Neapolitans joined the Austrians at Fa- 
 rara on th^ 22d, and General Beliegarde, having 
 had a^ personal interview with Murat, put his army 
 
387 
 
 in motion early in February, to attack Prince Eu- 
 s;ene Beaubarnois, who still adhered to Napoleon. 
 With tlie Neapolitans marching on his flank and 
 rear, Beauharnois was compelled to abandon his po- 
 sitions on the Adige, which he Ijad successfully de- 
 fended against the Austrians, and to fall back upon 
 Mincio. On the 8th of February General Belle- 
 garde attacked the French at Valleggio, and a very 
 severe battle with great slaughter ensued, without 
 any decisive result. The advantage was with Beau- 
 harnois, who, nevertheless, was obliged, by the de- 
 monstrations of the Neapolitans against his rear, to 
 continue his retrograde raovetnents. 
 
 About the middle of February Lord Welling- 
 ton, with an army of Spanish, Portuguese, and En- 
 glish, opened the campaign in the south of France 
 This great general had been enabled, owing to the 
 successes of Russia, to drive the French armies out 
 of the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, and to 
 follow them into the French territory. On the 
 27th of February was fought the battle of Orthez, 
 in which Marshal Soult was defeated by the allies 
 under Lord Wellington, and lost a large portion of 
 his army not only by death, wounds, and captivity, 
 but bv desertion. 
 
 The army of the allies having crossed the Adour, 
 below Bayonne, and invested that city, Lord Wel- 
 lington pushed on a detachment of his army, under 
 Sir W. Beresford, to take possession of Bordeaux. 
 On the 12th of March the citizens of Bordeaux, pre- 
 ceded by the mayor, came out to meet the English 
 general with acclamations, and displayed the white 
 cocka<ie in token of loyalty to Louis XYIII. 
 
 Louis Antoine, duke of Angouleme, and nephew 
 to the titular king of France, who had been sent to 
 the south to join Wellington, and take advantage 
 of the events which might favour the Bourbon dy- 
 nasty, published letters patent from the titular king,' 
 dated from Hartwell, England, authorizing him to 
 establish the king's government in all places to 
 
388 
 
 which he might be able to penetrate ; to levy 
 troops, and receive the allegiance of those who 
 might abandon the opposite standard ; to command 
 all the military for the king; to' take from the pub- 
 lic chests all necessary treasure for the royal ser- 
 vice ; to appoint all officers both civil and military; 
 these powers to continue in force until the arrival 
 of the king, or of his brother Charles Philip (Mon- 
 sieur) who had been appointed lieutenant general 
 of the kingdom. 
 
 The duke of Angouleme proceeded to Bordeaux, 
 and assured the people of France that they were de- 
 livered from tyrants, wars, conscriptions, and vexa- 
 tious imposts ; and the whole of the department of 
 La Landes declared for Louis XYIIL 
 
 In the mean time the shattered army of Soult 
 continued to retreat before Wellington, who, having 
 collected his detachments, on the 18th of March, 
 pushed the French with some loss to Vic Bagourey 
 and Tarbes. On the 20th Soult made a show of 
 giving battle at Tarbes, but on the approach of the 
 allies, retreated, skirmishing. On the 24th the 
 French army had reached Toulouse. 
 
 No event of importance took place in the south 
 of Frailce until after the momentous transactions 
 at Paris, which decided the fate of Furope ; yet, that 
 we may not turn again to the inferior parts of our 
 story, we will here notice some unfortunate occur- 
 rences in which the waste of human life was even 
 more than usually to be regretted, as unnecessary, 
 and without acccomplishing any desirable purpose. 
 On the lOth of April Lord Wellington, not having' 
 heard of the cessation of hostilities agreed upon at 
 Paris, attacked the positions of Marshal Soult at 
 Tolouse ; the French joined battle, and a contest 
 succeeded, which was as sanguinary as it was use- 
 less. After various attacks and repulses, the French 
 were driven from their positions, and evacuated 
 iToulouse, after sustaining a loss of six generals and 
 ^ great number pf men, killed or wounded. Op 
 
389 
 
 the IStli Sir Jolin Hope, who coramanded the be- 
 siegers of Bayou ne, having received intinmlion of 
 the transactions at Paris, sent a flag comniiinicating 
 the intelligence to the French commafider, who, 
 paying no attention to this message, made a sortie 
 very unexpectedly upon the English, killed and 
 wounded a great number of men, with two generals, 
 and among other prisoners took the English com- 
 mander. Sir John Hope. 
 
