World's Best Histories Part 23

The battle of the Moskwa caused in our ranks 30,000 dead and wounded. Ten generals had succ.u.mbed, including Montbrun and Caulaincourt, brother of the Duke of Vicenza. Thirty-nine general officers were wounded: and ten colonels killed, and twenty-seven wounded. Three days were scarcely sufficient to attend to the dead and wounded. The abbey of Kolotskoi and the neighboring villages were converted into provisional hospitals, under the direction of General Junot, commandant of the Westphalians. The emperor had advanced towards Mojaisk, and Murat followed with his decimated regiments. Napoleon refused Davout the command of the advanced guard. The town was attacked on the 9th: some attempts had been made to set it on fire, but the walls and houses were still standing when the emperor fixed his abode there for several days. It was there that he reviewed the state of his losses on the 7th. He had gone over the battlefield, showing more emotion and compunction than usual at the sight of the frightful carnage which had signalized the battle. Only 800 prisoners remained in our hands. The soldiers well knew that the number of captives was an indisputable sign of the importance of a victory. They beheld with terror the heaps of their enemies' corpses. "They all prefer death to being taken!" said they. "Eight days of Moscow," exclaimed the emperor, "and the enemy will not be seen again." He still remained ill and moody, however; and on the previous evening wrote to Marshal Victor, "The enemy when attacked in the heart no longer attends to his extremities; tell the Duke of Belluna to direct everything, battalions, squadrons, artillery, and isolated men, upon Smolensk, so that he may come from there to Moscow."

It was indeed upon Holy Moscow, the traditional capital of old Russia, that the hopes of Napoleon were now concentrated, hoping there to conclude a peace, and finish a war which he himself felt to be above human strength. Several weeks previously the Czar had left Moscow and returned to St. Petersburg, whence he watched at a distance, and without military skill, the defence of his empire. He upheld the courage of his subjects, however, and had personally obtained from them great sacrifices. The lords a.s.sembled round him, in the cradle and tomb of n.o.bility, as they called Moscow, had voted the levy of every tenth serf, armed, equipped, and supplied with three months' provisions. The merchants offered the emperor half their wealth. On the approach of the French, and while waiting for the defence of the old capital, the orders of Rostopchin, the governor, forbade the evacuation of the town. Women, children, old men, on carts and carriages, loaded with goods, money, and furniture, slowly removed from the town, where their husbands, sons and brothers still remained. "The less fear the less danger," said the governor. Kutuzoff's proclamations at first represented the battle of Borodino as a disputed combat, which left the Russian army standing, and capable of defending Moscow; but when their battalions appeared before the gates of the capital the sad truth struck the eyes of all. Whatever it might cost the invader, the national army was beaten, and Moscow could not repulse an attack. There was an immediate and constantly-increasing rush to leave the place. Popular rumor described the French as fierce monsters, worthy of that emperor whom Alexander himself had portrayed as a "Moloch, with treason in his heart and loyalty on his lips, come to efface Russia from the surface of the world."

In his real heart Kutuzoff had decided what to do. Skilful and cunning, without presence of mind or great courage on the field of battle, he could direct the operations of a campaign, and choose the proper mode of leading his country's enemies to their downfall. Nevertheless, he held a council of war, being determined to make the other generals share the weight of a terrible responsibility. Must they defend Moscow by a second battle in open field, wait for the enemy behind the walls, and dispute with him, foot by foot, the possession of the town? Must they abandon the capital, and, as it was recommended by Barclay de Tolly, always bravely true to his original purpose, retreat to Vladimir, and thus cover the road to St.

Petersburg? All these proposals were proposed, and keenly discussed.

Several spoke in favor of immediate and unflinching resistance, who would have bitterly regretted the adoption of their advice. At last the old general rose: he had listened to all their speeches without speaking, and only shook his head, to signify, as it were, his strong conviction that whether his head were good or bad, it had to make the final decision of the question.

