Ney found that he had attempted an impossibility, and he waited until

the flight of his men had once more placed the ravine between them and

the enemy, that ravine which was now his sole resource; there, equally

hopeless and fearless, he halted and rallied them. He drew up two

thousand men against eighty thousand; he returned the fire of two

hundred cannon with six pieces, and made fortune blush that she should

ever betray such courage.

She it was, doubtless, who then struck Kutusoff with the palsy of

inertness. To their infinite surprise, they saw this Russian Fabius

running into extremes like all imitators, persisting in what he called

his humanity and prudence, remaining upon his heights with his pompous

virtues, without allowing himself, or daring to conquer, as if he was

astonished at his own superiority. Seeing that Napoleon had been

conquered by his rashness, he pushed his horror of that fault to the

very extreme of the opposite vice.

It required, however, but a transport of indignation in any one of the

Russian corps to have completely extinguished them; but all were afraid

to make a decisive movement; they remained clinging to their soil with

the immobility of slaves, as if they had no boldness but in their

watchword, or energy but in their obedience. This discipline, which

formed their glory in _their_ retreat, was their disgrace in _ours_.

They were for a long time uncertain, not knowing which enemy they were

fighting with; for they had imagined that Ney had retreated from

Smolensk by the right bank of the Dnieper; they were mistaken, as is

frequently the case, from supposing that their enemy had done what he

ought to have done.

At the same time, the Illyrians had returned completely in disorder;

they had had a most singular adventure. In their advance to the left

flank of the enemy's position, these four hundred men had met with five

thousand Russians returning from a partial engagement, with a French

eagle, and several of our soldiers prisoners.

These two hostile troops, the one returning to its position, the other

going to attack it, advanced in the same direction, side by side,

measuring each other with their eyes, but neither of them venturing to

commence the engagement. They marched so close to each other, that from

the middle of the Russian ranks the French prisoners stretched out their

arms towards their friends, conjuring them to come and deliver them. The

latter called out to them to come to them, and they would receive and

defend them; but no one moved on either side. Just then Ney was

overthrown, and they retreated along with him.

Kutusoff, however, relying more on his artillery than his soldiers,

sought only to conquer at a distance. His fire so completely commanded

all the ground occupied by the French, that the same bullet which

prostrated a man in the first rank proceeded to deal destruction in the

last of the train of carriages, among the women who had fled from

Moscow.

Under this murderous hail, Ney's soldiers remained astonished,

motionless, looking at their chief, waiting his decision to be satisfied

that they were lost, hoping they knew not why, or rather, according to

the remark of one of their officers, because in the midst of this

extreme peril they saw his spirit calm and tranquil, like any thing in

its place. His countenance became silent and devout; he was watching the

enemy's army, which, becoming more suspicious since the successful

artifice of Prince Eugene, extended itself to a great distance on his

flanks, in order to shut him out from all means of preservation.

The approach of night began to render objects indistinct; winter, which

in that sole point was favourable to our retreat, brought it on quickly.

Ney had been waiting for it, but the advantage he took of the respite

was to order his men to return to Smolensk. They all said that at these

words they remained frozen with astonishment. Even his aide-de-camp

could not believe his ears; he remained silent like one who did not

understand what he heard, and looked at his general with amazement. But

the marshal repeated the same order; in his brief and imperious tone,

they recognized a resolution taken, a resource discovered, that

self-confidence which inspires others with the same quality, and a

spirit which commands his position, however strong that may be. They

immediately obeyed, and without hesitation turned their backs on their

own army, on Napoleon, and on France! They returned once more into that

fatal Russia. Their retrograde march lasted an hour; they passed again

over the field of battle marked by the remains of the army of Italy;

there they halted, and their marshal, who had remained alone in the

rear-guard, then rejoined them.

Their eyes followed his every movement. What was he going to do; and

whatever might be his plan, whither would he direct his steps, without a

guide, in an unknown country? But he, with his warlike instinct, halted

on the edge of a ravine of such depth, as to make it probable that a

rivulet ran through it. He made them clear away the snow and break the

ice; then consulting his map, he exclaimed "That this was one of the

streams which flowed into the Dnieper! this must be our guide, and we

must follow it; that it would lead us to that river, which we must

cross, and that on the other side we should be safe!" He immediately

proceeded in that direction.

However at a little distance from the high road which he had abandoned,

he again halted in a village, the name of which they knew not, but

believed that it was either Fomina, or Danikowa. There he rallied his

troops, and made them light their fires, as if he intended to take up

his quarters in it for the night. Some Cossacks who followed him took it

for granted, and no doubt sent immediately to apprise Kutusoff of the

spot where, next day, a French marshal would surrender his arms to him;

for shortly after the noise of their cannon was heard.

Ney listened: "Is this Davoust at last," he exclaimed, "who has

recollected me?" and he listened a second time. But there were regular

intervals between the firing; it was a salvo. Being then fully satisfied

that the Russian army was triumphing by anticipation over his captivity,

he swore he would give the lie to their joy, and immediately resumed his

march.

At the same time his Poles ransacked the country. A lame peasant was the

only inhabitant they had discovered; this was an unlooked-for piece of

good fortune. He informed them that they were within the distance of a

league from the Dnieper, but that it was not fordable there, and could

not yet be frozen over. "It will be so," was the marshal's remark; but

when it was observed to him that the thaw had just commenced, he added

"that it did not signify, we must pass, as there was no other resource."

At last, about eight o'clock, after passing through a village, the

ravine terminated, and the lame Russian, who walked first, halted and

pointed to the river. They imagined that this must have been between

Syrokorenia and Gusinoé. Ney, and those immediately behind him, ran up

to it. They found the river sufficiently frozen to bear their weight,

the course of the flakes which it bore along to that point, being

counteracted by a sudden turn in its banks, was there suspended; the

winter had completely frozen it over only in that single spot; both

above and below it, its surface was still moveable.

This observation was sufficient to make their first sensation of joy

give way to uneasiness. This hostile river might only offer them a

treacherous appearance. One officer devoted himself for the rest; he

crossed to the other side with great difficulty. He returned and

reported, that the men, and perhaps some of the horses might pass over,

but that the rest must be abandoned, and there was no time to lose, as

the ice was beginning to give way in consequence of the thaw.

But in this nocturnal and silent march across fields, of a column

composed of weakened and wounded men, and women with their children,

they had been unable to keep close enough, to prevent their extending,

separating, and losing the traces of each other in the darkness. Ney

perceived that only a part of his people had come up; nevertheless, he

might have always surmounted the obstacle, thereby secured his own

safety, and waited on the other side. The idea never once entered his

mind; some one proposed it to him, but he rejected it instantly. He

allowed three hours for the rallying; and without suffering himself to

be agitated by impatience, or the danger of waiting so long, he wrapped

himself up in his cloak, and passed these three dangerous hours in a

profound sleep on the bank of the river. So much did he possess of the

temperament of great men, a strong mind in a robust body, and that

vigorous health, without which no man can ever expect to be a hero.

CHAP. IX.

At last, about midnight, the passage began; but the first persons who

ventured on the ice, called out that the ice was bending under them,

that it was sinking, that they were up to their knees in water;

immediately after which that frail support was heard splitting with

frightful cracks, which were prolonged in the distance, as in the

breaking up of a frost. All halted in consternation.

Ney ordered them to pass only one at a time; they proceeded with

caution, not knowing sometimes in the darkness if they were putting

their feet on the flakes or into a chasm; for there were places where

they were obliged to clear large crevices, and jump from one piece of

ice to another, at the risk of falling between them and disappearing for

ever. The first hesitated, but those who were behind kept calling to

them to make haste.

When at last, after several of these dreadful panics, they reached the

opposite bank and fancied themselves saved, a perpendicular steep,

entirely covered with rime, again opposed their landing. Many were

thrown back upon the ice which they broke in their fall, or which

bruised them. By their account, this Russian river and its banks

appeared only to have contributed with regret, by surprise, and as it

were by compulsion, to their escape.

But what seemed to affect them with the greatest horror in their

relation, was the trouble and distraction of the females and the sick,

when it became necessary to abandon, along with the baggage, the remains

of their fortune, their provisions, and in short, their whole resources

against the present and the future. They saw them stripping themselves,

selecting, throwing away, taking up again, and falling with exhaustion

and grief upon the frozen bank of the river. They seemed to shudder

again at the recollection of the horrible sight of so many men scattered

over that abyss, the continual noise of persons falling, the cries of

such as sunk in, and, above all, of the wailing and despair of the

wounded, who, from their carts, which durst not venture on this weak

support, stretched out their hands to their companions, and intreated

not to be left behind.

Their leader then determined to attempt the passage of several waggons,

loaded with these poor creatures; but in the middle of the river, the

ice sunk down and separated. Then were heard, on the opposite bank,

proceeding from the gulf, first, cries of anguish long and piercing,

then stifled and feeble groans, and last of all an awful silence. All

had disappeared!

Ney was looking stedfastly at the abyss with an air of consternation,

when through the darkness, he imagined he saw an object still moving; it

turned out to be one of those unfortunate persons, an officer, named

Briqueville, whom a deep wound in the groin had disabled from standing

upright. A large piece of ice had borne him up. He was soon distinctly

seen, dragging himself from one piece to another on his knees and hands,

and on his getting near enough to the side, the marshal himself caught

hold of, and saved him.

The losses since the preceding day amounted to four thousand stragglers

and three thousand soldiers, either killed, dead, or missing; the cannon

and the whole of the baggage were lost; there remained to Ney scarcely

three thousand soldiers, and about as many disbanded men. Finally, when

all these sacrifices were consummated, and all that had been able to

cross the river were collected, they resumed their march, and the

vanquished river became once more their friend and their guide.

They proceeded at random and uncertain, when one of them happening to

fall, recognised a beaten road; it was but too much so, for those who

were marching first, stooping and using their hands, as well as their

eyes, halted in alarm, exclaiming, "that they saw the marks quite fresh

of a great quantity of cannon and horses." They had, therefore, only

avoided one hostile army to fall into the midst of another; at a time

when they could scarcely walk, they must be again obliged to fight! The

war was therefore everywhere! But Ney made them push on, and without

disturbing himself, continued to follow these menacing traces.

They brought them to a village called Gusinoé, into which they entered

suddenly, and seized every thing; they found in it all that they had

been in want of since they left Moscow, inhabitants, provisions, repose,

warm dwellings, and a hundred Cossacks, who awoke to find themselves

prisoners. Their reports, and the necessity of taking some refreshment

to enable him to proceed, detained the marshal there a few minutes.

About ten o'clock, they reached two other villages, and were resting

themselves there, when suddenly they saw the surrounding forests filled

with movements. They had scarcely time to call to each other, to look

about, and to concentrate themselves in the village which was nearest to

the Boristhenes, when thousands of Cossacks came pouring out from

between the trees, and surrounded the unfortunate troop with their

lances and their cannon.

These were Platof, and his hordes, who were following the right bank of

the Dnieper. They might have burnt the village, discovered the weakness

of Ney's force, and exterminated it; but for three hours they remained

motionless, without even firing; for what reason, is not known. The

account since given by themselves is, that they had no orders; that at

that moment their leader was not in a state to give any: and that in

Russia no one dares to take upon himself a responsibility that does not

belong to him.