 Having taken this cursory view^ of the more dis- 
 tant and less important events, we I'eturn to the 
 momentous transactions which were passing at and 
 near Paris. 
 
 After the battle of the 30th of March, under the 
 walls of Paris, it was agreed that the French, un- 
 der the command of Joseph Buonaparte, should 
 evacuate the city on the morning of the 31st, and 
 the allied sovereigns take possession, with their ar- 
 mies, of the capital of France. The capitulation 
 consisted of eight articles, by which it was provi- 
 ded, that the troops of the line should leave the city 
 with all the appurtenances of their corps d^armee 
 at seven o'clock in the morning j that hostilities 
 should not recommence until two hours after ; that 
 all arsenals, &c. &c. should be left as before the 
 capitulation was proposed ; that the national guards 
 should be separated from the troops of the line, 
 and disarmed or disbanded at the pleasure of the 
 allies ; and the city was recommended to the gene- 
 rosity of the allies. 
 
 On the 31st the emperor of Russia and king of 
 Prussia, at the head of their troops, (for on such 
 occasions all emperors and kings head their troops,) 
 entered the city of Paris, and were received with 
 acclamations. The white cockade Avas displayed 
 by some of the Parisians, and the cry of " Vive 
 Louis XVin." was heard and encouraged. The 
 national guard in their uniforms, and armed, clear- 
 ed avenues for the troops of the allies to pass, 
 while the people hailed the entrance of an invading 
 
390 
 
 and conquering army as a blessing, and the lower 
 order of the populace amused themselves by pla- 
 cing a rope round the neck of the statue of ISfapo- 
 leon, shouting " a bas le tyran.'* 
 
 The emperor of Russia went immediately to the 
 hotel of Talleyrand, and in the afternoon of the 
 Bame day published a declaration, stating that the 
 object of the allies was to restrain the ambition of 
 Buonaparte, and that as soon as France, by changing 
 her government, shall give assurance of peace, the 
 allies are ready to treat on terms favourable to her ; 
 that they will treat no more with Napoleon Buona- 
 parte or any of his family ; that they respect the 
 integrity of ancient France, and because they think, 
 that for the happiness of Europe France ought to 
 be great and strong, they are even willing to add 
 to her ancient power ; that they will recognise and 
 guarantee the constitution which the French nation 
 shall give itself, and invite the senate to appoint a 
 provisional government, and prepare such a consti- 
 tution as may be adopted by the French people. 
 On the first of April the emperor of Russia nomi- 
 nated General Sachen as governor of Paris, and 
 the same day the provisional government was or- 
 ganized, consisting of Talleyrand, Prince of Bene- 
 vente, the Duke D'Alberg, General Count de 
 Bournonville, Francoise de Faucourt, and the 
 Abbe Montesquieu. One of their first acts was to 
 order every obstacle to be removed which opposed 
 the journey of the pope, the courageous head of 
 the church, to his own territories; and to order that 
 Prince Carlos of Spain, Ferdinand's brother, should 
 be conducted with all honours to the first Spanish 
 post. 
 
 A decree for the dethronement of Buonaparte 
 was brought forward in the conservative senate on 
 the 2d of April, which, after revision, was on the 3d 
 adopted. It declares, that in a constitutional 
 monarchy the monarch exists only in virtue of the 
 constitution, or social compact; that Napoleon Buo* 
 
