Napoleon quits Moscow--Battles of Vincovo and
Malo-Yaraslovetz--Retreat on Verreia--and Smolensko--Repeated
Defeats and Sufferings of the French--Smolensko--Krasnoi--Passage
of the Beresina--Smorgonie--Napoleon quits the Army--his arrival at
Warsaw--at Dresden--in Paris.
The armistice, such as it was, between Joachim and Kutusoff, was broken
through so soon as the latter had sufficiently disciplined the new
recruits who had crowded to his standard from every region of the
empire. Murat then received considerable reinforcements from Moscow,
together with Napoleon's commands to gain possession, if possible, of
one of the roads leading to Kalouga. There, and at Toula, the chief
magazines of the Russian army were known to be established; and,
moreover, by retiring in that direction towards Poland, (should a
retreat finally be found necessary,) Napoleon counted on the additional
and far greater advantage of traversing a country hitherto unwasted.
The King of Naples, accordingly, pushed his light troops over a new
district; and had the mortification to find the Russian system of
defence persevered in wherever he advanced. The splendid country house
of Rostophchin was burnt to the ground, ere the French reached it; and
the following letter, affixed to its gates, breathed the same spirit
which had dared to sacrifice Moscow:--"I have for eight years
embellished this residence, and lived happily in it with my family. The
inhabitants of the estate, in number 1720, quitted it at your approach;
and I set fire to my house, that it may not be polluted with your
presence."
Kutusoff was no longer disposed to witness in inaction the progress of
Murat. He divined that Napoleon must at last be convinced of the
necessity of abandoning Moscow, and determined that at all events he
should not make his retreat in the direction of Kalouga. General
Bennigsen was ordered to attack Murat, on the 18th October, at Vincovo:
and the result was decidedly in favour of the Russians, in whose hands
there remained nearly 3000 prisoners, and forty pieces of artillery.
The cannonade was heard at the Kremlin; and no sooner did the issue of
the day reach Napoleon, than he made up his mind to march his whole army
to the support of the King of Naples. That same evening, several
divisions were put in motion; he himself, at the head of others, left
Moscow on the 19th; and the metropolis was wholly evacuated on the
morning of the 22nd. Russian troops entered it immediately afterwards,
in time to preserve the Kremlin, which had been undermined and attempted
to be blown up in a last access of rage; and within a few hours, so
completely had the patriotic peasants baffled Napoleon, the town swarmed
with people, and all the market-places were crowded with every species
of provision. The Emperor's bulletins announced that "Moscow had been
found not to be a good military position,"--that it was "necessary for
the army to breathe on a wider space." The precipitancy, however, with
which the French retired was such that they left their sick and wounded
to the mercy of the Russians; and yet thousands of waggons, laden with
the spoil of Moscow, attended and encumbered their march.
Kutusoff now perceived that he had to expect the attack of a greater
than Murat. The Russian general occupied a position at Taroutino, on the
old road to Kalouga (the central one of three nearly parallel routes),
so strong by nature, and so improved by art, that Napoleon judged it
hopeless to attack him there. He therefore made a lateral movement, and
pushed on by the western road--meaning, after he had passed Taroutino,
to strike back again into the central one, and so interpose himself
between Kutusoff and Kalouga. The old Russian, however, penetrated this
plan; and instantly, by a manoeuvre of precisely the same kind--marching
to the eastward, and thence back to the centre again,--baffled it. The
French van, having executed the first part of their orders, and regained
the middle road in the rear of Taroutino, advanced without opposition as
far as Malo-Yaraslovetz, and occupied that town. But at midnight they
were assaulted furiously within it, and driven back across the river
Louja, where the leading divisions of the army bivouacked. Early in the
morning the French retook Malo-Yaraslovetz at the point of the bayonet,
and the greater part of the day was spent in a succession of obstinate
contests, in the course of which the town five times changed masters. In
the evening, Napoleon came up with his main body. He found his troops,
indeed, in possession of the place; but beyond it, his generals informed
him, Kutusoff and his whole army were now posted, and this on a position
at least as strong as that of Taroutino, which he himself had considered
unassailable.
