_On 14th September, Napoleon reaches Moscow, which he finds deserted
by the Inhabitants--The City is discovered to be on fire--Napoleon
takes up his quarters in the Kremlin--The fire is stopt next day,
but arises again at night--Believed to be wilful, and several
Russians apprehended and shot--On the third night, the Kremlin is
discovered to be on Fire--Buonaparte leaves it, and takes his abode
at Petrowsky--The Fire rages till the 19th, when four-fifths of the
City are burnt down--On the 20th, Buonaparte returns to the
Kremlin--Discussion as to the Origin of this great
Conflagration--Disorganisation and Indiscipline of the French
Army--Difficulty as to the Route on leaving Moscow--Lauriston sent
with a Letter to the Emperor Alexander--Retrospect of the March of
the Russian Army, after leaving Moscow--Lauriston has an Interview
with Koutousoff on 5th October--The Result--Armistice made by
Murat--Preparations for Retreat--The Emperor Alexander refuses to
treat._
On the 14th September, 1812, while the rearguard of the Russians were in
the act of evacuating Moscow, Napoleon reached the hill called the Mount
of Salvation, because it is there where the natives kneel and cross
themselves at first sight of the Holy City.
Moscow seemed lordly and striking as ever, with the steeples of its
thirty churches, and its copper domes glittering in the sun; its palaces
of Eastern architecture mingled with trees, and surrounded with gardens;
and its Kremlin, a huge triangular mass of towers, something between a
palace and a castle, which rose like a citadel out of the general mass
of groves and buildings. But not a chimney sent up smoke, not a man
appeared on the battlements, or at the gates. Napoleon gazed every
moment, expecting to see a train of bearded boyards arriving to fling
themselves at his feet, and place their wealth at his disposal. His
first exclamation was, "Behold at last that celebrated city!"--His next,
"It was full time." His army, less regardful of the past or the future,
fixed their eyes on the goal of their wishes, and a shout of
"Moscow!--Moscow!"--passed from rank to rank.[154]
Meantime no one interrupted his meditations, until a message came from
Murat. He had pushed in among the Cossacks, who covered the rear of the
Russians, and readily admitted to a parley the chivalrous champion, whom
they at once recognised, having so often seen him blazing in the van of
the French cavalry.[155] The message which he sent to Buonaparte
intimated, that Miloradovitch threatened to burn the town, if his rear
was not allowed time to march through it. This was a tone of defiance.
Napoleon, however, granted the armistice, for which no inhabitants were
left to be grateful.
After waiting two hours, he received from some French inhabitants, who
had hidden themselves during the evacuation, the strange intelligence
that Moscow was deserted by its population. The tidings that a
population of 250,000 persons had left their native city was incredible,
and Napoleon still commanded the boyards, the public functionaries, to
be brought before him; nor could he be convinced of what had actually
happened, till they led to his presence some of that refuse of humanity,
the only live creatures they could find in the city, but they were
wretches of the lowest rank. When he was at last convinced that the
desertion of the capital was universal, he smiled bitterly, and said,
"The Russians will soon learn better the value of their capital."[156]
The signal was now given for the troops to advance; and the columns,
still in a state of wonder at the solitude and silence which received
them every where, penetrated through that assemblage of huts, mingled
with palaces, where it seemed that Penury, which had scarce means to
obtain the ordinary necessaries of life, had for her next door neighbour
all the wealth and profuse expenditure of the East. At once the silence
was broken by a volley of musketry, which some miserable fanatics poured
from the battlements of the Kremlin on the first French troops that
approached the palace of the Czars. These wretches were most of them
intoxicated; yet the determined obstinacy with which they threw away
their lives, was another feature of that rugged patriotism of which the
French had seen, and were yet to see, so many instances.
[Sidenote: ENTRY INTO MOSCOW.]
When he entered the gates of Moscow, Buonaparte, as if unwilling to
encounter the sight of the empty streets, stopt immediately on entering
the first suburb.[157] His troops were quartered in the desolate city.
During the first few hours after their arrival, an obscure rumour, which
could not be traced, but one of those which are sometimes found to get
abroad before the approach of some awful certainty, announced that the
city would be endangered by fire in the course of the night. The report
seemed to arise from those evident circumstances which rendered the
event probable, but no one took any notice of it, until at midnight,
when the soldiers were startled from their quarters by the report that
the town was in flames. The memorable conflagration began amongst the
coachmakers' warehouses and workshops in the Bazaar, or general market,
which was the most rich district of the city. It was imputed to
accident, and the progress of the flames was subdued by the exertions of
the French soldiers. Napoleon, who had been roused by the tumult,
hurried to the spot, and when the alarm seemed at an end, he retired,
not to his former quarters in the suburbs, but to the Kremlin,[158] the
hereditary palace of the only sovereign whom he had ever treated as an
equal, and over whom his successful arms had now attained such an
apparently immense superiority. Yet he did not suffer himself to be
dazzled by the advantage he had obtained, but availed himself of the
light of the blazing Bazaar, to write to the Emperor proposals of peace
with his own hand. They were despatched by a Russian officer of rank,
who had been disabled by indisposition from following the army. But no
answer was ever returned.