391 
 
 naparte durirrg a period of firm and prudent go- 
 vernment, gave reason to expect further acts of 
 wisdom and justice, but afterwards violated the 
 compact which united him to the people, by levy- 
 ing imposts and taxes contrary to law, and the oath 
 which he had taken ; that he had adjourned the le- 
 gislative body without necessity; suppressed a 
 criminal report of that body, and disputed its title 
 and share in the national representation ; that he 
 undertook a series of wars in violation of Art. 50 
 of the constitution of the 22d Frimaire, year 8, 
 which purports, that declarations of war should be 
 proposed, debated, decreed, and promulgated in the 
 same manner as laws ; that he had unconstitution- 
 ally issued decrees of death ; that he had violated 
 the commercial laws ; that he had annulled the re- 
 sponsibility of ministers, confounded authoritieSy 
 and destroyed the independence of judicial bodies; 
 that he had violated the liberty of the press ; that 
 he had, in the publication, altered acts and reports 
 heard by the senate ; that instead of reigning ac- 
 cording to his oath, for the happiness of the people, 
 he had completed the misfortunes of his country, 
 by refusing to treat for peace on conditions which 
 the national interests required him to accept ; that 
 he had abused the means entrusted to him in men 
 and money; that he had abandoned the wounded 
 without dressing, assistance, or subsistence ; that he 
 had ruined the towns, depopulated the country, and 
 introduced famine and contagion ; that for all these 
 causes the imperial government, established 28th 
 Floreal, year 12, had ceased to exist, and that ta 
 accomplish the wish of France, the restoration of 
 peace, and a reconciliation with Europe, the senate 
 declares and decrees, 1st, That Napoleon Buona- 
 pare has forfeited the throne ; and the hereditary 
 government established in his family is abolished. 
 
 2d. The French people and the army are ab- 
 solved from their oath of fidelity towards Napoleon 
 Buonaparte. 
 
S§2 
 
 3d. The present decree shall be transmitted hf 
 a message to the provisional government of France* 
 conveyed forthwith to all the departments and the 
 armies, and immediately be proclaimed in all the 
 quarters of the capifaL 
 
 A similar resolution Avas the same day adopted 
 by the legislative body. 
 
 Prince Schwartzenberg lost no time in commu- 
 nicating to the marshal duke of Ragusa the events 
 whicli had taken place, giving him an invitation, as 
 from the provisional government, to join the cause 
 of the country with the troops under his command. 
 The French marshal accepted the invitation, say- 
 ing, that the army and people having been absolv- 
 ed from their oath of allegiance, by the decree of 
 the senate, he, to prevent civil war w^ill quit Na- 
 poleon on the following conditions : That all 
 French troops, quitting the banners of Napoleon, 
 shall be free to retire to Normandy with their arms, 
 baggage, and ammunition, and with militar}'' 
 honours from the allies ; that if, in consequence of 
 this movement, the person of Napoleon should fall 
 into the hands of the allies, his life should be gua«\ 
 rantied to him, and his liberty in a circumscribed 
 space of territory. 
 
 These terms were acceded to by the allies, and 
 the army of the duke of Ragusa marched through 
 the allied armies to Versailles, with every demon- 
 stration of respect on the part of the conquerers of 
 France. 
 
 On the 5th of April an address dated Corbeil, and 
 signed General Lucotte, Avas promulgated to the 
 French army, saying, that the Emperor Napoleon 
 has announced that he being; considered as the only 
 obstacle to the peace of Europe, he is ready to re- 
 nounce the throne, or life itself, for the welfare of 
 France ; that he demands the succession to the 
 throne for his son and empress; that the answer of 
 the "first bodies of the.state" is awaited, and that 
 the allies appeared to protect the free expression 
 
393 
 
 bf the wish of those bodies ; that in the mean lime 
 a truce is established. 
 
 On the same day Marshal Ney addressed a letter 
 to Talleyrand, president of the provisional govern- 
 ment, saying that lie (Ney) and the dukes of Ta- 
 rentum, and Vicenza had repaired to Paris on the 
 4th, charged to defend, before the emperor of Rus- 
 sia the interest of Buonaparte's dynasty. That an 
 unforeseen event put a stop to the negotiations, 
 and that, foreseeing the evils of civil war, if the 
 cause of the Bourbons was not promptly embraced, 
 he had repaired to the emperor, and made knowii 
 the wishes of the French people ; that the emperor 
 had consented to " an entire and unrestricted abdi- 
 cation." 
 
