1822.] Historical Memoranda, by Napoleon. £31 
My arrival in the second capital of 
the Czars was signalized by a succession 
of military triumphs, such as there is 
no example of in the annals of the 
world. The intrepidity alone of my 
troops was sufficient to prepare me for 
reverses. I was obliged to seize the 
bridle of the horses and the collar of 
the foot soldier, in order to prevent 
them from advancing. I decimated 
forty-five Chasseurs for having sabred, 
without orders, a squadron of "the Rus¬ 
sian Imperial Guard. It was a real 
outrage of valour and intrepidity against 
an enemy, who on their side, fought 
well; this is a justice which I must ren¬ 
der’ to the Russians. 
Certain political frequenters of pub¬ 
lic places, have purposely condemned 
my expedition to Russia. Poor igno- 
rants! who cannot perceive, that at 
Moscow, the destinies of the world were 
at stake. It was doing a great deal to 
have engaged in so great a work for the 
interests of other men. Had I con¬ 
quered, the”ancient manner of govern¬ 
ing natious would have been for ever 
annihilated, the universe would have 
taken another form; had I failed, the 
sovereigns would again find themselves 
in a situation to govern the people as 
in times past, provided at all times that 
the people did not decide to brave the 
bayonets of the sovereigns. It was the 
ancient regime in presence of the new. 
The elements have decided in favour of 
the former. 
Fortune commanded me to die by 
the side of my soldiers in retreat; but 
honour and the urgency of saving the 
empire from total ruin, made it impe¬ 
rative on me to return instantly to 
Paris, where I arrived only in time to 
intimidate the traitors, who a short 
time after, opened the gates of the ca¬ 
pital to the allies. 
Had I been killed in the retreat from 
Moscow, the Bourbons would not have 
reigned in Franee. 
My name would have been wanting 
in the army ; that, perhaps was of some 
consequence; but would have decided 
nothing, because there would have suc¬ 
ceeded me, a number of good captains 
brought up under my own eye, and 
capable of rivalling the best generals of 
the enemy, who at that time were few 
in number. 
In this state of things and at that 
epoch, the Bourbons had not even a ray 
of hope. Some factions might have for 
a moment troubled the interior; but 
the Empress Regent and my son were 
there: twenty-four hours would have 
sufficed them to crush the factions, as 
the army and four-fifths of the nation 
were devoted to my son. The Em¬ 
press had still the resource of restoring 
Italy to her father, who for this consi¬ 
deration, would have risen up against 
the enemies of his grandson. The in¬ 
terests of Austria were, at that time, 
different from what they became two 
years later. 
The losses which we had sustained 
in Russia, were soon almost entirely 
repaired. The sacrifices of the nation 
had been worthy of itself. In the 
month of February I was again for¬ 
midable in the heart of Germany. 
There, without doubt, I would have re¬ 
gained my first superiority, had all 
my enemies been on the field of battle. 
Unfortunately I had left some at Paris, 
who being the less conspicuous, were 
on that account only the more dan¬ 
gerous. England, which in order to 
consummate my ruin, would have 
sought out adversaries even in the bow¬ 
els of the earth, had traitors in her pay 
in the first constituted bodies of the 
empire. I perceived this when I was 
in the presence of the Legislative As¬ 
sembly. 
One of them, seated on bags of Eng¬ 
lish guineas, attacking me in the abuse 
of his power, dared to point me out to 
the reproaches of the nation. This man 
well merited a dungeon : even had his 
intentions been good, the moment cho¬ 
sen to proclaim them was sufficient to 
have rendered him culpable in the eyes 
of his sovereign. 
Suppose even that my actions had 
been in a serose contrary to the consti¬ 
tutions which I had sworn to defend, 
was the moment in which I was about 
to present myself before the armies of 
Europe, the time to publish to the 
world that I possessed neither the en¬ 
tire esteem of the nation, nor its entire 
confidence ? I appeal to the most in¬ 
dulgent policy, what sovereign would 
not have called upon the tribunals to 
pronounce sentence on such a crime? 
Had I commanded justice to have been 
exercised towards this traitor, and 
five or six others who were no better, the 
Cossacks never wouldjiave encamped in 
the Thuilleries. Every act of misplaced 
indulgence is generally more dangerous 
than a political homicide. 
**##,* #. * * 
My departure for Dresden had en¬ 
larged the field for the secret machina¬ 
tions of the traitors concealed in the ca¬ 
pital. 