He gave his orders, which showed great skill and prudence. The army was to pa.s.s through Moscow without halting, without a.s.sisting in any preparation for resistance, or joining in any skirmish even when on the rearguard; then falling back upon Riazan, it was, after several days, to occupy the road to Kalouga, and thus intercept the way to the French, while preserving communication with the provinces in the south of the empire, which are the richest and most fertile. The troops at once began to defile. Behind them long convoys hurried to escape the French. Five sixths of the population had quitted the town when the columns of those wounded in the battle of Borodino appeared at their doors, and they were obliged to crowd their hospitals and churches with 15,000. By abandoning their capital the Russians entrusted these wretches to the pity of their enemies.

The governor of Moscow, Count Rostopchin, had not yet left the town. On the previous evening he trusted to the a.s.surances of Kutuzoff, that the capital would be keenly defended. "There will be fighting in the streets,"

said he, in his proclamations. "The courts are already closed, but that does not matter; there is no need of courts to do justice to ruffians. I shall soon give you the signal; take care to provide yourselves with hatchets, and especially three-p.r.o.nged forks, for a Frenchman does not weigh more than a sheaf of corn. I shall have ma.s.s said for the wounded, and holy water to hasten their cure. I shall then join General Kutuzoff, and we shall soon set about sending those guests to the devil, forcing them to give up the ghost, and reducing them to powder."

Kutuzoff, nevertheless, withdrew, not less resolute, but more skilful than Count Rostopchin. It was then that the latter conceived an idea, the responsibility of which, as well as the honor, rests entirely upon him.

n.o.body was consulted; and it is not known whether the Emperor Alexander, with some antic.i.p.ation of gloomy fate crossing his mind, may not have beforehand granted the dread authority to the governor of his capital. For several days inflammable substances had been collected in the garden of his palace. At the moment of leaving the town, Rostopchin ordered the prisons to be opened, and the hideous crowd of condemned prisoners jostled and mixed with the half-frantic citizens who were fleeing before the French. The governor retained two prisoners--one a Frenchman, lately come to Moscow to earn a living; the other, a Russian, and both accused of having acted as agents of the enemy. "Go," said Rostopchin to the Frenchman, "you have been ungrateful but you have the right to prefer your country; you are now again free, go back to your own people. As for you,"

he added, turning to the Russian, "let even your own father be your judge." An old merchant came near, tottering under the weight of his grief. "You may speak to him and bless him," said the governor. "Me bless a traitor!" exclaimed the old man; and, raising his hands to heaven, he cursed his son, who was immediately beheaded. The mob showed their keen vindictiveness in their treatment of his body.

Count Rostopchin at last left Moscow, letting all precede him, like the captain who hesitates to abandon the sinking ship. He had given all his instructions. All the baggage all the wealth, he took with him, were the fire engines of that great city, which was nearly entirely built of wood.

"Of what use are those in the country?" asked Colonel Wolzogen, with astonishment. "I have my reasons," replied the governor; then, leaving the last friends who still accompanied him, he turned round, and pointing with his finger to Moscow, and then touching the sleeve of his coat, he said, "I take away nothing except what is on my back." He went towards his country house at Voronovo.

Meantime, however, the French advanced guard were approaching Moscow.

Several slight skirmishes had taken place during the march, and Kutuzoff succeeded in protecting his retreat. When Murat appeared at the head of the first columns, General Miloradovitch, who commanded the Russian rearguard, made a verbal agreement with the King of Naples to suspend hostilities for several hours, for the protection of the troops, and the safety of the citizens. Murat agreed to it, limiting himself to the pursuit of the Russians when they should have completed their evacuation of Moscow.

The soldiers, as well as the generals and Napoleon himself, were delighted at the distant sight of that town, illuminated by the rays of the setting sun, which brought into full relief the Oriental brilliance of its palaces and churches. "Moscow! Moscow!" they repeated from one end of the ranks to the other. The emperor added to the enthusiastic expression of his troops another thought: "Not a moment too soon!" he muttered.

The great conqueror was deceived, and divine justice punished more completely than he antic.i.p.ated his guilty ambition and insatiable pride.

The dense ranks of the French soldiers presented themselves before the gates of the capital, without any one coming to open them. Several ragged wretches, with gloomy looks appeared on the turrets of the Kremlin and fired a few shots; but while pa.s.sing along the streets of Moscow, among palaces mixed with cottages--before golden-domed churches, adorned with paintings of a thousand colors--our soldiers wondered, and felt uneasy at the solitude which reigned around them. "What is become of them?" they asked. It was not thus that the French army had entered Berlin or Vienna.

