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BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON I. 



BONAPARTE. NAPOLEON I. 



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might be said to be in reality opened again. This was soon made a 

 ground of complaint on the part of Napoleon. The Russian emperor, 

 on his side, complained that his relative, the Duke of Oldenburg, had 

 been dispossessed of his territory contrary to the treaty of Tilsit. A 

 third subject of difference was concerning Poland. Napoleon having, 

 by the peace of Schonbrunn, united western Gallicia and Cracow to 

 the duchy of Warsaw, seemed to encourage the prospect of re- 

 establishing the whole of Poland as an independent state. But there 

 was another and a deeper feeling of mistrust and insecurity on the 

 part of the emperor, and (!he nobility of Russia in general, at the 

 evident assumption of universal dictatorship by Napoleon, especially 

 since his marriage with an Austrian archduchess. At Tilsit he had 

 been willing to share the empire of the world with Russia, but now 

 he would " have no brother near his throne." He summoned Sweden, 

 in an imperious manner, to enforce his decrees against the British 

 trade, while his armed vessels and privateers in the Baltic seized upon 

 6fty Swedish merchantmen, which were confiscated, upon the charge 

 of contraband trade with England. Lastly, in January 181 2, General 

 Davouat was sent to take possession of Swedish Pomerania and the 

 island of Rugen. This act of aggression induced the crown prince, 

 Bernadotte, to sign a treaty of alliance with the Emperor Alexander 

 in March 1812. In the interview between these two princes at Abo 

 in Finland, the plan of resistance to Napoleon was settled. Russia 

 had not yet declared war, but she reinforced her armies, waiting to 

 be attacked. Napoleon was pouring troops into Prussia, Pomerania, 

 and the duchy of Warsaw. 



Some of the o'der and wiser counsellors of Napoleon had the 

 courage to remonstrate with him, not on the injustice, but on the 

 impolicy of this new act of aggression. But he was proof against all 

 remonstrance. It was his destiny he said to make one nation out of 

 all the European stater, and Paris must be the capital of the world. 

 Even in calmer times, and after the full experience of disappointment, 

 we find him confirming the sentiments he had now freely expressed. 

 After his return from Elba, he said to Benjamin Constant, " I desired 

 the empire of the world, and who in my situation would not ? The 

 world invited me to govern it; sovereigns and subjects vied with 

 each other in bending before my sceptre. I have rarely found any 

 opposition in France." And later, at St. Helena, " If I have been on 

 the point of accomplishing the universal monarchy, it was without 

 any original design, and because I was led to it step after step. The 

 last effort wanting to arrive at it seemed ao trifling, was it unreason- 

 able to attempt it ? " (Las Cases, vol. i) 



The events of the memorable Russian campaign of 1812 are known 

 to the world. We can only refer our readers to the works of Segur, 

 and of Colonel Boutourlin, aide-de-camp to the emperor Alexander ; 

 to the memoirs of Oginaki; and to the Italian account of Captain 

 Laugier, ' 01' Italian! in Russia; ' and the histories of Thiers, Alison, 

 &c. By consulting these various authorities, a sum of very correct 

 information concerning that stupendous catastrophe may be obtained. 

 Before Napoleon set off from Paris for the Russian expedition, he 

 directed Maret, duke of Bassano, to write a letter to Lord Castlereagh 

 proposing negotiations for peace, on the basis of the ' uti possidetis.' 

 He was willing this time to let Sicily remain under Ferdinand, and 

 Portugal under the house of Braganza, but he insisted on Spain being 

 secured to his brother Joseph. It must be observed that Lord Wel- 

 lington had just taken possession of Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo, and 

 was advancing into Spain towards Madrid, which he shortly after 

 entered upon gaining the battle of Salamanca. The English minister 

 immediately replied, that England's engagements with the Spanish 

 Cortes, acting in the name of King Ferdinand VII., rendered the 

 acknowledgment of Joseph impossible. 



The Russian minister, Prince Kourakui, still remained at Paris. 

 Early in May he presented an official note to the Duke of Bassano, 

 stating that the matters in dispute between the two empires might 

 easily be made the subject of amicable negotiations, provided the 

 French troops should evacuate Pomerania and the duchy of Warsaw, 

 where they could be for no other purpose than that of threatening 

 the frontiers of Russia. Napoleon pretended to be exceedingly angry 

 at this demand, which he said was insolent ; adding, that he was not 

 ii.-ed to be addressed in such a style, and to have his movements die 

 tattd by a foreign sovereign ; and be sent Prince Kourakin his pass 

 ports. On the 9th of May he himself eet off with his empress for 

 Dresden, where he had invited the kings of his own creation Bavaria 

 Wurtemburg, Saxony, Westphalia and his other tributaries to mee 

 him. The emperor of Austria also repaired to Dresden with his 

 empress. The king of Prussia came too, as he had just signed a 

 treaty with Napoleon, by which he placed 20,000 men at his disposa 

 in the approaching campaign. Austria agreed to furnish 30,000 men 

 to act against Russian Poland. Napoleon f ent the Count de Narbonne 

 to Wilna, where the emperor Alexander then waa, to invite him tc 

 come to Dresden, but Alexander declined. After brilliant festivals 

 Napoleon quitted Dresden for Thorn, where he arrived on the 2nd o 

 June. IIU immense army was assembled chiefly between the Vistul; 

 and the Niemen, which latter river formed the boundary of th< 

 Russian empire. There were 270,000 French, 80,000 Germans of th 

 Confederation of the Rhine, 30,000 Poles under Prince Poniatownki 

 )0 Italians under Eugene, and 20,000 Prussians. On the 22nd o 

 June Napoleon issued a proclamation to his soldiers, saying, " that th 



econd war of Poland had begun. The fate of Russia must be fulfilled, 

 jet us cross the Niemen, and carry the war into her own territory," 

 ic. On the 24th and 25th of June Napoleon's army, in three large 

 masses, crossed the Niemen, and entered Lithuania without meeting 

 with any opposition. The Russian army, under General Barclay de 

 \>lli, 120,000 strong, evacuated Wilna, and retired to the banks of 

 ;he Dwina, Another Russian army, 80,000 strong, under Prince 

 iagration, was stationed near the Dnieper. On the 28th of June 

 fapoleon entered Wilna, where he remained till the 16th of July. 

