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While we were making attempts to save them, fifty voltigeurs of the 33d
climbed the heights, of which the enemy's cavalry and artillery still
occupied the summit. The French army, which had halted under the walls
of Mojaisk, was surprised at seeing this handful of men, scattered about
on this uncovered declivity, teasing with their fire thousands of the
enemy's cavalry. All at once what had been foreseen happened; several of
the enemy's squadrons put themselves in motion, and in an instant
surrounded these bold fellows, who immediately formed, and kept facing
and firing at them in all directions; but they were so few in the midst
of a large plain, and the number of cavalry about them was so great,
that they soon disappeared from our eyes. A general exclamation of
sorrow burst from the whole of our lines. Every one of the soldiers with
his neck stretched, and his eye fixed, followed the enemy's movements,
and endeavoured to distinguish the fate of his companions in arms. Some
were lamenting the distance they were at, and wishing to march; others
mechanically loaded their muskets or crossed their bayonets with a
threatening air, as if they had been near enough to assist them. Their
looks were sometimes as animated as if they were fighting, and at other
times as much distressed as if they had been beat. Others advised and
encouraged them, forgetting that they were out of reach of hearing.

Several volleys of smoke, ascending from amidst the black mass of
horses, prolonged the uncertainty. Some cried out, that it was our men
firing, and still defending themselves, and that they were not yet beat.
In fact, a Russian commanding officer had just been killed by the
officer commanding these _tirailleurs_. This was the way in which he
replied to the summons to surrender. Our anxiety lasted some minutes
longer, when all at once the army set up a cry of joy and admiration at
seeing the Russian cavalry, intimidated at this bold resistance,
separate in order to escape their well-directed fire, disperse, and at
last allow us to see once more this handful of brave fellows master of
this extensive field of battle, of which it only occupied a few feet.

When the Russians saw that we were manoeuvring seriously to attack
them, they disappeared without leaving us any traces to follow them.
This was the same they had done at Witepsk and Smolensk, and what was
still more remarkable, the second day after their great disaster. At
first there was some uncertainty whether to follow the road to Moscow or
that to Kalouga, after which Murat and Mortier proceeded, at all
hazards, towards Moscow.

They marched for two days, with no other food than horse-flesh and
bruised wheat, without finding a single person or thing by which to
discover the Russian army. That army, although its infantry only formed
one confused mass, did not leave behind it a single fragment; such was
the national spirit and habit of obedience in it, collectively and
singly, and so thoroughly unprovided were we with every kind of
information, as well as resources, in this deserted and thoroughly
hostile country.

The army of Italy was advancing at some leagues' distance on the left of
the great road, and surprised some of the armed peasantry, who were not
accustomed to fighting; but their master, with a dagger in his hand,
rushed upon our soldiers like a madman: he exclaimed that he had no
longer a religion, empire, or country to defend, and that life was
odious to him; they were willing, however, to leave him that, but as he
attempted to kill the soldiers who surrounded him, pity yielded to
anger, and his wish was gratified.

Near Krymskoie, on the 11th of September, the hostile army again made
its appearance, firmly established in a strong position. It had returned
to its plan of looking more to the ground, in its retreat, than to the
enemy. The duke of Treviso at first satisfied Murat of the impossibility
of attacking it; but the smell of powder soon intoxicated that monarch.
He committed himself, and obliged Dufour, Mortier, and their infantry,
to advance to his support. This consisted of the remains of Friand's
division, and the young guard. There were lost, without the least
utility, 2000 men of that reserve which had been so unseasonably spared
on the day of battle; and Mortier was so enraged, that he wrote to the
emperor, that he would no longer obey Murat's orders. For it was by
letter that the generals of the vanguard communicated with Napoleon. He
had remained for three days at Mojaisk, confined to his apartment, still
consumed by a burning fever, overwhelmed with business, and worn out
with anxiety. A violent cold had deprived him of the use of his voice.
Compelled to dictate to seven persons at once, and unable to make
himself heard, he wrote on different papers the heads of his despatches.
When any difficulty arose, he explained himself by signs.

There was a moment when Bessieres enumerated to him all the generals who
were wounded on the day of the battle. This fatal list affected him so
poignantly, that by a violent effort he recovered his voice, and
interrupted the marshal by the sudden exclamation, "Eight days at
Moscow, and there will be an end of it!"

