gathering a force of over 600,000 men for the invasion of Russia. The
Grand Army was chiefly French; but the Emperor compelled his
allies--Austria, Prussia, Italy, and the German States--to furnish large
numbers of troops; and he also received help from Poland. Besides the
Imperial Guard, a body of picked men over 50,000 strong, under the
command of Marshals Lefebvre, Mortier, and Bessieres, there were 13
corps. The French were led by Marshals Davoust, Oudinot, Ney, Murat,
King of Naples; the Italians by Prince Eugene; the Poles by Poniatowski;
the Austrians by General Schwartzenberg; the Germans and Prussians by
St. Cyr, Regnier, Vandamme, Victor, Macdonald, and Augereau.
The Poles fought for Napoleon in the belief that, if successful, he
would secure their independence against the power of Russian oppression;
the other nations because they dared not refuse.
This enormous force, which was double that of the Czar's, gradually
collected on the banks of the Niemen, a river emptying into the Baltic,
and forming part of the western boundary of Russia. The army crossed it
in three divisions, at a considerable distance from each other.[125] All
were to meet at Wilna, a Polish city which Russia had seized in the
dismemberment of that country, and which was about fifty miles southeast
of the Niemen.
Napoleon himself, at the head of one of the three divisions, with a
force of over two hundred thousand, crossed the river at Kowno on the
23d of June, and began his march for Wilna.[126] The weather was
intensely hot, and in the course of a few weeks many thousand men fell
out of the ranks through sickness and fatigue, and great numbers of
horses died. The French hoped to encounter the Russian forces in a
decisive battle before advancing far into the country. But it was the
policy of the Czar not to fight, but to keep falling back, destroying
all supplies as fast as he retreated, and so compelling the French to
depend wholly upon their own resources.
Napoleon himself confessed that the Russians had the advantage. They, he
said, would be animated by love of their native land to repel invasion,
and all private and public interests would unite them. The French, on
the other hand, had nothing to urge them on but the love of conquest and
of glory, without even the hope of plunder, for in those desolate
regions there was nothing they could seize.
The first real encounter was at Smolensk, a walled city on the Dnieper,
about half way between Wilna and the ancient capital of Russia. After a
day of hard fighting, the Russians fired the city and abandoned it. The
French entered the smoking ruins. They were victors, but such a victory
was almost as disheartening as a defeat. From that place a weary
seven-days march brought the Grand Army to the village of Borodino, on
the banks of the Kologa, a tributary of the Moskwa.[127] Here the
Russian general, Kutusoff, had determined to make a stand in defence of
that holy city of Moscow, not many leagues distant, for which every
peasant stood ready to lay down his life. The result of the battle was
in favor of Napoleon, but it cost him the lives of thirty thousand men
to gain it; and though the Russians lost double that number, they knew
that the time was coming when the elements and the great barren spaces
of their country would fight for them. This was the 7th of September.
From that date the Russians resumed their old tactics and continued to
slowly retreat, burning the villages and the crops as they fell back. At
length, at noon of the 14th, the French emperor came in sight of "the
city of the Czars."
What followed from that time until Napoleon, baffled and beaten, reached
Paris, leaving the wreck of the Grand Army behind him, may best be
learned from the ensuing narrative of Count Segur,[128] who was one of
the generals in that army, an officer of the imperial staff, and an
eye-witness of what he describes.[129]
His faithful history of that terrible disaster must necessarily be
painful. It is in most respects the very opposite of Xenophon's account
of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, which precedes it. But the reader
should reflect that the dark and sorrowful scenes of history may have
lessons as salutary as the brighter ones; and that the story of a great
failure, involving the ruin and death of thousands, may be as
instructive and as helpful as the story of a great success. In
Xenophon's case, we have the spectacle of a man of more than ordinary
ability, stimulated by difficulty and peril until he rises to real
greatness of achievement. In Napoleon's career we see a naturally "great
mind dragged to ruin by its own faults"; but such a man could not fall
alone, and it was inevitable that a multitude should suffer with him and
for him.