The bold countenance of Ney kept them in check. He himself and a few

soldiers were sufficient; he even ordered the rest of his people to

continue their repast till night came on. He then caused the order to be

circulated to decamp in silence, to give notice to each other in a low

tone of voice, and to march as compact as possible. Afterwards, they all

began their march together; but their very first step was like a signal

given to the enemy, who immediately discharged the whole of his

artillery at them: all his squadrons also put themselves in movement at

once.

At the noise occasioned by this, the disarmed stragglers, of whom there

were yet between three and four thousand, took the alarm. This flock of

men wandered here and there; the great mass of them kept reeling about

in uncertainty, sometimes attempting to throw themselves into the ranks

of the soldiers, who drove them back. Ney contrived to keep them between

him and the Russians, whose fire was principally absorbed by these

useless beings. The most timid, therefore, in this instance, served as a

covering to the bravest.

At the same time that the marshal made a rampart of these poor wretches

to cover his right flank, he regained the banks of the Dnieper, and by

that covered his left flank; he marched on thus between the two,

proceeding from wood to wood, from one turning to another, taking

advantage of all the windings, and of the least accidents of the soil.

Whenever he ventured to any distance from the river, which he was

frequently obliged to do, Platof then surrounded him on all sides.

[Illustration: Portrait of Marshal Ney]

In this manner, for two days and a distance of twenty leagues, did six

thousand Cossacks keep constantly buzzing about the flanks of their

column, now reduced to fifteen hundred men in arms, keeping it in a

state of siege, disappearing before its sallies, and returning again

instantly, like their Scythian ancestors; but with this fatal

difference, that they managed their cannon mounted on sledges, and

discharged their bullets in their flight, with the same agility which

their forefathers exhibited in the management of their bows and the

discharge of their arrows.

The night brought some relief, and at first they plunged into the

darkness with a degree of joy; but then, if any one halted for a moment

to bid a last adieu to some worn out or wounded comrade, who sunk to

rise no more, he ran the risk of losing the traces of his column. Under

such circumstances there were many cruel moments, and not a few

instances of despair. At last, however, the enemy slackened his pursuit.

This unfortunate column was proceeding more tranquilly, groping its way

through a thick wood, when all at once, a few paces before it, a

brilliant light and several discharges of cannon flashed in the faces of

the men in the first rank. Seized with terror, they fancied that there

was an end of them, that they were cut off, that their end was now come,

and they fell down terrified; those who were behind, got entangled among

them, and were brought to the ground. Ney, who saw that all was lost,

rushed forward, ordered the charge to be beat, and, as if he had

foreseen the attack, called out, "Comrades, now is your time: forward!

They are our prisoners!" At these words, his soldiers, who but a minute

before were in consternation, and fancied themselves surprised, believed

they were about to surprise their foes; from being vanquished, they rose

up conquerors; they rushed upon the enemy, who had already disappeared,

and whose precipitate flight through the forest they heard at a

distance.

They passed quickly through this wood; but about ten o'clock at night,

they met with a small river embanked in a deep ravine, which they were

obliged to cross one by one, as they had done the Dnieper. Intent on the

pursuit of these poor fellows, the Cossacks again got sight of them, and

tried to take advantage of that moment: but Ney, by a few discharges of

his musketry, again repulsed them. They surmounted this obstacle with

difficulty, and in an hour after reached a large village, where hunger

and exhaustion compelled them to halt for two hours longer.

The next day, the 19th of Nov., from midnight till ten o'clock in the

morning, they kept marching on, without meeting any other enemy than a

hilly country; about that time Platof's columns again made their

appearance, and Ney halted and faced them, under the protection of the

skirts of a wood. As long as the day lasted, his soldiers were obliged

to resign themselves to see the enemy's bullets overturning the trees

which served to shelter them, and furrowing their bivouacs; for they had

now nothing but small arms, which could not keep the Cossack artillery

at a sufficient distance.

On the return of night, the marshal gave the usual signal, and they

proceeded on their march to Orcha. During the preceding day, he had

already despatched thither Pchébendowski with fifty horse, to require

assistance; they must already have arrived there, unless the enemy had

already gained possession of that town.

Ney's officers concluded their narrative by saying, that during the rest

of their march, they had met with several formidable obstacles, but that

they did not think them worth relating. They continued, however,

speaking enthusiastically of their marshal, and making us sharers of

their admiration of him; for even his equals had no idea of being

jealous of him. He had been too much regretted, and his preservation had

excited too agreeable emotions, to allow envy to have any part in them;

besides, Ney had placed himself completely beyond its reach. As to

himself, in all this heroism, he had gone so little beyond his natural

disposition, that had it not been for the éclat of his glory in the

eyes, the gestures, and the acclamations of every one, he would never

have imagined that he had done a sublime action.

And this was not an enthusiasm of surprise. Each of the latter days had

had its remarkable men; amongst others, that of the 16th had Eugene,

that of the 17th Mortier; but from this time, Ney was universally

proclaimed the hero of the retreat.

The distance between Smolensk and Orcha is hardly five days' march. In

that short passage, what a harvest of glory had been reaped! how little

space and time are required to establish an immortal renown! Of what

nature then are these great inspirations, that invisible and impalpable

germ of great devotion, produced in a few moments, issuing from a single

heart, and which must fill time and eternity?

When Napoleon, who was two leagues farther on, heard that Ney had just

re-appeared, he leaped and shouted for joy, and exclaimed, "I have then

saved my eagles! I would have given three hundred millions from my

treasury, sooner than have lost such a man."

BOOK XI.

CHAP. I.

The army had thus for the third and last time repassed the Dnieper, a

river half Russian and half Polish, but of Russian origin. It runs from

east to west as far as Orcha, where it appears as if it would penetrate

into Poland; but there the heights of Lithuania oppose its farther

progress, and compel it to turn towards the south, and to become the

frontier of the two countries.

Kutusoff and his eighty thousand Russians halted before this feeble

obstacle. Hitherto they had been rather the spectators than the authors

of our calamities; we saw them no more; our army was released from the

punishment of their joy.

In this war, and as always happens, the character of Kutusoff availed

him more than his talents. So long as it was necessary to deceive and

temporize, his crafty spirit, his indolence, and his great age, acted of

themselves; he was the creature of circumstances, which he ceased to be

as soon as it became necessary to march rapidly, to pursue, to

anticipate, and to attack.

But after passing Smolensk, Platof passed over to the right flank of the

road, in order to join Wittgenstein. The war was then entirely

transferred to that side.

On the 22d of November, the army had a disagreeable march from Orcha to

Borizof, on a wide road, (skirted by a double row of large birch trees,)

in which the snow had melted, and through a deep and liquid mud. The

weakest were drowned in it; it detained and delivered to the Cossacks

such of our wounded, as, under the idea of a continuance of the frost,

had exchanged their waggons for sledges.

In the midst of this gradual decay, an action was witnessed exhibiting

something of antique energy. Two marines of the guard were cut off from

their column by a band of Cossacks, who seemed determined to take them.

One became discouraged, and wished to surrender; the other continued to

fight, and called out to him, that if he was coward enough to do so, he

would certainly shoot him. In fact, seeing his companion throw away his

musket, and stretching out his arms to the enemy, he brought him to the

ground just as he fell into the hands of the Cossacks; then profiting by

their surprise, he quickly reloaded his musket, with which he threatened

the most forward. He kept them thus at bay, retreated from tree to tree,

gained ground upon them, and succeeded in rejoining his troop.

It was during the first days of the march to Borizof, that the news of

the fall of Minsk became generally known in the army. The leaders

themselves began then to look around them with consternation; their

imagination, tormented with such a long continuance of frightful

spectacles, gave them glimpses of a still more fatal futurity. In their

private conversations, several exclaimed, that, "like Charles XII. in

the Ukraine, Napoleon had carried his army to Moscow only to destroy

it."

Others would not agree in attributing the calamities we at present

suffered to that incursion. Without wishing to excuse the sacrifices to

which we had submitted, by the hope of terminating the war in a single

campaign, they asserted, "that that hope had been well founded; that in

pushing his line of operation as far as Moscow, Napoleon had given to

that lengthened column a base sufficiently broad and solid."

They showed "the trace of this base marked out by the Düna, the Dnieper,

the Ula, and the Berezina, from Riga to Bobruisk; they said that

Macdonald, Saint Cyr and De Wrede, Victor and Dombrowski were there

waiting for them; there were thus, including Schwartzenberg, and even

Augereau, (who protected the interval between the Elbe and the Niemen

with fifty thousand men,) nearly two hundred and eighty thousand

soldiers on the defensive, who, from the north to the south, supported

the attack of one hundred and fifty thousand men upon the east; and from

thence they argued, that this _point_ upon Moscow, however hazardous it

might appear, had been both sufficiently prepared, and was worthy of the

genius of Napoleon, and that its success was possible; in fact, its

failure had been entirely occasioned by errors of detail."

They then brought to mind our useless waste of lives before Smolensk,

Junot's inaction at Valoutina, and they maintained, "that in spite of

all these losses, Russia would have been completely conquered on the

field of battle of the Moskwa, if Marshal Ney's first successes had been

followed up.

"Even at the last, although the expedition had failed in a military

point of view, by the indecision of that day, and politically by the

burning of Moscow, the army might still have returned from it safe and

sound. From the time of our entrance into that capital, had not the

Russian general and the Russian winter allowed us, the one forty, and

the other fifty days, to recover ourselves, and to make our retreat?"

Deploring afterwards the rash obstinacy of losing so much time at

Moscow, and the fatal hesitation at Malo-Yaroslawetz, they proceeded to

reckon up their losses. Since their leaving Moscow, they had lost all

their baggage, five hundred cannon, thirty-one eagles, twenty-seven

generals, forty thousand prisoners, sixty thousand dead: all that

remained were forty thousand stragglers, unarmed, and eight thousand

effective soldiers.

Last of all, when their column of attack had been destroyed, they asked,

"by what fatality it had happened, that the remains of this column, when

collected at its base, which had been vigorously supported, were left

without knowing where to halt, or to take breath? Why could they not

even concentrate themselves at Minsk and at Wilna, behind the marshes of

the Berezina, and there keep back the enemy, at least for some time,

take advantage of the winter and recruit themselves?

"But no, all is lost by another side, by the fault of entrusting an

Austrian to guard the magazines, and cover the retreat of all these

brave armies, and not placing a military leader at Wilna or Minsk, with

a force sufficient either to supply the insufficiency of the Austrian

army to meet the combined armies of Moldavia and Volhynia, or to prevent

its betraying us."

Those who made such complaints were not unaware of the presence of the

Duke of Bassano at Wilna; but notwithstanding the talents of that

minister, and the great confidence the Emperor placed in him, they

considered that being a stranger to the art of war, and overloaded with

the cares of a great administration, and of every thing political, the

direction of military affairs should not have been left to him. Such

were the complaints of those, whose sufferings left them the leisure

necessary for observation. That a fault had been committed, it was

impossible to deny; but to say how it might have been avoided, to weigh

the value of the motives which had occasioned it, in so great a crisis,

and in the presence of so great a man, is more than one would venture to

undertake. Who is there besides that does not know, that in these

hazardous and gigantic enterprises, every thing becomes a fault, when

the object of them has failed?