 He there received a deputation from the diet of the duchy of Warsaw, 

 entreating him to proclaim the union and independence of Poland. 

 Napoleon's answer was still cold and cautious. He told them that he 

 lad guaranteed to the emperor of Austria the part of Poland he still 

 retained ; that for the rest they must depend chiefly on their own 

 efforts. 



In the meantime the French soldiers treated Lithuania as an enemy's 

 country. The provisions ordered by Napoleon to follow his army not 

 laving arrived, and the Russians having removed all the stores, the 

 French and German soldiers went about marauding, plundering alike 

 ;he mansions of the nobility and the huts of the peasants, feeding 

 .heir horses on the green corn, violating the women, and killing those 

 who resented such treatment. (Oginski and Segur.) Lithuania, a 

 x>or and thinly-inhabited country, which had suffered from the bad 

 larvest of the preceding year (1811), was utterly devastated. At the 

 same time disorganisation and demoralisation spread fearfully through 

 ;he enormous masses of the invaders; disease thinned their ranks; 

 25,000 patients were crowded within Wilna in a few weeks, where 

 there was not accommodation for one-third of their number; heavy 

 rains rendered the roads impassable, and 10,000 horses were lost. 



After partial engagements at Mohilow and Witepsk, the Russians 

 continued their retreat upon Smolensk, in the interior of Russia. 

 Napoleon determined to follow them. " Forward marches alone," he 

 observed, " can keep such a vast army in its present condition together ; 

 to halt or retire would be the signal of dissolution. It is an army 

 of attack, not of defence ; an army of operation, not of position. We 

 must advance upon Moscow, and strike a blow in order to obtain peace, 

 or resting quarters and supplies." (Segur.) He crossed the Dnieper, 

 and entered Russia Proper with about 180,000 men, leaving a body of 

 reserve at Wilua and the corps of Macdonald on the Dwina, towards 

 Riga. In his march through Lithuania no less than 100,000 men had 

 dropped off from his ranks, and were either dead or sick, or had been 

 taken prisoners by the Cossacks, or were straggling and marauding 

 about the country. 



On the 16th of August the two hostile armies met under the walls 

 of Smolensk. But the Russians, after carrying off or destroying the 

 provisions, and allowing time to the inhabitants to remove themselves, 

 evacuated Smolensk, which their rear-guard set on fire. They con- 

 tinued their retreat upon Moscow, and Napoleon followed them. The 

 battle of Borodino, near the banks of the river Moskwa, was fought on 

 the 7th of September. The two armies were nearly equal in numbers, 

 120,000 each. After a dreadful slaughter on both sides, the Russian 

 general sounded a retreat, and the French were left in possession of 

 the bloody field ; but the French took hardly any prisoners or gun? : 

 15,000 Russians and about 10,000 Frenchmen lay dead. Next day 

 the Russian army continued its retreat ; and on the 14th of September 

 it traversed the city of Moscow, which most of the inhabitants had 

 already evacuated. On the same day the French entered Moscow and 

 found it deserted, except by the convicts and some of the lowest class, 

 who lingered behind for the sake of plunder. On the evening of this 

 day a fire broke out in the coachmakers' street, but it was put down 

 in the nyht. On the next day Napoleon took up his residency in the 

 Kremlin, the ancient palace of the Czars. On the following night the 

 fire burst out again in different quarters of the city, and no exertions 

 of the French could stop it : the wind spread the flames all over the 

 city, and on the third day Napoleon was obliged to leave the Kremlin, 

 where he stood in imminent danger. The fire raged till the 19th, 

 when it abated, after destroying 7682 houses about four-fifths of the 

 city. This burning of Moscow has been attributed to a premeditated 

 plan of the Russians ; but on the other hand Count Rostopchin, the 

 governor, has denied this positively. " Several individuals," he says, 

 " set fire to their own houses rather than leave them in possession of 

 the invaders ; and the French soldiers, seeking for plunder or for wine 

 and spirits in the cellars, where they got intoxicated, did the rest." 

 (' La VeritiS sur 1'Incendie de Moscow,' par le Comte Rostopchin, 

 Paris, 1823.) 



The markets of Moscow used to be supplied, not from the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood, but from a considerable distance in the interior, 

 and especially from the southern districts towards Kaluga, where the 

 Russian army was now posted. The French therefore could get no 

 provisions, and they were obliged to live chiefly on the flesh of their 

 horses, wliich was salted down. Napoleon remained among the ruins 

 of Moscow for five weeks. He had sent Lauriston to the Russian 

 head-quarters with a letter for the Emperor Alexander; the letter was 

 forwarded to St. Petersburg, but no answer was returned. Napoleon 

 was deceived in his calculations upon the temper of Alexander, and 

 of the Russian people. At last, on the 19th October, seeing no chance 

 of making peace, Napoleon began his retreat. The weather was fine 

 and moderately cold. He attempted first to retire by Kaluga, where 



