hands of the Russians, or had been spiked and buried by the French. But these losses, enormous as they were, were only preludes to greater ones. Kutusoff being convinced it was the intention of the enemy to make a movement by Krosnoi, a town to the south-westward of Smolensk, pushed forward a strong body, in order to intercept them. The French, aware of their danger, drew together strong masses of troops under the command of Davoust; the Russians were therefore reinforced : the French were turned, and their rout was complete: though Davoust commanded this body, Bonaparte was present; but he fled from the scene of action: nearly the whole division, 24,000 strong, was either killed or taken, besides ten pieces of cannon. This victory was of the utmost consequence, as Davoust's division formed the centre of the French, and, consequently, connected the advanced guard with the rear: the latter was under the command of Ney. On the 17th November, Ney, under cover of a fog, pushed his troops to the very foot of the Russian batteries. The French were dispersed, and fought without method or judg ment: 40 pieces of cannon, and the whole musquetry of the line, opened upon them at the distance of about 250 paces; their retreat was cut off, and they could not stand against such a tremendous fire. In this situation a flag of truce was sent, and at midnight 12,000 men laid down their arms. Ney was wounded, and fled from the field across the Nieper.

On the Dwina, Wittgenstein was equally successful, upwards of 2000 of the French being killed or wounded on the 14th November. A fine trait of military spirit is noticed in the Russian official account of this affair; a battalion of raw militia, when an order came for a retirement of the troops in front, refused to understand it, crying out, "that their emperor had them there to fight, and not to retire."

CHAP. VI.

Bonaparte flies from the field of battle.-Dreadful passage of the Beresina.-Junction between Wittgenstein and Tchitchagow. Murat appointed commander in chief of the French army - The effects of the cold on the French army.—Harassed and driven to the last extremity.-Loss of the French army.—Remarks thereon.

IT is generally supposed that Bonaparte sacrificed

Davoust's in order to facilitate his own escape: corps, after its defeat, he was not heard of for some time. It was afterwards ascertained that he had pushed forward, with the fragment of his army, towards the Beresina, hoping to effect his retreat by the way of Minsk, which led most direct to the Vistula. The Russian general Tchitchagow, however, occupied Minsk, where he had seized all the stores of the enemy, and had taken measures to defend the passage of the Beresina. As Bonaparte was aware of this, he pushed his army nearer the source of that river, in order to get on a route leading directly to Wilna and Koningsberg, by which, though more circuitously, he might arrive on the Vistula; he also hoped, as the Beresina was narrower here, to effect his passage over it with less difficulty. This passage was effected; and as soon as he had crossed the river, the divisions of the French army, that had been watching Wittgenstein on the Dwina, formed a junction with him; his whole force, by this means, was raised to nearly 70,000 men, and the division that had joined still retained a great part of its artillery and cavalry.

THE PASSAGE OF THE BERESINA.

(From Sir R. Porter's Narrative of the Russian Campaign.)

"Count Wittgenstein proceeded to attack the other branch of the enemy, even in the act of crossing the Beresina. Two bridges had been com

pleted, the one near Vessolow. The instant the work was passable, the impatient Emperor of the French, with his suite, crossed over, and was followed by a promiscuous crowd of soldiers pressing after him. The bridge was hardly cleared of his weight and of that of his chosen companions, when the rush of fugitives redoubled. No order could be kept with the hordes that poured towards its passage for escape and life, for the Russians were in their rear, the thunder of Wittgenstein was rolling over their heads. No pen can describe the confusion and the horror of the scenes which ensued. The French army had lost its rear-guard, and they found themselves, at once exposed to all the operations of the vengeful enemy.

On the right, and on the left, there was no escape; cannon, bayonets, and sabres, menaced them on every side; certain death was on their rear; in their front alone was there any hope of safety; and, frantic with the desperate alternative, thousands upon thousands flew towards the Beresina, some plunging into the river, but most directing their steps to the newly constructed bridge, which seemed to offer them a passage from their enemies. Misery had long disorganized the French army, and, in the present dismay, no voice of order was heard; the tumult was tremendous, as the despairing wretches pressed forward and struggled for precedence in the moment of escape."

"Wittgenstein stood in horror, viewing this chaos of human misery. To close it at once, in capitulation or in death, was the wish of his brave heart: but the enemy was frantic; nothing could be heard but the roar of cannon, and the cries of despair. The wounded and the dying covered the surface of the ground: the survivors rushed in wild fury on their affrighted comrades on the bridges. They could not penetrate, but only press upon a crowd at the nearest extremity; for the whole

bodies of these passages were so filled with desperate fugitives, that they crushed on each other to suffocation and to death. Trains of artillery, baggage, cavalry, and waggons of all kinds, being intermixed and driven pell-mell to one point; hundreds of human beings were trodden down, trampled on, torn, and mashed to pieces. Officers and soldiers were mingled in one mass; self-preservation was the only stimulus, and seeking that, many a despairing wretch precipitated his comrade to destruction, that he might find his place on the bridge. Thousands fell into the river, thousands threw themselves into the hideous stream, hoping to save themselves by swimming; but in a few minutes they were jammed amidst the blocks of ice which rolled along its flood, and either killed in the concussion, or frozen to death by the extreme cold. The air resounded with the shrieks and yells (it was something more horrible than cries) of the dying, wounded, and drowning; but they were only heard at intervals, for one continued roar seemed to fill the heavens, from the Russian artillery pouring its deathful retribution on the heads of the desolators of its country. Welcome indeed were the deaths it sent, few were the pangs of those who fell by it, the ball, and the sabre, compared with his torture who lay mangled beneath the crowding feet of his comrades, who expired amid the crashing horrors of a world of ice. But the despair of these ill-fated wretches was not yet complete. Napoleon, the ruthless origin of all these evils, might yet be amongst them; and the bridges, groaning beneath the weight of their loads, were fired. The deed was done; and still crowd upon crowd continued to press each other forward, choaking up the passage amid bursting flames, scorched and frozen at the same instant, till at length the whole sunk with a death-like noise into the bosom of the Beresina.

"Meanwhile Bonaparte continued his flight, and putting on a disguise, stole with Caulincourt into a wretched sledge, and proceeded over the snow, as swiftly as his fears could carry him, towards Warsaw. Thus did this presumptuous man, whom an infatuated people had raised to be their tyrant; and who, not content with the sovereignty of half Europe, aspired to universal dominion: thus did he pass from Russia, the last object of his ambition, in obscurity and dishonour: and thus did he desert, in their extremest need, the people whom he called his subjects, and who had confided to him their liberties and their lives!

"Unfair and cruel as the French army were in their modes of warfare with the people of Russia, it is but justice to say, that in no instance, till they were paralyzed by suffering, did the meanest individual in the French ranks shrink from meeting the foe; and in every situation of peril, and desertion of their leader, did his generals conduct themselves with the steady valour of true soldiers. Bonaparte alone proved himself a slave in spirit. Had he possessed a soul worthy of the confidence reposed in him, on the bridge of Beresina he would have died."

About the same time that the French army was reinforced, Wittgenstein and Tchitchagow formed a junction, and made an attack on the rear of the enemy. The action was long and obstinate, and the result on the whole was favourable to the French; or, to speak more properly, they did not suffer nearly so much in this, as in most of the former actions. This was sufficiently evinced, by the circumstances of their proceeding on their route for some time unmolested, so that, by forced marches, in a few days, they reached Wilna.

Before, however, it had quite arrived at Wilna, Bonaparte assembled his generals, and, bestowing