Although the treachery of Schwartzenberg was by no means so evident, it

is certain, that, with the exception of the three French generals who

were with him, the whole of the grand army considered it as beyond a

doubt. They said, "that Walpole's only object at Vienna was to act as a

secret agent of England; that he and Metternich composed between them

the perfidious instructions which were sent to Schwartzenberg. Hence it

was that ever since the 20th of September, the day when the arrival of

Tchitchakof and the battle of Lutsk closed the victorious career of

Schwartzenberg, that marshal had repassed the Bug, and covered Warsaw by

uncovering Minsk; hence his perseverance in that false manoeuvre:

hence, after a feeble effort towards Bresk-litowsky on the 10th of

October, his neglect to avail himself of Tchitchakof's inaction by

getting between him and Minsk, and hence his losing his time in military

promenades, and insignificant marches towards Briansk, Bialystok, and

Volkowitz.

"He had thus allowed the admiral to take rest, and rally his sixty

thousand men, to divide them into two, to leave one half with Sacken to

oppose him, and to set out on the 27th of October with the other half to

take possession of Minsk, of Borizof, of the magazine, of the passage of

Napoleon, and of his winter quarters. Then only did Schwartzenberg put

himself in the rear of this hostile movement, instead of anticipating

it, as he had orders to do, leaving Regnier in the presence of Sacken,

and marching so slowly, that from the very first the admiral had got

five marches the start of him.

"On the 14th of November, at Volkowitz, Sacken attacked Regnier,

separated him from the Austrians, and pressed him so closely, that he

was obliged to call Schwartzenberg to his aid. Immediately, the latter,

as if he had been expecting the summons, retrograded, leaving Minsk to

its fate. It is true that he released Regnier, that he beat Sacken and

destroyed half his army, pursuing him as far as the Bug; but on the 16th

of November, the very day of his victory, Minsk was taken by

Tchitchakof: this was a double victory for Austria. Thus all appearances

were preserved; the new field-marshal satisfied the wishes of his

government, which was equally the enemy of the Russians whom he had just

weakened on one side, and of Napoleon, whom on the other he had betrayed

to them."

Such was the language of almost the whole of the grand army; its leader

was silent, either because he expected no more zeal on the part of an

ally, or from policy, or because he believed that Schwartzenberg had

acted with sufficient honour, in sending him the sort of notice which he

did six weeks before, when he was at Moscow.

However, he did address some reproaches to the field-marshal. To these

the latter replied, by complaining bitterly, first, of the double and

contradictory instructions which he had received, to cover Warsaw and

Minsk at the same time; and second, of the false news which had been

transmitted to him by the Duke of Bassano.

He said, "that minister had constantly represented to him that the grand

army was retreating safe and sound, in good order, and always

formidable. Why had he been trifled with, by sending him bulletins made

to deceive the idlers of the capital? His only reason for not making

greater efforts to join the grand army was, because he believed that it

was fully able to protect itself."

He also alleged his own weakness. "How could it be expected that with

twenty-eight thousand men he could so long keep sixty thousand in check?

In that situation, if Tchitchakof stole a few marches on him, was it at

all wonderful? Had he then hesitated to follow him, to leave Gallicia,

his point of departure, his magazines, and his depôt? If he ceased his

pursuit, it was only because Regnier and Durutte, the two French

generals, summoned him in the most urgent manner to come to their

assistance. Both they and he had reason to expect that Maret, Oudinôt,

or Victor, would provide for the safety of Minsk."

CHAP. II.

In fact, no one had any right to accuse another of treachery, when we

had betrayed ourselves, for all had been wanting in the time of need.

At Wilna, they appeared to have had no suspicion of the real state of

affairs; and at a time when the garrisons, the depôts, the marching

battalions, and the divisions of Durutte, Loison, and Dombrowski,

between the Berezina and the Vistula, might have formed at Minsk an army

of thirty thousand men, three thousand men, headed by a general of no

reputation, were the only forces which Tchitchakof found there to oppose

him. It was a known fact that this handful of young soldiers was exposed

in front of a river, into which they were precipitated by the admiral,

whereas, if they had been placed on the other side, that obstacle would

have protected them for some time.

For thus, as frequently happens, the faults of the general plan had led

to faults of detail. The governor of Minsk had been negligently chosen.

He was, it was said, one of those men who undertake every thing, who

promise every thing, and who do nothing. On the 16th of November, he

lost that capital, and with it four thousand seven hundred sick, the

warlike ammunition, and two million rations of provisions. It was five

days since the news of this loss had reached Dombrowna, and the news of

a still greater calamity came on the heels of it.

This same governor had retreated towards Borizof. There he neglected to

inform Oudinôt, who was only at the distance of two marches, to come to

his assistance; and failed to support Dombrowski, who made a hasty march

thither from Bobruisk and Igumen. The latter did not arrive, however, in

the night of the 20th and 21st, at the _tête-du-pont_, until after the

enemy had taken possession of it; notwithstanding, he expelled

Tchitchakof's vanguard, took possession of it, and defended himself

gallantly there until the evening of the 21st; but being then

overwhelmed by the fire of the Russian artillery, which took him in

flank, and attacked by a force more than double his own, he was driven

across the river, and out of the town, as far as the road to Moscow.

Napoleon was wholly unprepared for this disaster; he fancied that he had

completely prevented it by the instructions he had sent to Victor from

Moscow, on the 6th of October. These instructions "anticipated a warm

attack from Wittgenstein or Tchitchakof; they recommended Victor to keep

within reach of Polotsk and of Minsk; to have a prudent, discreet, and

intelligent officer about Schwartzenberg; to keep up a regular

correspondence with Minsk, and to send other agents in different

directions."

But Wittgenstein having made his attack before Tchitchakof, the nearer

and more pressing danger had attracted every one's attention; the wise

instructions of the 6th of October had not been repeated by Napoleon,

and they appeared to have been entirely forgotten by his lieutenant.

Finally, when the Emperor learned at Dombrowna the loss of Minsk, he had

no idea that Borizof was in such imminent danger, as when he passed the

next day through Orcha, he had the whole of his bridge-equipage burnt.

His correspondence also of the 20th of November with Victor proved his

security; it supposed that Oudinôt would have nearly arrived on the 25th

at Borizof, while that place had been taken possession of by Tchitchakof

on the 21st.

It was on the day immediately subsequent to that fatal catastrophe, at

the distance of three marches from Borizof, and upon the high road, that

an officer arrived and announced to Napoleon this fresh disaster. The

Emperor, striking the ground with his stick, and darting a furious look

to heaven, pronounced these words, "It is then written above that we

shall now commit nothing but faults!"

Meanwhile Marshal Oudinôt, who was already marching towards Minsk,

totally ignorant of what had happened, halted on the 21st between Bobr

and Kroupki, when in the middle of the night General Brownikowski

arrived to announce to him his own defeat, as well as that of General

Dombrowski; that Borizof was taken, and that the Russians were following

hard at his heels.

On the 22d the marshal marched to meet them, and rallied the remains of

Dombrowski's force.

On the 23d, at three leagues on the other side of Borizof, he came in

contact with the Russian vanguard, which he overthrew, taking from it

nine hundred men and fifteen hundred carriages, and drove back by the

united force of his artillery, infantry, and cavalry, as far as the

Berezina; but the remains of Lambert's force, on repassing Borizof and

that river, destroyed the bridge.

Napoleon was then at Toloczina: he made them describe to him the

position of Borizof. They assured him that at that point the Berezina

was not merely a river but a lake of moving ice; that the bridge was

three hundred fathoms in length; that it had been irreparably destroyed,

and the passage by it rendered completely impracticable.

At that moment arrived a general of engineers, who had just returned

from the Duke of Belluno's corps. Napoleon interrogated him; the general

declared "that he saw no means of escape but through the middle of

Wittgenstein's army." The Emperor replied, "that he must find a

direction in which he could turn his back to all the enemy's generals,

to Kutusoff, to Wittgenstein, to Tchitchakof;" and he pointed with his

finger on the map to the course of the Berezina below Borizof; it was

there he wished to cross the river. But the general objected to him the

presence of Tchitchakof on the right bank; the Emperor then pointed to

another passage below the first, and then to a third, still nearer to

the Dnieper. Recollecting, however, that he was then approaching the

country of the Cossacks, he stopped short, and exclaimed, "Oh yes!

Pultawa! that is like Charles XII.!"

In fact, every disaster which Napoleon could anticipate had occurred;

the melancholy conformity, therefore, of his situation with that of the

Swedish conqueror, threw his mind into such a state of agitation, that

his health became still more seriously affected than it had been at

Malo-Yaroslawetz. Among the expressions he made use of, loud enough to

be overheard, was this: "See what happens when we heap faults on

faults!"

Nevertheless, these first movements were the only ones that had escaped

him, and the valet-de-chambre who assisted him, was the only person that

witnessed his agitation. Duroc, Daru, and Berthier have all said, that

they knew nothing of it, that they saw him unshaken; this was very true,

humanly speaking, as he retained sufficient command over himself to

avoid betraying his anxiety, and as the strength of man most frequently

consists in concealing his weakness.

A remarkable conversation, which was overheard the same night, will show

better than any thing else, how critical was his position, and how well

he bore it. It was getting late; Napoleon had gone to bed. Duroc and

Daru, who remained in his chamber, fancying that he was asleep, were

giving way, in whispers, to the most gloomy conjectures; he overheard

them, however, and the word "prisoner of state," coming to his ear,

"How!" exclaimed he, "do you believe they would dare?" Daru, after his

first surprise, immediately answered, "that if we were compelled to

surrender, we must be prepared for every thing; that he had no reliance

on an enemy's generosity; that we knew too well that great state-policy

considered itself identified with morality, and was regulated by no

law." "But France," said the Emperor, "what would France say?" "Oh, as

to France," continued Daru, "we are at liberty to make a thousand

conjectures more or less disagreeable, but none of us can know what will

take place there." And he then added, "that for the sake of the

Emperor's chief officers, as well as the Emperor himself, the most

fortunate thing would be, if by the air or otherwise, as the earth was

closed upon us, the Emperor could reach France, from whence he could

much more certainly provide for their safety, than by remaining among

them!" "Then I suppose I am in your way?" replied the Emperor, smiling.

"Yes, Sire." "And you have no wish to be a prisoner of state?" Daru

replied in the same tone, "that it was enough for him to be a prisoner

of war." On which the Emperor remained for some time in a profound

silence; then with a more serious air: "Are all the reports of my

ministers burnt?" "Sire, hitherto you would not allow that to be done."

"Very well, go and destroy them; for it must be confessed, we are in a

most melancholy position." This was the sole avowal which it wrested

from him, and on that idea he went to sleep, knowing, when it was

necessary, how to postpone every thing to the next day.

His orders displayed equal firmness. Oudinôt had just sent to inform him

of his determination to overthrow Lambert; this he approved of, and he

also urged him to make himself master of a passage, either above or

below Borizof. He expressed his anxiety, that by the 24th this passage

should be fixed on, and the preparations begun, and that he should be

apprised of it, in order to make his march correspond. Far from thinking

of making his escape through the midst of these three hostile armies,

his only idea now was, that of beating Tchitchakof, and retaking Minsk.