The Emperor's headquarters were in the wretched and filthy hut of a poor
weaver, and here an angry debate ensued between Murat and Davoust; the
former of whom urged the necessity of instantly attacking the Russian,
while the latter pronounced such an attempt to be worthy of a madman.
The Emperor heard them in gloomy silence, and declared that he would
judge for himself in the morning. He dismissed them all, and, if Segur
may be believed, spent the night in great agitation; now rising, now
lying down again--incessantly calling out--yet refusing to admit anyone
within a temporary screen of cloth which concealed his person from the
eyes of his attendants. This was the first occasion on which Buonaparte
betrayed in his demeanour that dark presentiment which had settled on
his mind ever since he beheld the flames of Moscow.
At daybreak he passed the Louja with a few attendants, for the purpose
of reconnoitring Kutusoff's position. He had scarcely crossed the
bridge, when a party of Platoff's Cossacks, galloping furiously, and
sweeping some scattered companies of the French before them, came full
upon the Emperor and his suite. Napoleon was urged to seek safety in
flight; but he drew his sword and took post on the bank by the way-side.
The wild spearmen, intent on booty, plunged on immediately below him,
and, after stripping some soldiers, retired again at full speed to their
Pulk, without having observed the inestimable prize. The Emperor watched
their retreat, and continued his reconnaissance. It satisfied him that
Davoust had judged rightly.
He made another effort to force a passage southwards at Medyn; but here
also he was repelled, and forced to abandon the attempt. Meantime the
army which had occupied Moscow begun to send forth its Cossacks on his
rear. In a word, it became apparent that if the retreat were to be
urged, it must now be in the direction of Verreia and Smolensko; that
is, through the same provinces which had been entirely wasted in the
earlier part of the campaign.
Kutusoff, whether merely overpowered for the moment with that vague
sentiment which Buonaparte's name had hitherto been accustomed to
inspire, or that he knew of a still better position nearer Kalouga, was,
in fact, retiring from his strong ground behind Malo-Yaraslovetz, at the
moment when the French began to break up from the Louja. No sooner,
however, was that movement known, than the Russian penetrated the extent
of his adversary's embarrassments; and Platoff, with the Cossacks,
received orders to hang close on the French rear--while Milarodowitch,
with 18,000 men, pushed directly on Viasma; and the main army taking a
parallel, and a shorter, though less practicable route, marched also
with the view of watching the retreat on Smolensko.
As Buonaparte was about to leave Verreia, General Witzingerode was
brought a prisoner into his presence. This officer had advanced to the
Kremlin, ere it was abandoned, with a flag of truce, for the purpose of
entering into some arrangements concerning the French wounded; and it is
to be supposed, of dissuading the departing garrison from destroying the
citadel. He was, however, placed instantly under arrest, and hurried
away with the enemy's march. Napoleon, whose temper was by this time
embittered into ungovernable rage, charged the General with being the
leader of the Cossacks, and threatened to have him shot, on the instant,
as a brigand. Witzingerode replied, that "he commanded not the Cossacks,
but a part of the regular army; and that, in the character of a Russian
soldier, he was at all times prepared for a French bullet." Napoleon,
now ascertaining the name, country, and rank of his prisoner, pursued in
these angry ejaculations: "Who are you? A man without a country--You
have ever been my enemy--You were in the Austrian's ranks at
Austerlitz--I now find you in the Russian! Nevertheless, you are a
native of the Confederation of the Rhine--therefore my subject--and a
rebel.--Seize him, gens-d'armes! Let the traitor be brought to trial."
