Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

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The latter saw clearly that Napoleon had at first flattered himself with
the hope of receiving fresh overtures of peace from Alexander, and that
the misery and debility of his army had occupied his attention. It was
requisite to allow the long train of stragglers and sick sufficient
time, the one for joining their corps, and the latter for reaching the
hospitals. Finally, to establish these hospitals, to collect provisions,
recruit the horses, and wait for the hospital-waggons, the artillery,
and the pontoons, which were still laboriously dragging after us across
the Lithuanian sands. His correspondence with Europe must also have
been a source of occupation to him. To conclude, a destructive
atmosphere stopped his progress! Such, in fact, is that climate; the
atmosphere is always in the extreme--always excessive; it either parches
or inundates, burns up or freezes, the soil and its inhabitants, for
whose protection it appears expressly framed; a perfidious climate, the
heat of which debilitated our bodies, in order to render them more
accessible to the frosts by which they were shortly to be pierced.

The emperor was not the least sensible of its effects; but when he found
himself somewhat refreshed by repose, when no envoy from Alexander made
his appearance, and his first dispositions were completed, he was seized
with impatience. He was observed to grow restless; whether it was that
inactivity annoyed him, as it does all men of active habits, and that he
preferred danger to the weariness of expectation, or that he was
agitated by that desire of acquisition, which, with the greater part of
mankind, has stronger efficacy than the pleasure of preserving, or the
fear of losing.

It was then especially that the image of captive Moscow besieged him; it
was the boundary of his fears, the object of his hopes: possessed of
that, he would possess every thing. From that time it was foreseen that
an ardent and restless genius, like his, and accustomed to short cuts,
would not wait eight months, when he felt his object within his reach,
and when twenty days were sufficient to attain it.

We must not, however, be too hasty in judging this extraordinary man by
the weaknesses common to all men. We shall presently hear from
himself;--we shall see how much his political position tended to
complicate his military position. At a later period, we shall be less
tempted to blame the resolution he was now about to take, when it is
seen that the fate of Russia depended upon only one more day's health,
which failed Napoleon, even on the very field of the Moskwa.

Meantime, he at first appeared hardly bold enough to confess to himself
a project of such great temerity. But by degrees, he assumed courage to
look it in the face. He then began to deliberate, and the state of great
irresolution which tormented his mind affected his whole frame. He was
observed to wander about his apartments, as if pursued by some dangerous
temptation. Nothing could rivet his attention; he every moment began,
quitted, and resumed his labour; he walked about without any object;
inquired the hour, and looked at his watch; completely absorbed, he
stopped, hummed a tune with an absent air, and again began walking
about.

In the midst of his perplexity, he occasionally addressed the persons
whom he met with such half sentences as "Well! what shall we do? Shall
we stay where we are, or advance? How is it possible to stop short in
the midst of so glorious a career?" He did not wait for their reply; but
still kept wandering about, as if he was looking for something or
somebody to terminate his indecision.

At length, quite overwhelmed with the weight of such an important
consideration, and oppressed with so great an uncertainty, he would
throw himself on one of the beds which he had caused to be laid on the
floor of his apartments. His frame, exhausted by the heat, and the
struggles of his mind, could only bear a covering of the slightest
texture; it was in that state that he passed a portion of his days at
Witepsk.

But when his body was at rest, his spirit was only the more active. "How
many motives urged him towards Moscow! How support at Witepsk the
_ennui_ of seven winter months?--he, who till then had always been the
assailant, was about to be reduced to a defensive position; a part
unworthy of him, of which he had no experience, and adverse to his
genius.

"Moreover, at Witepsk, nothing had been decided, and yet, at what a
distance was he already from France! Europe, then, would at length
behold him stopped, whom nothing had been able to stop. Would not the
duration of the enterprise augment its danger? Ought he to allow Russia
time to arm herself entirely? How long could he protract this uncertain
condition without impairing the charm of his infallibility, (which the
resistance of Spain had already enfeebled) and without engendering
dangerous hopes in Europe? What would be thought, if it were known that
a third of his army, dispersed or sick, were no longer in the ranks? It
was indispensable, therefore, to dazzle the world speedily by the eclat
of a great victory, and hide so many sacrifices under a heap of
laurels."

