destroyed; and considering the preparations that had been made to burn the city, it is very improbable that the removal of the military stores should have been neglected.

Bonaparte, however, could not long continue this deceit. On the 15th of October, he began to send the sick from Moscow. The Russian army, he acknowledged, had received strong reinforcements, the snow began to fall, Moscow was declared to be a bad military position, and it was necessary the army should retire to winter quarters. Bonaparte therefore ordered the Kremlin, which had been saved from the conflagration, to be mined and blown up, and on the 19th he left Moscow. But the mines did not all take effect, and the Baron Winzingerode hastened the departure of the French rear guard. The great conqueror was thus driven, at the approach of a severe season, to wander amidst the inhospitable wilds of Russia, surrounded by a bold, desperate, and active enemy, assisted by a peasantry sworn to effect his destruction. He appears to have been undecided as to thre route he should take, but the necessity of crippling the Russian army at the commencement of his retreat was obvious, and to this object he directed his attention.

After Bonaparte had entered Moscow, General Kutousoff disposed his forces in a most masterly manner. The French met a strong party of the Russians in every quarter, while the peasantry incessantly opposed and watched their movements. From want of forage the French horses grew sickly and unfit for action, and the Cossacks kept the cavalry in continual alarm and motion. On one occasion, General Sebastiani with his light cavalry were surprised at the distribution of meal, and suffered severely. On the 24th of October at day-break, Bonaparte attacked the grand Russian army, which occupied a strong position near the town of Malioardslanvitz. An obstinate conflict ensued. Both sides, as usual, claimed the victory; but Bonaparte continued to accelerate his retreat, surrounded by clouds of Cossacs. On the 2d of November he was again intercepted near Viasma,

and again suffered considerable loss before the road was cleared; but on the 6th the bad weather commenced, the ground was covered with snow, the roads became slippery and difficult, while cold and fatigue rapidly thinned his ranks. On the 16th the Russians turned his advanced guard; and at the same time General Davoust was attacked by Prince Galitzin. The Russian artillery made a most terrible carnage. The battle lasted the whole day, but Bonaparte, who was an eye witness of the destruction of this division, fled to the village of Liadam. Two generals, 58 officers, 9170 men, 70 cannon, 3 standards, and the baton of Marshal Davoust, were taken; and the banks of the Dnieper were covered with the slain. On the following day, Marshal Ney's corps, which formed the rear guard, was intercepted by General Millaradovitch. Ney came upon the Russian batteries in a fog, at three o'clock in the afternoon, and a terrible carnage ensued. The French finding themselves in the trap, and surrounded, repeatedly attacked the Russian artillery with the fury of despair, but could not break through. Column after column advanced, and were mowed down; till, at midnight, the survivors, to the number of 12,000, surrendered themselves prisoners. Their whole artillery, baggage, and military chest were taken, but Marshal Ney escaped.

On the 4th, General Wittgenstein attacked General Victor, in which action the village of Smolna, the depot of Victor's artillery, was six times taken and retaken, but the French were ultimately obliged to retreat. Amidst these complicated disasters Bonaparte reached Smolensko; but the threatening movements of the Russian commander compelled him to abandon this miserable place on the 13th of December. Suddenly the cold increased to 16 or 18 degrees below the freezing point. In a few days above 30,000 horses perished, and he was obliged to abandon a great part of his

The details of this calamitous campaign, which is unequalled in history, we give principally on the authority, and nearly in the words of Bonaparte's own account.