"Let the head men of the town be brought to me!" ordered the emperor. The population of Moscow had no longer any head men. Those who hid themselves in terror in the houses, or wept in the churches, felt themselves at the mercy of the ruffians whom the governor, by quitting Moscow, had let loose upon them. The door of the Kremlin had to be burst open with cannon-b.a.l.l.s before the old palace of the Czars could be rid of the wretches who had shut themselves up in it. Napoleon took possession of it, without at first fixing his abode there, curious to admire its barbarous magnificence, not yet subjected to the influence of French elegance like the houses of the rich merchants already occupied by his generals. The whole army gazed with delight upon this strange and long-antic.i.p.ated sight. On the 15th September, 1812, the Emperor Napoleon and his soldiers pa.s.sed through the streets of Moscow, deserted, but still standing. They examined the concentric quarters, like a series of ramparts round the Kremlin; the old or Chinese town, the centre of Oriental commerce; the white town, with its broad streets and gilt palaces, the quarter of the great n.o.bles and rich merchants; and all round the privileged districts: the "land town,"

composed of villages and gardens, interspersed with magnificent houses.

All the military posts were chosen, On the north-west, south-west, and south-east, between the roads to Riazan and Vladimir, the forces of Prince Eugene, Davout, Poniatowski, and Ney had taken their quarters. The guard occupied the Kremlin. Soldiers and generals enjoyed the luxury which had been preceded by the cruel privation of the months immediately preceding.

"We have provisions for six months," said the soldiers.

On the morning of the 16th fire broke out in a spirit-warehouse, and some hours afterwards in a magnificent bazaar which was filled with valuable goods. The officers blamed for it the stupidity of a drunken soldier. They at once battled with the fire, but the wind was contrary, and the wealth heaped up in the warehouses became a prey to the flames and pillage, which it was impossible to prevent. The fire soon spread even to the neighborhood of the Kremlin, and the sparks, carried by the equinoctial breeze, fell from all parts on the gilded roofs. The courts of the palace being crowded with artillery wagons, and the cellars heaped up with ammunition which the Russians had neglected to take with them, a horrible catastrophe seemed imminent. The generals had great difficulty in persuading Napoleon to leave the Kremlin. The imperial guard, acting as firemen, inundated incessantly the roofs and walls. The fire-engines of the city were searched for in vain. Soon there was a rumor spread that incendiaries had been arrested in several quarters.

The emperor ordered these wretches to be brought before him. They were proud of the terrible mission with which they had been entrusted, taking a delight in the fatal disorder produced under their hands, pillaging and murdering in the houses which they delivered up to the flames. They all made a bold declaration of the orders they had received, and underwent unflinchingly the extremest punishment. The poor population, who had remained concealed in the lowest haunts of the capital, now fled in terror, the women carrying with them their children, the men dragging behind them the most valuable of their household goods, or the shameful results of pillaging the shops. The flames extended from street to street, house to house, church to church: thrice the wind seemed to fall, and thrice it changed its direction, driving the fire into quarters previously untouched. The Kremlin remained always surrounded by fire. The imperial guard had not quitted the palace. The army carried their cantonments outside the town. When scarcely fallen into the hands of the conquerors, Moscow succ.u.mbed before a more powerful enemy, enrolled for the defence of the country. Palaces and huts were both become uninhabitable, and the hospitals, filled with wounded Russians, had perished in the flames. The emperor quitted Moscow, and took up his quarters at Petrowskoi. For three days the conflagration remained alone in possession of the capital.

The wind falling, was succeeded by rain. The fire everywhere brooded under the dead ashes, ready to burst out afresh at the contact of air; but the spectacle had lost its avenging beauty. The roofs left standing were relieved against the columns of smoke. The Kremlin still rose majestic, and almost untouched, as if protecting the city against its various enemies. The soldiers soon began to steal from their cantonments into the streets; and in the cellars of the houses, under heaps of rubbish, protected by walls blackened with the flames, they found provisions collected by households for the winter; valuable clothes; plate which had been carefully concealed in hiding-places which no longer existed; objects of art, of which the finders did not know the value; strong drink, which they madly used to intoxicate themselves. After the fire, in spite of the efforts of the officers, Moscow was delivered up to pillage.