Then, if he remained at Witepsk, he considered that he should have the
_ennui_, the whole expense, all the inconveniences and anxieties of a
defensive position to bear; while at Moscow there would be peace,
abundance, a reimbursement of the expenses of the war, and immortal
glory. He persuaded himself that audacity for him was henceforth the
greatest prudence; that it is the same with all hazardous undertakings,
as with faults, in which there is always risk at the beginning, but
frequently gain at the conclusion; that the more inexcusable they are,
the more they require to be successful. That it was indispensable,
therefore, to consummate this undertaking, to push it to the utmost,
astonish the universe, beat down Alexander by his audacity, and carry
off a prize which should be a compensation for so many losses.

Thus it was, that the same danger which perhaps ought to have recalled
him to the Niemen, or kept him stationary on the Duena, urged him towards
Moscow! Such is the nature of false positions; every thing in them is
perilous; temerity is prudence; there is no choice left but of errors;
there is no hope but in the errors of the enemy, and in chance.

Having at last determined, he hastily arose, as if not to allow time to
his own reflections to renew so painful a state of uncertainty; and
already quite full of the plan which was to secure his conquest, he
hastened to his maps; they presented to his view the cities of Smolensk
and Moscow; "the great Moscow, the holy city;" names which he repeated
with complacency, and which served to add new fuel to his ambitious
flame. Fired with this prospect, his spirit, replete with the energy of
his mighty conception, appears possessed by the genius of war. His voice
deepens; his eye flashes fire; and his countenance darkens; his
attendants retreat from his presence, struck with mingled awe and
respect; but at length his plan is fixed; his determination taken; his
order of march traced out. Instantly, the internal struggle by which he
had been agitated subsided; and no sooner was he delivered of his
terrible conception, than his countenance resumed its usual mild and
tranquil character.




CHAP. II.


His resolution once taken, he was anxious that it should satisfy his
friends; he conceived that by persuading them, they would be actuated by
greater zeal, than by commanding their obedience. It was, moreover, by
their sentiments that he was enabled to judge of those of the rest of
his army; in short, like all other men, the silent discontent of his
household disturbed him. Surrounded by disapproving countenances, and
opinions contrary to his own, he felt himself uncomfortable. And,
besides, to obtain their assent to his plan, was in some degree to make
them share the responsibility which possibly weighed upon his mind.

But all the officers of his household opposed his plan, each in the way
that marked his peculiar character; Berthier, by a melancholy
countenance, by lamentations, and even tears; Lobau and Caulaincourt, by
a frankness, which in the first was stamped by a cold and haughty
roughness, excusable in so brave a warrior; and which in the second was
persevering even to obstinacy, and impetuous even to violence. The
emperor repelled their observations with some ill-humour; he exclaimed,
addressing himself more especially to his aid-de-camp, as well as to
Berthier, "that he had enriched his generals too much; that all they now
aspired to was to follow the pleasures of the chase, and to display
their brilliant equipages in Paris: and that, doubtless, they had become
disgusted with war." When their honour was thus attacked, there was no
longer any reply to be made; they merely bowed and remained silent.
During one of his impatient fits, he told one of the generals of his
guard, "you were born in a _bivouac_, and in a _bivouac_ you will die."

As to Duroc, he first signified his disapprobation by a chilling
silence, and afterwards by terse replies, reference to accurate reports,
and brief remarks. To him the emperor replied, "that he saw clearly
enough that the Russians wanted to draw him on; but that, nevertheless,
he must proceed as far as Smolensk; that there he would establish his
head-quarters; and that in the spring of 1813, if Russia did not
previously make peace, she would be ruined; that Smolensk was the key
of the two roads to Petersburgh and Moscow; that he must get possession
of it; and that he would then be able to march on both those capitals at
the same time, in order to destroy every thing in the one, and preserve
every thing in the other."

Here the grand marshal observed to him, that he was not more likely to
make peace at Smolensk, or even at Moscow, than he was at Witepsk; and
that in removing to such a distance from France, the Prussians
constituted an intermediate body, on whom little reliance could be
placed. But the emperor replied, that on that supposition, as the
Russian war no longer offered him any advantageous result, he ought to
renounce it; and if so, he must turn his arms against Prussia, and
compel her to pay the expenses of the war.

