Napoleon was surrounded by his guard, which he had drawn up in order of battle at the entrance of the forest; it was still fine, and of an imposing appearance. Two thousand prisoners defiled before them; we were intoxicated with so noble a result: our joy was but of short duration, the account given by some Russians damped it. Partonneau had been taken; all his division had laid down their arms; an aide-de-camp of Marshal Victor came to confirm this sad news. Napoleon was deeply affected with so unexpected a misfortune—"Must this loss come to spoil all, after having escaped as by a miracle, and having completely beaten the Russians." The combat was still very warm on the left bank: from four to five thousand men opposed to the enemy's army an obstinate resistance. "Go and see what is the state of things; ascend the right bank, examine what is passing on the left, come and give me an account of it." I went and saw brilliant charges of infantry and cavalry; those which General Fournier conducted were particularly conspicuous by their simultaneousness and impetuosity. But the disproportion was immense; we were forced to give way; the horrors of the bridge began: it is useless to recall this scene of desolation.
We left the dreary banks of the Beresina, where we had acquired so much glory and experienced so many misfortunes: we marched on towards Wilna. We discoursed of nothing, we were occupied with nothing, but the arrival of the Austrians; the lowest soldier, dreamed of nothing but Schwartzenberg. Where is he? What is he doing? Why does he not appear? I will not permit myself any reflexion on the movement of this prince, then our ally.
For a long time we had no news from France; we were ignorant of what was going on in the Grand Duchy; we were informed of it at Malotechno. Napoleon received nineteen despatches at once. It was there, I believe, that he determined on the plan of quitting the army, but he did not execute it till at Smorgoni, eighteen leagues from Wilna. We reached that place. The Emperor sent for me towards two o'clock; he carefully closed the doors of the apartment that he occupied, and said to me: "Well, Rapp, I set out this night for Paris; my presence is necessary there for the good of France, and even for the welfare of this unfortunate army. I shall give the command of it to the King of Naples."—I was not prepared for this mark of confidence, for I frankly avow that I was not in the secret of the journey.—"Sire," I answered, "your departure will cause a melancholy sensation among the troops; they do not expect it."—"My return is indispensable; it is necessary to watch over Austria, and keep Prussia within bounds."—"I am ignorant of what the Austrians will do; their sovereign is your father-in-law: but for the Prussians, you will not keep them: our disasters are too great; they will profit by them."—Napoleon walked up and down with his hands behind his back; he kept silence for a moment, and replied: "When they know that I am at Paris, and see me at the head of the nation, and of 1,200,000 men which I shall organize, they will look twice before they make war. Duroc, Caulincourt, and Mouton, will set off with me, Lauriston will go to Warsaw, and you will return to Dantzic; you will see Ney at Wilna, with whom you will stop at least four days: Murat shall join you; you shall try to rally the army as well as you are able. The magazines are full, you will find every thing in abundance. You will stop the Russians; you shall strike a blow with Ney, if it is necessary. He will have already the Loyson division, composed of 18,000 fresh troops; Wrede also is bringing up to him 10,000 Bavarians; other reinforcements are on the march. You will go into cantonments." Napoleon departed. I received orders from the Major-general, who informed me in a letter what Napoleon had already told me himself; he sent me at the same time a private letter from the Emperor, in which he repeated, "Do all you can to rally the army at Wilna, remain there four days at least; then you will go to Dantzic." The next day I set off. The cold was so intense, that when I arrived at Wilna, I had my nose, one of my ears, and two fingers frozen. I stopped at General Hogendorp's, and went straight to Marshal Ney's quarters; I informed him of Napoleon's orders, and of the conversation which I had with him at the moment of his departure. The Marshal was greatly astonished at Napoleon's estimate of the number of his troops. "Just now," he said to me, "I beat the call to arms, and I was not able to raise five hundred: every one is frozen, fatigued, and discouraged; no one will make any further effort. You have the appearance of being in pain; go and rest yourself; to-morrow we shall see."—The next day I went to him: the King of Naples had just arrived with the guard. We conversed much about our situation. Ney wished for a retreat, he thought it indispensable. "It is forced on us: there are no means of stopping a day longer." He had not ended before the report of cannon was heard. The Russians arrived in force; they were fighting at the distance of half a league from us. All at once we saw the Bavarians returning in confusion: they were pêle-mêle with those of our troops that had been dragging behind: confusion was at its height; as Ney had foretold, it was impossible to do any thing with our troops. The King of Naples came to us: he still hoped to make some resistance; but the reports which he received from the heights of Wilna undeceived him. He immediately ordered a retrograde movement, and went towards the Niemen. "I advise you," said the Prince, "to set off without delay for Dantzic, where your presence will soon be wanted. The least delay may cause you to fall into the hands of the Cossacks: that would be an untoward accident, which would be profitable neither to the army nor to the Emperor."
I followed this advice: I hired two Jews who conducted me to the Niemen. My equipages, which had hitherto fortunately escaped all disaster, were already on the road.
We soon arrived at the fatal heights where we were obliged to abandon all the remainder of our matériel. It was impossible to ascend it.—Our horses were worn out in unsuccessful attempts; we assisted them, we urged them, but the ground was so slippery, so steep, that we were obliged to give up the undertaking. I consulted with my aide-de-camp on the steps which it was best to take. My Israelites proposed that we should follow a cross road, which had, besides other things, the advantage of being shorter: they begged me to trust to them; they would answer for me. I believed them: we sat off; on the next evening we were across the Niemen. I suffered horribly; my fingers, my nose, my ear, were beginning to give me great uneasiness, when a Polish barber pointed out a remedy, rather disagreeable, but which succeeded. I arrived at last at Dantzic; the King of Naples followed at some days march distance; Macdonald, whom the Prussians had so unworthily betrayed, was coming after us. "It is only by a miracle," he informed me, "that myself, my staff, and the seventh division, have not been destroyed: we were delivered up; our legs saved us." He sent me his troops, which were incorporated with those that I had under my orders. The Russians appeared almost immediately. General Bachelet had a very smart engagement with them. They spread themselves around the place, and the blockade began.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Dantzic appears made by nature for a fortress: washed on the north by the Vistula, protected on the south-west by a chain of precipitous heights, it is defended on all other sides by an inundation, which is spread by means of two rivers which traverse it, the Radaune, and the Mottlaw. Struck with the advantages of so fine a situation, Napoleon had resolved to render it impregnable; he had caused some immense works to be began. Têtes-de-pont, forts, intrenched camps, were to protect it from insult and overlook the course of the river; but time had been wanting, and most of the works were either imperfect or scarcely traced out. No magazine was bomb-proof, no shelter sufficiently solid to keep the garrison in security; the casemates were uninhabitable, the quarters were in ruins, and the parapets tumbling down. The cold, still very severe, had frozen the waters; and Dantzic, the situation of which is naturally so happy and so strong, was nothing more than a place open at every point.
The garrison was not in a better state; it was composed of a confused mass of soldiers of all kinds and of all nations: there were French, Germans, Poles, Africans, Spaniards, Dutch, and Italians. The greater number, worn out or diseased, had been thrown into Dantzic because they were unable to continue their march: they had hoped to find some relief there; but destitute of all medicines, of animal food and vegetables, without spirits or forage, I was obliged to send away those who were not absolutely incapable of leaving the place. Nevertheless I had 35,000 left, out of which there were not above 8 or 10,000 fighting men; even these were nearly all recruits who had neither experience nor discipline. This circumstance, indeed, did not much alarm me; I was acquainted with our soldiers; I knew that for them to fight well they only wanted an example. I was resolved not to spare myself.