Next day the flames had disappeared, and the French officers luxuriously
employed themselves in selecting out of the deserted palaces of Moscow,
that which best pleased the fancy of each for his residence. At night
the flames again arose in the north and west quarters of the city. As
far the greater part of the houses were built of wood, the conflagration
spread with the most dreadful rapidity. This was at first imputed to the
blazing brands and sparkles which were carried by the wind; but at
length it was observed, that, as often as the wind changed, and it
changed three times in that terrible night, new flames broke always
forth in that direction, where the existing gale was calculated to
direct them on the Kremlin. These horrors were increased by the chance
of explosion. There was, though as yet unknown to the French, a magazine
of powder in the Kremlin; besides that a park of artillery, with its
ammunition, was drawn up under the Emperor's window. Morning came, and
with it a dreadful scene. During the whole night, the metropolis had
glared with an untimely and unnatural light. It was now covered with a
thick and suffocating atmosphere, of almost palpable smoke. The flames
defied the efforts of the French soldiery, and it is said that the
fountains of the city had been rendered inaccessible, the water-pipes
cut, and the fire-engines destroyed or carried off.
Then came the reports of fire-balls having been found burning in
deserted houses; of men and women, that, like demons, had been seen
openly spreading the flames, and who were said to be furnished with
combustibles for rendering their dreadful work more secure. Several
wretches against whom such acts had been charged, were seized upon, and,
probably without much inquiry, were shot on the spot.[159] While it was
almost impossible to keep the roof of the Kremlin clear of the burning
brands which showered down the wind, Napoleon watched from the windows
the course of the fire which devoured his fair conquest, and the
exclamation burst from him, "These are indeed Scythians!"[160]
The equinoctial gales rose higher and higher upon the third night, and
extended the flames, with which there was no longer any human power of
contending. At the dead hour of midnight, the Kremlin itself was found
to be on fire. A soldier of the Russian police, charged with being the
incendiary, was turned over to the summary vengeance of the Imperial
Guard.[161] Buonaparte was then, at length, persuaded, by the entreaties
of all around him, to relinquish his quarters in the Kremlin, to which,
as the visible mark of his conquest, he had seemed to cling with the
tenacity of a lion holding a fragment of his prey. He encountered both
difficulty and danger in retiring from the palace, and before he could
gain the citygate, he had to traverse with his suite streets arched with
fire,[162] and in which the very air they breathed was suffocating. At
length, he gained the open country, and took up his abode in a palace of
the Czar's called Petrowsky, about a French league from the city. As he
looked back on the fire, which, under the influence of the autumnal
wind, swelled and surged around the Kremlin, like an infernal ocean
around a sable Pandemonium, he could not suppress the ominous
expression, "This bodes us great misfortune."[163]
The fire continued to triumph unopposed, and consumed in a few days what
it had cost centuries to raise. "Palaces and temples," says a Russian
author, "monuments of art, and miracles of luxury, the remains of ages
which had past away, and those which had been the creation of yesterday;
the tombs of ancestors, and the nursery-cradles of the present
generation, were indiscriminately destroyed. Nothing was left of Moscow
save the remembrance of the city, and the deep resolution to avenge its
fall."[164]
The fire raged till the 19th with unabated violence, and then began to
slacken for want of fuel. It is said, four-fifths of this great city
were laid in ruins. On the 20th, Buonaparte returned to the
Kremlin;[165] and, as if in defiance of the terrible scene which he had
witnessed, took measures as if he were disposed to make Moscow his
residence for some time. He even caused a theatre to be fitted up, and
plays to be acted by performers sent from Paris, to show, perhaps, that
it was not in the most terrible of elements to overawe his spirit, or
interrupt his usual habits of life. In the same style of indifference or
affectation, a set of very precise regulations respecting the Théâtre
Français was drawn up by the Emperor amid the ruins of Moscow. He was
not superior to the affectation of choosing distant places and foreign
capitals for the date of domestic and trifling ordinances. It gave the
Emperor an air of ubiquity, to issue rules for a Parisian theatre from
the Kremlin. It had already been prophesied that he would sacrifice his
army to have the pleasure of dating a decree from Moscow.[166]
The conflagration of Moscow was so complete in its devastation; so
important in its consequences; so critical in the moment of its
commencement, that almost all the eye-witnesses have imputed it to a
sublime, yet almost horrible exertion of patriotic decision on the part
of the Russians, their government, and, in particular, of the governor,
Rostopchin. Nor has the positive denial of Count Rostopchin himself
diminished the general conviction, that the fire was directed by him.