It is true, that eight hours afterwards, in a second letter to the Duke

of Reggio, he resigned himself to cross the Berezina near Veselowo, and

to retreat directly upon Wilna by Vileika, avoiding the Russian admiral.

But on the 24th he learned that the passage could only be attempted near

Studzianka; that at that spot the river was only fifty-four fathoms

wide, and six feet deep; that they would land on the other side, in a

marsh, under the fire of a commanding position strongly occupied by the

enemy.

CHAP. III.

All hope of passing between the Russian armies was thus lost; driven by

the armies of Kutusoff and Wittgenstein upon the Berezina, there was no

alternative but to cross that river in the teeth of the army of

Tchitchakof, which lined its banks.

Ever since the 23d, Napoleon had been preparing for it, as for a

desperate action. And first he had the eagles of all the corps brought

to him, and burnt. He formed into two battalions, eighteen hundred

dismounted cavalry of his guard, of whom only eleven hundred and

fifty-four were armed with muskets and carbines.

The cavalry of the army of Moscow was so completely destroyed, that

Latour-Maubourg had not now remaining under his command more than one

hundred and fifty men on horseback. The Emperor collected around his

person all the officers of that arm who were still mounted; he styled

this troop, of about five hundred officers, his _sacred squadron_.

Grouchy and Sebastiani had the command of them; generals of division

served in it as captains.

Napoleon ordered further that all the useless carriages should be burnt;

that no officer should keep more than one; that half the waggons and

carriages of all the corps should also be burnt, and that the horses

should be given to the artillery of the guard. The officers of that arm

had orders to take all the draught-cattle within their reach, even the

horses of the Emperor himself, sooner than abandon a single cannon, or

ammunition waggon.

After giving these orders, he plunged into the gloomy and immense forest

of Minsk, in which a few hamlets and wretched habitations have scarcely

cleared a few open spots. The noise of Wittgenstein's artillery filled

it with its echo. That Russian general came rushing from the north upon

the right flank of our expiring column; he brought back with him the

winter which had quitted us at the same time with Kutusoff; the news of

his threatening march quickened our steps. From forty to fifty thousand

men, women, and children, glided through this forest as precipitately as

their weakness and the slipperiness of the ground, from the frost

beginning again to set in, would allow.

These forced marches, commenced before daylight, and which did not

finish at its close, dispersed all that had remained together. They lost

themselves in the darkness of these great forests and long nights. They

halted at night and resumed their march in the morning, in darkness, at

random, and without hearing the signal; the dissolution of the remains

of the corps was then completed; all were mixed and confounded together.

In this last stage of weakness and confusion, as we were approaching

Borizof, we heard loud cries before us. Some ran forward fancying it was

an attack. It was Victor's army, which had been feebly driven back by

Wittgenstein to the right side of our road, where it remained waiting

for the Emperor to pass by. Still quite complete and full of animation,

it received the Emperor, as soon as he made his appearance, with the

customary but now long forgotten acclamations.

Of our disasters it knew nothing; they had been carefully concealed even

from its leaders. When therefore, instead of that grand column which had

conquered Moscow, its soldiers perceived behind Napoleon only a train of

spectres covered with rags, with female pelisses, pieces of carpet, or

dirty cloaks, half burnt and holed by the fires, and with nothing on

their feet but rags of all sorts, their consternation was extreme. They

looked terrified at the sight of those unfortunate soldiers, as they

defiled before them, with lean carcasses, faces black with dirt, and

hideous bristly beards, unarmed, shameless, marching confusedly, with

their heads bent, their eyes fixed on the ground and silent, like a

troop of captives.

But what astonished them more than all, was to see the number of

colonels and generals scattered about and isolated, who seemed only

occupied about themselves, and to think of nothing but saving the wrecks

of their property or their persons; they were marching pell-mell with

the soldiers, who did not notice them, to whom they had no longer any

commands to give, and of whom they had nothing to expect, all ties

between them being broken, and all ranks effaced by the common misery.

The soldiers of Victor and Oudinôt could not believe their eyes. Moved

with compassion, their officers, with tears in their eyes, detained such

of their companions as they recognised in the crowd. They first supplied

them with clothes and provisions, and then asked them where were their

_corps d'armée_? And when the others pointed them out, seeing, instead

of so many thousand men, only a weak platoon of officers and

non-commissioned officers round a commanding officer, their eyes still

kept on the look out.

The sight of so great a disaster struck the second and the ninth corps

with discouragement, from the very first day. Disorder, the most

contagious of all evils, attacked them; for it would seem as if order

was an effort against nature. And yet the disarmed, and even the dying,

although they were now fully aware that they had to fight their way

across a river, and through a fresh enemy, never doubted of their being

victorious.

It was now merely the shadow of an army, but it was the shadow of the

grand army. It felt conscious that nature alone had vanquished it. The

sight of its Emperor revived it. It had been long accustomed not to look

to him for its means of support, but solely to lead it to victory. This

was its first unfortunate campaign, and it had had so many fortunate

ones! it only required to be able to follow him. He alone, who had

elevated his soldiers so high, and now sunk them so low, was yet able to

save them. He was still, therefore, cherished in the heart of his army,

like hope in the heart of man.

Thus, amid so many beings who might have reproached him with their

misfortunes, he marched on without the least fear, speaking to one and

all without affectation, certain of being respected as long as glory

could command our respect. Knowing perfectly that he belonged to us, as

much as we to him, his renown being a species of national property, we

should have sooner turned our arms against ourselves, (which was the

case with many,) than against him, and it was a minor suicide.

Some of them fell and died at his feet, and though in the most frightful

delirium, their sufferings never gave its wanderings the turn of

reproach, but of entreaty. And in fact did not he share the common

danger? Which of them all risked so much as he? Who suffered the

greatest loss, in this disaster?

If any imprecations were uttered, it was not in his presence; it seemed,

that of all misfortunes, that of incurring his displeasure was still the

greatest; so rooted were their confidence in, and submission to that man

who had subjected the world to them; whose genius, hitherto uniformly

victorious and infallible, had assumed the place of their free-will, and

who having so long in his hands the book of pensions, of rank, and of

history, had found wherewithal to satisfy not only covetous spirits, but

also every generous heart.

CHAP. IV.

We were now approaching the most critical moment; Victor was in the rear

with 15,000 men; Oudinôt in front with 5,000, and already on the

Berezina; the Emperor, between them, with 7,000 men, 40,000 stragglers,

and an enormous quantity of baggage and artillery, the greatest part of

which belonged to the second and the ninth corps.

On the 25th, as he was about to reach the Berezina, he appeared to

linger on his march. He halted every instant on the high road, waiting

for night to conceal his arrival from the enemy, and to allow the Duke

of Reggio time to evacuate Borizof.

This marshal, when he entered that town upon the 23d, found the bridge,

which was 300 fathoms in length, destroyed at three different points,

and that the vicinity of the enemy rendered it impossible to repair it.

He had ascertained, that on his left, two miles lower down the river,

there was, near Oukoholda, a deep and unsafe ford; that at the distance

of a mile above Borizof, namely, at Stadhof, there was another, but of

difficult approach. Finally, he had learned within the last two days,

that at Studzianka, two leagues above Stadhof, there was a third

passage;--for the knowledge of this he was indebted to Corbineau's

brigade.

This was the same brigade which the Bavarian general, De Wrede, had

taken from the second corps, in his march to Smoliantzy. He had retained

it until he reached Dokszitzi, from whence he sent it back to the second

corps by way of Borizof. When Corbineau arrived there, he found

Tchitchakof already in possession of it, and was compelled to make his

retreat by ascending the Berezina, and concealing his force in the

forests which border that river. Not knowing at what point to cross it,

he accidentally saw a Lithuanian peasant, whose horse seemed to be quite

wet, as if he had just come through it. He laid hold of this man, and

made him his guide; he got up behind him, and crossed the river at a

ford opposite to Studzianka. He immediately rejoined Oudinôt, and

informed him of the discovery he had made.

As Napoleon's intention was to retreat directly upon Wilna, the marshal

saw at once that this passage was the most direct, as well as the least

dangerous. It was also observed, that even if our infantry and artillery

should be too closely pressed by Wittgenstein and Kutusoff, and

prevented from crossing the river on bridges, there was at least a

certainty, from the ford having been tried, that the Emperor and the

cavalry would be able to pass; that all would not then be lost, both

peace and war, as if Napoleon himself remained in the enemy's hands. The

marshal therefore did not hesitate. In the night of the 23d, the general

of artillery, a company of pontonniers, a regiment of infantry, and the

brigade Corbineau, took possession of Studzianka.

At the same time the other two passages were reconnoitred, and both

found to be strongly observed. The object therefore was to deceive and

displace the enemy. As force could do nothing, recourse was had to

stratagem; in furtherance of which, on the 24th, three hundred men and

several hundred stragglers were sent towards Oukoholda, with

instructions to collect there, with as much noise as possible, all the

necessary materials for the construction of a bridge; the whole division

of the cuirassiers was also made to promenade on that side within view

of the enemy.

In addition to this, Major General Lorencé had several Jews sought out

and brought to him; he interrogated them with great apparent minuteness

relative to that ford, and the roads leading from it to Minsk. Then,

affecting to be mightily pleased with their answers, and to be satisfied

that there was no better passage to be found, he retained some of these

rascals as guides, and had the others conveyed beyond our out-posts. But

to make still more sure of the latter _not_ keeping their word with him,

he made them swear that they would return to meet us, in the direction

of lower Berezina, in order to inform us of the enemy's movements.

While these attempts were making to draw Tchitchakof's attention

entirely to the left, the means of effecting a passage were secretly

preparing at Studzianka. It was only on the 25th, at five in the

evening, that Eblé arrived there, followed only by two field forges, two

waggons of coal, six covered waggons of utensils and nails, and some

companies of pontonniers. At Smolensk he had made each workman provide

himself with a tool and some cramp-irons.

But the tressels, which had been made the day before, out of the beams

of the Polish cabins, were found to be too weak. The work was all to do

over again. It was found to be quite impossible to finish the bridge

during the night; it could only be fixed during the following day, the

26th, in full daylight, and under the enemy's fire; but there was no

room for hesitation.

On the first approach of that decisive night, Oudinôt ceded to Napoleon

the occupation of Borizof, and went to take position with the rest of

his corps at Studzianka. They marched in the most profound obscurity,

without making the least noise, and mutually recommending to each other

the deepest silence.

By eight o'clock at night Oudinôt and Dombrowski had taken possession of

the heights commanding the passage, while General Eblé descended from

them. That general placed himself on the borders of the river, with his

pontonniers and a waggon-load of the irons of abandoned wheels, which at

all hazards he had made into cramp-irons. He had sacrificed every thing

to preserve that feeble resource, and it saved the army.

At the close of the night of the 25th he made them sink the first

tressel in the muddy bed of the river. But to crown our misfortunes, the

rising of the waters had made the traces of the ford entirely disappear.

It required the most incredible efforts on the part of our unfortunate

sappers, who were plunged in the water up to their mouths, and had to

contend with the floating pieces of ice which were carried along by the

stream. Many of them perished from the cold, or were drowned by the ice

flakes, which a violent wind drove against them.

