the city. With intense anxiety he watched the progress of the conflagration, and began to question whether the blow he had inflicted upon his opponent was worth the many sacrifices it had even then entailed.

The fire arose partly from design and partly from accident. Some of the inhabitants of the city set the torch to their houses on abandoning them to the foe, and others put combustibles in dangerous places. The inebriated soldiers, in their drunken frolics, not only assisted these endeavours, but actually fired several habitations. Thus a conflagration, that with due care and caution might have been subdued, spread over the city. Peace now became the chief object for which Bonaparte laboured, and upon his return to the Russian capital on the 18th, he directed his best efforts towards its

accomplishment. Weary of waiting for a reply to proposals that he had addressed to Alexander, and, instead of receiving any tokens of submission, being harassed by the incessant attacks of the enemy, who availed themselves of every opportunity for cutting off supplies, capturing stragglers or foraging parties, and inflicting defeat upon various portions of his army, on the 3rd of October Napoleon dispatched General Lauriston to the Russian camp. The Comanderin-Chief Kutusoff declared that he had no powers to treat, that he could not grant the pass required in order to enable General Lauriston to proceed into the presence of the Czar, but, with an assumed air of civility, promised to send off an aide-de-camp to learn Alexander's intentions. Time passed on; no answer reached Bonaparte; again was General Lauriston entrusted with a mission to the Russian head-quarters, and again was he unable to elicit a satisfactory reply. Suddenly the French advance-guard, under Murat, which was stationed at Winkowo, was attacked by the Russians, and forced to retreat in terrible disorder. Signs of the recommencement of offensive operations by the Russian army appeared on all sides. The Russian commanders had received information of the entry of the English into Madrid, and this gratifying intelligence doubtless excited their ardour and animated their drooping spirits in just the same proportion as the news of the defeat of Salamanca had depressed the mind of Bonaparte on the eve of the great battle at Borodino. By degrees it became painfully evident to Napoleon that the Russian Emperor and his generals were trifling with him, that they were only waiting for an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. Deeply impressed with this conviction, and of the impossibility of maintaining his position at Moscow, Napoleon reluctantly quitted that city on the 19th of October. Preparations for a retreat had been going on for some time, yet the Emperor delayed giving the final order, vainly hoping that the submission of the Czar might enable him to retire not only with honour, but also with safety. Thus more than a month had been once more consumed in idle expectations—a month of precious and invaluable time.

Kutusoff, having refreshed his men by rest and care, and having received reinforcements to a very considerable extent, was in a much

THE FRENCH RETREAT.

309

He was, indeed, pre

His plan was to press

better condition than Napoleon imagined. pared to assume the offensive in great force. hard upon the path of the retreating foe, to avail himself of the slightest advantage in order to fall upon Bonaparte's weakened columns, and by rapid marches to cut off their retreat at every opportunity. Thus Napoleon, who had intended to return to Poland by a new line of route, in which he hoped to meet with supplies, found his plans frustrated by the indefatigable activity of his opponents. His road lay through Kalouga, Medin, Yuknow, Elnia, and Smolensko ; * his march was, however, intercepted at Malo-Jaroslawitz, and he was reduced to the extremity of fighting a battle there on the 24th of October, only five days after his departure from Moscow. Although victorious in that dreadful conflict, the French did not succeed in opening a passage through the Russian army. It had been largely reinforced towards the close of the action, and still occupied the line of retreat, so that the French were compelled to fall back upon the old route. In a cavalry charge of 6,000 Cossacks of the Don, under Platoff, Bonaparte narrowly escaped being made prisoner, only the day after this battle. In fact, had the Russian general been aware of the prize almost within his grasp, there is little reason to doubt that Napoleon would have been captured.

From this battle the disasters of the retreat fairly commenced. Unable to pierce into that part of the country which had not suffered from its devastations, Napoleon's last hope of feeding the army vanished. On the 6th of November the severity of winter added to the horrors of their march. On that day the snow began to fall, and beneath it the strong and the brave sank to rise no more. fed, scantily apparelled, pressed hard by an insolent and implacable enemy, the remnant of the French army was ever in the presence of the avenger. Discipline became gradually relaxed, spoils were abandoned, disputes occurred among the officers, the men quarrelled, the most lamentable sufferings prevailed in every rank. Bridges over the streams had been broken down, the rivers in many places overflowed their banks, at every moment the enemy was upon their

* Ségur. "Expedition to Russia," vol. ii. book ix. chap. i. p. 94.

*