It was now Daru's turn. This minister is straightforward even to
stiffness, and possesses immoveable firmness. The great question of the
march upon Moscow produced a discussion which lasted during eight
successive hours, and at which only Berthier was present. The emperor
having desired his minister's opinion of the war, "It is not a national
war," replied Daru; "the introduction of some English merchandize into
Russia, and even the restoration of the kingdom of Poland, are not
sufficient reasons for engaging in so distant a war; neither your troops
nor ourselves understand its necessity or its objects, and to say the
least, all things recommend the policy of stopping where we now are."

The emperor rejoined, "Did they take him for a madman? Did they imagine
he made war from inclination? Had they not heard him say that the wars
of Spain and Russia were two ulcers which ate into the vitals of France,
and that she could not bear them both at once?

"He was anxious for peace; but in order to negotiate, two persons were
necessary, and he was only one. Had a single letter from Alexander yet
reached him?

"What, then, should he wait for at Witepsk? Two rivers, it was true,
traced out the line of position; but, during the winter, there were no
longer any rivers in this country. It was, therefore, a visionary line
which they traced out; it was rather a line of demarcation than of
separation. It was requisite, therefore, to constitute an artificial
line; to construct towns and fortresses capable of defying the elements,
and every species of scourge; to create every thing, land and
atmosphere; for every thing was deficient, even provisions, unless,
indeed, he chose to drain Lithuania, and render her hostile, or ruin
ourselves; that if they were at Moscow, they might take what they
pleased; here it was necessary to purchase every thing. Consequently,"
continued he, "you cannot enable me to live at Witepsk, nor shall I be
able to defend you here: both of us, therefore, are here out of our
proper element.

"That if he returned to Wilna, he might there indeed, be more easily
supplied, but that he should not be in a better condition to defend
himself; that in that case it would be necessary for him to fall back to
the Vistula, and lose Lithuania. Whereas at Smolensk, he would be sure
to gain either a decisive battle, or at least, a fortress and a position
on the Dnieper.

"That he perceived clearly that their thoughts were dwelling on Charles
the Twelfth; but that if the expedition to Moscow wanted a fortunate
precedent, it was because it was deficient in a man capable of making it
succeed; that in war, fortune went for one-half in every thing; that if
people always waited for a complete assemblage of favourable
circumstances, nothing would ever be undertaken; that we must begin, in
order to finish; that there was no enterprise in which every thing
concurred, and that, in all human projects, chance had its share; that,
in short, it was not the rule which created the success, but the success
the rule; and that, if he succeeded by new means, that success would
create new principles.

"Blood has not yet been spilled," he added, "and Russia is too great to
yield without fighting. Alexander can only negotiate after a great
battle. If it is necessary, I will even proceed to the holy city in
search of that battle, and I will gain it. Peace waits for me at the
gates of Moscow. But with his honour thus saved, if Alexander still
persists, I will negotiate with the Boyards, or even with the population
of that capital; it is numerous, united, and consequently enlightened.
It will understand its own interests, and comprehend the value of
liberty." He concluded by saying, that "Moscow hated Petersburgh; that
he would take advantage of their rivalry; that the results of such a
jealousy were incalculable."

It was in this manner that the emperor, when animated by conversation
and the banquet, revealed the nature of his hopes. Daru replied, "That
war was a game which he played well, in which he was always the winner,
and that it was natural to infer, that he took a pleasure in playing it.
But that, in this case, it was not so much men as nature which it was
necessary to conquer; that already the army was diminished one-third by
desertion, sickness, or famine.

"If provisions failed at Witepsk, what would be the case farther on? The
officers whom he had sent to procure them, either never re-appeared, or
returned with empty hands. That the small quantity of flour, or the few
cattle which they had succeeded in collecting, were immediately consumed
by the imperial guard; that the other divisions of the army were heard
to murmur, that it exacted and absorbed every thing, that it
constituted, as it were, a privileged class. The hospital and
provision-waggons, as well as the droves of cattle, were not able to
come up. The hospitals were insufficient for the sick; provisions, room,
and medicines, were all wanting in them.

