[168] Labaume, p. 222; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 56.
[169] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 154.
[170] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 70.
[171] "This movement of the Russians, though censured by Wilson, Vaudoncourt, and Fain, is one of the most skilful operations of the war. By what fatality is it, that we ever condemn that in the enemy, which we applaud vehemently, when it happens to be effected by ourselves."—Jomini, tom. iv., p. 152.
[172] "Frenchmen," this was the tenor of this remarkable intimation, "for eight years it has been my pleasure to embellish this my family residence. The inhabitants, 1720 in number, will leave it as you approach; and it will be reduced to ashes that not one of you may pollute it by your presence. I have left you two palaces in Moscow, with their furniture, worth half a million of rubles. Here you will only find ashes."—Twenty-third Bulletin.—S.
[173] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 71; Jomini, tom. iv., p. 153.
[174] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 74.
[175] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 77.
[176] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 86.
[177] "During the work, it was remarked that great numbers of ravens surrounded this cross, and that Napoleon, weary of their hoarse croaking, exclaimed, that 'it seemed as if these flocks of ill-omened birds meant to defend it.' We cannot pretend to tell all that he thought in this critical situation, but it is well known that he was accessible to every kind of presentiment. His daily excursions, always illumined by a brilliant sun, in which he strove himself to perceive and to make others recognise his star, did not amuse him. To the sullen silence of inanimate Moscow was superadded that of the surrounding deserts, and the still more menacing silence of Alexander."—Ségur.