All the French officers continue to this day to ascribe the
conflagration to persons whom he had employed.
On the other hand, there are many, and those good judges of the
probabilities in such an event, who have shown strong reasons for
believing, that Moscow shared but the fate of a deserted city, which is
almost always burnt as well as pillaged. We shall only observe, that
should the scale of evidence incline to the side of accident, History
will lose one of the grandest, as well as most terrible incidents which
she has on record. Considered as a voluntary Russian act, the burning of
their capital is an incident of gigantic character, which we consider
with awe and terror; our faculties so confused by the immensity of the
object, considered in its different bearings, that we hardly know
whether to term it vice or virtue, patriotism or vengeance.
Whether the conflagration of Moscow was, or was not, the work of Russian
will, and Russian hands, the effects which it was to produce on the
campaign were likely to be of the most important character. Buonaparte's
object in pressing on to the capital at every risk, was to grasp a
pledge, for the redemption of which he had no doubt Alexander would be
glad to make peace on his own terms. But the prize of his victory,
however fair to the sight, had, like that fabled fruit, said to grow on
the banks of the Dead Sea, proved in the end but soot and ashes. Moscow,
indeed, he had seized, but it had perished in his grasp; and far from
being able to work upon Alexander's fears for its safety, it was
reasonable to think that its total destruction had produced the most
vehement resentment on the part of the Russian monarch, since Napoleon
received not even the civility of an answer to his conciliatory letter.
And thus the acquisition so much desired as the means of procuring
peace, had become, by this catastrophe, the cause of the most
irreconcilable enmity.
Neither was it a trifling consideration, that Napoleon had lost by this
dreadful fire a great part of the supplies, which he expected the
capture of the metropolis would have contributed for the support of his
famished army. Had there existed in Moscow the usual population of a
capital, he would have found the usual modes of furnishing its markets
in full activity. These, doubtless, are not of the common kind, for
provisions are sent to this capital, not, as is usual, from fertile
districts around the city, but from distant regions, whence they are
brought by water-carriage in the summer, and by sledges, which travel on
the ice and frozen snow, in the winter time. To Moscow, with its usual
inhabitants, these supplies must have been remitted as usual, lest the
numerous population of 250,000 and upwards, should be famished, as well
as the enemy's army. But Moscow deserted--Moscow burnt, and reduced to
mountains of cinders and ashes--had no occasion for such supplies; nor
was it to be supposed that the provinces from which they were usually
remitted, would send them to a heap of ruins, where there remained none
to be fed, save the soldiers of the invading army. This conviction came
with heavy anticipation on the Emperor of France and his principal
officers.
Meanwhile, the ruins of Moscow, and the remnant which was left standing,
afforded the common soldiers an abundance of booty during their short
day of rest; and, as is their nature, they enjoyed the present moment
without thinking of futurity. The army was dispersed over the city,
plundering at pleasure whatever they could find; sometimes discovering
quantities of melted gold and silver, sometimes rich merchandize and
precious articles, of which they knew not the value; sometimes articles
of luxury, which contrasted strangely with their general want of
comforts, and even necessaries. It was not uncommon to see the most
tattered, shoeless wretches, sitting among bales of rich merchandize, or
displaying costly shawls, precious furs, and vestments rich with
barbaric pearl and gold.[167] In another place, there were to be seen
soldiers possessed of tea, sugar, coffee, and similar luxuries, while
the same individuals could scarce procure carrion to eat, or muddy water
to drink. Of sugar, in particular, they had such quantities, that they
mixed it with their horse-flesh soup. The whole was a contrast of the
wildest and most lavish excess, with the last degree of necessity,
disgusting to witness, and most ominous in its presage. _They_ esteemed
themselves happiest of all, who could procure intoxicating liquors, and
escape by some hours of insensibility from the scene of confusion around
them.[168]
Napoleon and his officers toiled hard to restore some degree of
organisation to the army. The plundering, which could not be
discontinued, was latterly set about more regularly; and detachments
were sent to pillage the ruins of Moscow, as in turn of duty. The rest
of the troops were withdrawn from the city, or confined to their
quarters in the buildings which remained entire. Everything was done to
protect the few peasants, who brought provisions to the camp for sale.
Nevertheless, few appeared, and at length not one was to be seen. The
utmost exertion, therefore, could not, it was obvious, render Moscow a
place of rest for many days; and the difficulty of choosing the route by
which to leave it, became now an embarrassing consideration.
