333 
LON 
dormant for fecunty.—The olive of peace was fad: fprout- 
jng in Europe, the greateft part of which loudly hailed 
the dawn of freedom, and the whole of the world was re¬ 
joicing at the pleafing and long-expected profpeft of tran¬ 
quillity. The work of blood feemed to have ceafed for 
centuries to come, and the Ruffian and Pruffian phalanxes 
had already hung up their fpears and ffiields, and fought 
for repofe under the laurel's they had fo dearly bought.— 
But thefe appearances were fallacious ; the contelt was 
ltill to be renewed. And now—though we (fill bear on 
the tablets of our memory the days of old, the battles of 
Marathon, the retreat of the ten thoufand, and the Ther- 
mopyles—though we ftill hear the (hock of armies at Can¬ 
nae, and in all parts of Italy—though freih are ftill in 
our minds the victories of Charles XII. the tremendous 
conflicts under Louis XIV. and the never-to-be-forgotten 
achievements of the fecond Frederic—yet all thefe mili¬ 
tary wonders (brink into mere ftage-fencing and boys- 
fights when compared with the convulfions which this 
year has witneffed. The number of men under arms, 
the high rank and ability of their leaders, the havock 
■which was the effett of their furious encounters, will be 
to pofterity, as well as to the prefent generation, an ob¬ 
ject of furprife, of regret, and, we hope, a warning againft 
ambitious pretenfions, the end of which is the wanton de- 
flruftion of our fellow-creatures. 
After Bonaparte had quitted his army at the clofe of 
the preceding year, (fee p. 299.) its retreat from the Be- 
refina to the Niemen, and from the Niemen to the Vif- 
tula, was one continued fcene of difmay, rout, and con- 
i'ufion. The Cofacs hovered continually in crowds on 
their rear, and were able, not indeed abfolutely to ftop 
their retreat, but to render it uniformly difaltrous, and to 
cut off every thing which for a moment feparated itfelf 
from the main body. Meantime the w’ings of the Ruf¬ 
fian army followed clofe on the flanks; and, by continually 
threatening to interpofe between them and France, ren¬ 
dered it impoflible to paufe for a moment at any fingle 
point. Bonaparte had directed, that a (land, if poffible, 
fliould be made for a few days at Wilna, the grand depot 
■ of the army, and filled with fuppliesof every kind. Could 
this have been effefted, the troops would have breathed 
from their fatigues, and their order and efficiency would 
have been in fome meafure re-eftablifhed, But fcarcely 
had they, by a fucceffion of prodigious marches through 
trails nearly impaffable, fucceeded in reaching that im¬ 
portant place, when they found themfelves already almolt 
iurrounded by the Ruffian columns; and it was neceffary 
to hurry on with the utraoft celerity. The victorious 
Ruffians took poffeflion of Wilna, in which they found 
*0,000 prifoners, a great proportion of whom were 
wounded, feven generals, with vaft quantities of provi- 
fions, arms, and equipments, of every defcription. With¬ 
out paufing, however, they continued their purfuit. 
One column, under Wittgenflein, went down the Niemen 
to crofs at Tilfit; while another under Platoff purfued 
along the direct route through Kowno. The French had 
entrenched themfelves (trongly at this place; and they 
hoped, by defending the paffage of the Niemen, to have 
obtained a fliort refpite. Platoff, however, hefitated not 
a moment. He threw himfelf upon the frozen Niemen, 
and the whole body of his Cofacs were foon on the op- 
polite bank. No choice was left to the enemy, but to fly 
or funender. They haftily eroded the river in two co¬ 
lumns; but were not able to avoid the attack of the Co¬ 
facs, who cutoff confiderable numbers. The purfuit was 
then continued, as before, with the daily capture of pri¬ 
foners, cannon, baggage, and ammunition. The fame 
lcene continued uninterrupted till the two armies arrived 
on the Viftula. 