 On the 6th of April appeared a declaration of 
 the emperor of Russia, stating, that as continual 
 applications were making to him, by individuals, 
 relative to personal interests, he, " having come to» 
 France to concur in the establishment of peace, and 
 to promote the happiness of the country," will ex- 
 ercise uo influence over the French constituted au- 
 thorities relative to the execution of the laws j 
 therefore, all persons are referred to those authori- 
 ties. 
 
 On the same day the provisional government pub- 
 lished an address to the people, wherein, after expa- 
 tiating upon the evils brought upon the country by 
 Buonaparte, they declare the change in the govern- 
 ment, and invite France to be happy ; and the con- 
 servative senate decreed, that the French govern- 
 ment is monarchical and hereditary ; that the peo- 
 ple call to the throne Louis Stanislaus Xavier ; 
 that the ancient nobility resume their titles, the new 
 preserve their's hereditarily ; and the legion of hon^ 
 our be maintained ; that the executive power is in 
 the king; that the king, senate, and legislative body 
 make the laws: laws may originate in the senate of 
 legislative body, but tliose relative to contributio^ 
 
 50 
 
3&4 
 
 mllst originate with the latter ; the king's sanctloil 
 necessary to a law ; that the senate shall consist of 
 at least 150, at most 200, their dignity hereditary, 
 the present senators to remain such, and the re* 
 mainder of the number to be named by the king ; 
 a senator must be twenty-one years of age, and all 
 princes of the blood are by right senators ; that the 
 deputies to the legislative body, as they were when 
 last adjourned, shall continue untiJ replaced by a 
 new election, to take place in 1816 ; they shall as- 
 semble by right on the 1st of October of each year; 
 the king rnay convoke extraordinary sessions of the 
 legislative body, may adjourn it, may dissolve it, 
 but in the latter case, another mu?t be formed in at 
 least three months ; that no member of the senate 
 or legislative body can be arrested but by authori^ 
 ty from the body to which he belongs ; the trial of a 
 member of either body belongs to the senate; that 
 equality of taxation is a right, and taxes can only be 
 imposed by free consent of the senate and legislative 
 body ; that the mode of recruiting the army shall be 
 fixed by law ; that the independence of the judiciary 
 is guarantied, the institution of juries preserved, and 
 the publicity of criminal trials; that the military 
 in service or on half pay, preserve their ranks and 
 emoluments ; that the person oi the king is sacred 
 and inviolable ; the ministers responsible for viola- 
 tions of the laws by public acts, which they must 
 sign; that freedom of conscience and worship is 
 guarantied ; that the liberty of the press is entire, 
 with the exception of legal repression of abuses 
 resulting theiefrom ; that the public debt is guaran- 
 tied, and the sales of national domains irrevocably 
 maintained ; that no Frenchman shall be prose- 
 cuted for opinions or votes which he has given, and 
 all are equally admissi'jle to civil and military em- 
 ployments; that the existing laws remain in force 
 till legally repealed ; that the present constitution 
 shall be submiUed to the acceptance of the French 
 
395 
 
 people. "Louis Stanislaus Xavicr shall be pro- 
 claimed king of the French as soon as he shall have 
 si2;ned and sworn, by an act slatina;, I accept the 
 constitution ; I swear to observe it, and cause it to be 
 observed. 
 
 Such is the outline of the constitution, which, 
 with the approbation, as it must appear, of the 
 emperor of Russia and his allies, the French con- 
 servative senate decreed ; and Monsieur the bro- 
 ther and lieutenant of Louis, havinoj entered Paris 
 on the ]3th of April, was next day visited by the 
 senate and legislative body ; and they by a decree, 
 committed the provisional government to him, until 
 "Louis Stanislaus Xavier shall have accepted the 
 constitutional charter." His royal highness as- 
 sured these visiters that he had made himself ac- 
 quainted with the constitutional act which recals 
 his brother to the throne of France, and though he 
 has uot received power to accept the constitution, 
 he from his knowledge of his brother assures them, 
 in his name, that he will adinit the basis of it. He 
 then repeats the material points in the constitution, 
 and concludes with thanks in his brother's name 
 for what they had done, 
 
 Happy w^ould it have been if virtue enough had 
 been found in the rulers and people of France to 
 maintain a form of government even so good as 
 this. They would then have had the best govern- 
 ment in Europe, and been repaid for the long series 
 of war and wo which they have experienced. The 
 limits of the present work will not permit to the 
 writer the useful task of comparing this constitution 
 with the English or other constitutions, or of point- 
 ing out what he considers its excellencies or de- 
 fects. 
 