They had every thing to conquer but the enemy. The rigour of the

atmosphere was just at the degree necessary to render the passage of the

river more difficult, without suspending its course, or sufficiently

consolidating the moving ground upon which we were about to venture. On

this occasion the winter showed itself more Russian than even the

Russians themselves. The latter were wanting to their season, which

never failed them.

The French laboured during the whole night by the light of the enemy's

fires, which shone on the heights of the opposite bank, and within reach

of the artillery and musketry of the division Tchaplitz. The latter,

having no longer any doubt of our intentions, sent to apprise his

commander-in-chief.

CHAP. V.

The presence of a hostile division deprived us of all hope of deceiving

the Russian admiral. We were expecting every instant to hear the whole

fire of his artillery directed upon our workmen; and even if he did not

discover them until daylight, their labours would not then be

sufficiently advanced; and the opposite bank, being low and marshy, was

too much commanded by Tchaplitz's positions to make it at all possible

for us to force a passage.

When he quitted Borizof, therefore, at ten o'clock at night, Napoleon

imagined that he was setting out for a most desperate contest. He

settled himself for the night, with the 6,400 guards which still

remained to him, at Staroi-Borizof, a chateau belonging to Prince

Radzivil, situated on the right of the road from Borizof to Studzianka,

and equidistant from these two points.

He passed the remainder of that night on his feet, going out every

moment, either to listen, or to repair to the passage where his destiny

was accomplishing; for the magnitude of his anxieties so completely

filled his hours, that as each revolved, he fancied that it was morning.

Several times he was reminded of his mistake by his attendants.

Darkness had scarcely disappeared when he joined Oudinôt. The sight of

danger tranquillized him, as it always did; but on seeing the Russian

fires and their position, his most determined generals, such as Rapp,

Mortier, and Ney, exclaimed, "that if the Emperor escaped this danger,

they must absolutely believe in the influence of his star!" Murat

himself thought it was now time to think of nothing but saving Napoleon.

Some of the Poles proposed it to him.

The Emperor was waiting for the approach of daylight in one of the

houses on the borders of the river, on a steep bank which was crowned

with Oudinôt's artillery. Murat obtained access to him; he declared to

his brother-in-law, "that he looked upon the passage as impracticable;

he urged him to save his person while it was yet time. He informed him

that he might, without any danger, cross the Berezina a few leagues

above Studzianka; that in five days he would reach Wilna; that some

brave and determined Poles, perfectly acquainted with all the roads, had

offered themselves for his guards, and to be responsible for his

safety."

But Napoleon rejected this proposition as an infamous plan, as a

cowardly flight, and was indignant that any one should dare to think for

a moment that he would abandon his army, so long as it was in danger. He

was not, however, at all displeased with Murat, probably because that

prince had afforded him an opportunity of showing his firmness, or

rather because he saw nothing in his proposal but a mark of devotion,

and because the first quality in the eyes of sovereigns is attachment to

their persons.

At that moment the appearance of daylight made the Russian fires grow

pale and disappear. Our troops stood to their arms, the artillerymen

placed themselves by their pieces, the generals were observing, and the

looks of all were steadily directed to the opposite bank, preserving

that silence which betokens great expectation, and is the forerunner of

great danger.

Since the day before, every blow struck by our pontonniers, echoing

among the woody heights, must, we concluded, have attracted the whole

attention of the enemy. The first dawn of the 26th was therefore

expected to display to us his battalions and artillery, drawn up, in

front of the weak scaffolding, to the construction of which Eblé had yet

to devote eight hours more. Doubtless they were only waiting for

daylight to enable them to point their cannon with better aim. When day

appeared, we saw their fires abandoned, the bank deserted, and upon the

heights, thirty pieces of artillery in full retreat. A single bullet of

theirs would have been sufficient to annihilate the only plank of

safety, which we were about to fix, in order to unite the two banks; but

that artillery retreated exactly as ours was placed in battery.

Farther off, we perceived the rear of a long column, which was moving

off towards Borizof without ever looking behind it; one regiment of

infantry, however, and twelve cannon remained, but without taking up any

position; we also saw a horde of Cossacks wandering about the skirts of

the wood: they formed the rear-guard of Tchaplitz's division, six

thousand strong, which was thus retiring, as if for the purpose of

delivering up the passage to us.

The French, at first could hardly venture to believe their eyes. At

last, transported with joy, they clapped their hands, and uttered loud

shouts. Rapp and Oudinôt rushed precipitately into the house where the

Emperor was. "Sire," they said to him, "the enemy has just raised his

camp, and quitted his position!"--"It is not possible!" he replied; but

Ney and Murat just then entered and confirmed this report. Napoleon

immediately darted out; he looked, and could just see the last files of

Tchaplitz's column getting farther off and disappearing in the woods.

Transported with joy, he exclaimed, "I have outwitted the admiral!"

During this first movement, two of the enemy's pieces re-appeared, and

fired. An order was given to remove them by a discharge of our

artillery.

One salvo was enough; it was an act of imprudence which was not

repeated, for fear of its recalling Tchaplitz. The bridge was as yet

scarcely begun; it was eight o'clock, and the first tressels were only

then fixing.

The Emperor, however, impatient to get possession of the opposite bank,

pointed it out to the bravest. Jacqueminot, aide-de-camp to the Duke of

Reggio, and the Lithuanian count Predziecski, were the first who threw

themselves into the river, and in spite of the pieces of ice, which cut

and bled the chests and sides of their horses, succeeded in reaching the

other side. Sourd, chief of the squadron, and fifty chasseurs of the

7th, each carrying a voltigeur _en croupe_, followed them, as well as

two frail rafts which transported four hundred men in twenty trips. The

Emperor having expressed a wish to have a prisoner to interrogate,

Jacqueminot, who overheard him, had scarcely crossed the river, when he

saw one of Tchaplitz's soldiers; he rushed after, attacked, and disarmed

him; then seizing and placing him on the bow of his saddle, he brought

him through the river and the ice to Napoleon.

About one o'clock the bank was entirely cleared of the Cossacks, and the

bridge for the infantry finished. The division Legrand crossed it

rapidly with its cannon, the men shouting "Vive l'Empereur!" in the

presence of their sovereign, who was himself actively pressing the

passage of the artillery, and encouraged his brave soldiers by his voice

and example.

He exclaimed, when he saw them fairly in possession of the opposite

bank, "Behold my star again appear!" for he was a believer in fatality,

like all conquerors, those men, who, having the largest accounts with

Fortune, are fully aware how much they are indebted to her, and who,

moreover, having no intermediate power between themselves and heaven,

feel themselves more immediately under its protection.

CHAP. VI.

At that moment, a Lithuanian nobleman, disguised as a peasant, arrived

from Wilna with the news of Schwartzenberg's victory over Sacken.

Napoleon appeared pleased in proclaiming it aloud, with the addition,

that "Schwartzenberg had immediately returned upon the heels of

Tchitchakof, and that he was coming to our assistance." A conjecture, to

which the disappearance of Tchaplitz gave considerable probability.

Meantime, as the first bridge which was just finished had only been made

for the infantry, a second was begun immediately after, a hundred

fathoms higher up, for the artillery and baggage, which was not finished

until four o'clock in the afternoon. During that interval, the Duke of

Reggio, with the rest of the second corps, and Dombrowski's division,

followed General Legrand to the other side; they formed about seven

thousand men.

The marshal's first care was to secure the road to Zembin, by a

detachment which chased some Cossacks from it; to push the enemy towards

Borizof, and to keep him as far back as possible from the passage of

Studzianka.

Tchaplitz, in obedience to the admiral's orders, proceeded as far as

Stakhowa, a village close to Borizof, he then turned back, and

encountered the first troops of Oudinôt commanded by Albert. Both sides

halted. The French, finding themselves rather too far off from their

main body, only wanted to gain time, and the Russian general waited for

orders.

Tchitchakof had found himself in one of those difficult situations, in

which prepossession, being compelled to fluctuate in uncertainty between

several points at once, has no sooner determined and fixed upon one

side, than it removes and gets overturned upon another.

His march from Minsk to Borizof in three columns, not only by the high

road, but by the roads of Antonopolia, Logoïsk, and Zembin, showed that

his whole attention was at first directed to that part of the Berezina,

above Borizof. Feeling himself then so strong upon his left, he felt

only that his right was weakened, and in consequence, his anxiety was

entirely transferred to that side.

The error which led him into that false direction had other and stronger

foundations. Kutusoff's instructions directed his responsibility to that

point. Ertell, who commanded twelve thousand men near Bobruisk, refused

to quit his cantonments, to follow Dombrowski, and to come and defend

that part of the river. He alleged, as his justification for refusal,

the danger of a distemper among the cattle, a pretext unheard of and

improbable, but perfectly true, as Tchitchakof himself has admitted.

The admiral adds further, that information sent to him by Wittgenstein

directed his anxiety towards Lower Berezino, as well as the supposition,

natural enough, that the presence of that general on the right flank of

the grand army and above Borizof, would push Napoleon below that town.

The recollection of the passages of Charles XII. and of Davoust at

Berezino, might also be another of his motives. By taking that

direction, Napoleon would not only escape Wittgenstein, but he might

retake Minsk, and form a junction with Schwartzenberg. This last was a

serious consideration with Tchitchakof, Minsk being his conquest, and

Schwartzenberg his first adversary. Lastly, and principally, Oudinôt's

demonstration near Ucholoda, and probably the report of the Jews,

determined him.

The admiral, completely deceived, had therefore resolved, on the evening

of the 25th, to descend the Berezina, at the very moment that Napoleon

had determined to re-ascend it. It might almost be said that the French

Emperor dictated the Russian general's resolution, the time for adopting

it, the precise moment, and every detail of its execution. Both started

at the same time from Borizof, Napoleon for Studzianka, Tchitchakof for

Szabaszawiczy, turning their backs to each other as if by mutual

agreement, and the admiral recalling all the troops which he had above

Borizof, with the exception of a small body of light troops, and without

even taking the precaution of breaking up the roads.

Notwithstanding, at Szabaszawiczy, he was not more than five or six

leagues from the passage which was effectuating. On the morning of the

26th he must have been informed of it. The bridge of Borizof was only

three hours' march from the point of attack. He had left fifteen

thousand men before that bridge; he might therefore have returned in

person to that point, rejoined Tchaplitz at Stakhowa, on the same day

made an attack, or at least made preparations for it, and on the

following day, the 27th, overthrown with eighteen thousand men the seven

thousand soldiers of Oudinôt and Dombrowski; and finally resumed, in

front of the Emperor and of Studzianka, the position which Tchaplitz had

quitted the day before.

But great errors are seldom repaired with the same readiness with which

they are committed; either because it is in our nature to be at first

doubtful of them, and that no one is disposed to admit them until they

are completely certain; or because they confuse, and in the distrust of

our own judgment, we hesitate, and require the support of other

opinions.

Thus it was, that the admiral lost the remainder of the 26th and the

whole of the 27th in consultations, in feeling his way, and in

preparations. The presence of Napoleon and his grand army, of the

weakness of which it was impossible for him to have any idea, dazzled

him. He saw the Emperor every where; before his right, in the simulated

preparations for a passage; opposite his centre at Borizof, because in

fact the arrival of the successive portions of our army filled that

place with movements; and finally, at Studzianka before his left, where

the Emperor really was.