Meantime, although he had hitherto placed all his futurity in that
capital, a victory so sanguinary and so little decisive lowered his
hopes. His instructions to Berthier of the 11th of September for marshal
Victor exhibited his distress: "The enemy, attacked at the heart, no
longer trifles with us at the extremities. Write to the duke of Belluno
to direct all, infantry, cavalry, artillery, and isolated soldiers to
Smolensk, in order to be forwarded from thence to Moscow."

In the midst of these bodily and mental sufferings, which he carefully
concealed from his army, Davoust obtained access to him; his object was
to offer himself again, notwithstanding his wound, to take the command
of the vanguard, promising that he would contrive to march night and
day, reach the enemy, and compel him to fight, without squandering, as
Murat did, the strength and lives of the soldiers. Napoleon only
answered him by extolling in high terms the audacious and inexhaustible
ardour of his brother-in-law.

He had just before heard, that the enemy's army had again been found;
that it had not retired upon his right flank, towards Kalouga, as he had
feared it would; that it was still retreating, and that his vanguard was
already within two days' march of Moscow. That great name, and the great
hopes which he attached to it, revived his strength, and on the 12th of
September, he was sufficiently recovered to set out in a carriage, in
order to join his vanguard.


END OF VOL. I.




HISTORY

OF THE

EXPEDITION TO RUSSIA,

UNDERTAKEN BY THE

EMPEROR NAPOLEON,

IN THE YEAR 1812.




BY GENERAL, COUNT PHILIP DE SEGUR.



Quamquam animus meminisse horret, luctuque refugit,
Incipiam--.

VIRGIL.


_SECOND EDITION, CAREFULLY REVISED AND CORRECTED._

IN TWO VOLUMES,

WITH A MAP AND SEVEN ENGRAVINGS.

VOL. II.

LONDON:

TREUTTEL AND WURTZ, TREUTTEL, JUN. AND RICHTER, 30,
SOHO-SQUARE.

1825.

[Illustration: Portrait of the Emperor Alexander]

HISTORY

OF

NAPOLEON'S EXPEDITION

TO

RUSSIA.




BOOK VIII.




CHAP. I.


We have seen how the Emperor Alexander, surprised at Wilna amidst his
preparations for defence, retreated with his disunited army, and was
unable to rally it till it was at the distance of a hundred leagues from
that city, between Witepsk and Smolensk. That Prince, hurried along in
the precipitate retreat of Barclay, sought refuge at Drissa, in a camp
injudiciously chosen and entrenched at great expense; a mere point in
the space, on so extensive a frontier, and which served only to indicate
to the enemy the object of his manoeuvres.

Alexander, however, encouraged by the sight of this camp, and of the
Duena, took breath behind that river. It was there that he first
consented to receive an English agent, so important did he deem it to
appear till that moment faithful to his engagements with France. Whether
he acted with real good faith, or merely made a show of doing so, we
know not: so much is certain, that at Paris, after his success, he
affirmed, on his honour, to Count Daru, that, "notwithstanding the
accusations of Napoleon, this was his first infraction of the treaty of
Tilsit."

At the same time he caused Barclay to issue addresses, designed to
corrupt the French and their allies, similar to those which had so
irritated Napoleon at Klubokoe;--attempts which the French regarded as
contemptible, and the Germans as unseasonable.

In other respects, the Emperor had given his enemies but a mean opinion
of his military talents: this opinion was founded on his having
neglected the Berezina, the only natural line of defence of Lithuania;
on his eccentric retreat towards the north, when the rest of his army
was fleeing southward; and lastly, on his ukase relative to recruiting,
dated Drissa, which assigned to the recruits, for their places of
rendezvous, several towns that were almost immediately occupied by the
French. His departure from the army, as soon as it began to fight, was
also a subject of remark.

As to his political measures in his new and in his old provinces, and
his proclamations from Polotsk to his army, to Moscow, to his great
nation, it was admitted that they were singularly adapted to persons and
places. It appears, in fact, that in the political means which he
employed there was a very striking gradation of energy.

In the recently acquired portion of Lithuania, houses, inhabitants,
crops, in short every thing had been spared, either from hurry or
designedly. The most powerful of the nobles had alone been carried off:
their defection might have set too dangerous an example, and had they
still further committed themselves, their return in the sequel would
have been more difficult; besides, they were hostages.