So much disorder and mad prodigality shocked all the Emperor Napoleon's instincts of order and government. Returning hastily to Moscow, he repressed by his mere presence the outrages of the soldiers. Regular search was everywhere organized for the collection of provisions buried under the ruins, and bringing them into stores. The resources collected in a few days were sufficient to supply the troops for a long time. Forage alone was wanting, and companies were formed for the purpose of scouring the country round Moscow. The prices offered to the peasantry for their stock was expected to encourage them to supply the markets of the capital.

Napoleon even considered the interests of the wretches who wandered, defenceless and houseless, in the streets of Moscow, or timidly glided into the town at the opening of the gates to look for those they had been compelled to abandon, and the remainder of their property concealed under ruined walls. Huts were erected to shelter them.

The desire for peace daily took stronger possession of Napoleon's mind, and he had already authorized several indirect overtures. On the 20th September he thus wrote the Czar:

"My brother, having learned that the brother of your Imperial Majesty's minister was at Moscow, I sent for him, and had some conversation with him. I requested him to wait upon your Majesty, and acquaint you with my sentiments. The handsome and superb city of Moscow no longer exists.

Rostopchin has had it burnt. Four hundred incendiaries were taken in the act; and having all declared that they had lighted the fire by order of that governor and the director of police, they were shot. The fire at last seems to have ceased. Three fourths of the houses are burnt, and one fourth remain. Such conduct is atrocious, and serves no purpose. Was the intention to deprive us of some resources? But those resources were in the cellars, which the fire could not reach. Besides, why destroy one of the finest towns of the world, and the work of ages, to accomplish so paltry an object? It is the procedure followed since Smolensk, and it has reduced 600,000 families to beggary. The fire-engines of Moscow were broken or carried off, and some arms from the a.r.s.enal given to ruffians, who could not be driven from the Kremlin without using cannon. Humanity, the interests of your Majesty and this great city, demanded that it should have been entrusted to my keeping, since it was deserted by the Russian army. They ought to have left administrations, magistrates, and civil guards. That is what was done at Vienna twice, at Berlin, and Madrid; and what we have ourselves done at Milan, when Souwarof entered. Incendiarism causes pillage, the soldier abandoning himself to it to rescue what is left from the flames. If I thought such things were done by your Majesty's orders, I should not write you this letter; but I consider it impossible that, with your principles, heart, and sense of justice, you have authorized such excesses, unworthy of a great sovereign and a great nation. While carrying away the fire-engines from Moscow, they left 150 field cannon, 60,000 new muskets, 1,600,000 infantry cartridges, more than 200 tons of powder, 150 tons of saltpetre, and also of sulphur, etc.

"I made war upon your Majesty without animosity. A letter from you before or after the last battle would have stopped my march, and I should have been ready to forego the advantage of entering Moscow. If your Majesty still retains aught of your former sentiments, you will take this letter in good part. In any case, you must feel indebted to me for giving an account of what is taking place in Moscow."

When thus writing to the Emperor Alexander, Napoleon well knew that the material disasters of the burning of Moscow were exceeded by the moral results, and that the ruins of the capital were a proclamation to the French army, to Russia, and to the whole of Europe, of the implacable resolution of the old Muscovites. Rostopchin himself had written on the iron door of his splendid country-house at Voronovo: "For eight years I have been improving this estate, and have lived here happy in the bosom of my family. The inhabitants of this estate, to the number of 1720, leave it at your approach, and I set fire to my house that it may not be polluted by your presence. Frenchmen, I have left you my two houses in Moscow, with contents worth half a million of roubles. Here you will find nothing but ashes."