There were three modes of proceeding on evacuating Moscow, all of which
had in their turn Napoleon's anxious consideration. First, he might
march on St. Petersburgh, and deal with the modern, as he had with the
ancient capital of Russia. This counsel best suited the daring genius of
Buonaparte, ever bent upon the game by which all is to be lost, or all
won. He even spoke of that measure as a thing resolved; but Berthier and
Bessières prevailed in convincing him, that the lateness of the season,
the state of the roads, the want of provisions, and the condition of the
army, rendered such an attempt totally desperate. The second proposed
measure, was to move southwards upon the fertile province of Kalouga,
and thence to proceed westward towards Smolensk, which was their first
depôt. In this route Napoleon must have fought a general action with
Koutousoff, who, as we shall presently see, had taken a position to the
south of Moscow. This, indeed, would have been, in many respects, a
motive with Napoleon to take the route to Kalouga; but a second battle
of Borodino, as obstinately fought, and as doubtful in its termination,
would have been a bad commencement for a retreat, the flanks of which
would certainly be annoyed, even if the Moldavian army did not intercept
the front. The third plan was, to return by the route on which he had
advanced, and on which, by a few places hastily fortified, he still
preserved a precarious communication with Smolensk, Witepsk, and so on
to Wilna. This line, however, lay through the countries which had been
totally destroyed and wasted by the advance of the army, and where all
the villages and hamlets had been burned and abandoned, either by the
French or the Russians themselves. To take this direction was to
confront famine.[169]
Napoleon's hesitation on this important point, was increased by the
eagerness with which he still adhered to his own plan for the conclusion
of the war, by a triumphant peace with Alexander, concluded on the ruins
of his capital. His mind, which ever clung with tenacity to the opinions
he had once formed, revolved the repeated instances in which his voice
had in such circumstances commanded peace, and dictated the articles.
The idea which he had formed of Alexander's disposition during the
interviews of Tilsit and Erfurt, had made him regard the Czar as docile,
and disposed to submit to the rebuke of his own predominant genius. But
he mistook the character of the sovereign, and of the nation he
commanded. The one, although he had hitherto encountered nothing but
defeat and disaster, was determined not to submit, while his immense
resources furnished the means of resistance. The other, in all
probability, would not have permitted the sovereign to act otherwise,
for the popular indignation was now at spring-tide; and from the palace
of the Czar to the hut of the slave, there was nothing breathed save
resistance and revenge.
[Sidenote: MISSION TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER.]
It was in vain, therefore, that Napoleon expected that Alexander would
open some communication on the subject of, or would answer, the letter
which he had sent, during the first night he possessed Moscow, by a
Russian officer. He grew impatient at length, and resolved himself to
make further advances. But not even to his confidential advisers would
he own that he sought peace on his own score; he affected to be anxious
only on account of Alexander. "He is my friend," he said; "a prince of
excellent qualities; and should he yield to his inclinations, and
propose peace, the barbarians in their rage will dethrone and put him to
death, and fill the throne with some one less tractable. We will send
Caulaincourt to break the way for negotiation, and prevent the odium
which Alexander might incur, by being the first to propose a treaty."
The Emperor abode by this resolution, excepting in so far as he was
persuaded with some difficulty to despatch General Count Lauriston, his
aide-de-camp, upon this embassy; lest Caulaincourt's superior rank of
Master of the Horse, might indicate that his master sought a treaty,
less for Alexander's security than his own, and that of his army.
Lauriston, who was well acquainted with the Russian character, urged
several doubts against the policy of the mission intrusted to him, as
betraying their necessity to the enemy; and recommended that the army
should, without losing a day, commence its retreat by Kalouga, and the
more southern route. Buonaparte, however, retained his determination,
and Lauriston was dismissed with a letter to the Emperor Alexander, and
the parting instruction,--"I must have peace, and will sacrifice, to
obtain it, all except my honour."[170]
Before we give the result of Lauriston's mission, it is proper to trace
the movements of the Russian grand army, since their melancholy march
through the city of Moscow. They left the city by the route of Kolomna,
and marched for two days in that direction; and having thus imposed on
the enemy a belief, that they were bent in securing a retreat to the
south-east, leaving at once the eastern and southern provinces
undefended, Koutousoff executed one of the most dexterous movements of
the Russian army during the campaign. The observation of the Petersburgh
road was intrusted to Winzengerode, with a small flying army. Koutousoff
himself, turning to the southward, performed a circular march, of which
Moscow was the centre, so as to transfer the grand army to the route
towards Kalouga. They marched in stern dejection; for the wind, great as
the distance was, showered among their ranks the ashes of their burning
capital, and in the darkness, the flames were seen to rage like a huge
ocean of fire. The movement was a bold one also, for, although performed
at a respectful distance from the French army, yet the march was for
three days a flank march, and consequently of a very delicate character.
