WAR BETWEEN FRANCE AND RUSSIA.
It has been seen that the Emperor of Russia had declared war against Napoleon. Thwarted in his ambitious views upon the Ottoman empire, which he had been led to expect would be realized from the treaty of Tilsit, Alexander first became cool towards his brother spoliator, and then openly broke with him. Great preparations were made on both sides for the gigantic struggle, and Napoleon resolved to humble the czar in his own dominions. With an army of about 800,000 men he crossed the Vistula in June, and his onward march was a series of triumphs. The Russians everywhere retreated before him, until he came to the plains of Moscow, where he fought a hard battle with an army under Kutusoff, over whom he gained a victory. Moscow now fell into the hands of the conqueror. He entered it on the 14th of September, and took up his residence at the Kremlin, the ancient palace of the czars. But here his triumphs ended. The Russians had only retreated before him in order to allure him to destruction. Their plan was to avoid a battle till the enemy should be cut off from support, and till winter, famine, and fatigue had wasted his resources. And in order to ensure this final result they were willing to make large sacrifices. Smolensko was reduced to ashes, while Napoleon was on his route to Moscow, lest it should afford a shelter to his troops, and Napoleon had not been long in the imperial city, when the flames were seen casting their lurid glare to heaven on every side. In a brief space Moscow was in ruins, and Napoleon was compelled, in the month of October, to give orders to his troops to return to France. Few of his proud army, however, were destined again to behold their native country.
“Now did the Most High Exalt his still small voice; to quell that host, Gathered his mighty power, a manifest ally; He, whose heaped waves confounded the proud boast Of Pharaoh, said to Famine, Snow, and France, ‘Finish the strife by deadliest victory.’” —Wordsworth
Scarcely had Napoleon commenced his retrograde march when the snow, like a violent storm of the Alps, beat around the devoted heads of his soldiers, and their progress was henceforth a combat against their pitiless foes the Cossacks, who hovered around them, and the still more pitiless elements. Danger awaited him at every step and on every hand, and when he arrived on the margin of the Beresina, his vast army was reduced to about 14,000 men. And not all these reached France. The Russians under Wittgenstein now appeared in his rear, and one of his divisions was either destroyed or captured. Napoleon had passed over the Beresina with a part of his army by means of two frail bridges, leaving the defence of the retreat to Victor. A scene ensued which defies description. The retreating French tumbled each other into the stream, or voluntarily rushed in to escape the fire of the Russians; and in the midst of their terror one of the bridges gave way, and the crowd passing over it perished. When that river was frozen, it presented to the eye of the beholder one vast heap of human beings. Those who gained the opposite bank were saved, and Napoleon, leaving them under the care of Murat, repaired to Paris. He was stripped of everything; and yet he hoped to repair his fortunes. It is said that in the beginning of the next year, when the snow had melted away, 300,000 human bodies and 160,000 dead horses were burnt upon the Russian soil.