D. H. M.
NAPOLEON'S RETREAT FROM MOSCOW.
Sec. 1. Description of Moscow; arrival of the Czar.
The ancient capital of Russia, appropriately denominated by its poets
"_Moscow[130] with the gilded cupolas_," was a vast and fantastic
assemblage of two hundred and ninety-five churches, and fifteen hundred
palaces, with their gardens and dependencies. These larger mansions of
brick, and their parks, intermixed with neat houses of wood, and even
thatched cottages, were spread over several square leagues of irregular
ground. They were grouped round the Kremlin, a lofty triangular
fortress. The vast double enclosure in which this was situated was about
two miles in circuit. It contained, first, several palaces, some
churches, and rocky and uncultivated spots, and secondly, a prodigious
bazaar,--the town of the merchants and shopkeepers,--where was displayed
the collected wealth of the four quarters of the globe.
These palaces, these edifices, nay, the very shops themselves, were all
covered with burnished and painted iron. The churches, each surmounted
by a balcony and several steeples, terminating in golden balls, then the
crescent, and lastly the cross, reminded the spectator of the history of
this nation: it was Asia and its religion, at first victorious,
subsequently vanquished, so that finally the cross of Christ surmounted
the crescent of Mohammed.
A ray of sunshine caused this splendid city to glisten with a thousand
varied colors. At sight of it the traveller paused, delighted and
astonished. It reminded him of the prodigies with which the Eastern
poets had amused his childhood. On entering it, a nearer view served but
to heighten his astonishment: he recognized the nobles by the manners,
the habits, and the different languages of modern Europe, and by the
rich and airy elegance of their dress. He beheld, with surprise, the
luxury and the Asiatic form of that of the traders, the peculiar
costumes of the common people, and their long beards. He was struck by
the same variety in the edifices; and all this was tinged with a local
and sometimes harsh coloring, such as befitted the country of which
Moscow was the ancient capital.
When, lastly, he observed the grandeur and magnificence of the numerous
palaces, the wealth which they displayed, the luxury of the equipages,
the multitude of slaves and of obsequious menials, the splendor of all
these gorgeous spectacles, and heard the noise of those sumptuous
festivities, entertainments, and rejoicings which incessantly resounded
within its walls, he fancied himself transported to a city of
kings--into the midst of an assemblage of princes, who had brought with
them their manners, customs, and attendants from every quarter of the
world.
These princes were nevertheless but subjects, still opulent and powerful
subjects: grandees, vain of their ancient nobility, strong in their
collected numbers and in the general ties of blood contracted during the
seven centuries which this capital had existed. They were also landed
proprietors, proud of their vast possessions; for almost the whole
territory of the government of Moscow belonged to them, and they there
reigned over a million of serfs.[131] Finally, they were nobles, resting
with a patriotic and religious pride upon "the cradle and the tomb of
their nobility"; for such is the appellation they give to Moscow.
To this ancient capital necessity brought the Czar[132] Alexander. His
first appearance was in the midst of the assembled nobles. There
everything was great: the circumstances, the assembly, the speaker, and
the resolutions which he inspired. His voice betrayed emotion: no sooner
did he cease speaking, than one simultaneous cry burst from all hearts:
"Sire, ask what you please! we offer you everything! take our all!"
One of the nobles then proposed the levy of a militia, and for its
formation, the gift of one peasant or serf in twenty-five. But a hundred
voices interrupted him, exclaiming that "the country required a greater
sacrifice; that they should grant one serf in ten, ready armed,
equipped, and supplied with provisions for three months." This was
offering, for the single government of Moscow, 80,000 men, and a great
quantity of warlike stores.
The latter proposition was immediately voted without discussion; some
say with enthusiasm; and that it was executed in like manner, so long as
the danger was at hand. Others attribute the consent of the assembly to
a sentiment of submission alone; which, indeed, in the presence of
absolute power, is apt to absorb every other.