"All things consequently admonished them to halt, and with so much the
more effect, as they could not calculate on the favourable disposition
of the inhabitants beyond Witepsk. In conformity with his secret orders,
they had been sounded, but without effect. How could men be roused to
insurrection, for the sake of a liberty whose very name they did not
understand? What influence could be obtained over a people almost
savages, without property, and without wants? What could be taken from
them? With what could they be tempted? Their only property was their
life, which they carried with them into regions of almost infinite
space."

Berthier added, "That if we were to proceed forward, the Russians would
have in their favour our too-much elongated flanks, famine, and
especially their formidable winter; while in staying where he was, the
emperor would enlist the latter on his side, and render himself master
of the war; that he would fix it within his reach, instead of following
its deceitful, wandering, and undecided flight."

Such were the replies of Berthier and Daru. The emperor mildly listened
to their observations, but oftener interrupted them by subtile
arguments; begging the question, according to his wishes, or shifting
it, when it became too pressing. But however disagreeable might be the
truths which he was obliged to hear, he listened to them patiently, and
replied with equal patience. Throughout this discussion, his
conversation and whole deportment were remarkable for affability,
simplicity, and good-humour, which, indeed, he almost always preserved
in his own family; a circumstance which sufficiently explains why,
notwithstanding so many misfortunes, he was so much beloved by those who
lived on terms of intimacy with him.

Still dissatisfied, the emperor summoned successively several of the
generals of his army; but his questions were such as indicated their
answers; and many of these chiefs, born in the capacity of soldiers, and
accustomed to obey his voice, were as submissive in these conversations
as upon the field of battle.

Others waited the issue, in order to give their opinion; concealing
their dread of a reverse, in the presence of a man who had always been
fortunate, as well as their opinion, lest success might on some future
day reproach them for it.

The greater part signified their approbation, being perfectly convinced
that were they even to incur his displeasure by recommending him to
stop, he would not be the less certain to advance. As it was necessary
to incur fresh dangers, they preferred meeting them with an appearance
of good-will. They found it more convenient to be wrong with him, than
right against him.

But there was one individual, who, not content with approving his
design, encouraged it. Prompted by a culpable ambition, he increased
Napoleon's confidence, by exaggerating the force of his division. For
after incurring so many fatigues, unaccompanied by danger, it was a
great merit in those chiefs who preserved the greatest number of men
around their eagles. The emperor was thus gratified on his weak side,
and the time for rewards was approaching. In order to make himself more
agreeable, the individual in question boldly took upon himself to vouch
for the ardour of his soldiers, whose emaciated countenances but ill
accorded with the flattery of their leader. The emperor gave credit to
this ardour, because it pleased him, and because he only saw the
soldiers at reviews; occasions when his presence, the military pomp, the
mutual excitation produced by great assemblages, imparted fervor to the
mind; when, in short, all things, even to the secret orders of the
chiefs, dictated an appearance of enthusiasm.

But in fact it was only with his guard that he thus occupied his
attention. In the army, the soldiers complained of his non-appearance.
"They no longer saw him," they said, "except in days of battle, when
they had to die for him, but never to supply them with the means of
existence. They were all there to serve him, but he seemed no longer
there to serve them."

In this manner did they suffer and complain, but without sufficiently
considering that what they complained of was one of the inseparable
evils of the campaign. The dispersion of the various corps d'armee being
indispensable for the sake of procuring subsistence in these deserts,
that necessity kept Napoleon at a distance from his soldiers. His guard
could hardly find subsistence and shelter in his immediate
neighbourhood; the rest were out of his sight. It is true that many
imprudent acts had recently been committed; several convoys of
provisions belonging to other corps were on their passage daringly
retained at the imperial head-quarters, for the use of the guard, by
whose order is not known. This violence, added to the jealousy which
such bodies of men always inspire, created discontent in the army.

