REVOLUTION. 



advanced guard of the enemy appeared they attacked them 

 in the llreets, and from the houfes, impeding their progrefs, 

 and caufing great deilruction ; and, when it was no longer 

 practicable to prevent the entrance of the enemy, the city- 

 was fet on tire, and, as it was built principally of wood, the 

 lire fpread rapidly in all directions ; and before the French 

 c6uW (top the progrefs of the flames, only a tenth part of 

 it remained unconfumed. It is impoffible to defcribe or 

 even imagine the difappointment, mortification, and wrath 

 of Bonaparte when he beheld Mofcow in flames. He had 

 promifed his foldiers reft from their fatigues, refreshments, 

 provifions in abundance, and comfortable winter-quarters in 

 it. Thefe were now all at an end : amidft the ruins of 

 Mofcow his army would in vain feek for fhelter from the 

 inclemencies of the approaching winter, or for a fupply of 

 provifions. His indignation foon broke out in conduct 

 at once tyrannical, cruel, and mean : he feized on the men 

 who had'fct (ire to the city, and caufed them to be exe- 

 cuted. 



The fituation of the French army in Mofcow was now moll 

 critical : they were furrounded with armies almoft as nume- 

 rous as themfelves, and which were daily increafing. Winter 

 was already making its appearance : the troops had been 

 completely' worn down by their long march, and at the end 

 of it, they had met with a reception which neither their 

 leader nor they could have anticipated. The former was 

 certain in his own mind that a complete victory mud: be the 

 refult of the battle of Borodino, and that, as a price of peace, 

 Alexander would find a fupply for all their wants, at the 

 expence of his own fubjects. Inftead of this, the victory 

 was not at all decifive, and Bonaparte advanced with the 

 moft cautious fteps into Mofcow, well knowing, by a fatal 

 experience, that he beheld an enemy in every Ruffian he met. 

 He foon faw that he cnuld not remain in the ruins of the 

 city till fpring fhould open to him a communication with the 

 fouthern provinces ; and if they retreated, how were they to 

 obtain provifions, and endure a march of 500 miles in a fevere 

 and defolating winter, through deep fnows, and by the hidden 

 and almoft impaflable roads of Ruffia ? The Ruffian ge- 

 nerals, true to the caufe of their country, and inlpired by 

 the animating proclamations of their emperor, took the moil 

 active meafures to force Bonaparte from Mofcow, by cutting 

 off his fupplies ; and when they had compelled him to retreat, 

 to harafs him in every inch of his journey. For this purpofe 

 a great number of Coffacks, befides thofe who had been 

 already employed, were collected, and this was the feafon of 

 their utility and triumph. 



Bonaparte was now fenfible of the dreadful error he had 

 committed : unlefs he actually expected to dictate terms of 

 peace at Mofcow, it was the extreme of madnefs to have pro- 

 ceeded thither at the beginning of a Ruffian winter ; and if 

 he did expect either to dictate terms of peace, or to have his 

 own offers accepted, he mud have been ignorant of the de- 

 termined hatred which all ranks in Ruffia bore towards him. 

 The apology he offers in his bulletins, for his military career 

 in Ruffia, is a paltry one ; according to him, the Ruffian 

 winter this year commenced earlier than ufual ; as if the 

 circumftance of the froft fetting in a very few days fooner or 

 later could have faved or deftroyed his army ! What mult 

 be the military prudence of that man, who calculates for the 

 fafety of his army, and the fuccefs of his meafures, on fo 

 uncertain a thing as climate ! The fact is, Bonaparte, in all 

 his former campaigns, had been indebted for his fuccel^ to 

 the boldnefs of his advances into the very heart of the enemy's 

 country ; that this boldnefs did not affume the character, 

 deferve the name, and produce the confequences of rafhnefs, 

 was lefs owing to his own forefight and circumfpection than 



to the pufillanimity, treachery, and want of talents of his op- 

 ponents : without adverting to the different circumltances in 

 which he was placed in Ruffia, from a difference of climate 

 and national character, he followed his ufual plan, thus proving 

 that he was detective in one great feature of a man of abilities, 

 the adaptation of general principles and plans to particular 

 circumltances. 



Perceiving that, though he was in the heart of the Ruffian 

 empire, and amidlt the ruins of its ancient capital, no terms 

 of peace were propofed, and that the Ruffians were gather- 

 ing round him on all fides, he fent to Kutufoff to propofe 

 terms of accommodation, or, at leaft, an armiftice. The 

 Ruffian commander received the French negociator in the 

 mid It of his generals, and replied to him with the utmolt 

 franknefs : he told him, that he was not authorifed to receive 

 any propofals either for peace, or an armiftice ; that he would 

 not even fend to Alexander nor receive the letter which 

 Bonaparte had fent ; and that, with refpect to an armiftice, 

 the Ruffian army had no occafion for it, and they were in pof- 

 feflion of too many advantages to throw them away by ac- 

 cepting it. The negociator then began to complain of the 

 lavage manner in which the war had been conducted ; to this 

 Kutufoff replied in language which ought always to be had 

 in remembrance by invaders : " The French (lie faid) had 

 introduced the barbarities of which they complained ; they 

 had commeneced hoftilities without reafon ; had invaded 

 Ruffia ; had inflicted as much mifery on its inhabitants as 

 they could ; and now, when vengeance and retaliation were 

 at hand, they wifhed for peace ; peace muff not even be 

 mentioned till the invaders had retraced their fteps, and had 

 again croifed theViltula; Bonaparte had nothing to do but get 

 out of Mofcow how he could, fince he came thither without 

 being invited ; the Ruffians, he might depend upon it, would 

 do their duty, — and the duty which they owed their fovereign, 

 their country, their murdered or defolate wives and helplefs 

 children, demanded that they Ihonld make their invaders fuffer 

 as much mifery as poffible : Bonaparte had proclaimed the 

 campaign at an end at Mofcow, but with the Ruffians it was 

 only beginning." At another time, when the French com- 

 plained of the excefles of the Coffacks, who had even fired 

 upon their flags of truce, they were told by the Ruffian general 

 that the Coffacks acted according to orders : " we want," 

 faid he, " not to hear of parleys ; our object is to fight, 

 not to negociate ; take your meafures accordingly." Per- 

 ceiving that there was no chance of peace, or an armiftice, 

 and that t lie Ruffians were fully fenfible of their own power, 

 and of the reduced and miferable ftate of the French army, 

 and had formed their plans in fuch a manner, as to take the 

 utmolt advantage of their own good fortune, Bonaparte, 

 after having been upwards of a month in Mofcow, prepared 

 for his retreat. A retreat of greater difficulty, and accom- 

 panied with more mifery, has never been recorded in the 

 annals of hiftory. On the firft days of it, the fufferings of 

 the foldiers were feelingly and accurately defcribed in an in- 

 tercepted letter from the viceroy of Italy. " Three days of 

 fuffering have fo broken down the fpirits of the foldiers, that 

 I look upon them, at the prefent moment, as fcarcely capa- 

 ble of making any effort whatever. Many of them have 

 died of hunger or of cold ; many others have gone and fur- 

 rendered themfelves to the enemy." The fufferings of the 

 French, however, were greatly to be increafed by hunger, 

 and the feverity of the climate. 



Early in November the Ruffian winter fet in with more 

 than its accuilomed rigour : hitherto the roads had been only 

 deep and heavy, now they became fo exceffively ilippery, 

 that the men could fcarcely keep their feet : hitherto the 

 horfes, neceffary both for the artillery and for the fuftenance 



of 



