1812.] SMOLENSK-BORODINO-MOSCOW. 557 comprised 254,356 men.* But there was something stronger than these mighty masses of invaders,-the determination of the Russian people to resist to the last extremity. It was in this spirit that the officers and soldiers of Alexander's army held, that to ruin the invader they must retire before him into the heart of Russia without giving battle, and, destroying every thing before him in their retreat, to leave nothing but ravaged fields, so that the modern Pharaoh and his hosts should perish in the immensity of the void, as the ancient Pharaoh perished in the immensity of the waters. † The French armies entered Lithuania without encountering any opposition. They ravaged the country, feeding their horses on green corn; and when the main bodies left it, entirely devastated, they left behind them a hundred thousand men, dead, or in hospitals, or marauding in scattered parties through the districts where the locusts who had passed over had left nothing to be consumed. On the 16th of August they were under the walls of Smolensk, about two hundred and eighty miles from Moscow. The Russians were there in force, and a great battle took place. When the French entered the city it had been evacuated, and they found only burning ruins. The Russians continued their retreat towards Moscow, Napoleon following them. On the 7th of September was fought the sanguinary battle of Borodino. The sun had risen with extraordinary brilliancy, and Napoleon hailed it as the twin sun of Austerlitz. The fighting lasted two days. On each side there were forty thousand killed and wounded. Each army imagined itself lord of the field; but the Russian army continued its retreat to Moscow.t On the 14th of September before day dawn, the Russian troops commenced filing through the city. They were soon accompanied by all the inhabitants and populace who could find any means of conveyance. "The incidents and the whole scene of the evacuation of a great capital may be conceived better than described. The Russians, however, have preserved so much of their nomad habits, that they were much more quickly packed and equipped for their emigration than the inhabitants of any other European city would have been. The army, indeed, since the first day's retreat from Smolensk, had been accompanied by a wandering nation. All the towns, villages, and hamlets were abandoned as the columns appeared. The old and infirm, the women and children were placed with the moveable effects, and the Dii Penates,' on their kabitgas or telegas-one and two horse carts which no peasant is without." § On the same day Napoleon arrived at Moscow with his guards, and was astounded at the solitude which reigned everywhere. "His feelings had been excited to the highest degree of pride and glowing expectation. He had anticipated his reception by a submissive magistracy and humbled people, imploring clemency; and dreamt that in the palace of the Czars he would have it in his power to promise pardon, protection, and peace to themselves and their sovereign." || Napoleon took up his residence in the suburb of Moscow. He had commanded his soldiers to bivouac outside the city, but at night many entered, These returns are in Sir Robert Wilson's "Invasion of Russia," p. 10 and p. 21. Wilson, "Invasion of Russia," p. 130 to 155. § Ibid., p. 165. Ibid., p. 167. 558 CONFLAGRATION OF MOSCOW-THE RETREAT. [1812. near. and sought in plunder and riot some compensation for their long endurance of severe privations. That very night the alarm of fire was given in various quarters. The great bazaar with its ten thousand shops was in a blaze. The Crown magazines, with vast stores of wine and spirits, were in a blaze. Not a fire-engine, not a bucket, could be procured. They had all been earried off. The next day the French emperor transferred his quarters to the Kremlin. Day after day the astonished soldiers saw the canopy of smoke and flame spreading over the city of a thousand domes and minarets. On the 21st, the Russian army was established within twenty-five miles of Moscow. They knew that the progress of their invader had been stayed. The conflagration went on, till, of forty thousand houses in stone, only two hundred escaped; of eight thousand in wood, five hundred only were standing; of sixteen hundred churches, eight hundred were consumed.