The emperor was ignorant of these complaints; but another cause of
anxiety had occurred to torment him. He knew that at Witepsk alone,
there were 3000 of his soldiers attacked by the dysentery, which was
extending its ravages over his whole army. The rye which they were
eating in soup was its principal cause. Their stomachs, accustomed to
bread, rejected this cold and indigestible food, and the emperor was
urging his physicians to find a remedy for its effects. One day he
appeared less anxious. "Davoust," said he, "has found out what the
medical men could not discover; he has just sent to inform me of it; all
that is required is to roast the rye before preparing it;" and his eyes
sparkled with hope as he questioned his physician, who declined giving
any opinion until the experiment was tried. The emperor instantly called
two grenadiers of his guard; he seated them at table, close to him, and
made them begin the trial of this nourishment so prepared. It did not
succeed with them, although he added to it some of his own wine, which
he himself poured out for them.

Respect, however, for the conqueror of Europe, and the necessity of
circumstances, supported them in the midst of their numerous privations.
They saw that they were too deeply embarked; that a victory was
necessary for their speedy deliverance; and that he alone could give it
them. Misfortune, moreover, had purified the army; all that remained of
it could not fail to be its _elite_ both in mind and body. In order to
have got so far as they had done, what trials had they not withstood!
Suspense, and disgust with miserable cantonments, were sufficient to
agitate such men. To remain, appeared to them insupportable; to retreat,
impossible; it was, therefore, imperative to advance.

The great names of Smolensk and Moscow inspired no alarm. In ordinary
times, and with ordinary men, that unknown region, that unvisited
people, and the distance which magnifies all things, would have been
sufficient to discourage. But these were the very circumstances which,
in this case, were most attractive. The soldiers' chief pleasure was in
hazardous situations, which were rendered more interesting by the
greater proportion of danger they involved, and on which new dangers
conferred a more striking air of singularity; emotions full of charm for
active spirits, which had exhausted their taste for old things, and
which, therefore, required new.

Ambition was, at that time, completely unshackled; every thing inspired
the passion for glory; they had been launched into a boundless career.
How was it possible to measure the ascendancy, which a powerful emperor
must have acquired, or the strong impulse which he had given them?--an
emperor, capable of telling his soldiers after the victory of
Austerlitz, "I will allow you to name your children after me; and if
among them there should prove one worthy of us, I will leave him every
thing I possess, and name him my successor."




CHAP. III.


The junction of the two wings of the Russian army, in the direction of
Smolensk, had compelled Napoleon also to approximate his various
divisions. No signal of attack had yet been given, but the war involved
him on all sides; it seemed to tempt his genius by success, and to
stimulate it by reverses. On his left, Wittgenstein, equally in dread of
Oudinot and Macdonald, remained between the two roads from Polotsk and
Duenabourg, which meet at Sebez. The Duke of Reggio's orders had been to
keep on the defensive. But neither at Polotsk nor at Witepsk was there
any thing found in the country, which disclosed the position of the
Russians. Tired of feeling nothing of them on any side, the marshal
determined to go in quest of them himself. On the 1st of August,
therefore, he left general Merle and his division on the Drissa, to
protect his baggage, his great park of artillery, and his retreat; he
pushed Verdier towards Sebez, and made him take a position on the
high-road, in order to mask the movement which he was meditating. He
himself, turning to the left with Legrand's infantry, Castex's cavalry,
and Aubrey's light artillery, advanced as far as Yakoubowo, on the road
to Osweia.

As chance would have it, Wittgenstein, at the same moment, was marching
from Osweia to Yakoubowo; the hostile armies unexpectedly met each
other in front of that village. It was late in the day; the shock was
violent, but of short duration: night put an end to the combat, and
postponed its decision.

The marshal found himself engaged, with a single division, in a deep and
narrow pass, surrounded with woods and hills, all the declivities of
which were opposed to us. He was hesitating, however, whether he should
quit that contracted position, on which all the enemy's fire was about
to be concentrated, when a young Russian staff-officer, scarcely emerged
from boyhood, came dashing heedlessly into our posts, and allowed
himself to be taken, with the despatches of which he was the bearer. We
learned from them, that Wittgenstein was marching with all his forces to
attack and destroy our bridges over the Duena. Oudinot felt it necessary
to retreat, in order to rally and concentrate his forces in a less
unfavourable position; in consequence, as frequently happens in
retrograde marches, some stragglers and baggage fell into the hands of
the Russians.

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