In the provinces of Lithuania which had been of old incorporated with
the empire, where a mild administration, favours judiciously bestowed,
and a longer habit of subjection, had extinguished the recollection of
independence, the inhabitants were hurried away with all they could
carry with them. Still it was not deemed expedient to require of
subjects professing a different religion, and a nascent patriotism, the
destruction of property: a levy of five men only out of every five
hundred males was ordered.

But in Russia Proper, where religion, superstition, ignorance,
patriotism, all went hand in hand with the government, not only had the
inhabitants been obliged to retreat with the army, but every thing that
could not be removed had been destroyed. Those who were not destined to
recruit the regulars, joined the militia or the cossacks.

The interior of the empire being then threatened, it was for Moscow to
set an example. That capital, justly denominated by its poets, "_Moscow
with the golden cupolas_," was a vast and motley assemblage of two
hundred and ninety-five churches, and fifteen hundred mansions, with
their gardens and dependencies. These palaces of brick, and their parks,
intermixed with neat houses of wood, and even thatched cottages, were
spread over several square leagues of irregular ground: they were
grouped round a lofty triangular fortress; the vast double inclosure of
which, half a league in circuit, contained, the one, several palaces,
some churches, and rocky and uncultivated spots; the other, a prodigious
bazaar, the town of the merchants and shopkeepers, where was displayed
the collected wealth of the four quarters of the globe.

These edifices, these palaces, nay, the very shops themselves, were all
covered with polished and painted iron: the churches, each surmounted by
a terrace and several steeples, terminating in golden balls, then the
crescent, and lastly the cross, reminded the spectator of the history of
this nation: it was Asia and its religion, at first victorious,
subsequently vanquished, and finally the crescent of Mahomet surmounted
by the cross of Christ.

A single ray of sun-shine caused this splendid city to glisten with a
thousand varied colours. At sight of it the traveller paused, delighted
and astonished. It reminded him of the prodigies with which the oriental
poets had amused his childhood. On entering it, a nearer view served but
to heighten his astonishment: he recognized the nobles by the manners,
the habits, and the different languages of modern Europe; and by the
rich and light elegance of their dress. He beheld, with surprise, the
luxury and the Asiatic form of those of the merchants; the Grecian
costumes of the common people, and their long beards. He was struck by
the same variety in the edifices: and yet all this was tinged with a
local and sometimes harsh colour, such as befits the country of which
Moscow was the ancient capital.

When, lastly, he observed the grandeur and magnificence of so many
palaces, the wealth which they displayed, the luxury of the equipages,
the multitude of slaves and servants, the splendour of those gorgeous
spectacles, the noise of those sumptuous festivities, entertainments,
and rejoicings, which incessantly resounded within its walls, he fancied
himself transported into a city of kings, into an assemblage of
sovereigns, who had brought with them their manners, customs, and
attendants from all parts of the world.

They were, nevertheless, only subjects; but opulent and powerful
subjects; grandees, vain of their ancient nobility, strong in their
collected numbers, and in the general ties of consanguinity contracted
during the seven centuries which this capital had existed. They were
landed proprietors, proud of their existence amidst their vast
possessions; for almost the whole territory of the government of Moscow
belongs to them, and they there reign over a million of serfs. Finally,
they were nobles, resting, with a patriotic and religious pride, upon
"the cradle and the tomb of their nobility"--for such is the appellation
which they give to Moscow.

It seems right, in fact, that here the nobles of the most illustrious
families should be born and educated; that hence they should launch into
the career of honours and glory; and lastly, that hither, when
satisfied, discontented, or undeceived, they should bring their disgust,
or their resentment to pour it forth; their reputation, in order to
enjoy it, to exercise its influence on the young nobility; and to
recruit, at a distance from power, of which they have nothing farther to
expect, their pride, which has been too long bowed down near the throne.

Here their ambition, either satiated or disappointed, has assumed,
amidst their own dependents, and as it were beyond the reach of the
court, a greater freedom of speech: it is a sort of privilege which time
has sanctioned, of which they are tenacious, and which their sovereign
respects. They become worse courtiers, but better citizens. Hence the
dislike of their princes to visit this vast repository of glory and of
commerce, this city of nobles whom they have disgraced or disgusted,
whose age or reputation places them beyond their power, and to whom they
are obliged to show indulgence.