The Emperor's attendants were wise enough to foresee the effects of such
violence, if persisted in: they interposed, and Witzingerode was sent
on as a prisoner of war towards Smolensko.[62]
On the 28th of October, Napoleon himself, with 6000 chosen horse, began
his journey towards Smolensko; the care of bringing up the main body
being given to Beauharnois, while Ney commanded the rear. From the
commencement of this march, hardly a day elapsed in which some new
calamity did not befall those hitherto invincible legions. The Cossacks
of Platoff came on one division at Kolotsk, near Borodino, on the 1st of
November, and gave them a total defeat. A second division was attacked
on the day after, and with nearly equal success, by the irregular troops
of Count Orloff Denizoff. On the 3rd, Milarodowitch reached the main
road near Viasma, and after routing Ney, Davoust, and Beauharnois, drove
them through the town, which he entered with drums beating and colours
flying, and making a passage for the rest of the army over the dead
bodies of the enemy. Beauharnois, after this, separated his division
from the rest, and endeavoured to push for Vitepsk, by the way of
Douchowtchina, and Platoff followed him, while Milarodowitch continued
the pursuit on the main road. The separation of troops so pressed is a
sufficient proof that they were already suffering severely for want of
food; but their miseries were about to be heightened by the arrival of a
new enemy. On the 6th of November, the Russian winter fairly set in; and
thenceforth, between the heavy columns of regular troops which on every
side watched and threatened them, the continued assaults of the Cossacks
who hung around them in clouds by day and by night, rushing on every
detached party, disturbing every bivouack, breaking up bridges before,
and destroying every straggler behind them, and the terrible severity of
the climate, the frost, the snow, the wind--the sufferings of this once
magnificent army were such as to baffle all description.
The accounts of the Russian authorities, of the French eye-witnesses who
have since told this story, and, it must be added, of the Emperor's own
celebrated "twenty-ninth bulletin," are in harmony with each other. The
enormous train of artillery which Napoleon had insisted on bringing away
from Moscow was soon diminished; and the roads were blocked up with the
spoils of the city, abandoned of necessity as the means of transport
failed. The horses, having been ill-fed for months, were altogether
unable to resist the united effects of cold and fatigue. They sank and
stiffened by hundreds and by thousands. The starving soldiery slew
others of these animals, that they might drink their warm blood, and
wrap themselves in their yet reeking skins. The discipline of these
miserable bands vanished. Ney was indeed able to keep together some
battalions of the rear guard, and present a bold aspect to the
pursuers--the marshal himself not disdaining to bear a firelock, and
share the meanest fatigues of his followers; but elsewhere there
remained hardly the shadow of military order. Small and detached bodies
of men moved, like soldiers, on the highway--the immense majority
dispersed themselves over the ice and snow which equalised the surface
of the fields on either side, and there sustained from time to time the
rapid and merciless charge of the Cossacks.
Beauharnois, meantime, discovered before he had advanced far on his
separate route, that Witgenstein, having defeated successively St. Cyr
and Victor on the Dwina, was already in possession of Vitepsk. The
viceroy therefore was compelled to turn back towards the Smolensko road.
Platoff turned with him, and brought him once more to action, "killing
many," said the Hetman's despatch, "but making few prisoners." The army
of Italy, if it could still be called an army, mingled with the few
troops who still preserved some show of order under Ney, before they
came in sight of Smolensko, and communicated to them their own terror
and confusion.
Meanwhile the Russian "army of Volhynia," after it was strengthened by
the arrival of Tchichagoff from the Danube, had been able (as we have
already hinted) to bear down all the opposition of Schwartzenberg and
Regnier; had driven their forces before them, and taken possession of
Napoleon's great depot, Minsk, from which they might hope ere long to
communicate with Witgenstein. The armies of Witgenstein and Tchichagoff,
then, were about to be in communication with each other, and in
possession of those points at which Napoleon was most likely to attempt
his escape from Smolensko, into Poland; while the main army itself,
having advanced side by side with the French, was now stationed to the
south-west of Smolensko, in readiness to break the enemy's march
whenever Kutusoff should choose; Milarodowitch, finally, and Platoff,
were hanging close behind, and thinning every hour the miserable bands
who had no longer heart, nor, for the most part, arms of any kind
wherewith to resist them. But the whole extent of these misfortunes was
not known to any one of the French generals, nor even to Napoleon
himself, at the time when Beauharnois and Ney at length entered
Smolensko.
The name of that town had hitherto been the only spell that preserved
any hope within the soldiers of the retreat. There, they had been told,
they should find food, clothing, and supplies of all sorts: and there,
being once more assembled under the eye of the Emperor, speedily
reassume an aspect, such as none of the northern barbarians would dare
to brave.