They add, that on the breaking up of the meeting, the principal nobles
were heard to murmur among themselves against the extravagance of such a
measure. "Was the danger, then, so pressing? Did the Russian army,
which, as they were told, still numbered 400,000 men, no longer exist?
Why deprive them of so many peasants? The service of these men would be,
it is said, only temporary; but who could ever hope for their return?
and was not even this an event to be dreaded? Would these serfs,
habituated to the irregularities of war, bring back their former habits
of submission? Undoubtedly not; they would return full of new sentiments
and new ideas, with which they would infect the villages; they would
there propagate a refractory spirit, which would give infinite trouble
to the master by spoiling the slave."
Be this as it may, the resolution of the assembly was generous, and
worthy of so great a nation. The details are of little consequence. We
well know that it is the same everywhere; that everything in the world
loses by being seen too near; and, lastly, that nations should be judged
by the general mass and by results.
Alexander then addressed the merchants, but more briefly: he ordered the
proclamation to be read to them, in which Napoleon was represented as "a
perfidious wretch; a Moloch, who, with treachery in his heart and
loyalty on his lips, was striving to blot out Russia from the face of
the earth."
It is said that, at these words, his auditors, to whose strongly-marked
and flushed faces their long beards imparted a look at once antique,
majestic, and wild, were inflamed with rage. Their eyes flashed fire;
they were seized with a convulsive fury, of which their stiffened arms,
their clenched fists, the gnashing of their teeth, and their subdued
execrations, expressed the vehemence. The effect was correspondent.
Their chief, whom they elect themselves, proved himself worthy of his
station: he put down his name at once for 50,000 rubles.[133] It was
two-thirds of his fortune, and he paid it the next day.
These merchants were divided into three classes, and they proceeded to
fix the contribution for each; but one of the assembly, who was included
in the lowest class, declared that his patriotism would brook no limit,
and he immediately subscribed a sum far surpassing the standard
proposed: the others all followed his example more or less closely.
Advantage was taken of their first emotions. Everything was at hand that
was requisite to bind them irrevocably while they were yet together,
excited by one another and by the words of their sovereign.
The patriotic donation amounted, it is said, to two millions of rubles.
The other governments repeated, like so many echoes, the national cry of
Moscow. The emperor accepted all; but all could not be given
immediately; and when, in order to complete his work, he claimed the
rest of the promised succor, he was obliged to have recourse to
constraint, the danger which had alarmed some and inflamed others having
by that time ceased to exist.
Sec. 2. Alarm in Moscow at the advance of the French army; preparations for
destroying the city.
After the reduction of Smolensk,[134] and when Napoleon reached Viazma,
a town about one hundred and seventy miles from Moscow, consternation
reigned in Moscow. The great battle had not yet been lost, and already
people began to abandon that capital.
In his proclamation, the governor-general, Count Rostopchin,[135] told
the women that "he should not detain them, as the less fear there was,
the less danger there would be; but that their brothers and husbands
must stay, or they would cover themselves with infamy." He then added
encouraging particulars concerning the hostile force, which consisted,
according to his statement, of "one hundred and fifty thousand men, who
were reduced to the necessity of feeding on horseflesh. The emperor
Alexander was about to return to his faithful capital; eighty-three
thousand Russians, recruits and militia, with eighty pieces of cannon
were marching towards Borodino, to join Kutusoff."[136]
He thus concluded: "If these forces are not sufficient, I will say to
you, 'Come, my Muscovite[137] friends, let us march also! We will
assemble one hundred thousand men; we will take the image of the Blessed
Virgin, and one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, and put an end to
the business at once!'"
It has been remarked, as a purely local singularity, that most of these
proclamations were in the scriptural style, and highly poetical in their
character.