The hatred which he had excited against the invader was afterwards to fall back upon himself. Count Rostopchin driven from Russia by the execration of all those whom he had ruined, was compelled to take refuge in France, where he died in peace, honored by his former enemies. He had nevertheless rendered to Russia one of those terrible services excused by a state still half barbarous, and that violent patriotism by which the soul is possessed in presence of foreign invasion. He revived in the Russian people the unconquerable ardor of resistance. Moscow on fire was an appeal to the eyes and hearts of all.

Napoleon understood this well. Besides, other difficulties were becoming extreme. Time was pa.s.sing; no reply arrived from St. Petersburg, and the emperor's overtures made to Kutuzoff by Lauriston remained without result.

The attempt to continue hostilities was unsuccessful, General Sebastiani having been deceived as to the direction taken by Kutuzoff, and, after following him in vain for two or three days, compelled to return to Moscow. Murat being again put in command of the advanced guard, met the enemy on the Pakra, after being joined by Marshal Bessieres. In spite of the cries of his army, who were furious at the burning of Moscow, and wished to march to battle, Kutuzoff slowly retreated before the French generals, and finally pitched his camp at Taroutino on the road to Kaluga.

Two cavalry engagements terminated successfully for our arms. Napoleon's lieutenants waited for his orders. A sort of armistice reigned between the two armies. Murat had several times seen Kutuzoff; and the Russian officers overwhelmed him with attentions. He showed himself in favor of peace, concluded by him and through his exertions. The Cossack chiefs celebrated his exploits, one of them surnaming him the "hetmann." Kutuzoff had sent Prince Wolkonsky to St. Petersburg, with instructions to communicate to the Czar the pacific advances which had been made.

Alexander replied on the 21st October: "All the opinions which you have received from me, all the determinations expressed in the orders addressed to you by me--everything ought to convince you that my resolution is immovable, and that at the present moment no proposal of the enemy can make me think of terminating the war, and so failing in the sacred duty of avenging our outraged country."

Before the Emperor Alexander thus expressed his resolution of listening to no offers of peace, his enemy had already evacuated Moscow--beginning, whatever pain it cost him and whatever care he took to conceal it, a retrograde movement, which was soon to be the consummation of his ruin.

Napoleon long hesitated as to what route he should take. By advancing upon Kaluga in pursuit of Kutuzoff he should plunge further into Russia, towards regions where he should be without winter-quarters and communication with the rear. By resuming the road to Poland, as all his lieutenants wished, he should tacitly admit his defeat. He conceived the idea of making the Duke of Belluna march upon St. Petersburg, reckoning that, on his arrival and while threatening the capital and court, he could effect an oblique movement northwards by Woskresensk, Wolokolamsk, and Bieloi, and then concentrate all his forces at Smolensk. Winter being past, Napoleon would then be in a position to attack St. Petersburg in earnest. To satisfy his own mind, the emperor wrote out this plan before speaking of it to the generals, who were waiting, full of serious thought, to know his determination.

They all opposed Napoleon's new plans; all repeating that he did not take into account the hardships of the army, that he over-reckoned the strength of the corps, that the soldiers were incapable of any fresh effort. He went over, with Count Lobau, the statistics of the different regiments and the detachments in charge of generals at a distance. "There, six thousand." "Four thousand, sire," said the general. "Ten thousand here."

"Five at the most." "You are perhaps right," the emperor admitted. But on coming to sum up the total of his resources, he always went back to his first inaccurate reckoning, the truthful and blunt obstinacy of Lobau being unable to overcome his master's voluntary illusions. Nevertheless, Napoleon understood that he could now no longer, by the mere superiority of his genius, take his lieutenants along with him without discussion or hesitation. He did not insist upon marching northwards. Count Daru's proposal was to spend the winter in Moscow. From his administrative experience, he concluded that their supplies were sufficient for the army, while the troops should thus be spared all the hardships and difficulties of travelling. In spring, all the army corps would be again brought together, there would be a rising in Lithuania, and the emperor could complete his conquest. Napoleon turned toward his faithful servant, and looked upon his energetic features, his robust figure, and the resolution which shone in his looks. "My dear Daru," said he, "that advice is lion- like, but I should require lions to put it in execution. You are right, Moscow is not a military position, it is a political position. Yet what would be said in Paris? what would become of France during that long absence, without possible communication? No, it is impossible. Austria and Prussia would take advantage of it to betray me."