But these expectations were cruelly belied. Smolensko had been, as we
have seen, almost entirely destroyed by the Russians in the early part
of the campaign. Its ruined walls afforded only a scanty shelter to the
famished and shivering fugitives; and the provisions assembled there
were so inadequate to the demands of the case, that after the lapse of a
few days, Buonaparte found himself under the necessity of once more
renewing his disastrous march. He had, as yet, received no intelligence
of the capture of Minsk by Tchichagoff. It was in that direction,
accordingly, that he resolved to force his passage into Poland.
Although the grand army had mustered 120,000 when it left Moscow, and
the fragments of various divisions besides had met the Emperor at
Smolensko, it was with great difficulty that 40,000 men could now be
brought together in anything like fighting condition. These Napoleon
divided into four columns, nearly equal in numbers: of the first, which
included 6000 of the imperial guard, he himself took the command, and
marched with it towards Krasnoi, the first town on the way to Minsk: the
second corps was that of Eugene Beauharnois; the third, Davoust's; and
the fourth, destined for the perilous service of the rear, and
accordingly strengthened with 3000 of the guard, was entrusted to the
heroic guidance of Ney. The Emperor left Smolensko on the 13th of
November, having ordered that the other corps should follow him on the
14th, 15th, and 16th, respectively; thus interposing a day's march
between every two divisions.
It is not to be questioned that Napoleon, in thus arranging his march,
was influenced by the pressing difficulty of finding provisions, and
also by the enfeebled condition of the greater part of his remaining
troops. The division of his force, however, was so complete, that had he
been opposed by a general adequate to the occasion, his total and
immediate ruin could hardly have been avoided. But Kutusoff appears to
have exhausted the better part of his daring at Borodino, and
thenceforth to have adhered to the plan of avoiding battle--originally
wise and necessary--with a pertinacity savouring of superstition. It
must be admitted, that hitherto, in suffering the climate to waste his
enemy's numbers, and merely heightening the misery of the elemental war
by his clouds of Cossacks, and occasional assaults of other light
troops, he had reaped almost every advantage which could have resulted
from another course. But the army of Napoleon had been already reduced
to a very small fragment of its original strength; and even that
fragment was now split into four divisions, against any one of which it
would have been easy to concentrate a force overwhelmingly superior. It
seems to be generally accepted that the name of Napoleon saved whatever
part of his host finally escaped from the territory of Russia; in a
word, that had Kutusoff been able to shake off that awe which had been
the growth of a hundred victories, the Emperor himself must have either
died on some bloody field between Smolensko and the Beresina, or
revisited, as a prisoner, the interior of the country which, three
months before, he had invaded at the head of half a million of warriors.
He himself, with his column, reached Krasnoi unmolested, although the
whole of the Russian army, moving on a parallel road, were in full
observation of his march. Eugene, who followed him, was, however,
intercepted on his way by Milarodowitch, and after sustaining the
contest gallantly against very disproportionate numbers, and a terrible
cannonade, was at length saved only by the fall of night. During the
darkness, the Viceroy executed a long and hazardous _detour_, and joined
the Emperor in Krasnoi, on the 17th. On this night-march they fell in
with the videttes of another of Kutusoff's columns, and owed their
preservation to the quickness of a Polish soldier, who answered the
challenge in Russian. The loss, however, had been severe; the two
leading divisions, now united in Krasnoi, mustered scarcely 15,000.
Napoleon was most anxious to secure the passage of the Dnieper at Liady,
and immediately gave Eugene the command of the van, with orders to march
on this point; but he was warned by the losses which his son-in-law had
undergone, of the absolute necessity of waiting at Krasnoi until Davoust
and Ney should be able to come up with him. He determined, therefore, to
abide, with 6000 of the guard, and another corps of 5000, whatever
numbers Kutusoff might please to bring against him. He drew his sword,
and said, "I have long enough played the Emperor--I must be the general
once more."
In vain was Kutusoff urged to seize this opportunity of pouring an
irresistible force on the French position. The veteran commanded a
cannonade--and, as he had 100 pieces of artillery well placed, the ranks
of the enemy were thinned considerably. But, excepting one or two
isolated charges of cavalry, he adventured on no closer collision; and
Napoleon held his ground, in face of all that host, until nightfall,
when Davoust's division, surrounded and pursued by innumerable Cossacks,
at length were enabled to rally once more around his headquarters.
