178] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



ment ; but nothing lias since ap- 

 peared to give room for suspect- 

 ing that any germ of it is still in 

 being. 



The desertion of Moscow by Na- 

 poleon (who quitted it the day af- 

 ter the defeat of Murat) was equally 

 a subjectofsurpriseand speculation 

 at Paris, the public papers of which 

 exhausted their ingenuity in find- 

 ing excuses and motives for this 

 event. One of them thus con- 

 cludes its reasonings: "To say 

 that the emperor has left Moscow 

 is only to say, that this father of 

 the soldiers marches wherever great 

 operations demand his presence. 

 His presence commands victory ; 

 it will still watch over the safety 

 of the victorious army." We shall 

 see in the sequel how well this ex- 

 pectation was verified. The first 

 proof of the great change of situa- 

 tion between the two armies, was 

 the mission of Lauriston to Kutus- 

 ofF, in order to propose an armis- 

 tice and treat of peace. The an- 

 swer given was, that no negocia- 

 tion of this kind could be enter- 

 ed upon till the French had re- 

 passed the Vistula ; and when Lau- 

 riston observed in reply, that they 

 must then retire fighting every 

 inch, since the Russian armies 

 were marching on all sides, Ku- 

 tusoff rejoined, that as the French 

 had not been invited to Moscow, 

 they must get back as they could. 

 Murat also is stated to have gone 

 to the advanced posts, and held 

 a conference with General Milar- 

 dovitch, probably for the purpose 

 of bringing about an armistice, but 

 from which he derived no satisfac- 

 tion. At this time the Russians 

 had cleared both banks of the Duna, 

 as far as Wiiepsk, from the inva- 

 ders ; and the province of Vclhyuia 



was entirely freed from the ene^ 

 my. 



The French prand army first di- 

 rected its march upon Kaluga ; but 

 finding obstacles in that quarter, 

 the route was changed towards 

 Mojaisk. The Russians pressing 

 upon it, an engagement was 

 brought on at Malo-yaroslavetz, 

 on the 24th, in which, as usual, 

 the French Claim a victory ; at 

 least, it appears that they checked 

 their pursuers. On November 9, 

 Napoleon arrived with the impe- 

 rial guard at Smolensko. Of the 

 encounters in this interval, between 

 the retreating and the pursuing ar- 

 mies, the relations by the two par- 

 ties are so irreconcilable that we 

 shall not attempt to form them 

 into a consistent narrative. It is 

 only certain that much loss was 

 sustained by the French, which 

 they were not in a condition to re- 

 pair. The Russian winter, which 

 began on the 7th with deep snow, 

 greatly added to their difficulties 

 and sufferings, and their bulletins 

 acknowledge the loss of many men 

 by cold and fatigue in their night 

 bivouackings. Two intercepted 

 letters from the viceroy of Italy, 

 Eugene Napoleon, to the Prince of 

 Neufchatel, aiford undeniable evi- 

 dence of the extreme distress to 

 which the retreating French were 

 reduced. In the first, dated No- 

 vember 8, he speaks of an attack 

 on the head, rear, arni center of his 

 columns by the enemy, in which 

 two of his cannon were carried off; 

 and after mentioning his embarrass- 

 ments, and his critical situation, he 

 says, " I must not conceal from 

 your highness, that after using 

 every effort in my power, I have 

 yet found it impossible to drag my 

 artillery, and that, in this respect, 



great 