To this city necessity brought Alexander: he repaired thither from
Polotsk, preceded by his proclamations, and looked for by the nobility
and the mercantile class. His first appearance was amidst the assembled
nobility. There every thing was great--the circumstance, the assembly,
the speaker, and the resolutions which he inspired. His voice betrayed
emotion. No sooner had he ceased, than one general simultaneous,
unanimous cry burst from all hearts:--"Ask what you please, sire! we
offer you every thing! take our all!"

One of the nobles then proposed the levy of a militia; and in order to
its formation, the gift of one peasant in twenty-five: but a hundred
voices interrupted him, crying, that "the country required a greater
sacrifice; that it was necessary to grant one serf in ten, ready armed,
equipped, and supplied with provisions for three months." This was
offering, for the single government of Moscow, eighty thousand men, and
a great quantity of stores.

This sacrifice was immediately voted without deliberation--some say with
enthusiasm, and that it was executed in like manner, so long as the
danger was at hand. Others have attributed the concurrence of this
assembly to so urgent a proposition, to submission alone--a sentiment
indeed, which, in the presence of absolute power, absorbs every other.

They add, that, on the breaking up of the meeting, the principal nobles
were heard to murmur among themselves against the extravagance of such a
measure. "Was the danger then so pressing? Was there not the Russian
army, which, as they were told, still numbered four hundred thousand
men, to defend them? Why then deprive them of so many peasants! The
service of these men would be, it was said, only temporary; but who
could ever wish for their return? It was, on the contrary, an event to
be dreaded. Would these serfs, habituated to the irregularities of war,
bring back their former submission? Undoubtedly not: they would return
full of new sentiments and new ideas, with which they would infect the
villages; they would there propagate a refractory spirit, which would
give infinite trouble to the master by spoiling the slave."

Be this as it may, the resolution of that meeting was generous, and
worthy of so great a nation. The details are of little consequence. We
well know that it is the same everywhere; that every thing in the world
loses by being seen too near; and lastly, that nations ought to be
judged by the general mass and by results.

Alexander then addressed the merchants, but more briefly: he ordered
that proclamation to be read to them, in which Napoleon was represented
as "a perfidious wretch; a Moloch, who, with treachery in his heart and
loyalty on his lips, was striving to sweep Russia from the face of the
earth."

It is said that, at these words, the masculine and highly coloured faces
of the auditors, to which long beards imparted a look at once antique,
majestic and wild, were inflamed with rage. Their eyes flashed fire;
they were seized with a convulsive fury: their stiffened arms, their
clenched fists, the gnashing of their teeth, and subdued execrations,
expressed its vehemence. The effect was correspondent. Their chief, whom
they elect themselves, proved himself worthy of his station: he put down
his name the first for fifty thousand rubles. It was two-thirds of his
fortune, and he paid it the next day.

These merchants are divided into three classes: it was proposed to fix
the contribution for each; but one of the assembly, who was included in
the lowest class, declared that his patriotism would not brook any
limit, and he immediately subscribed a sum far surpassing the proposed
standard: the others followed his example more or less closely.
Advantage was taken of their first emotions. Every thing was at hand
that was requisite to bind them irrevocably while they were yet
together, excited by one another, and by the words of their sovereign.

This patriotic donation amounted, it is said, to two millions of rubles.
The other governments repeated, like so many echoes, the national cry of
Moscow. The Emperor accepted all; but all could not be given
immediately: and when, in order to complete his work, he claimed the
rest of the promised succours, he was obliged to have recourse to
constraint; the danger which had alarmed some and inflamed others,
having by that time ceased to exist.




CHAP. II.


Meanwhile Smolensk was soon reduced; Napoleon at Wiazma, and
consternation in Moscow. The great battle was not yet lost, and already
people began to abandon that capital.

The governor-general, Count Rostopchin, told the women, in his
proclamations, that "he should not detain _them_, as the less fear the
less danger there would be; but that their brothers and husbands must
stay, or they would cover themselves with infamy." He then added
encouraging particulars concerning the hostile force, which consisted,
according to his statement, of "one hundred and fifty thousand men, who
were reduced to the necessity of feeding on horse-flesh. The Emperor
Alexander was about to return to his faithful capital; eighty-three
thousand Russians, both recruits and militia, with eighty pieces of
cannon, were marching towards Borodino, to join Kutusoff."