He had the mortification to learn, however, that Ney was probably still
in Smolensko, and that a Russian force had marched on towards Liady,
with the design of again intercepting Eugene. The Emperor, therefore,
once more divided his numbers--pushed on in person to support
Beauharnois and secure Liady--and left Davoust and Mortier to hold out
as long as possible at Krasnoi, in the hope of being there joined by
Ney. Long, however, before that gallant chief could reach this point,
the Russians, as if the absence of Napoleon had at once restored all
their energy, rushed down and forced on Davoust and Mortier, the battle
which the Emperor had in vain solicited. On that fatal field the French
left forty-five cannon and 6000 prisoners, besides the slain and the
wounded. The remainder with difficulty effected their escape to Liady,
where Napoleon once more received them, and crossed the Dnieper.
Ney, meanwhile, having in execution of his master's parting injunctions
blown up whatever remained of the walls and towers of Smolensko, at
length set his rear-guard in motion, and advanced to Krasnoi, without
being harassed by any except Platoff, whose Cossacks entered Smolensko
ere he could wholly abandon it. The field strewn with many thousand
corpses, informed him sufficiently that a new disaster had befallen the
fated army. Yet he continued to advance on the footsteps of those who
had thus shattered Davoust and Mortier, and met with no considerable
interruption until he reached the ravine in which the rivulet Losmina
has its channel. A thick mist lay on the ground, and Ney was almost on
the brink of the ravine, before he perceived that it was manned
throughout by Russians, while the opposite banks displayed a long line
of batteries deliberately arranged, and all the hills behind were
covered with troops.
A Russian officer appeared and summoned Ney to capitulate. "A mareschal
of France never surrenders," was his intrepid answer; and immediately
the batteries, distant only 250 yards, opened a tremendous storm of
grape shot. Ney, nevertheless, had the hardihood to plunge into the
ravine, clear a passage over the stream, and charge the Russians at
their guns. His small band were repelled with fearful slaughter; but he
renewed his efforts from time to time during the day, and at night,
though with numbers much diminished, still occupied his original
position in the face of a whole army interposed between him and
Napoleon.
The Emperor had by this time given up all hope of ever again seeing
anything of his rear-column. But during the ensuing night, Ney effected
his escape; nor does the history of war present many such examples of
apparently insuperable difficulties overcome by the union of skill and
valour. The marshal broke up his bivouac at midnight, and marched back
from the Losmina, until he came on another stream, which he concluded
must flow also into the Dnieper. He followed this guide, and at length
reached the great river at the place where it was frozen over, though so
thinly, that the ice bent and crackled beneath the feet of the men, who
crossed it in single files. The waggons laden with the wounded, and what
great guns were still with Ney, were too heavy for this frail bridge.
They attempted the passage at different points, and one after another
went down, amidst the shrieks of the dying and the groans of the
onlookers. The Cossacks had by this time gathered hard behind, and
swept up many stragglers, besides the sick. But Ney had achieved his
great object: and on the 20th, he, with his small and devoted band,
joined the Emperor once more at Orcsa. Napoleon received him in his
arms, hailed him as "the bravest of the brave," and declared that he
would have given all his treasures to be assured of his safety.
The Emperor was once more at the head of his united "grand army"; but
the name was ere now become a jest. Between Smolensko and the Dnieper
the Russians had taken 228 guns, and 26,000 prisoners; and, in a word,
having mustered 40,000 effective men at leaving Smolensko, Napoleon
could count only 12,000 after Ney joined him at Orcsa. Of these there
were but 150 cavalry; and, to remedy this defect, officers still in
possession of horses, to the number of 500, were now formed into a
"sacred band," as it was called, for immediate attendance on the
Emperor's person. The small fragment of his once gigantic force had no
sooner recovered something like the order of discipline, than it was
again set in motion.
But scarcely had the Emperor passed the Dnieper, when he received the
tidings of the fall of Minsk, and the subsequent retreat of
Schwartzenberg towards Warsaw. It was, therefore, necessary, to alter
his plan, and force a passage into Poland to the northward of that great
depot. It was necessary, moreover, to do this without loss of time, for
the Emperor well knew that Witgenstein had been as successful on his
right flank, as Tchichagoff on his left; and that these generals might
soon be, if they already were not, in communication with each other, and
ready to unite all their forces for the defence of the next great river
on his route--the Beresina.