On the 27th, so little had he recovered from his error that he made his

chasseurs reconnoitre and attack Borizof; they crossed over upon the

beams of the burnt bridge, but were repulsed by the soldiers of

Partouneaux's division.

On the same day, while he was thus irresolute, Napoleon, with about five

thousand guards, and Ney's corps, now reduced to six hundred men,

crossed the Berezina about two o'clock in the afternoon; he posted

himself in reserve to Oudinôt, and secured the outlet from the bridges

against Tchitchakof's future efforts.

He had been preceded by a crowd of baggage and stragglers. Numbers of

them continued to cross the river after him as long as daylight lasted.

The army of Victor, at the same time, succeeded the guard in its

position on the heights of Studzianka.

CHAP. VII.

Hitherto all had gone on well. But Victor, in passing through Borizof,

had left there Partouneaux with his division. That general had orders to

stop the enemy in the rear of that town, to drive before him the

numerous stragglers who had taken shelter there, and to rejoin Victor

before the close of the day. It was the first time that Partouneaux had

seen the disorder of the grand army. He was anxious, like Davoust at the

beginning of the retreat, to hide the traces of it from the Cossacks of

Kutusoff, who were at his heels. This fruitless attempt, the attacks of

Platof by the high road of Orcha, and those of Tchitchakof by the burnt

bridge of Borizof, detained him in that place until the close of the

day.

He was preparing to quit it, when an order reached him from the Emperor

himself, to remain there all night. Napoleon's idea, no doubt, was, in

that manner to direct the whole attention of the three Russian generals

upon Borizof, and that Partouneaux's keeping them back upon that point,

would allow him sufficient time to operate the passage of his whole

army.

But Wittgenstein left Platof to pursue the French army along the high

road, and directed his own march more to the right. He debouched the

same evening on the heights which border the Berezina, between Borizof

and Studzianka, intercepted the road between these two points, and

captured all that was found there. A crowd of stragglers, who were

driven back on Partouneaux, apprised him that he was separated from the

rest of the army.

Partouneaux did not hesitate: although he had no more than three cannon

with him, and three thousand five hundred soldiers, he determined to cut

his way through, made his dispositions accordingly, and began his march.

He had at first to march along a slippery road, crowded with baggage and

runaways; with a violent wind blowing directly in his face, and in a

dark and icy-cold night. To these obstacles were shortly added the fire

of several thousand enemies, who lined the heights upon his right. As

long as he was only attacked in flank, he proceeded; but shortly after,

he had to meet it in front from numberless troops well posted, whose

bullets traversed his column through and through.

This unfortunate division then got entangled in a shallow; a long file

of five or six hundred carriages embarrassed all its movements; seven

thousand terrified stragglers, howling with terror and despair, rushed

into the midst of its feeble lines. They broke through them, caused its

platoons to waver, and were every moment involving in their disorder

fresh soldiers who got disheartened. It became necessary to retreat, in

order to rally, and take a better position, but in falling back, they

encountered Platof's cavalry.

Half of our combatants had already perished, and the fifteen hundred

soldiers who remained found themselves surrounded by three armies and by

a river.

In this situation, a flag of truce came, in the name of Wittgenstein and

fifty thousand men, to order the French to surrender. Partouneaux

rejected the summons. He recalled into his ranks such of his stragglers

as yet retained their arms; he wanted to make a last effort, and clear a

sanguinary passage to the bridge of Studzianka; but these men, who were

formerly so brave, were now so degraded by their miseries, that they

would no longer make use of their arms.

At the same time, the general of his vanguard apprised him that the

bridges of Studzianka were burnt; an aide-de-camp, named Rochex, who had

just brought the report, pretended that he had seen them burning.

Partouneaux believed this false intelligence, for, in regard to

calamities, misfortune is credulous.

He concluded that he was abandoned and sacrificed; and as the night, the

incumbrances, and the necessity of facing the enemy on three sides,

separated his weak brigades, he desired each of them to be told to try

and steal off, under favour of the darkness, along the flanks of the

enemy. He himself, with one of these brigades, reduced to four hundred

men, ascended the steep and woody heights on his right, with the hope of

passing through Wittgenstein's army in the darkness, of escaping him,

and rejoining Victor; or, at all events, of getting round by the sources

of the Berezina.

But at every point where he attempted to pass, he encountered the

enemy's fires, and he turned again; he wandered about for several hours

quite at random, in plains of snow, in the midst of a violent hurricane.

At every step he saw his soldiers transfixed by the cold, emaciated with

hunger and fatigue, falling half dead into the hands of the Russian

cavalry, who pursued him without intermission.

This unfortunate general was still struggling with the heavens, with

men, and with his own despair, when he felt even the earth give way

under his feet. In fact, being deceived by the snow, he had fallen into

a lake, which was not frozen sufficiently hard to bear him, and in which

he would have been drowned. Then only he yielded and gave up his arms.

While this catastrophe was accomplishing, his other three brigades,

being more and more hemmed in upon the road, lost all power of movement.

They delayed their surrender till the next morning, first by fighting,

and then by parleying; they then all fell in their turn; a common

misfortune again united them with their general.

Of the whole division, a single battalion only escaped: it had been left

the last in Borizof. It quitted it in the midst of the Russians of

Platof and of Tchitchakof, who were effecting in that town, and at that

very moment, the junction of the armies of Moscow and of Moldavia. This

battalion, being alone and separated from its division, might have been

expected to be the first to fall, but that very circumstance saved it.

Several long trains of equipages and disbanded soldiers were flying

towards Studzianka in different directions; drawn aside by one of these

crowds, mistaking his road, and leaving on his right that which had been

taken by the army, the leader of this battalion glided to the borders of

the river, followed all its windings and turnings, and protected by the

combat of his less fortunate comrades, by the darkness, and the very

difficulties of the ground, moved off in silence, escaped from the

enemy, and brought to Victor the confirmation of Partouneaux's

surrender.

When Napoleon heard the news, he was struck with grief, and exclaimed,

"How unfortunate it was, that when all appeared to be saved, as if

miraculously, this _defection_ had happened, to spoil all!" The

expression was improper, but grief extorted it from him, either because

he anticipated that Victor, being thus weakened, would be unable to hold

out long enough next day; or because he had made it a point of honour to

have left nothing during the whole of his retreat in the hands of the

enemy, but stragglers, and no armed and organised corps. In fact, this

division was the first and the only one which laid down its arms.

CHAP. VIII.

This success encouraged Wittgenstein. At the same time, after two days

feeling his way, the report of a prisoner, and the recapture of Borizof

by Platof had opened Tchitchakof's eyes. From that moment the three

Russian armies of the north, east, and south, felt themselves united;

their commanders had mutual communications. Wittgenstein and Tchitchakof

were jealous of each other, but they detested us still more; hatred, and

not friendship, was their bond of union. These generals were therefore

prepared to attack in conjunction the bridges of Studzianka, on both

sides of the river.

This was on the 28th of November. The grand army had had two days and

two nights to effect its passage; it ought to have been too late for the

Russians. But the French were in a state of complete disorder, and

materials were deficient for two bridges. Twice during the night of the

26th, the one for the carriages had broke down, and the passage had been

retarded by it for seven hours: it broke a third time on the 27th, about

four in the afternoon. On the other hand, the stragglers, who had been

dispersed in the woods and surrounding villages, had not taken advantage

of the first night, and on the 27th, when daylight appeared, they all

presented themselves at once in order to cross the bridges.

This was particularly the case when the guard, by whose movements they

regulated themselves, began its march. Its departure was like a signal;

they rushed in from all parts, and crowded upon the bank. Instantly

there was seen a deep, broad, and confused mass of men, horses, and

chariots, besieging the narrow entrance of the bridge, and overwhelming

it. The first, pushed forward by those behind them, and driven back by

the guards and pontonniers, or stopped by the river, were crushed, trod

underfoot, or precipitated among the floating ices of the Berezina. From

this immense and horrible rabble-rout there arose at times a confused

buzzing noise, at others a loud clamour, mingled with groans and fearful

imprecations.

The efforts of Napoleon and his lieutenants to save these desperate men

by restoring order among them, were for a long time completely

fruitless. The disorder was so great, that, about two o'clock, when the

Emperor presented himself in his turn, it was necessary to employ force

to open a passage for him. A corps of grenadiers of the guard, and

Latour-Maubourg, out of pure compassion, declined clearing themselves a

way through these poor wretches.

The imperial head-quarters were established at the hamlet of Zaniwki,

which is situated in the midst of the woods, within a league of

Studzianka. Eblé had just then made a survey of the baggage with which

the bank was covered; he apprised the Emperor that six days would not be

sufficient to enable so many carriages to pass over. Ney, who was

present, immediately called out, "that in that case they had better be

burnt immediately." But Berthier, instigated by the demon of courts,

opposed this; he assured the Emperor that the army was far from being

reduced to that extremity, and the Emperor was led to believe him, from

a preference for the opinion which flattered him the most, and from a

wish to spare so many men, whose misfortunes he reproached himself as

the cause of, and whose provisions and little all these carriages

contained.

In the night of the 27th the disorder ceased by the effect of an

opposite disorder. The bridges were abandoned, and the village of

Studzianka attracted all these stragglers; in an instant, it was pulled

to pieces, disappeared, and was converted into an infinite number of

bivouacs. Cold and hunger kept these wretched people fixed around them;

it was found impossible to tear them from them. The whole of that night

was again lost for their passage.

Meantime Victor, with six thousand men, was defending them against

Wittgenstein. But with the first dawn of the 28th, when they saw that

marshal preparing for a battle, when they heard the cannon of

Wittgenstein thundering over their heads, and that of Tchitchakof at the

same time on the opposite bank, they rose all at once, they descended,

precipitated themselves tumultuously, and returned to besiege the

bridges.

Their terror was not without foundation; the last day of numbers of

these unfortunate persons was come. Wittgenstein and Platof, with forty

thousand Russians of the armies of the north and east, attacked the

heights on the left bank, which Victor, with his small force, defended.

On the right bank, Tchitchakof, with his twenty-seven thousand Russians

of the army of the south, debouched from Stachowa against Oudinôt, Ney,

and Dombrowski. These three could hardly reckon eight thousand men in

their ranks, which were supported by the sacred squadron, as well as by

the old and young guard, who then consisted of three thousand eight

hundred infantry and nine hundred cavalry.

The two Russian armies attempted to possess themselves at once of the

two outlets from the bridges, and of all who had been unable to push

forward beyond the marshes of Zembin. More than sixty thousand men, well

clothed, well fed, and completely armed, attacked eighteen thousand

half-naked, badly armed, dying of hunger, separated by a river,

surrounded by morasses, and additionally encumbered with more than fifty

thousand stragglers, sick or wounded, and by an enormous mass of

baggage. During the last two days, the cold and misery had been such

that the old guard had lost two-thirds, and the young guard one-half of

their effective men.

This fact, and the calamity which had fallen upon Partouneaux's

division, sufficiently explain the frightful diminution of Victor's

corps, and yet that marshal kept Wittgenstein in check during the whole

of that day, the 28th. As to Tchitchakof, he was beaten. Marshal Ney,

with his eight thousand French, Swiss, and Poles, was a match for

twenty-seven thousand Russians.