The Russians manœuvred, however, with such precision, that they
performed their movements in perfect safety; and while the French
troops, who had been sent in their pursuit, were amusing themselves with
pursuing two regiments of horse, which had been left on the Kolomna
road, they were astonished to find that the grand Russian army had
assumed a position on the south-eastern side of Moscow, from which they
could operate upon and harass, nay, intercept at pleasure, Napoleon's
line of communication with Smolensk and with Poland, and at the same
time cover the town of Kalouga, where great magazines had been
assembled, and that of Toula, famed for the fabrication of arms and
artillery.[171]
The ardent King of Naples, with the advanced guard of his
brother-in-law's army, at length moved against their enemies on the
Kalouga road; but little took place save skirmishes, by which the
Russians protected their rear, until they took up a stationary posture
in the strong position of Taroutino. They were here admirably placed for
the purpose of covering the important town of Kalouga. There are three
routes which lead from Moscow to that city; and Taroutino being situated
in the middle road, an army placed there can with little trouble, by
moving to the right or the left, occupy either of the other two. The
front of the Russian position was covered by the river Nara. The camp
was amply supplied with provisions from the wealthy and plentiful
districts in the rear; and as the spirit of the country more and more
developed itself, recruits and new-raised regiments arrived faster than
the exertions of the veteran soldiers could train them to arms, although
the Russian, from his docility and habits of obedience, receives
military discipline with unusual readiness. The Ukraine and Don sent
twenty regiments of Cossacks, most of them men who, having already
served their stipulated time, were excused from military duty, but who
universally assumed the lance and sabre at a crisis of such emergency.
Murat at the same time pressed forward to establish himself in front of
the Russian camp, for the purpose of watching their motions. In his
progress, he passed what had been a splendid domain, belonging to Count
Rostopchin, the governor of Moscow. It was in ashes; and a letter from
the proprietor informed the French he had destroyed it, lest it should
give an invader comfort or shelter.[172] The same spirit possessed the
peasantry. They set fire to their hamlets, wherever they could be of use
to the invaders; proclaimed the punishment of death to all of their own
order, who, from avarice or fear, should be tempted to supply the enemy
with provisions; and they inflicted it without mercy on such as incurred
the penalty. It is an admitted fact, that when the French, in order to
induce their refractory prisoners to labour in their service, branded
some of them on the hand with the letter N, as a sign that they were the
serfs of Napoleon, one peasant laid his branded hand on a log of wood,
and struck it off with the axe which he held in the other, in order to
free himself from the supposed thraldom. The French who looked on
shuddered, and cursed the hour which brought them into collision with
enemies of such a rugged and inexorable disposition. The patriotism of
the peasants in general had been turned to still better account by the
partisan or guerilla warfare, for which Spain had given an example.
[Sidenote: GENERAL DAVIDOFF.]
Lieutenant-Colonel Dennis Davidoff, who became well known to the French
by the name of _le Capitaine Noir_, had suggested this species of war to
Prince Bagration, a little before the battle of Borodino; and had
obtained distinguished success at the head of a small party of Cossacks
and hussars, by his operations on the route betwixt Gjatz and Wiazma, in
cutting off supplies, and defeating small detached parties of the enemy.
He was speedily put at the head of a much larger force; and other free
corps of the same kind were raised, with brave and active spirits at
their head. They scoured the country, infested the French lines of
communication, drove in their outposts, and distressed them on every
point.
The peasants also took arms, and formed themselves into bodies of
partisans, rendered formidable by their perfect knowledge of the woods,
by-paths, and passes. They have a natural contempt for foreigners, for
whom they have no other name than "the deaf and dumb," to denote their
ignorance of the Russian language. The events of the campaign,
especially the conflagration of Moscow, had converted their scorn into
deadly hatred; and whatever soldier of Napoleon fell into their hands,
was put to death without scruple or pity.
Meantime the cavalry of Murat, which afforded the best means of
chastising and repressing these bands, gradually declined under hard
work and want of subsistence; and, although little used to droop or
distress himself about the future, the King of Naples wrote repeatedly
from his advanced post, to press Napoleon no longer to delay a retreat
which was become absolutely necessary. It was while matters were in this
state that General Lauriston arrived at the Russian outposts, and after
a good deal of difficulty, real or affected, was at length admitted to
an interview with Koutousoff, at midnight on the 5th October. His
reception was such as to make him consider himself a welcome envoy.
Lauriston opened his business with a proposal for exchange of prisoners,
which was of course declined on the part of Koutousoff, aware, that
while soldiers were plenty among the Russians, the ranks of Napoleon
must become every day thinner. Lauriston next introduced the subject of
the independent bands, and proposed that an end should be put to this
species of unusual war, in which so many cruelties were committed.
Koutousoff replied, that this kind of partisan war did not depend on his
orders, but arose from the native spirit of the country, which led the
Russians to regard the French invasion as an incursion of Tartars.
General Lauriston then entered on the real business of his mission, by
asking whether "this war, which had assumed such an unheard-of
character, was to last for ever?" declaring, at the same time, his
master the Emperor of France's sincere desire, to terminate hostilities
between two great and generous nations.