According to official accounts publifhed by the Ruf¬ 
fian government, the number of prifoners taken, from the 
battle of Borodino to the 26th of December, amounted to 
170,000 men, of whom 1298 were officers and 41 gene¬ 
rals. To this was added 1131 pieces of cannon. Europe 
D O N. 
flood aghaff at this eftima-fe. Never, in her bloodied wars, 
had (lie witneffed or heard of fuch a defiruilion. And 
indeed the imrnenle armies which the great monarchs of 
Perfia ufed to multer in order to enflave the Greek re¬ 
publics, never fuffered fuch a lofs. The account could 
not have obtained belief, had not that prodigious hod 
been feen palling through into the Ruffian territory, and 
had not the wrecks of it been feen returning. This fpec- 
tacle, with the diminiffied power of r-efiltance which fub- 
fequent events exhibited, conyinced the world, that what 
might otherwife have feemed a mere political artifice, was 
real and official truth. 
After fuch difafters, after fuch Ioffes, could it be ex¬ 
pected that Napoleon could ever raife an army fufiicientlv 
ftrong to return and dare again the powers of the north ? 
His genius however did not forfake him ; nor did the re- 
fources of France appear to be exhaufted. An army fprang 
at his command; and lie foon headed his collected forces 
and thofe of his allies on the eaftern fide of the Rhine.— 
On the 14th of February, 1813, he appeared with great 
pomp at the fittings of the legiflative body, and pronounced 
the following fpeech, which, as the fentimentsit breathes 
relate direCtly to the events which took place afterwards, 
we (hall prefent to our readers: 
“Gentlemen Deputies from the Departments to the Le¬ 
giflative Body; The war again lighted in the north of 
Europe offered a favourable opportunity to the projects of 
the Englifh upon the peninfula. They have made great 
efforts. All their hopes have been deceived. Their army 
was wrecked before the citadel of Burgos, and obliged, 
after having fuffered great Ioffes, to evacuate the Spa- 
nifh territory.—I myfelf entered Ruffia. The French 
arms were conftantly victorious in the fields of Oftrowno, 
Polotflc, Mohilow, Smolenfk, Mofcow, Malairaflovitz. 
The Ruffian armies could not (land before our armies. 
Mofcow fell into our power. Whilft the barriers of Ruffia 
were forced, and the impotency of her arms acknowledged, 
a fwarm of Tartars turned their parricidal hands againft 
the fineft provinces of that vaft empire which they had 
been called to defend. They, in a few weeks, notwitli- 
ftanding the tears and defpair of the unfortunate Mufco- 
vites, burned more than 4000 of their fineft villages, more 
than 50 of their fineft towns ; thus gratifying their anci¬ 
ent hatred under the pretext of retarding our march, by 
furrounding us with a defert.— We triumphed, ever all thefe 
obflacles. Even the fire of Mofcow, by which, in four days, 
they annihilated the fruits of the labours and cares of four 
generations, changed in no refpeCt the profperous ftate of 
my affairs. But the exceffiveand premature rigour of the 
winter brought down a heavy calamity upon my army. 
In a few nights l faw every thing change. I experienced 
great Ioffes. They would have broken my heart, if, un¬ 
der fuch circumftances, I could have been acceffible to 
any other fentiments than thofe of the intereft, the glory, 
and the future profperity, of my people. On feeing the 
evils which prefi'ed upon us, the joy of England was great 
—her hopes had nobounds—(heoffered ourfineft provinces 
as the reward of treafon—fhe made, as the conditions of 
peace, the diftnemberment of this vaft empire ; it was, un¬ 
der other terms, to proclaim perpetual war. The energy 
of my people under thefe great circumftances; their at¬ 
tachment to the integrity of the empire; the love which 
they have fhown me; have diffipated all thefe chi¬ 
meras, and brought back our enemies to a more juft con- 
fideration of things. The misfortunes produced by the 
rigour of hoar frolts, have made apparent, in all their ex¬ 
tent, the grandeur and the folidity of this empire, founded 
upon the efforts and the love of fifty millions of citizens, 
and upon the territorial refources of one of the fineft 
countries in the world. The agents of England propagate, 
among all our neighbours, the fpirit of revolt againlt fo- 
vereigns; England wifhes to fee the whole continent be¬ 
come a prey to civil war and all the furies of anarchy ; 
hut Providence has defigned her lierfelf to be the firft vic¬ 
tim of anarchy and civil war. I have signed with the 
pope 