Napoleon had hardly resolved to attempt the passage of this river at
Borizoff, ere, to renew all his perplexities, he received intelligence
that Witgenstein had defeated Dombrowski there, and retained possession
of the town and bridge. Victor and Oudinot, indeed, advanced immediately
to succour Dombrowski, and re-took Borizoff; but Witgenstein burnt the
bridge before he re-crossed the Beresina. Imperfect as Victor's success
was, Napoleon did not hear of it immediately. He determined to pass the
Beresina higher up, at Studzianska, and forthwith threw himself into the
huge forests which border that river, adopting every stratagem by which
his enemies could be puzzled as to the immediate object of his march.
His 12,000 men, brave and determined, but no longer preserving in their
dress, nor, unless when the trumpet blew, in their demeanour, a
soldier-like appearance, were winding their way amidst these dark woods,
when suddenly the air around them was filled with sounds which could
only proceed from the march of some far greater host. They were
preparing for the worst, when they found themselves in presence of the
advanced guard of the united army of Victor and Oudinot, who had,
indeed, been defeated by Witgenstein, but still mustered 50,000 men,
completely equipped and hardly shaken in discipline. With what feelings
must these troops have surveyed the miserable half-starved and half-clad
remains of that "grand army," their own detachment from whose banners
had, some few short months before, filled every bosom among them with
regret!
Having melted the poor relics of his Moscow army into these battalions,
Napoleon now continued his march on Studzianska; employing, however, all
his wit to confirm Tchichagoff in the notion that he meant to pass the
Beresina at a different place,--and this with so much success, that
Tchaplitz, with the Russian rear-guard, abandoned a strong position,
commanding the river, during the very night which preceded his
appearance there. Two bridges were erected, and Oudinot had passed over
before Tchaplitz perceived his mistake, and returned again toward
Studzianska.
Discovering that the passage had already begun, and that in consequence
of the narrowness of the only two bridges, it must needs proceed slowly,
Tchichagoff and Witgenstein now arranged a joint plan of attack. The
latter once more passed to the eastern bank of the river, and, having
wholly cut off one division of 7000, under Partonneux, not far from
Borizoff, proceeded towards Studzianska. Platoff and his indefatigable
Cossacks joined Witgenstein on this march, and they arrived long before
the rear-guard of Napoleon could pass the river. But the operations on
the other side of the Beresina were far less zealously or skilfully
conducted. Tchichagoff was in vain urged to support effectually
Tchaplitz; who attacked the French that had passed, and being repelled
by Oudinot, left them in unmolested possession, not only of the bridges
on the Beresina, but of a long train of wooden causeways, extending for
miles beyond the river, over deep and dangerous morasses, and which
being composed of old dry timber, would have required, says Segur, "to
destroy them utterly, but a few sparks from the Cossacks' tobacco
pipes."
In spite of this neglect, and of the altogether extraordinary conduct of
Kutusoff, who still persisted in marching on a line parallel with
Napoleon, and refusing to hazard any more assaults, the passage of the
Beresina was one of the most fearful scenes recorded in the annals of
war. Victor, with the rear-division, consisting of 8000 men, was still
on the eastern side--when Witgenstein and Platoff appeared on the
heights above. The still numerous retainers of the camp, crowds of sick,
wounded, and women, and the greater part of the artillery, were in the
same situation. When the Russian cannon began to open upon this
multitude, crammed together near the bank, and each anxiously expecting
the turn to pass, a shriek of utter terror ran through them, and men,
women, horses, and waggons rushed at once, pell-mell, upon the bridges.
