AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

I RELATE that which I have seen. A witness of the greatest disasters that ever befell a great nation; a spectator and an actor, in every scene of this sad and memorable expedition, I present the reader with no fictitious narrative, artfully arranged, and heightened by false colouring. The events that passed around me were daily recorded, and I now simply endeavour, to communicate the impressions which I then felt. It was by the light of the burning of Moscow, that I described the sack of that unfortunate city. It was on the borders of the Beresina, that I traced the recital of that fatal passage. The plans of the battles of the Moskwa, and Malo-Jaroslavitz, which accompany this work, were taken on the spot, at the command of Prince Eugene.

It is scarcely possible to conceive what difficulties I had to surmount in the progress of my work. Compelled, like my companions in arms, to struggle with the most urgent necessities, pierced by the cold, tormented with hunger, a prey to every accumulated horror; uncertain at the rising of the sun, whether I should see its setting rays, and doubtless at night, whether I should witness the morrow's dawn; every thought seemed concentrated in the ardent desire to live, that I might perpetuate the memory of what I had seen. Animated by this irresistible feeling, I retraced, each night, the events of the day, sitting beside a wretched fire, under a temperature of ten or twelve degrees, and surrounded by the dying and the dead. The knife with which I had carved my scanty morsel of horse-flesh, was employed in cutting a raven's quill, and a little gunpowder, mixed with some melted snow, in the hollow of my hand, served me for ink and inkstand.

I have composed this work without

personal ill-will, and without prejudice; yet I must confess, that during the recital of the most horrible enterprise, which the genius of ambition had ever conceived, I could often scarcely restrain my indig nation against the author of all our misfortunes. But the respect with which his former well-earned reputation had inspired me, and the memory of the glorious victories that I had witnessed, and in the honours of which I had shared, compelled me to speak of that conqueror with moderation and reserve.

Having constantly before me the mournful image of that crowd of warriors, doomed to perish miserably in remote deserts, I was sustained by the hope of rendering my feeble homage, to a courage acknowledged even by their enemies, and to exploits the more heroic, since their object was no longer the safety of their country, nor even of their lives, but the preservation of their fame. I shall account myself most happy, if mv reader is convinced, that in the midst of so many

disasters, our brave soldiers were always worthy of themselves; that they stained not their ancient renown, and that, always formidable to their enemies, they were conquered by the elements alone.

Α

CIRCUMSTANTIAL NARRATIVE

OF THE

CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA,

PART I.-BOOK I.

IF

WILNA.

F we were to look into our annals for the most brilliant period of our glory, we should find that France had never been more powerful than after the treaty of Tilsit; Spain, under the name of an ally, was, in reality, one of our provinces, from whence we received men, money, and ships. Italy, wisely governed by a prince who was an active warrior, and at the same time an able administrator, being subject to, and obeying the same laws as the French empire, enjoyed an equal share of prosperity with ourselves, and saw with pride that her legions, transported to the Baltic, had given striking proofs of courage, in

B