At the same time, a sort of balloon of prodigious size was constructed
by command of Alexander, not far from Moscow, under the direction of a
German artificer. The destination of this aerial machine was to hover
over the French army, to single out its chief, and destroy him by a
shower of balls and fire. Several attempts were made to raise it, but
without success, the springs by which the wings were to be worked always
breaking.
Rostopchin, nevertheless, affecting to persevere in the plan, is said to
have caused a great quantity of rockets and other combustibles to be
prepared. Moscow itself was destined to be the great infernal machine,
the sudden nocturnal explosion of which was to destroy the emperor and
his army. Should the enemy escape this danger, he would at least no
longer have an asylum or resources; and the horror of this tremendous
calamity, charged to his account, as had been the disasters of Smolensk,
Viazma, and other towns, would not fail to rouse the whole of
Russia.[138]
Adverse, therefore, to any treaty, this governor foresaw that in the
populous capital, which the Russians themselves style the oracle, the
exemplar of the whole empire, Napoleon would have recourse to the weapon
of revolution, the only one that would be left him to accomplish his
purpose. For this reason he resolved to raise a barrier of fire between
that great captain and all weaknesses, from whatever quarter they might
proceed, whether from the throne or from his countrymen, either nobles
or senators; and more especially between a population of serfs and the
soldiers of a free nation; in short, between the latter and that mass of
artisans and tradesmen who form in Moscow the commencement of an
intermediate class; a class for which the French Revolution was
especially brought about.
All the preparations were made in silence, without the knowledge either
of the people, the proprietors of all classes, or perhaps of their
emperor. The nation was ignorant that it was sacrificing itself. This is
so strictly true, that, when the moment for execution arrived, we heard
the inhabitants who had fled to the churches execrating this
destruction. Those who beheld it from a distance, the most opulent of
the nobles, deceived like their peasants, charged us with it: and, in
short, those by whom it was ordered threw the odium of it upon us,
having engaged in the work of destruction in order to render us objects
of detestation, and caring but little about the maledictions of so many
unfortunate creatures, provided they could throw upon us the weight of
them.
The silence of Alexander leaves room to doubt whether he approved this
dreadful determination or not. What part he took in the catastrophe is
still a mystery to the Russians: either they are ignorant on the
subject, or they make a secret of the matter: the effect of despotism,
which enjoins ignorance or silence.
Some think that no individual in the empire, excepting the sovereign,
would have dared to take on himself so heavy a responsibility. His
subsequent conduct disavowed without disproving it. Others are of
opinion that this was one of the causes of his absence from the army,
and that, not wishing to appear either to order or to forbid it, he
would not stay to be a witness of the catastrophe.
As to the general abandonment of the houses all the way from Smolensk,
it was compulsory, the Russian army defending them till they were
carried sword in hand, and describing us everywhere as destructive
monsters. The country suffered but little from this emigration. The
peasants residing near the high-road escaped through byways to other
villages belonging to their lords, where they found accommodation.
The forsaking of their huts, made of trunks of trees laid one upon
another, which a hatchet suffices for building, and of which a bench, a
table, and an image constitute the whole furniture, was scarcely any
sacrifice for serfs who had nothing of their own, whose persons did not
even belong to themselves, and whose masters were obliged to provide for
them, since they were their property and the source of all their income.
These peasants, moreover, in removing their carts, their implements, and
their cattle, carried everything with them, most of them being able with
their own hands to supply themselves with habitation, clothing, and all
other necessaries: for these people are still in but the first stage of
civilization, and far from that division of labor which denotes the
extension and high improvement of commerce and of society.
But in the towns, and especially in the great capital, how could they be
expected to quit so many establishments, to resign so many conveniences
and enjoyments, so much wealth, movable and immovable? and yet it cost
little or no more to obtain the total abandonment of Moscow than that of
the meanest village. There, as at Vienna, Berlin, and Madrid, the
principal nobles hesitated not to retire on our approach; for, with
them, to remain would seem to be the same as to betray. But here,
tradesmen, artisans, day-laborers, all thought it their duty to flee as
well as the most powerful of the grandees. There was no occasion to
command: these people have not yet ideas sufficient to judge for
themselves, to distinguish and to weigh differences; the example of the
nobles was sufficient. The few foreigners remaining at Moscow might have
enlightened them; some of these were exiled, and terror hindered the
rest.