The astucious old Russian saw Buonaparte's evident necessity in his
affected wish for peace, and immediately adopted the course most likely
to gain time, which must at once increase the difficulties of the
French, and his own power of availing himself of them. He affected a
sincere desire to promote a pacification, but declared he was
absolutely prohibited either to receive any proposal to that effect
himself, or to transmit such to the Emperor. He therefore declined to
grant General Lauriston the desired passport to the presence of
Alexander, but he offered to send General Wolkonsky, an aide-de-camp of
the Czar, to learn his imperial pleasure.
The express charge which Lauriston had received from his master, that
peace was to be obtained on any terms not inferring dishonour, did not
permit him to object to this arrangement. He was even encouraged to hope
it might prove effectual, so much satisfaction was expressed by General
Koutousoff and the officers of his military family, all of whom seemed
to deplore the continuance of the war, and went so far as to say, that
this annunciation of a treaty would be received at Petersburgh with
public rejoicings. These accounts being transmitted to Napoleon, lulled
him into a false security. He returned to his original opinion, which
had been shaken, but not subverted; and announced to his generals, with
much satisfaction, that they had but to wait a fortnight for a
triumphant pacification. He boasted his own superior knowledge of the
Russian character, and declared, that on the arrival of his overture for
peace, Petersburgh would be full of bonfires.[173]
[Sidenote: ARMISTICE MADE BY MURAT.]
Napoleon, however, was not so confident of peace as to approve a
singular sort of armistice which Murat had entered into with the
Russians. It was to be broken off, on an intimation of three hours'
space, by either party to the other; and, while in existence, it only
subsisted along the fronts of the two armies, leaving the Russians at
liberty to carry on their partisan war on the flanks as much as ever.
The French could not obtain a load of furze, or a cart of provisions,
without fighting for it, and often to disadvantage. A large party of the
dragoons of the Imperial Guard were surprised and piked by the Cossacks.
Two considerable convoys were surprised and cut off on the road to
Mojaisk, the only communication which the French army had with its
magazines and reinforcements. The French were surprised, and lost a
detachment in the town of Vereia, on Murat's left flank. Thus the war
continued everywhere except on the front of the armies, where it had the
greatest chance to be favourable to the French.
This bad policy is not to be imputed to Napoleon, who had refused to
authorise the armistice, but to the vanity of Murat, under whose
authority it was still observed. It gave him an opportunity of amusing
himself, by caracoling on the neutral ground betwixt the camps,
displaying his handsome form, gallant horsemanship, and splendid
dresses, to the soldiers on both sides; receiving the respectful salutes
of the Russian patrols, and the applause of the Cossacks. These last
used to crowd around him, partly in real admiration of his chivalrous
appearance and character, which was of a kind to captivate these
primitive warriors, and partly, doubtless, from their natural shrewdness
which saw the utility of maintaining his delusion. They called him their
Hettman; and he was so intoxicated with their applause, as to have been
said to nourish the wild idea of becoming in earnest King of the
Cossacks.[174]
Such delusions could not for ever lull Murat's vigilance to sleep. The
war was all around him, and his forces were sinking under a succession
of petty hostilities; while the continual rolling of drums, and the
frequent platoon firing, heard from behind the Russian encampment,
intimated how busily they were engaged in drilling numerous bodies of
fresh recruits. The Russian officers at the outposts began to hold
ominous language, and ask the French if they had made a composition with
the Northern Winter, Russia's most fearful ally. "Stay another
fortnight," they said, "and your nails will drop off, and your fingers
fall from your hands, like boughs from a blighted tree." The numbers of
the Cossacks increased so much, as to resemble one of the ancient
Scythian emigrations; and wild and fantastic figures, on unbroken
horses, whose manes swept the ground, seemed to announce that the inmost
recesses of the desert had sent forth their inhabitants. Their
grey-bearded chiefs sometimes held expostulations with the French
officers, in a tone very different from that which soothed the ears of
Murat. "Had you not," they said, "in France, food enough, water enough,
air enough, to subsist you while you lived--earth enough to cover you
when you died; and why come you to enrich our soil with your remains,
which by right belong to the land where you were born?" Such evil
bodements affected the van of the army, from whence Murat transmitted
them to the Emperor.[175]
Immured in the recesses of the Kremlin, Napoleon persisted in awaiting
the answer to the letter despatched by Lauriston. It had been sent to
Petersburgh on the 6th, and an answer could not be expected before the
26th. To have moved before that period, might be thought prudent in a
military point of view; but, politically considered, it would greatly
injure his reputation for sagacity, and destroy the impression of his
infallibility. Thus sensible, and almost admitting that he was wrong, he
determined, nevertheless, to persevere in the course he had chosen, in
hopes that Fortune, which never before failed him, might yet stand his
friend in extremity.
[Sidenote: MOSCOW.]
A bold scheme is said to have been suggested by Daru, to turn Moscow
into an intrenched camp, and occupy it as winter-quarters. They might
kill the remainder of the horses, he said, and salt them down; foraging
must do the rest. Napoleon approved of what he termed a Lion's counsel.