The admiral's attack was tardy and feeble. His cannon cleared the road,

but he durst not venture to follow his bullets, and penetrate by the

chasm which they made in our ranks. Opposite to his right, however, the

legion of the Vistula gave way to the attack of a strong column.

Oudinôt, Albert, Dombrowski, Claparede, and Kosikowski were then

wounded; some uneasiness began to be felt. But Ney hastened forward; he

made Doumerc and his cavalry dash quite across the woods upon the flank

of that Russian column; they broke through it, took two thousand

prisoners, cut the rest to pieces, and by this vigorous charge decided

the fate of the battle, which was dragging on in uncertainty.

Tchitchakof, thus defeated, was driven back into Stachowa.

[Illustration: Passage of the Berezina]

On our side, most of the generals of the second corps were wounded; for

the less troops they had, the more they were obliged to expose their

persons. Many officers on this occasion took the muskets and the places

of their wounded men. Among the losses of the day, that of young

Noailles, Berthier's aide-de-camp, was remarkable. He was struck dead by

a ball. He was one of those meritorious but too ardent officers, who are

incessantly exposing themselves, and are considered sufficiently

rewarded by being employed.

During this combat, Napoleon, at the head of his guard, remained in

reserve at Brilowa, covering the outlet of the bridges, between the two

armies, but nearer to that of Victor. That marshal, although attacked in

a very dangerous position, and by a force quadruple his own, lost very

little ground. The right of his _corps d'armée_, mutilated by the

capture of Partouneaux's division, was protected by the river, and

supported by a battery which the Emperor had erected on the opposite

bank. His front was defended by a ravine, but his left was in the air,

without support, and in a manner lost, in the elevated plain of

Studzianka.

Wittgenstein's first attack was not made until ten o'clock in the

morning of the 28th, across the road of Borizof, and along the Berezina,

which he endeavoured to ascend as far as the passage, but the French

right wing stopped him, and kept him back for a considerable time, out

of reach of the bridges. He then deployed, and extended the engagement

with the whole front of Victor, but without effect. One of his attacking

columns attempted to cross the ravine, but it was attacked and

destroyed.

At last, about the middle of the day, the Russian discovered the point

where his superiority lay: he overwhelmed the French left wing. Every

thing would then have been lost had it not been for an effort of

Fournier, and the devotion of Latour-Maubourg. That general was passing

the bridges with his cavalry; he perceived the danger, retraced his

steps, and the enemy was again stopped by a most sanguinary charge.

Night came on before Wittgenstein's forty thousand men had made any

impression on the six thousand of the Duke of Belluno. That marshal

remained in possession of the heights of Studzianka, and still preserved

the bridges from the attacks of the Russian infantry, but he was unable

to conceal them from the artillery of their left wing.

CHAP. IX.

During the whole of that day, the situation of the ninth corps was so

much more critical, as a weak and narrow bridge was its only means of

retreat; in addition to which its avenues were obstructed by the baggage

and the stragglers. By degrees, as the action got warmer, the terror of

these poor wretches increased their disorder. First of all they were

alarmed by the rumours of a serious engagement, then by seeing the

wounded returning from it, and last of all by the batteries of the

Russian left wing, some bullets from which began to fall among their

confused mass.

They had all been already crowding one upon the other, and the immense

multitude heaped upon the bank pell-mell with the horses and carriages,

there formed a most alarming incumbrance. It was about the middle of the

day that the first Russian bullets fell in the midst of this chaos; they

were the signal of universal despair.

Then it was, as in all cases of extremity, that dispositions exhibited

themselves without disguise, and actions were witnessed, most base, and

others most sublime. According to their different characters, some

furious and determined, with sword in hand, cleared for themselves a

horrible passage. Others, still more cruel, opened a way for their

carriages by driving them without mercy over the crowd of unfortunate

persons who stood in the way, whom they crushed to death. Their

detestable avarice made them sacrifice their companions in misfortune to

the preservation of their baggage. Others, seized with a disgusting

terror, wept, supplicated, and sunk under the influence of that passion,

which completed the exhaustion of their strength. Some were observed,

(and these were principally the sick and wounded,) who, renouncing life,

went aside and sat down resigned, looking with a fixed eye on the snow

which was shortly to be their tomb.

Numbers of those who started first among this crowd of desperadoes

missed the bridge, and attempted to scale it by the sides, but the

greater part were pushed into the river. There were seen women in the

midst of the ice, with their children in their arms, raising them as

they felt themselves sinking, and even when completely immerged, their

stiffened arms still held them above them.

In the midst of this horrible disorder, the artillery bridge burst and

broke down. The column, entangled in this narrow passage, in vain

attempted to retrograde. The crowds of men who came behind, unaware of

the calamity, and not hearing the cries of those before them, pushed

them on, and threw them into the gulf, into which they were precipitated

in their turn.

Every one then attempted to pass by the other bridge. A number of large

ammunition waggons, heavy carriages, and cannon crowded to it from all

parts. Directed by their drivers, and carried along rapidly over a rough

and unequal declivity, in the midst of heaps of men, they ground to

powder the poor wretches who were unlucky enough to get between them;

after which, the greater part, driving violently against each other and

getting overturned, killed in their fall those who surrounded them.

Whole rows of these desperate creatures being pushed against these

obstacles, got entangled among them, were thrown down and crushed to

pieces by masses of other unfortunates who succeeded each other

uninterruptedly.

Crowds of them were rolling in this way, one over the other, nothing was

heard but cries of rage and suffering. In this frightful medley, those

who were trod under and stifled, struggled under the feet of their

companions, whom they laid hold of with their nails and teeth, and by

whom they were repelled without mercy, as if they had been enemies.

Among them were wives and mothers, calling in vain, and in tones of

distraction, for their husbands and their children, from whom they had

been separated but a moment before, never more to be united: they

stretched out their arms and entreated to be allowed to pass in order to

rejoin them; but being carried backwards and forwards by the crowd, and

overcome by the pressure, they sunk under without being even remarked.

Amidst the tremendous noise of a furious hurricane, the firing of

cannon, the whistling of the storm and of the bullets, the explosion of

shells, vociferations, groans, and the most frightful oaths, this

infuriated and disorderly crowd heard not the complaints of the victims

whom it was swallowing up.

The more fortunate gained the bridge by scrambling over heaps of

wounded, of women and children thrown down and half suffocated, and whom

they again trod down in their attempts to reach it. When at last they

got to the narrow defile, they fancied they were safe, but the fall of a

horse, or the breaking or displacing of a plank again stopped all.

There was also, at the outlet of the bridge, on the other side, a

morass, into which many horses and carriages had sunk, a circumstance

which again embarrassed and retarded the clearance. Then it was, that in

that column of desperadoes, crowded together on that single plank of

safety, there arose an internal struggle, in which the weakest and worst

situated were thrown into the river by the strongest. The latter,

without turning their heads, and carried away by the instinct of

self-preservation, pushed on toward the goal with fury, regardless of

the imprecations of rage and despair, uttered by their companions or

their officers, whom they had thus sacrificed.

But on the other hand, how many noble instances of devotion! and why are

time and space denied me to relate them? There were seen soldiers, and

even officers, harnessing themselves to sledges, to snatch from that

fatal bank their sick or wounded comrades. Farther off, and out of reach

of the crowd, were seen soldiers motionless, watching over their dying

officers, who had entrusted themselves to their care; the latter in vain

conjured them to think of nothing but their own preservation, they

refused, and, sooner than abandon their leaders, were contented to wait

the approach of slavery or death.

Above the first passage, while the young Lauriston threw himself into

the river, in order to execute the orders of his sovereign more

promptly, a little boat, carrying a mother and her two children, was

overset and sunk under the ice; an artilleryman, who was struggling like

the others on the bridge to open a passage for himself, saw the

accident; all at once, forgetting himself, he threw himself into the

river, and by great exertion, succeeded in saving one of the three

victims. It was the youngest of the two children; the poor little thing

kept calling for its mother with cries of despair, and the brave

artilleryman was heard telling it, "not to cry; that he had not

preserved it from the water merely to desert it on the bank; that it

should want for nothing; that he would be its father, and its family."

The night of the 28th added to all these calamities. Its darkness was

insufficient to conceal its victims from the artillery of the Russians.

Amidst the snow, which covered every thing, the course of the river, the

thorough black mass of men, horses, carriages, and the noise proceeding

from them, were sufficient to enable the enemy's artillerymen, to direct

their fire.

About nine o'clock at night there was a still farther increase of

desolation, when Victor began his retreat, and his divisions came and

opened themselves a horrible breach through these unhappy wretches, whom

they had till then been protecting. A rear-guard, however, having been

left at Studzianka, the multitude, benumbed with cold, or too anxious to

preserve their baggage, refused to avail themselves of the last night

for passing to the opposite side. In vain were the carriages set fire

to, in order to tear them from them. It was only the appearance of

daylight, which brought them all at once, but too late, to the entrance

of the bridge, which they again besieged. It was half-past eight in the

morning, when Eblé, seeing the Russians approaching, at last set fire to

it.

The disaster had reached its utmost bounds. A multitude of carriages,

three cannon, several thousand men and women, and some children, were

abandoned on the hostile bank. They were seen wandering in desolate

troops on the borders of the river. Some threw themselves into it in

order to swim across; others ventured themselves on the pieces of ice

which were floating along: some there were also who threw themselves

headlong into the flames of the burning bridge, which sunk under them;

burnt and frozen at one and the same time, they perished under two

opposite punishments. Shortly after, the bodies of all sorts were

perceived collecting together and the ice against the tressels of the

bridge. The rest awaited the Russians. Wittgenstein did not show himself

upon the heights until an hour after Eblé's departure, and, without

having gained a victory, reaped all the fruits of one.

CHAP. X.

While this catastrophe was accomplishing, the remains of the grand army

on the opposite bank formed nothing but a shapeless mass, which

unravelled itself confusedly, as it took the road to Zembin. The whole

of this country is a high and woody plain of great extent, where the

waters, flowing in uncertainty between different inclinations of the

ground, form one vast morass. Three consecutive bridges, of three

hundred fathoms in length, are thrown over it; along these the army

passed, with a mingled feeling of astonishment, fear, and delight.

These magnificent bridges, made of resinous fir, began at the distance

of a few wersts from the passage. Tchaplitz had occupied them for

several days. An _abatis_ and heaps of bavins of combustible wood,

already dry, were laid at their entrance, as if to remind him of the use

he had to make of them. It would not have required more than the fire

from one of the Cossacks' pipes to set these bridges on fire. In that

case all our efforts and the passage of the Berezina would have been

entirely useless. Caught between the morass and the river, in a narrow

space, without provisions, without shelter, in the midst of a tremendous

hurricane, the grand army and its Emperor must have been compelled to

surrender without striking a blow.

In this desperate situation, in which all France seemed destined to be

taken prisoner in Russia, where every thing was against us and in favour

of the Russians, the latter did nothing but by halves. Kutusoff did not

reach the Dnieper, at Kopis, until the very day that Napoleon approached

the Berezina. Wittgenstein allowed himself to be kept in check during

the time that the former required for his passage. Tchitchakof was

defeated; and of eighty thousand men, Napoleon succeeded in saving sixty

thousand.