The emperor came back to the idea of marching upon Kaluga, and driving Kutuzoff from the camp of Taroutino, summoning the Duke of Belluna to join him in order to keep up communications with Smolensk, at the same time leaving Marshal Mortier in the Kremlin with 10,000 men to occupy and preserve Moscow. Preparations were being made for this purpose, when, on the 18th of October, cannon were heard on the road which Napoleon was making ready to follow, and speedily one of Murat's aides-de-camp appeared. The King of Naples, who had long complained of the isolation in which he was left, was careless in his guard, and had been attacked by Kutuzoff at Winkowo. The Russian army taking advantage of all the delays which gradually diminished our forces, had increased theirs; and their general had 100,000 men at his disposal, when he yielded to the urgent request of his lieutenants, and all at once made an attack with two corps upon our positions. Murat's personal courage and skill in the field partly compensated for the faults of his imprudence. He repulsed the enemy's attack, and fell back upon Voronovo, continuing to cover the road to Moscow. Kutuzoff, however, held our positions, and the King of Naples lost the greater part of his cavalry. Napoleon immediately resolved to march to the enemy. According to the plan already decided upon, Mortier fixed his quarters at the Kremlin, over the mines laid ready to blow up the citadel and palace of the Czars. All the rest of the army defiled through the open gates of the city, recently so eagerly longed for, and now only occupied for thirty-seven days, which had been full of agitation and terror. The long trains of carriages, the soldiers' booty heaped upon the wagons or their shoulders, the furs fastened to their haversacks or arms, were all proof enough that the troops were no more deceived than the generals as to the possibility of a return to Moscow. The Duke of Trevisa's friends and comrades looked upon him as a man condemned beforehand to death, and sorrowfully bade him adieu without shaking his courage. The French families formerly settled in Moscow fled from the anger of the Russians, and joined the march of their fellow-countrymen. The long train on its march seemed more like a convoy defiling, than the progress of an army advancing against the enemy. Napoleon, however, had not yet said anything to imply that the evacuation was final; he was marching against Kutuzoff, whom he wished to chastise, and, if possible, crush. Before leaving Moscow, his last instructions were devoted to the defence of the Kremlin.

It was on the morning of the 20th October that the emperor left the city, in fine autumnal weather which prevented any one from yet antic.i.p.ating the rigors of winter. On reaching the castle of Troitskoi, he was struck with a new idea; Kutuzoff held the old Kaluga road, and a battle was necessary to dislodge him; and the French, even if victorious, would lose men and be enc.u.mbered with a crowd of wounded. The new road to Kaluga was protected by Broussier's division, and had not been cut up by the pa.s.sage of troops; if it were possible to deceive Kutuzoff by a sudden detour to the right, and to gain the new road, Kaluga would be reached without a battle, and the positions for winter secured. The occupation of Moscow must now no longer be insisted upon, and Mortier immediately instructed to leave Moscow and join them. Having made up his mind, the emperor in the evening sent his orders to the Duke of Trevisa: "My cousin," said Napoleon to the Marshal Berthier, "give orders to the Duke of Trevisa to put on march, to- morrow, at daybreak, all the tired and lame soldiers of the corps of Prince Eckmuhl and the viceroy, of the foot-cavalry, and the young guard, and to direct the whole upon Mojaisk. On the 22nd or 23rd, at two o'clock in the morning, he will set fire to the brandy storehouse, the barracks, and the public buildings, except the Foundling Hospital. [Footnote: This establishment, founded by the dowager empress, had been patronized by Napoleon. The governor General Toutelmine, had been one of the agents of his communications with St. Petersburg.] He will have the palace of the Kremlin set on fire. He will take care that all the guns are broken into pieces, that powder is placed under the towers of the Kremlin, that all the gun-carriages are broken, as well as the wagon wheels.

"When these orders are attended to, and the Kremlin is on fire in several places, the duke will leave the Kremlin, and advance on the Mojaisk road.

At four o'clock, the officer of artillery appointed to that duty will blow up the Kremlin, according to instructions.