 On the 15th of April the emperor of Austria 
 made his entrance into Paris, accompanied by the 
 Crown Prince Bernadotte; and Monsieur receiv- 
 e4 the emperors of Russia and Austria, with the 
 
396 
 
 sovereigns of Prussia and Sweden, and aGcompa- 
 iiied them to a review of the allied troops. 
 
 We have seen that Buonaparte, who had in seve- 
 ral negotiations at different points of time been 
 driven to lower his demands, had not yet lowered 
 them as rapidly as his falling fortunes demanded ; 
 and had finally been obliged to abdicate the 
 throne. No other conditions were granted to him 
 than a pension, and the petty sovereignty of the 
 little island of Elba. 
 
 To this place of banishment he was sent under 
 the escort of commissioners, in an English frigate. 
 Such was the end of Buonaparte's campaign against 
 Kussia. On the 20th of April, he left Fontainbleau^ 
 the scene of his humiliation, and embarked on the 
 28tli at St. Rapheu, near Frejus, for Elba, where 
 he safely arrived, and took possession of the islan(^ 
 on the 4tb of May. 
 
 Vv e will now conclude this brief narrative of the 
 most stupendous events ever witnessed, by noticing 
 the fate of the constitution, decreed by the Frencl^ 
 senate, and the definitive treaty of peace, which 
 has fixed for a time the tranquillity and the balance 
 of power of Europe. 
 
 Louis Stanislaus Xavier, having arrived in 
 France, and being received with every demonstra- 
 tion of joy by the people and the military, who 
 acknowledged him as the legitimate king, notwith- 
 standing that he had not accepted, signed, or 
 sworn to support the constitution, feeling himself 
 independent of a conquered people, and only ac-^ 
 countable to the victorious allies, who had rein- 
 stated him, assumed, on the 2d of May, the kingly 
 style, and declared that he was king of France and 
 Navarre, by the grace of God, and recalled to the 
 throne of his fathers by his people ; that after read- 
 ing with attention the plan of a constitution propos- 
 ed by the senate, he had found the basis good, but 
 |h^t a great number of articles, owing to precipita- 
 
397 
 
 tion in drawing them up, cannot becoine l\inr 
 damental laws of the state ; that he will convoke 
 the senate and legislative body, and lay before 
 them, on the 10th of June, the result oUiis labours. 
 He, however, gives them the following assurances?, 
 that the represejitative government shall be main- 
 tained, divided into a senate and a house composed 
 of deputies of departments ; the taxes shall be free- 
 ly imposed ; public and private liberty ensured ; 
 the liberty of the press respected, with precautions 
 necessary to public tranquillity ; the freedom of 
 worship guarantied ; property bhall be sacred and 
 inviolable ; the sales of the national domains re- 
 main irrevocable ; the ministers responsible, may 
 be prosecuted by one of the legislative houses, and 
 tried by the other ; the judges irremovable, and the 
 judicial power independent; the public debt shall 
 be guarantied ; pensions, honours, military rank, 
 preserved ; the legion of honour maintained, with a 
 decoration determined by the king ; every French- 
 man ^hall be admitted to civil and military employ-r 
 pients and no individual disturbed for his former 
 opinions and votes. 
 
 On the 4th of June the king presented to tha 
 French people a constitution, as he had promised 
 them, at the same time declaring that all authority 
 resides in the person of the king, but that he 
 graciously releases to the people certain portions 
 of liberty, as specified in this grant. This consti- 
 tution is founded upon the above mentioned decla- 
 ration of Louis, wdien he rejected that decreed by 
 the senate ; but retains all essential power in his 
 own hands ; the Romish religion is declared the re- 
 ligion of the state, and the ministers of that and 
 all other modes of Christian worship are to be paid 
 from the royal treasury alone ; the king commands 
 the land and sea forces, declares war, makes treaties 
 of all kinds, appoints to all employments of public 
 administration ; the legislative power is exercised 
 
398 
 
 collectively by the king, the house of peers, and 
 the house of deputies of departments, but the 
 king proposes all laws ; the kinsj alone sanctions and 
 promulgates all laws ; the number of Ihe house of 
 peers is unlimited, and they are made by the king, 
 or " the king creates nobles at will ;" the king's 
 ministers may be members of either house ; the 
 king appoints judges ; in fact, the power retained 
 by the king must render nugatory the liberty he 
 is graciously pleased to grant to his people. 
 