But the fear of what might happen in France, from which this plan would
have secluded them for six months, induced him finally to reject it. It
might be added, that the obtaining supplies by marauding was likely to
become more and more difficult, as winter and the scarcity increased,
especially now that the country around Moscow was completely ruined.
Besides, if Napoleon fixed himself at Moscow for the winter, not only
his line of communications, but Lithuania, and the grand duchy, which
formed the base of his operations, ran every risk of being invaded. On
the south-west, the dubious faith of Austria was all he had to trust to,
for the purpose of resisting the united armies of Tchitchagoff and
Tormasoff, which might be augmented to 100,000 men, and make themselves
masters of Warsaw and Wilna. On the northern extremity of his general
line of operations, Macdonald and St. Cyr might prove unable to resist
Witgenstein and Steingel; and he had in his rear Prussia, the population
of which Napoleon justly considered as ready to take arms against him at
the first favourable opportunity. The scheme, therefore, for occupying
winter-quarters at Moscow was rejected as fraught with dangers.[176]
Even when appearances of a fall of snow reminded the Emperor of the
climate which he was braving, his preparations for retreat were slowly
and reluctantly made; and some of them were dictated by his vanity,
rather than his judgment. All the pictures, images, and ornaments of the
churches, which were left unburnt, were collected, and loaded upon
wains, to follow the line of march, already too much encumbered with
baggage. A gigantic cross, which stood on the tower of Ivan the Great,
the tallest steeple of Moscow, was dismounted with much labour,[177]
that it might add to the trophies, which were already sufficiently
cumbrous. On the same principle, Napoleon was angry when it was proposed
to leave some of his immense train of artillery, which was greatly too
numerous for the reduced size of his army. "He would leave no trophy for
the Russians to triumph over." That all the artillery and baggage might
be transported, he surprised his officers by an order to buy twenty
thousand horses, where, perhaps, there were not an hundred to be sold,
and when those which they had already were daily dying for want of
forage. The latter article, he ordered, should be provided for two
months, in depôts on his route. This mandate might make known his wants;
but as it certainly could contribute little to supply them, it must only
have been issued for the purpose of keeping up appearances. Perhaps the
desire to have some excuse to himself and others for indulging in his
lingering wish to remain a day or two longer, to await the answer from
St Petersburgh, might be a secret cause of issuing orders, which must
occasion some inquiry ere it could be reported in what extent they could
be obeyed.
If this were the case, it was the rash indulgence of a groundless hope.
The Emperor Alexander refused to hear of any negotiation for peace, and
took no other notice of that which had been transmitted to him by
Walkonsky, than to pass a censure on the Russian officers concerned, and
Prince Koutousoff himself, for having had the least intercourse with the
French generals. He reminded the generalissimo how positive his
instructions had been on this subject, and that he had enjoined him on
no account to enter into negotiations or correspondence with the
invaders; and he revived and enforced his injunctions to that effect.
The sagacious general was not, it is to be supposed, greatly affected by
a rebuke which was only given for form's sake. He made his soldiers
acquainted with the Emperor's unalterable resolution to give no terms to
the invaders; and spreading through the camp, at the same time, the news
of the victory at Salamanca, and the evacuation of Madrid, pointed out
to them, that Frenchmen, like others, were liable to defeat; and called
on his soldiers to emulate the courage of the British and patriotism of
the Spaniards. While the minds of the soldiery were thus excited and
encouraged, Koutousoff took measures for anticipating Napoleon, by
putting an end to the armistice and assuming an offensive posture.[178]
FOOTNOTES:
[154] "Every one quickened his pace; the troops hurried on in disorder;
and the whole army clapping their hands, repeated with transport,
'Moscow! Moscow!' just as sailors shout 'land! land!' at the conclusion
of a long and tedious voyage."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 28. "At the sound of
this wished for name, the soldiers ran up the hill in crowds, and each
discovered new wonders every instant. One admired a noble chateau on our
left, the elegant architecture of which displayed more than Eastern
magnificence; another directed his attention towards a palace or a
temple; but all were struck with the superb picture which this immense
town afforded."--LABAUME, p. 179.
[155] "Murat was recognised by the Cossacks, who thronged around him,
and by their gestures and exclamations extolled his valour, and
intoxicated him with their admiration. The king took the watches of his
officers, and distributed them among these yet barbarous warriors. One
of them called him his _hettman_. Murat was for a moment tempted to
believe that in these officers he should find a new Mazeppa, or that he
himself should become one; he imagined that he had gained them
over."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 31.
[156] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 33.
[157] "Napoleon appointed Marshal Mortier governor of the capital.
'Above all,' said he to him, 'no pillage! For this you shall be
answerable to me with your life. Defend Moscow against all, whether
friend or foe.'"--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 38.
[158] "Napoleon pensively entered the Kremlin. 'At length,' he
exclaimed, 'I am in Moscow, in the ancient palace of the Czars, in the
Kremlin.' He examined every part of it with pride, curiosity, and
gratification."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 39.