"On the march he will burn all carriages left behind, use every endeavor to bury all the dead, and burn all the muskets he can find. On reaching the Gallitzin palace, he will take the Spanish and Bavarians stationed there, and put fire to the ammunition wagons, and everything which cannot be removed. He will collect all the commanders of posts, and order the garrisons to fall back.

"He will reach Mojaisk on the 25th or 26th, and there receive further orders to put himself in communication with the army. He will naturally leave a strong advanced guard of cavalry on the Mojaisk road.

"He will be particular in remaining in Moscow till he has himself seen the Kremlin blown up; and also in setting fire to the governor's two houses and that of Rasomowsky."

Thus Napoleon himself put hands to that burning of Moscow with which he had recently blamed the Russians, and the originator of which he did not forget to punish even then! The march upon Kaluga was already begun, and one of Prince Eugene's divisions, being in advance, had already occupied Malo-Jaroslawetz, on the Lougea. General Delzons, who was in command, was engaged in repairing the bridges, when Kutuzoff was informed of the direction which the French seemed to take. General Doctoroff at once advanced with a large body, and Kutuzoff raised his cantonments to follow him.

The small town of Malo-Jaroslawetz was built on a chain of heights, of which the Russians at once took possession, cannonading the French, who in their turn dislodged them. Six times was the town taken and retaken, the fire of the burning houses combining with the cannon-b.a.l.l.s to repulse the combatants on both sides. Seven French generals fell on the field towards evening; yet, in spite of the keen determination of the Russian recruits, who had scarcely arms or clothes, the ruins of the town remained in our hands. When the emperor arrived on the banks of the Lougea with the main army, he beheld a sight as painful in proportion to its extent as had been the plain of Borodino. Many of the corpses were scorched by the fire. Ten thousand men fell on both sides. The emperor saw that all future movements implied new and terrible battles. The generals appointed to reconnoitre, considered the enemy's positions impregnable; and on Napoleon himself going to take observations he narrowly escaped being taken by a body of Cossacks, who surprised him when crossing the Lougea. General Rapp had only time to get him out of the way of those troublesome enemies, bands of whom incessantly hara.s.sed the army. A council was held in a ruined hut on the banks of the small river.

The emperor was still inclined to attempt a march towards Kaluga, for the sake of the battle, victory, and consequent rest in a rich district not yet exhausted. The generals were as confident as their chief in the success of our arms, but they thought that the loss of 20,000 men and a charge of 10,000 wounded would themselves const.i.tute a check in presence of the Russian army, constantly recruited by new forces. A retreat to Mojaisk, and thence to Smolensk, was decided upon. The attempt on Kaluga had cost ten days, and exhausted the greater part of the provisions brought from Moscow, and it was now necessary to submit to a retreat pure and simple. Marshal Davout proposed to effect this by a new road, which should still supply some resources for the troops; but his advice was not listened to. A pa.s.sionate desire for return, and terror of the frightful evils which threatened the army, had seized all those men who were recently so daring, and ready to try any danger. Napoleon still hesitated.

"What do you think about it, Mouton?" he asked Count Lobau, standing beside him. "That as quickly as possible, and by the shortest road, we must get out of a country where we have stayed too long," was the immediate reply of the hero of so many battles. The emperor hung down his head. In his inmost soul he felt himself beaten.

The whole army also felt itself beaten, and every heart was filled with dejection. Already, during the march from Moscow to Malo-Jaroslawetz, many carriages and badly harnessed wagons were left behind; but the train was still enormous, accompanied by defenceless women and children. The wounded of the last battle had been distributed amongst the different wagons and carts. The dying were abandoned to their wretched fate on the battle- field, under the cold rain which began to fall, or in the huts to which they had been carried. The army left Malo-Jaroslawetz on the 27th October, marching to Vereja, where Marshal Mortier rejoined them after accomplishing his terrible mission. The ground was still quaking under his feet when he left Moscow, bringing with him all the wounded. Such was the emperor's express order, though the army convoys were already insufficient for that necessary duty.

Mortier brought to Napoleon a prisoner, Count Wintzingerod, who had fallen into his hands during the second burning of Moscow. That general was in command of a body of partisans, and believed the French had evacuated the capital. The emperor's anger burst forth against this German on finding him in the Russian ranks. "You belong to no country!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I have always found you among my enemies--with the Austrians when I fought with Austria, with the Russians when Austria became my ally.

