636 
soldiers\as the Freneh,, ‘Qh,).no,)no. 
Iu other places the:-Frenchman, is much 
superior. ‘The commandant of Dantzic 
informed, me, that during|the severity of 
the, winter, when the. thermometer sank 
eighteen degrees, it, was impossible to 
make the) French | soldiers keep » their 
posts as sentinels, while the) Poles  suf- 
fered nothing... Poniatowsky,” conti- 
nued he, ‘was a noble character, full of 
-honour and bravery. It was my inten- 
tion to. haye-made him King of Poland, 
had I succeeded in Russia,” 
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 
I asked to what he principally attri- 
buted his failare of that expedition. 
“To the cold, .the premature cold, and 
the burning of. Moscow,”’ replied Na- 
poleon. ‘Iwas afew days too late—I 
had made a calculation of the weather for 
filly years before, and the extreme cold 
had never commenced until about the 
20th of .December, twenty days later 
than it began this time. While I was 
at Moscow, the cold was at three of the 
thermometer, and was such as the 
Freneh could with pleasure bear ; but on 
the march, the thermometer sunk eigh- 
teen degrees, and consequently nearly all 
the horses perished. In one night I lost 
thirty thousand... ‘The artillery, of which 
T had five hundred picees, was in a great 
measure obliged to be abandoned; nei- 
ther ammunition nor provisions could be 
carried, We could not make a vécon- 
naissanee, or send outian advance of men 
on horseback, to, discover the way, 
through the want of horses. ‘The soldiers 
lost their spirits, fell into confusion, and 
lost theirsenses. ‘The most trifling thine 
alarmed them, Four or five men were 
sufficient to frighten a whole battalion. 
Instead of keeping together, they wan- 
dered about in search of fire., Parties, 
whensentout on duty in advance, aban- 
doned their posts, and went to seck the 
means of warming themselves in the 
houses. They, separated’ in all direc- 
tions, became, helpless, and fell anveasy 
prey to the enemy. Others lay down, 
fell asleep, a little blood came from their 
nostrils, and, sleeping, they diced, In 
ihis manner thousands perished.» ‘Lhe 
Poles, saved) some of their horses ‘and 
artillery, but, the E’rench; and the 'sol- 
diers of the other nations Thad with me, 
were no,longer the same meni | Inspar- 
ticular, the cavalry suffered: Out, of 
forty thousand, I do not think that three 
thousand were saved... Had itinot, been 
for that fire at Moscow, I should: have 
succeeded. I would have wintered 
there. There were in that city about 
O? Meara’s Voice from St. Helena. 
forty thousand citizens; who wene in a 
manner slaves,. For you must) know 
that the Russian nobility keep their vas- 
sals in a sort-of> slavery. d!would: have 
proclaimed jiberty,\to all the: slaves:in 
Russia, andhabolished vassalageaind:no- 
bility. » Phis «would || have »procturcd ne 
ihe union ofan immense.anda: powerfal 
party.) \T would, either have imddeca 
peace at Moscow, or ‘else: P: would bavie 
marched the) next yeamto Petersburgh. 
Alexander was assured of it; andsént lis 
diamonds, valuables, and |shipsitonMng- 
land. Had»it not:been, for that fire I 
should have succeeded imevery thing. 1 
beat them two days before, in agreatiac- 
tionat Moskwa;L attacked the Russian 
army of two hubdrediand fifty thousand 
strong, entrenched: upto dhein necks, 
with ninety thonsand,-and» totally: de- 
feated them. Seventy ‘thousand Rus- 
sians lay upon the field..|'Phey had the 
impudence to say that they» had gained 
the battle, though twoodays after’ I 
marched into: Moscow.!: J) was) in dhe 
midst of a fine city, provisioned: for a 
year, for in Russia they always lay in 
provisions for several months before the 
frost sets in. Stores.of all:kinds werein 
plenty. The houses of -the ‘inhabitants 
were well provided, and:many hhadveven 
left their servants to attend upon ts,: In 
most of them there was a note left.by the 
proprietor, begging the French: olficers 
who took possession to) take ‘cure:of 
their furniture and other! things; that 
they had left every. article necessary) for 
our wants, and hoped:toreturnin a few 
days, when the Emperor Alexander had 
accommodated matters, at which time 
they would be happy to'see us. Many 
ladies remained bebind.»» They knew 
that I had been in Berlin and Vienna 
with my armies, and that no injury had 
been done to the inhabitants; and, more 
over, they expected aspecdy peace. We 
were ip hopes of enjoying ourselves in 
winter quarters, with every prospect of 
success In the spring. 
THE FIRE/AT MOSCOW. 
Two days after our arrival, a fire was 
discovered, which at first was not sup- 
posed to bealarming, but to have been 
caused by the soldiers kindling their fires 
too near, the houses, which were chiefly 
of woods) Dowas angry atthis, and issued 
verysstrict orders on the subject to: the 
»commandants/of regiments’ and others. 
The next day it had advanced, but still 
not)so as/to give sericus alarm. How- 
ever, afraid that it might gain upon us, I 
went out on horseback, and gave every 
direction to extinguish it, ~The next 
morning 