[159] "Three hundred incendiaries have been arrested and shot; they were
provided with fuses, six inches long; they had also squibs, which they
threw upon the roofs of the houses. The wretch Rostopchin had these
prepared on the pretence that he wished to send up a balloon, full of
combustible matter, amidst the French army."--_Twenty-first Bulletin._
[160] "Napoleon was seized with extreme agitation; he seemed to be
consumed by the fires which surrounded him. He traversed his apartments
with quick steps. Short and incoherent exclamations burst from his
labouring bosom."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 45.
[161] "Napoleon caused the man to be interrogated in his presence. He
had executed his commission at the signal given by his chief. The
gestures of the Emperor betokened disdain and vexation. The wretch was
hurried into the first court, where the enraged grenadiers despatched
him with their bayonets."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 46.
[162] "I saw Napoleon pass by, and could not, without abhorrence, behold
the chief of a barbarous expedition evidently endeavouring to escape the
decided testimony of public indignation, by seeking the darkest road. He
sought it, however, in vain. On every side the flames seemed to pursue
him; and their horrible and mournful glare, flashing on his guilty head,
reminded me of the torches of the Eumenides pursuing the destined
victims of the Furies."--LABAUME, p. 206.
[163] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 49.
[164] Karamzin, a Russian historian of eminence, whose works were
expressly excepted from the censorship by the late Emperor
Alexander.--See _Histoire de l'Empire de Russie_, traduit par St.
Thomas, Jauffret, et de Divoff.
[165] "On his re-entering the Kremlin, a few houses scattered among the
ruins were all that was left of the mighty Moscow. The suburbs were
sprinkled with Russians of both sexes, covered with garments nearly
burned. They flitted like spectres among the ruins; squatted in the
gardens, some of them were scratching up the earth in quest of
vegetables; while others were disputing with the crows for the relics of
the dead animals which the army had left behind."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p.
54.
[166] "Amidst the dreadful storm of men and elements which was gathering
around him, his ministers and his aides-de-camp saw him pass whole days
in discussing the merits of some new verses which he had received, or
the regulations for the Comédie Française at Paris, which he took three
evenings to finish. As they were acquainted with his deep anxiety, they
admired the strength of his genius, and the facility with which he could
take off or fix the whole force of his attention on whatever he pleased.
It was remarked, too, that he prolonged his meals, which had hitherto
been so simple and so short. He seemed desirous of stifling thought by
repletion. He would pass whole hours, half reclined, as if torpid, and
awaiting, with a novel in his hand, the catastrophe of his terrible
history."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 67-87.
[167] "It was common to see walking in our camp soldiers dressed _à la
Tartare_, _à la Cosaque_, _à la Chinoise_; one wore the Polish cap,
another the high bonnet of the Persians, the Baskirs, or the Kalmouks.
In short, our army presented the image of a carnival; and from what
followed, it was justly said, that our retreat commenced with a
masquerade, and ended with a funeral."--LABAUME, p. 222.
[168] Labaume, p. 222; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 56.
[169] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 154.
[170] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 70.
[171] "This movement of the Russians, though censured by Wilson,
Vaudoncourt, and Fain, is one of the most skilful operations of the war.
By what fatality is it, that we ever condemn that in the enemy, which
we applaud vehemently, when it happens to be effected by
ourselves."--JOMINI, tom. iv., p. 152.
[172] "Frenchmen," this was the tenor of this remarkable intimation,
"for eight years it has been my pleasure to embellish this my family
residence. The inhabitants, 1720 in number, will leave it as you
approach; and it will be reduced to ashes that not one of you may
pollute it by your presence. I have left you two palaces in Moscow, with
their furniture, worth half a million of rubles. Here you will only find
ashes."--_Twenty-third Bulletin._--S.
[173] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 71; Jomini, tom. iv., p. 153.
[174] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 74.
[175] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 77.
[176] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 86.
[177] "During the work, it was remarked that great numbers of ravens
surrounded this cross, and that Napoleon, weary of their hoarse
croaking, exclaimed, that 'it seemed as if these flocks of ill-omened
birds meant to defend it.' We cannot pretend to tell all that he thought
in this critical situation, but it is well known that he was accessible
to every kind of presentiment. His daily excursions, always illumined by
a brilliant sun, in which he strove himself to perceive and to make
others recognise his star, did not amuse him. To the sullen silence of
inanimate Moscow was superadded that of the surrounding deserts, and the
still more menacing silence of Alexander."--SÉGUR.
[178] "Koutousoff made his camp ring with the news of the victory of
Salamanca. 'The French,' said he, 'are expelled from Madrid: the hand of
the Most High presses heavily upon Napoleon. Moscow will be his prison,
his grave, and that of all his grand army. We shall soon take France in
Russia.'"--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 88.