* The Kremlin itself, on the 16th, had become uninhabitable, and Napoleon left it to take up his quarters outside the city. A furious wind carried showers of sparks far and On the 20th, when Napoleon returned, a heavy rain had extinguished the flames, but only one tenth of the city was left unconsumed. Only those provisions had escaped being burnt which were left in the cellars of the houses. What was the cause of this terrible destruction? Was it the resolved purpose of a patriotic devotion producing a havoc more awful than any event which history records; or was it accident? There can be no doubt that it was part of the same determined system of resistance which had driven the whole population from the burning villages on the road from Smolensk, and had led forth the inhabitants of Moscow, with the exception of the miserable thousands who were unable to move, to seek for other shelter than in the homes of the devoted city. Rostopchin, the governor of Moscow, "could neither deny nor adopt the act." But that he had a strong convic tion of what was public virtue may be gathered from the fact, that he afterwards set fire with his own hands to his magnificent palace in the village of Woronow, when a division of the French were approaching on the 4th of October, and that he affixed upon a pillar these ominous words: "The inhabitants of this property, to the number of seventeen hundred and twenty, quit it at your approach, and I voluntarily set the house on fire that it may not be polluted by your presence. Frenchmen, I abandoned to you my two houses at Moscow, with their furniture and contents, worth half a million of roubles. Here you will only find ashes"† The French evacuated Moscow on the 19th of October. Snow had begun to fall. An early winter was setting in. Adequately to describe the incidents of that terrible destruction of the French Grand Army, which occurred from the 19th of October to the 13th of December, when a miserable remnant re-crossed the Niemen, would require a volume-as indeed several separate volumes have been written on that fearful catastrophe. The march of the French was a succession of battles with the pursuing Russians. The troops were skilfully led; their courage rarely failed, even when starving and perishing by the way side with the extremity of cold. Clouds of Cossacks hung upon their path, leaving them not an hour's safety. The most popular narrative, that of the Count de + Idem, p. 180. Wilson, p. 172. 1812.] DESTRUCTION OF THE FRENCH ARMY. 559 Ségur, has been held to contain many exaggerations. That of sir Robert Wilson has many striking details of horror, amidst a critical military view of the operations of the Russians in which he is not sparing of blame. There is a brief account by Desprez, the aide-de-camp of king Joseph, who was sent to Napoleon to propitiate his anger against his brother, and against Marmont, for the defeat at Salamanca. The emperor kept him at Moscow, and when the evacuation took place, he accompanied the division of marshal Mortier, till it reached Wilna, where the French had staid till the 16th of December, when the Russians were coming upon them. The aide-de-camp, in a letter to king Joseph, dated from Paris, on the 3rd of January, says that the army when he quitted it was in the most horrible misery. For a long time previously the disorder and losses had been frightful; the artillery and cavalry had ceased to exist. The different regiments were all mixed together; the soldiers marching pell-mell, and only seeking to prolong existence. Thousands of wandering men fell into the hands of the Cossacks. The number of prisoners was very great, but that of the dead exceeded it. During a month there were no rations, and dead horses were the only resource. The severity of the climate rendered hunger more fatal. The truth could not be wholly hidden, even by Napoleon. He could not conceal that of four hundred thousand Frenchmen who had crossed the Niemen in May, with the persuasion of their invincibility, not twenty thousand had returned to the Vistula. The destruction could not be concealed from the bereaved families who mourned their sons and their husbands. On the 3rd of December, the emperor issued his twenty-ninth and last bulletin, which made France and the world comprehend, in some degree, how the invasion of Russia had ended. For the first time he then spoke of his retreat; he avowed such part of his misfortunes as he could not wholly deny; he attributed his calamities to the severity of the weather. On the 5th, in the middle of the night, he quitted his army at Smorgoni, travelling in a sledge, accompanied by Caulaincourt, a Polish interpreter, his mamlook Rustan, and a valet. He arrived in Paris on the night of the 18th of December. * "Letters to King Joseph,” p. 245. German spirit-The Campaign-Armistice-The Battle of Vittoria-Battle of Dresden-Death of Moreau-Battle of Leipzig-Napoleon's retreat-Wellington on the Pyrenees-San Sebastian-The British army in France-Battles of