It was, besides, an easy task to excite apprehensions of profanation,
pillage, and devastation in the minds of people so cut off from other
nations, and in the inhabitants of a city which had been so often
plundered and burned by the Tartars. With these examples before their
eyes, they could not await an impious and ferocious enemy but for the
purpose of fighting him: the rest must necessarily shun his approach
with horror, if they would save themselves in this life or in the next.
Thus obedience, honor, religion, fear, everything, in short, enjoined
them to flee, with all that they could carry with them.
A fortnight before our arrival, the departure of the records, the public
chests and treasure, and that of the nobles and of the principal
merchants, together with their most valuable effects, indicated to the
rest of the inhabitants what course they should pursue. The governor,
already impatient to see Moscow evacuated, appointed superintendents to
expedite the emigration.
On the 3d of September, a French woman, living in the city, ventured to
leave her hiding-place, at the risk of being torn in pieces by the
furious Muscovites. She wandered a long time through extensive quarters,
the solitude of which astonished her, when a distant and doleful sound
thrilled her with terror. It was like the funeral dirge of this vast
city: fixed in motionless suspense, she beheld an immense multitude of
persons, of both sexes, in deep affliction, carrying their effects and
their sacred images, and leading their children along with them. Their
priests, laden with the sacred symbols of religion, headed the
procession. They were invoking Heaven in hymns of lamentation, in which
all of them joined with tears.
On reaching the gates of the city, this crowd of unfortunate creatures
passed through them with painful hesitation: turning their eyes once
more towards Moscow, they seemed to be bidding a last farewell to their
holy city; but, by degrees, their sobs and the doleful tones of their
hymns died away in the vast plains by which it is surrounded.
Sec. 3. Departure of the Russian governor from Moscow.
Thus was this population dispersed in detail or in masses. The roads
were covered to the distance of forty leagues by fugitives on foot, and
several unbroken files of vehicles of every kind. At the same time, the
measures of Rostopchin to prevent dejection and preserve order detained
many of these unfortunate people till the very last moment.
To this must be added the appointment of Kutusoff, which had revived
their hopes, the false intelligence of a victory at Borodino, and, for
those of moderate means, the hesitation natural at the moment of
abandoning the only home which they possessed. Lastly, the inadequacy of
the means of transport, either because at this time heavy requisitions
for the exigencies of the army had reduced the number of vehicles, or
because they were too small, as it is customary to make the carriages in
this country very light, on account of the sandy soil, and of the roads,
which may be said to be rather marked out than constructed.
Kutusoff, although defeated at Borodino, had sent letters to all
quarters announcing that he was victorious. He deceived Moscow, St.
Petersburg, and even the commanders of the other Russian armies.
Alexander communicated this false intelligence to his allies. In the
first transports of his joy he hastened to the altars, loaded the army
and the family of his general with honors and money, gave directions for
rejoicings, returned thanks to Heaven, and appointed Kutusoff a
field-marshal of the empire.
Most of the Russians affirm that their emperor was grossly imposed upon
by this report. They are still unacquainted with the motives of such a
deception, which at first procured Kutusoff unbounded favors, that were
not withdrawn from him, and afterward, it is said, dreadful menaces,
that were not put in execution.
If we may credit several of his countrymen, who were perhaps his
enemies, it would appear that he had two motives. In the first place, he
wished not to shake by disastrous intelligence the little firmness
which, in Russia, Alexander was generally, though erroneously, thought
to possess. In the second, as his despatch would probably arrive on the
very birthday of his sovereign, it is added that his object was to
obtain from him the rewards for which this kind of anniversaries affords
occasion.