The larger of these, intended solely for waggons and cannon, ere long
broke down, precipitating all that were upon it into the dark and
half-frozen stream. The scream that rose at this moment, says one that
heard it, "did not leave my ears for weeks; it was heard clear and loud
over the hurrahs of the Cossacks, and all the roar of artillery." The
remaining bridge was now the only resource, and all indiscriminately
endeavoured to gain a footing on it. Squeezed, trampled, forced over the
ledges, cut down by each other, and torn by the incessant shower of
Russian cannonade, they fell and died in thousands. Victor stood his
ground bravely until late in the evening, and then conducted his
division over the bridge. There still remained behind a great number of
the irregular attendants, besides those soldiers who had been wounded
during the battle, and guns and baggage-carts enough to cover a large
meadow. The French now fired the bridge, and all these were abandoned to
their fate. The Russian account states, that when the Beresina thawed
after that winter's frost, 36,000 bodies were found in its bed.
Tchaplitz was soon joined in his pursuit of the survivors by
Witgenstein and Platoff, and nothing could have saved Napoleon but the
unexpected arrival of a fresh division under Maison, sent forwards from
Poland by Maret, Duke of Bassano.
But the severity of the winter began now to be intense, and the
sufferings of the army thus recruited were such, that discipline ere
long disappeared, except among a few thousands of hardy veterans, over
whose spirits the Emperor and Ney preserved some influence. The assaults
of the Cossacks continued as before: the troops often performed their
march by night, by the light of torches, in the hope of escaping their
merciless pursuers. When they halted, they fell asleep in hundreds to
wake no more. Their enemies found them frozen to death around the ashes
of their watch-fires. It is said, among other horrors, that more than
once they found poor famished wretches endeavouring to broil the flesh
of their dead comrades. On scenes so fearful the veil must not be
entirely dropt. Such is the price at which ambition does not hesitate to
purchase even the chance of what the world has not yet ceased to call
glory!
The haughty and imperious spirit of Napoleon sank not under all these
miseries. He affected, in so far as was possible, not to see them. He
still issued his orders as if his army, in all its divisions, were
entire, and sent bulletins to Paris announcing a succession of
victories. When his officers came to inform him of some new calamity, he
dismissed them abruptly, saying, "Why will you disturb my tranquillity?
I desire to know no particulars. Why will you deprive me of my
tranquillity?"
On the 3rd of December he reached Malodeczno, and announced to his
marshals that the news he had received from Paris, and the uncertain
nature of his relations with some of his allies, rendered it
indispensable for him to quit his army without further delay. They were
now, he said, almost within sight of Poland; they would find plenty of
everything at Wilna. It was his business to prepare at home the means of
opening the next campaign in a manner worthy of _the great nation_. At
Smorgoni, on the 5th, the garrison of Wilna met him; and then, having
entrusted to these fresh troops the protection of the rear, and given
the chief command to Murat, he finally bade adieu to the relics of his
host. He set off at midnight in a _traineau_, accompanied by
Caulaincourt, whose name he assumed: two other vehicles of the same kind
followed, containing two officers of rank, Rustan the Emperor's
favourite Mameluke, and one domestic besides.
Having narrowly escaped being taken by a party of irregular Russians at
Youpranoni, Napoleon reached Warsaw at nightfall, on the 10th of
December. His ambassador there, the Abbe de Pradt, who had as yet heard
no distinct accounts of the progress of events, was unexpectedly visited
by Caulaincourt, who abruptly informed him that the grand army was no
more. The Abbe accompanied Caulaincourt to an obscure inn, where the
Emperor, wrapped in a fur cloak, was walking up and down rapidly, beside
a newly-lit fire. He was received with an air of gaiety, which for a
moment disconcerted him; and proceeded to mention that the inhabitants
of the Grand Duchy were beginning to show symptoms of disaffection, and
even of a desire to reconcile themselves with the Prussians, under whose
yoke they feared they were destined to return. The Abbe expressed his
own satisfaction that the Emperor had escaped from so many dangers.
"Dangers," cried Napoleon, "there were none--I have beat the Russians in
every battle--I live but in dangers--it is for kings of Cockaigne to sit
at home at ease. My army is in a superb condition still--it will be
recruited at leisure at Wilna, and I go to bring up 300,000 men more
from France. I quit my army with regret, but I must watch Austria and
Prussia, and I have more weight on my throne than at headquarters. The
Russians will be rendered foolhardy by their successes--I shall beat
them in a battle or two on the Oder, and be on the Niemen again within a
month." This harangue, utterly contradictory throughout, he began and
ended with a favourite phrase--"Monsieur L'Ambassadeur, from the sublime
to the ridiculous there is but a step."