He remained till the last moment on these melancholy banks, near the

ruins of Brilowa, unsheltered, and at the head of his guards, one-third

of whom were destroyed by the storm. During the day they stood to arms,

and were drawn up in order of battle; at night, they bivouacked in a

square round their leader; there the old grenadiers incessantly kept

feeding their fires. They sat upon their knapsacks, with their elbows

planted on their knees, and their hands supporting their head;

slumbering in this manner doubled upon themselves, in order that one

limb might warm the other, and that they should feel less the emptiness

of their stomachs.

During these three days and three nights, spent in the midst of them,

Napoleon, with his looks and his thoughts wandering on three sides at

once, supported the second corps by his orders and his presence,

protected the ninth corps and the passage with his artillery, and united

his efforts with those of Eblé in saving as many fragments as possible

from the wreck. He at last directed the remains to Zembin, where Prince

Eugene had preceded him.

It was remarked that he still gave orders to his marshals, who had no

soldiers to command, to take up positions on that road, as if they had

still armies at their beck. One of them made the observation to him with

some degree of asperity, and was beginning an enumeration of his losses;

but Napoleon, determined to reject all reports, lest they should

degenerate into complaints, warmly interrupted him with these words:

"why then do you wish to deprive me of my tranquillity?" and as the

other was persisting, he shut his mouth at once, by repeating, in a

reproachful manner, "I ask you, sir, why do you wish to deprive me of my

tranquillity?" An expression, which in his adversity, explained the

attitude which he imposed upon himself, and that which he exacted of

others.

Around him during these mortal days, every bivouac was marked by a heap

of dead bodies. There were collected men of all classes, of all ranks,

of all ages; ministers, generals, administrators. Among them was

remarked an elderly nobleman of the times long passed, when light and

brilliant graces held sovereign sway. This general officer of sixty was

seen sitting on the snow-covered trunk of a tree, occupying himself with

unruffled gaiety every morning with the details of his toilette; in the

midst of the hurricane, he had his hair elegantly dressed, and powdered

with the greatest care, amusing himself in this manner with all the

calamities, and with the fury of the combined elements which assailed

him.

Near him were officers of the scientific corps still finding subjects of

discussion. Imbued with the spirit of an age, which a few discoveries

have encouraged to find explanations for every thing, the latter, amidst

the acute sufferings which were inflicted upon them by the north wind,

were endeavouring to ascertain the cause of its constant direction.

According to them, since his departure for the antarctic pole, the sun,

by warming the southern hemisphere, converted all its emanations into

vapour, elevated them, and left on the surface of that zone a vacuum,

into which the vapours of our hemisphere, which were lower, on account

of being less rarefied, rushed with violence. From one to another, and

from a similar cause, the Russian pole, completely surcharged with

vapours which it had emanated, received, and cooled since the last

spring, greedily followed that direction. It discharged itself from it

by an impetuous and icy current, which swept the Russian territory quite

bare, and stiffened or destroyed every thing which it encountered in its

passage.

Several others of these officers remarked with curious attention the

regular hexagonal crystallization of each of the flakes of snow which

covered their garments.

The phenomenon of parhelias, or simultaneous appearances of several

images of the sun, reflected to their eyes by means of icicles suspended

in the atmosphere, was also the subject of their observations, and

occurred several times to divert them from their sufferings.

CHAP. XI.

On the 29th the Emperor quitted the banks of the Berezina, pushing on

before him the crowd of disbanded soldiers, and marching with the ninth

corps, which was already disorganized. The day before, the second and

the ninth corps, and Dombrowski's division presented a total of fourteen

thousand men; and now, with the exception of about six thousand, the

rest had no longer any form of division, brigade, or regiment.

Night, hunger, cold, the fall of a number of officers, the loss of the

baggage on the other side of the river, the example of so many runaways,

and the much more forbidding one of the wounded, who had been abandoned

on both sides of the river, and were left rolling in despair on the

snow, which was covered with their blood--every thing; in short, had

contributed to discourage them; they were confounded in the mass of

disbanded men who had come from Moscow.

The whole still formed sixty thousand men, but without the least order

or unity. All marched pell-mell, cavalry, infantry, artillery, French

and Germans; there was no longer either wing or centre. The artillery

and carriages drove on through this disorderly crowd, with no other

instructions than to proceed as quickly as possible.

On this narrow and hilly causeway, many were crushed to death in

crowding together through the defiles, after which there was a general

dispersion to every point where either shelter or provisions were likely

to be found. In this manner did Napoleon reach Kamen, where he slept,

along with the prisoners made on the preceding day, who were put into a

fold like sheep. These poor wretches, after devouring even the dead

bodies of their fellows, almost all perished of cold and hunger.

On the 30th he reached Pleszezenitzy. Thither the Duke of Reggio, after

being wounded, had retired the day before, with about forty officers and

soldiers. He fancied himself in safety, when all at once the Russian

partizan, Landskoy, with one hundred and fifty hussars, four hundred

Cossacks, and two cannon, penetrated, into the village, and filled all

the streets of it.

Oudinôt's feeble escort was dispersed. The marshal saw himself reduced

to defend himself with only seventeen others, in a wooden house, but he

did so with such audacity and success, that the enemy was astonished,

quitted the village, and took position on a height, from which he

attacked it with his cannon. The relentless destiny of this brave

marshal so ordered it, that in this skirmish he was again wounded by a

splinter of wood.

Two Westphalian battalions, which preceded the Emperor, at last made

their appearance and disengaged him, but not till late, and not until

these Germans and the marshal's escort (who at first did not recognize

each other as friends) had taken a long and anxious survey of each

other.

On the 3d of December, Napoleon arrived in the morning at Malodeczno,

which was the last point where Tchitchakof was likely to have got the

start of him. Some provisions were found there, the forage was abundant,

the day beautiful, the sun shining, and the cold bearable. There also

the couriers, who had been so long in arrears arrived all at once. The

Poles were immediately directed forward to Warsaw through Olita, and the

dismounted cavalry by Merecz to the Niemen; the rest of the army was to

follow the high road, which they had again regained.

Up to that time, Napoleon seemed to have entertained no idea of quitting

his army. But about the middle of that day, he suddenly informed Daru

and Duroc of his determination to set off immediately for Paris.

Daru did not see the necessity of it. He objected, "that the

communication with France was again opened, and the most dangerous

crisis passed; that at every retrograde step he would now be meeting the

reinforcements sent him from Paris and from Germany." The Emperor's

reply was, "that he no longer felt himself sufficiently strong to leave

Prussia between him and France. What necessity was there for his

remaining at the head of a routed army? Murat and Eugene would be

sufficient to direct it, and Ney to cover its retreat.

"That his return to France was become indispensable, in order to secure

her tranquillity, and to summon her to arms; to take measures there for

keeping the Germans steady in their fidelity to him; and finally, to

return with new and sufficient forces to the assistance of his grand

army.

"But, in order to attain that object, it was necessary that he should

travel alone over four hundred leagues of the territories of his allies;

and to do so without danger, that his resolution should be there

unforeseen, his passage unknown, and the rumour of his disastrous

retreat still uncertain; that he should precede the news of it, and

anticipate the effect which it might produce on them, and all the

defections to which it might give rise. He had, therefore, no time to

lose, and the moment of his departure was now arrived."

He only hesitated in the choice of the leader whom he should leave in

command of the army; he wavered between Murat and Eugene. He liked the

prudence and devotedness of the latter; but Murat had greater celebrity,

which would give him more weight. Eugene would remain with that monarch;

his youth and his inferior rank would be a security for his obedience,

and his character for his zeal. He would set an example of it to the

other marshals.

Finally, Berthier, the channel, to which they had been so long

accustomed, of all the imperial orders and rewards, would remain with

them; there would consequently be no change in the form or the

organization of the army; and this arrangement, at the same time that it

would be a proof of the certainty of his speedy return, would serve both

to keep the most impatient of his own officers in their duty, and the

most ardent of his enemies in a salutary dread.

Such were the motives assigned by Napoleon. Caulaincourt immediately

received orders to make secret preparations for their departure. The

rendezvous was fixed at Smorgoni, and the time, the night of the 5th of

December.

Although Daru was not to accompany Napoleon, who left him the heavy

charge of the administration of the army, he listened in silence, having

nothing to urge in reply to motives of such weight; but it was quite

otherwise with Berthier. This enfeebled old man, who had for sixteen

years never quitted the side of Napoleon, revolted at the idea of this

separation.

The private scene which took place was most violent. The Emperor was

indignant at his resistance. In his rage he reproached him with all the

favours with which he had loaded him; the army, he told him, stood in

need of the reputation which he had made for him, and which was only a

reflection of his own; but to cut the matter short, he allowed him

four-and-twenty hours to decide; and if he then persisted in his

disobedience, he might depart for his estates, where he should order him

to remain, forbidding him ever again to enter Paris or his presence.

Next day, the 4th of December, Berthier, excusing himself for his

previous refusal by his advanced age and impaired health, resigned

himself sorrowfully to his sovereign's pleasure.

CHAP. XII.

But at the very moment that Napoleon determined on his departure, the

winter became terrible, as if the Russian atmosphere, seeing him about

to escape from it, had redoubled its severity in order to overwhelm him

and destroy us. On the 4th of December, when we reached Bienitza, the

thermometer was at 26 degrees.

The Emperor had left Count Lobau and several hundred men of his old

guard at Malodeczno, at which place the road to Zembin rejoins the

high-road from Minsk to Wilna. It was necessary to guard this point

until the arrival of Victor, who in his turn would defend it until that

of Ney.

For it was still to this marshal, and to the second corps commanded by

Maison, that the rear-guard was entrusted. On the night of the 29th of

November, when Napoleon quitted the banks of the Berezina, Ney, and the

second and third corps, now reduced to three thousand soldiers, passed

the long bridges leading to Zembin, leaving at their entrance Maison,

and a few hundred men to defend and to burn them.

Tchitchakof made a late but warm attack, and not only with musketry, but

with the bayonet: but he was repulsed. Maison at the same time caused

these long bridges to be loaded with the bavins, of which Tchaplitz,

some days before, had neglected to make use. When every thing was ready,

the enemy completely sickened of fighting, and night and the bivouacs

well advanced, he rapidly passed the defile, and set fire to them. In a

few minutes these long causeways were burnt to ashes, and fell into the

morasses, which the frost had not yet rendered passable.

These quagmires stopped the enemy and compelled him to make a _detour_.

During the following day, therefore, the march of Ney and of Maison was

unmolested. But on the day after, the 1st of December, as they came in

sight of Pleszezenitzy, lo and behold! the whole of the Russian cavalry

were seen rushing forward impetuously, and pushing Doumerc and his

cuirassiers on their right. In an instant they were attacked and

overwhelmed on all sides.

At the same time, Maison saw that the village through which he had to

retreat, was entirely filled with stragglers. He sent to warn them to

flee directly; but these unfortunate and famished wretches, not seeing

the enemy, refused to leave their meals which they had just begun;

Maison was driven back upon them into the village. Then only, at the

sight of the enemy, and the noise of the shells, the whole of them

started up at once, rushed out, and crowded and encumbered every part of

the principal street.