artillery, ammunitions, and provisions. In this dreadful situation his men lost their gaiety, and dreamed of nothing but misfortunes and catastrophies. The Cossacs, emboldened by witnessing the frightful calamity that had overtaken this once formidable army, surrounded the columns, and prevented all communications, or attempts to reconnoitre, carrying off the trains and waggons which were separated. The Duke of Elchingen, who was charged with blowing up the ramparts and cathedral of Smolensko, was surrounded, and obliged to cut his way through the Russian columns. Bonaparte was now hastening to pass the Beresina, but was anticipated by the Russians, who burnt the bridge and occupied all the fords. This river is 80 yards wide, had much floating ice in it, and its banks are covered with marches. Bonaparte having manoeuvred a whole day in order to deceive the Russians, attempted the passage of the river on the 26th, which he at length effected with the loss of 15,000 prisoners, and about 7000 killed, wounded, and drowned. On the 27th, at night, a brigade of Pataunaux's division was surrounded and taken. The contest lasted near three days. Having surmounted this difficulty, Bonaparte pursued his rout to Wilna. 'The army,' says the French report, being without cavalry, deficient of ammunition, and horribly fatigued by fifty days march, carrying in its train all the sick and wounded of so many battles, stood greatly in need of getting to its magazines. To say that the whole army stands in need of reestablishing its discipline, of refreshing itself, of remounting its cavalry, completing its artillery, and its materials, is the result of the expose, which has just been made. The generals, officers, and soldiers, have suffered greatly from want. Numbers have lost their baggage by the loss of their horses, and several by the effect of the Cossacs' ambushes. The Cossacs have taken numbers of isolated persons, of geographical engineers, who were taking positions, and of unattended officers, who were marching without precaution, pre

ferring running the risk, to marching slowly and along with the convoys.

In all these movements, the emperor has continually marched in the middle of his guards,* the cavalry commanded by marshal Duke of Istria, and the infantry commanded by the Duke of Dantzic. His majesty has been well satisfied with the fine spirit shewn by his guards; they have always been ready to shew themselves every where that their presence was needful; but circumstances have always been such, that their appearance alone was sufficient, and that they never were in a case which required them to charge. The Prince of Neufchatel, the grand marshal, the grand equerry, and all the aides-de-camp, and military officers of the household, have always accompanied his majesty. Our cavalry was dismounted to such a degree, that it was necessary to collect the officers who had a horse still remaining, in order to form four companies of 100 men each. The generals there performed the functions of captains, and the colonels those of subalterns. This sacred squadron, commanded by General Grouchy, and under the orders of the

The newspapers have given the following curious anecdote of Bonaparte in this retreat, which, if true, is illustrative of the altered feelings of his soldiers :

For a long time he rode in a close carriage, surrounded by his halffamished and dispirited troops. At length the men, indignant at seeing him sitting at his ease, and feeling no part of the calamities he had so wantonly brought on them, cried aloud a bas la voiture. This call was not to be slighted: Bonaparte instantly quitted the vehicle, and mounted his horse, covered with his cloak aud muffled with fur. This condescension did not, however, appease his followers, half naked and famishing with cold; they again cried out, a las le monteau. The great Napoleon, in compliance with the mandate of his soldiery, immediately threw off his cloak and fur, and in common with his men, exposed himself to all the inclemencies of the season. However, profiting by experience, the sacred squadron was immediately formed to protect the great Emperor from the rising indignation of his own army, ill an opportunity should be afforded him of making his final escape."

King of Naples, did not lose sight of the emperor in all these movements. The health of his majesty was never better.'

Never did a commander draw so deplorable a picture of the ruined state of an army, and never did Bonaparte so clearly exhibit his real character as in the boldness and cruelty evinced in this dreadful report. He here despises the public feeling, and silences complaint, by undisguisedly avowing the extent of the calamities his army had suffered; and in order to complete the degradation of the 'great nation' and her allies, by demonstrating his contempt of the abject instruments of his ambition, he deserted his army while involved in perplexity and ruin! On the 5th of December, at night he assembled his marshals, and informed them that he had nominated Murat his lieutenant-general to command the army during the rigorous season. He then stole off, and proceeded to Wilna,* travelling with great rapidity in a single sledge under the name of the Duke of Vicenca. After examining the fortifications of Prague, he passed on to Warsaw, where he remained several hours unknown. On the 14th, at one in the morning, he arrived at Dresden, and alighted at the house of Count Gera, his minister. He had a long conference with the King of Saxony, and immediately pursuing his journey by the road of Mentz, arrived on the 19th, at midnight, at Paris, having performed this long journey in the short space of thirteen days!

From the Russian reports it appears, that from the passage of the Beresina to Wilna, the French army had not one moment's respite. The Russians pressed on every side, and allowed them no repose. Their movements on the flanks and rear of the French, as developed in the execution, were the result of masterly combination, demonstrating that they were

The Russians report, that a strong division of the French army had halted in a village, where they intended to quarter, during the night of December the 5th. Bonaparte was in bed when the Russians attacked the place, and had just time to mount his horse and escape; but so great was his apprehension, that he proceeded in full gallop to Wilna.