Resuming his incognito and his journey, Napoleon reached Dresden on the
evening of the 14th December, where the King of Saxony visited him
secretly at his inn, and renewed his assurances of fidelity. He arrived
at the Tuileries on the 18th, late at night, after the Empress had
retired to rest. He entered the ante-chamber, to the confusion of her
attendants, who at length recognised him with a cry that roused Maria
Louisa from her slumbers; and Napoleon was welcomed with all the warmth
of undiminished affection.
The army, whom its chief had thus abandoned, pursued meanwhile that
miserable march, of which every day augmented the disorder. The garrison
of Wilna and Maison's corps, united to those who escaped across the
Beresina, might number in all 80,000. Before Murat reached Wilna, 40,000
of these had either died or fallen alive into the hands of their
unrelenting pursuers. In that city there were abundant magazines of
every kind, and the few who had as yet preserved some appearance of
order, together with the multitudes of broken stragglers, rushed in
confusion into the place, in the hope of at length resting from their
toils, and eating and drinking, for at least one day, in peace. Strong
men were observed weeping with joy at the sight of a loaf of bread. But
scarcely had they received their rations, ere the well-known _hurrah_ of
Platoff rung once more in their ears. They fled once more, with such of
their baggage as could be most easily got into motion; but many fell
beneath the spears of the Cossacks, and not a few, it is said, were
butchered deliberately in the moment of their perplexity by their
Lithuanian hosts, the same Polish Jews who had already inflicted such
irreparable injury on the whole army, by their non-observance of their
contracts. Shortly after, a waggon laden with coin was overturned on the
road, and the soldiers, laying aside all attention to their officers,
began to plunder the rich spoil. The Cossacks came up--but there was
enough for all, and friend and foe pillaged the imperial treasure, in
company, for once, without strife. It deserves to be recorded that some
soldiers of the imperial guard restored the money which fell to their
share on this occasion, when the weary march at length reached its end.
They passed the Niemen at Kowno; and the Russians did not pursue them
into the Prussian territory. At the time when they escaped finally from
Poland, there were about 1000 in arms, and perhaps 20,000 more, utterly
broken, dispersed, and demoralised.
Schwartzenberg, the general of the Austrian auxiliaries, on learning the
departure of Napoleon, formed an armistice with the Russians, and
retired by degrees into his own prince's territory. These allies had
shown little zeal in any part of the campaign; and their conduct seems
to have been appreciated by the Russians accordingly.
In Courland, on the left flank of the French retreat, there remained the
separate corps of Macdonald, who had with him 20,000 Prussians and
10,000 Bavarians and other Germans. These Prussians had been sent on
this detached service in just apprehension of their coldness to the
invader's cause. Macdonald, on learning the utter ruin of the main army,
commenced his march upon Tilsit. On reaching that place D'York, the
commander of the Prussians, refused any longer to obey the marshal's
orders, and separated his men entirely--thus taking on himself the
responsibility of disobeying the letter of his sovereign's commands, and
anticipating that general burst of national hatred which, as all men
perceived, could not much longer be deferred.
To the great honour, however, of the Prussian people, the wearied relics
of Napoleon's grand army were received in the country which, in the days
of their prosperity, they had so wantonly insulted, if not with
friendship, at least, with compassion. They took up their quarters, and
remained for a time unmolested, in and near Konigsberg.
Thus ended the invasion of Russia. There had been slain in battle, on
the side of Napoleon, 125,000 men. Fatigue, hunger, and cold, had caused
the death of 132,000! and the Russians had taken of prisoners
193,000--including forty-eight generals and 3000 regimental officers.
The total loss was, therefore, 450,000 men. The eagles and standards
left in the enemy's hands were seventy-five in number, and the pieces of
cannon nearly one thousand.
Exclusive of the Austrian and Prussian auxiliaries, there remained of
all the enormous host which Napoleon set in motion in August about
40,000 men; and of these not 10,000 were of the French nation.
[Footnote 62: He was rescued in Poland by a party of Cossacks.]