 Thus we see the people of France, who had 
 shaken off the end'mous abuses of a kingly gov- 
 ernment, which, whether administered by a wise 
 man or a fool, by an ambitious hero, an unblushing 
 debauchee, or a well-meaning driveller, was almost 
 equally intolerable ; and who had been forced into 
 war by the interference of foreign nations in their 
 internal regulations ; who had conquered every 
 people of Europe to whose territory their armies 
 could approach, while they themselves suffered all 
 the miseries of bad experimental government in 
 every form, from that of a mob to that of a despot; 
 who had at last elected one man to reign over them 
 under the shadow of a representative government, 
 and the remains of the form of a republic, with the 
 reality of a despot ; now submitted to an almost un- 
 qualified monarchy, receiving a king on such terms 
 as his will, and the will of their conquerors, shall 
 dictate. 
 
 We will nGV>^ take a view of such parts of the de- 
 finitive treaty of peace as bear upon the great ques- 
 tion of the adjustment of the balance of European 
 powei". 
 
 The limits of France are settled as they were at 
 the epoch of .January, 1792, with some additions in 
 drawing the line of demarkation between her and 
 her neighbours ; the republic of Geneva shall form 
 a part of the confederation of Switzerland, and is 
 assured the use of the route by Versoi, to facilitate 
 
399 
 
 commiinicalion with other parts of the confedera- 
 tion ; the navigation upon the Rhine shall be free ; 
 duties which may be levied by slates boundincr on 
 the river to be regulated by a congress^ Holland, 
 placed under the sovereignty of the house of Or- 
 ange, shall receive an increase of territory, and its 
 prince is prohibited from wearing a foreign crown ; 
 the states of Germany shall be independent, and 
 united by a federative league ; Switzerland shall 
 be independent ; Italy, except the parts given to 
 Austria, shall be composed of sovereign states; 
 Malta shall belong to Great-Britain, who engages to 
 restore to France " the colonies, fisheries, factories, 
 and establishments of every kind which France pos- 
 sessed in January, i 792, excepting Tobago, St. Lu- 
 cia, the Isle of France and its dependencies, which 
 France cedes to England ; France likewise cedes 
 to Spain the part of St. Domingo which became 
 hers by the peace of Basle. The king of Sw^eden 
 and Norway cedes Guadaloupe to France ; Eng- 
 land agrees to allow to the French all the facilities 
 of the most favoured nations in their trade with 
 British India ; and France agrees not to fortify or 
 hold troops in the places restored to her by Eng- 
 land, within the limits of the English sovereignty 
 on the continent of India; the right of France to 
 the fisheries remains as in 1792 ; two thirds of the 
 vessels of war, armed or not armed, and the naval 
 artillery and ammunition, which are within the 
 bounds of the places restored by France, shall be- 
 long to France, and one third to the country so re- 
 stored ; from this stipulation, the vessels and arse- 
 nals of Holland are excepted, " and especially the 
 fleet of the Texel." There is no notice of Poland, 
 no longer a nation ; Warsaw remains with Russia ; 
 the states mentioned " as returning to Austria" are 
 Venice and its dependencies, with Mantua and Pes- 
 chiera. 
 
Thus it lias pleased the great rulers of Europe 
 to adjust what is called the balance of power, and 
 it is not to be doubled but they will watch with a 
 jealous eye over the distribution they have made* 
 To secure that peace to the world which is every 
 good man's wish, there appears wanting some ad- 
 justment of the maritime rights of nations, and a 
 free commercial intercourse, leaving the seas 
 equally open to, as they are equally the property 
 of, all mankind. 
 
 NeW'-York, JVovemher, 1814;