He thus concluded: "If these forces are not sufficient, I will say to
you, 'Come, my friends, and inhabitants of Moscow, let us march also! we
will assemble one hundred thousand men: we will take the image of the
Blessed Virgin, and one hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, and put an
end to the business at once!'"

It has been remarked as a purely local singularity, that most of these
proclamations were in the scriptural style and in poetic prose.

At the same time a prodigious balloon was constructed, by command of
Alexander, not far from Moscow, under the direction of a German
artificer. The destination of this winged machine was to hover over the
French army, to single out its chief, and destroy him by a shower of
balls and fire. Several attempts were made to raise it, but without
success, the springs by which the wings were to be worked having always
broken.

Rostopchin, nevertheless, affecting to persevere, is said to have caused
a great quantity of rockets and other combustibles to be prepared.
Moscow itself was designed to be the great infernal machine, the sudden
nocturnal explosion of which was to consume the Emperor and his army.
Should the enemy escape this danger, he would at least no longer have an
asylum or resources; and the horror of so tremendous a calamity, which
would be charged to his account, as had been done in regard to the
disasters of Smolensk, Dorogobouje, Wiazma, and Gjatz, would not fail to
rouse the whole of Russia.

Such was the terrible plan of this noble descendant of one of the
greatest Asiatic conquerors. It was conceived without effort, matured
with care, and executed without hesitation. This Russian nobleman has
since visited Paris. He is a steady man, a good husband, an excellent
father: he has a superior and cultivated mind, and in society his
manners are mild and pleasing: but, like some of his countrymen, he
combines an antique energy with the civilization of modern times.

His name henceforth belongs to history: still he had only the largest
share in the honour of this great sacrifice. It had been previously
commenced at Smolensk, and it was he who completed it. This resolution,
like every thing great and entire, was admirable; the motive sufficient
and justified by success; the devotedness unparalleled, and so
extraordinary, that the historian is obliged to pause in order to
fathom, to comprehend, and to contemplate it.[19]

[Footnote 19: A Count Rostopchin, we know, has written that he had no
hand in that great event: but we cannot help following the opinion of
the Russians and French, who were witnesses of and actors in this grand
drama. All, without exception, persist in attributing to that nobleman
the entire honour of that generous resolution. Several even seem to
think, that if Count Rostopchin, who is yet animated by the same noble
spirit, which will render his name imperishable, still refuses the
immortality of so great an action, it is that he may leave all the glory
of it to the patriotism of the nation, of which he is become one of the
most remarkable characters.]

One single individual, amidst a vast empire nearly overthrown, surveys
its danger with steady eye: he measures, he appreciates it, and
ventures, perhaps uncommissioned, to devote all the public and private
interests a sacrifice to it. Though but a subject, he decides the lot of
the state, without the countenance of his sovereign; a noble, he decrees
the destruction of the palaces of all the nobles, without their consent;
the protector, from the post which he occupies, of a numerous
population, of a multitude of opulent merchants and traders, of one of
the largest capitals in Europe, he sacrifices their fortunes, their
establishments, nay, the whole city: he himself consigns to the flames
the finest and the richest of his palaces, and proud and satisfied, he
quietly remains among the resentful sufferers who have been injured or
utterly ruined by the measure.

What motive then could be so just and so powerful as to inspire him with
such astonishing confidence? In deciding upon the destruction of Moscow,
his principal aim was not to famish the enemy, since he had contrived to
clear that great city of provisions; nor to deprive the French army of
shelter, since it was impossible to suppose that out of eight thousand
houses and churches, dispersed over so vast a space, there should not be
left buildings enough to serve as barracks for one hundred and fifty
thousand men.

He was no doubt aware also that by such a step he would counteract that
very important point of what was supposed to be the plan of campaign
formed by Alexander, whose object was thought to be to entice forward
and to detain Napoleon, till winter should come upon him, seize him, and
deliver him up defenceless to the whole incensed nation. For it was
natural to presume that these flames would enlighten that conqueror;
they would take from his invasion its end and aim. They would of course
compel him to renounce it while it was yet time, and decide him to
return to Lithuania, for the purpose of taking up winter quarters in
that country--a determination which was likely to prepare for Russia a
second campaign more dangerous than the first.

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