Wellington and Soult-Napoleon prepares for a campaign in France--Battles with Blücher and Schwarzenberg-Paris capitulated to the Allies-Toulouse-Abdication of Napoleon-Peace of Paris-Public joy in EnglandThe Allied Sovereigns-Wellington thanked by Parliament-The Speaker's harangue. THERE is a description of the state of public feeling in Germany at the beginning of 1813, which shows how the continent was awakening from its torpor. The writer was a Professor in the University of Breslau: "The 29th bulletin had appeared: every artful expression in it seemed to endeavour vainly to conceal the news of a total defeat. The vision of a wonderful agitated future rose in every mind with all its hopes and terrors: it was breathed out at first in tones scarcely audible; even those who had believed that unbridled ambition would find its check in the land which it had desolated, could not realize the horrible destruction of a victorious army, an army which had for fifteen years, with growing might, excited first the admiration, then the terror, and, lastly, the paralysed dismay of all the continental nations, and which had at length been overtaken by a fearful judg ment, more wonderful than its conquests. But the strange event was there; reports no longer to be doubted crowded in upon us, the distant voice 1813.] GERMAN SPIRIT-THE CAMPAIGN-ARMISTICE. 561 approached, the portentous words sounded clearer and clearer, and at last the loud call to rise was shouted through the land. Then did the flood of feeling burst from hearts where it had been long pent up,-fuller and freer did it flow; then the long-hidden love to king and country flamed brightly out, and the dullest minds were animated by the wild enthusiasm. Every one looked for a tremendous crisis, but the moment was not yet come for action, and while resting in breathless expectation, thousands and thousands became every hour stronger still to meet it." * The passionate impulses of the people of Prussia were powerful enough to make their sovereign resolve to endure no longer his state of ignominious vassalage. He first made a proposal to Napoleon, with the consent of Alexander, whom he met at Breslau, that the French should evacuate Dantzic, and all the Prussian fortresses on the Oder, and retire behind the Elbe into Saxony. The Russian army should in that case remain behind the Vistula. Napoleon contemptuously spurned the proposition. Frederick-William and Alexander then concluded an alliance, offensive and defensive. Austria decided to remain neutral. Hostilities immediately began. The French quitted Berlin and Dresden. The old spirit of Germany, the spirit of Arminius, which eighteen centuries before had driven the Roman legions beyond the Rhine, had again awakened. Secret Societies had cherished this spirit, and now it no longer needed to be secret. The Preacher called upon his Congregation to arm; the Professor told his Class that they must now learn to fight. At nightfall in every city bands of young Germans shouted forth the songs of Arndt; and every student and every apprentice could join in the chorus of "Was ist der Deutschen Vaterland." In the meantime, France, weeping for her children, still crouched at the feet of her master. The Senate were now called upon to place at the disposal of the emperor half a million of conscripts. He took the field in the middle of April. He could reckon upon collecting 250,000 troops before Russia and Prussia could concentrate an equal force. But of his forces four-fifths were young soldiers; the other fifth were Germans. He left Erfurt to march upon Leipzig. On the 2nd of May he fought the battle of Lützen, and defeated the combined Russian and Prussian army. His victory gave him possession of Leipzig and of Dresden. On the 20th and 21st of May the two armies renewed the struggle at Bautzen. The slaughter on each side was nearly equal. The Allies retreated; but Napoleon did not attempt to follow up the success which he had achieved at a prodigious loss, which told him that such days as Austerlitz and Jena were not likely to recur. An armistice was agreed upon, to extend from the 5th of June to the 22nd of July. Bonaparte spent this period at Berlin, throwing dust into the eyes of politicians, by pretending to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Talma and Mademoiselle Georges and Mademoiselle Mars were ordered to come from Paris to amuse the emperor. The armistice was agreed to be prolonged to the 10th of August, during which time a conference was to be held to discuss terms of pacification. The negotiations of the Russian, Prussian, and French plenipotentiaries were to commence on the 29th of July at Prague. |