Yet by birth you belong to the Rhenish Confederation; you are a traitor--I have the right to judge you. You will be tried by court-martial." Then pointing to Count Narischkin, Wintzingerod's aide-de-camp, "This young man does you too much honor by serving with you."

The general made no reply, even by the slightest movement or gesture. The emperor's staff looked on in silence, and the French officers tried by their attentions to make the prisoner forget the treatment. Every one knew the cause of so much bitterness rising from Napoleon's heart to his lips.

For the first time in his life the conqueror was retreating.

He was retreating, and every day of their march made them feel more and more the terrible difficulty, while proving its necessity. Napoleon marched at the head of his army with his staff, without joining the main body of the troops, or troubling himself about the fatigue and difficulty experienced at every step by Marshal Davout, who had been appointed to command the rear-guard and protect the retreat. General Grouchy's cavalry were already exhausted, and could not a.s.sist him in this painful duty. The marshal's old foot-soldiers alone remained--those who had so long fought under his orders, having been formed under his strict and severe discipline, and loving him while they feared him. At every stage Davout found some carriage or cart had disappeared, left behind by the exhausted horses and drivers, and he heard the cries of the wretched wounded men, henceforward delivered up to the lances of the Cossacks or the severities of the approaching winter. He saw unrolling and lengthening out before him that train behind the army, despised by the soldiers remaining under arms, and reinforced every day by laggards from all the corps. He was the last to arrive at the hindmost posts after the troops defiling past had eaten up all the resources of the villages and farms, burnt the shelters, and sacked what they were unable to carry off. The complaints and demands of the distinguished chief of his rear-guard made no impression on Napoleon.

"March quicker!" he kept repeating, without admitting the marshal to see him, without ever going himself towards the rear of his army--apparently indifferent to the sufferings he had produced, absorbed in gloomy silence, surrounded by his lieutenants equally dejected. When pa.s.sing Borodino, where the battle-field was still covered with the corpses, of which savage beasts were in undisputed possession, the rear-guard were still further enc.u.mbered by the transport of the wounded, who had formerly been left at Kolotskoi. Those whose wounds did not allow them to be removed were entrusted by Dr. Larrey to the cares of the Russians, whom he had cured.

The army left Ghjat on the 1st November.

In spite of what was constantly being left behind from the baggage train, the difficulty of the march daily increased on account of fatigue, the want of horses, and the rigor of the climate. Marshal Davout often found himself compelled to blow up artillery wagons which he could not take further with him; and the cannon which were still dragged on became for the most part useless. Immediately before him marched Prince Eugene's forces. The viceroy, young and courageous, had not yet gained consummate experience of war: the marshal urged him to make haste first in crossing the Czarewo-Zaimitche and afterwards in the suburbs of Wiazma. Kutuzoff, at first deceived as to our movements, had advanced southwards after the battle of Malo-Jaroslawetz, but soon changed his direction and marched upon Wiazma. A preliminary engagement near the bridge of Czarewo had opened a pa.s.sage for us. Then the march was again interrupted before Wiazma. The Russian army occupied the ground on the left of the road.

Prince Eugene's forces, embarra.s.sed by the convoy, had an engagement with the enemy on the morning of the 2nd November, and the cannon were making havoc in his ranks when Davout came to his a.s.sistance, and General Gerard making a dash at the enemy's artillery, quickly cleared the road again. At the noise of the cannon Marshal Ney halted in his march, and advanced behind a small tributary of the Wiazma. The battle began so vigorously on the part of our old soldiers that General Miloradowitch, who commanded the Russians, did not dare longer to intercept their retreat. The regiments defiled into Wiazma, but still continued firing. General Morand, who was in command of the last battalions, was not rid of the pursuing enemy till he reached the very camp, his soldiers presenting their bayonets. The troops, who had thus gained another victory, encamped in the woods, with no resource except the dying horses, which they slaughtered as they required them, roasting the joints at the bivouac fires. The exhausted soldiers slept.