the occasion is so characteristic, and throws so much light both upon his character and the state of Russia at the time, that we give it in full : "During this exposition, the Emperor's colour occasionally visited and left his cheek. When Sir Robert Wilson had terminated his appeal, there was a minute or two of pause, and his Majesty drew towards the window, as if desirous of recovering an unembarrassed air before he replied. After a few struggles, however, he came up to Sir Robert Wilson, took him by the hand, and kissed him on the forehead and cheek, according to the Russian custom. 'You are the only person,' then said his Majesty, 'from whom I could or would have heard such a communication. In the former war you proved your attachment to me by your services, and you entitled yourself to my most intimate confidence; but you must be aware that you have placed me in a very distressing position. Moi! souverain de la Russie!to hear such things from any one! But the army is mistaken in Romanzow: he really has not advised submission to the Emperor Napoleon; and I have a great respect for him, since he is almost the only one who never asked me in his life for anything on his own account; whereas every one else in my service has always been seeking honours, wealth, or some private object for himself and connections. I am unwilling to sacrifice him without cause: but come again tomorrow. I must collect my thoughts before I despatch you with an answer. I know the generals and officers about them well; they mean, I am satisfied, to do their duty, and I have no fears of their having any unavowed designs against my authority. But I am to be pitied; for I have few about me who have any sound education or fixed principles: my grandmother's court vitiated the whole education of the empire, confining it to the acquisition of the French language, French frivolities and vices, particularly gaming. I have little, there fore, on which I can firmly rely: only impulses: I must not give way to them, if possible; but I will think on all you have said.' His Majesty then embraced Sir Robert Wilson again, and appointed the next day for his further attendance. Sir Robert Wilson obeyed his Majesty's commands, who renewed the subject almost immediately by saying, Well! Monsieur l'Ambassadeur des rebelles, I have reflected seriously during the whole night upon the conversation of yesterday, and I have not done you injustice. You shall carry back to the army pledges of my determination to continue the war against Napoleon whilst a Frenchman is in arms on this side the frontier. I will not desert my engagements, come what may. I will abide the worst. I am ready to remove my family into the interior, and undergo every sacrifice; but I must not give way on the point of choosing my own ministers: that concession might induce other demands still more inconvenient and indecorous for me to grant. Count Romanzow shall not be the means of any disunion or difference; everything will be done that can remove uneasiness on that head, but done so that I shall not appear to give way to menace, or have to reproach myself for injustice. This is a case where much depends on the manner of doing it. Give me a little time-all will be satisfactorily arranged." (WILSON, 116, 117.) Sir Robert was shortly after sent back to the army, instructed by the Emperor to announce in his name to the generals that he "Declared upon his honour, and directed him to repeat in the most formal manner, the declaration, that his Majesty would not enter into or permit any negotiation with Napoleon as long as an armed Frenchman remained in the territories of Russia. He would sooner let his beard grow to his waist, and eat potatoes in Siberia. At the same time, he specially authorised Sir Robert Wilson (who was to reside with the Russian Army as British Commissioner), to intervene with all the power and influence he could exert, to protect the interests of the Imperial Crown, in conformity with that pledge, whenever he saw any disposition or design to contravene or prejudice them." -(WILSON, 119.) It was the 15th September when Sir Robert left St Petersburg for the headquarters of the Russian army. He did not rejoin it, in consequence, until after the evacuation of Moscow. Great events had happened in the mean time. Barclay had been superseded in the command by Marshal Kutusoff. His character is thus sketched by our author : "A bon vivant-polished, courteous, shrewd as a Greek, naturally intelligent as an Asiatic, and well instructed as a European he was more disposed to trust to diplomacy for his success than : to martial prowess, for which, by his age and the state of his constitution, he was no longer qualified. When he joined the army he was seventy-four years old; and, though hale, so very corpulent that he was obliged to move about, even when in the field, in a little four-wheeled carriage with a head, called a droska. Such was the successor whom, as Alexander told the English general, Sir Robert Wilson, 'the nobility of Russia had selected to vindicate the arms of Russia, and defend their remaining possessions." (WILSON, 131.) Personally, Kutusoff was inclined to follow out the plan conceived by Barclay. But the circumstances of his appointment, and the feeling of the army, rendered any further retreat without a general battle impossible. Having chosen, therefore, a battle-ground at Borodino, seventyfive miles in front of Moscow, he hastened to occupy it, and strengthen it with earthworks. course It was not without great hesitation that Napoleon took the resolution of advancing from Smolensko direct upon Moscow. His most prudent would have been to have. taken up his position there behind the Dnieper and the Dwina, and employed himself during the winter in strengthening his position, securing his base, and reorganising Poland and Lithuania in his rear, ready to advance with the early spring on the Russian capital. But his active mind could not brook the prospect of the long inaction; he was deeply impressed with the idea, that if he could defeat the Russians in a general action, and occupy their capital, Alexander would immediately sue for peace; and he knew enough of the state of their army to be sure that they would not fall back much farther without fighting. Moreover, he felt strongly that the courses of the Dnieper eper and the Dwina ceased to be defensive lines the moment the hard frost set in. Influenced by these various considerations, and trusting much to his star, he took his final resolution at Dorogobouge to march straight on Moscow. At Gjatsk, on the 2d September, he halted for a day to refresh his men for the great contest which was impending, and had returns sent in of the strength of each corps. From these it appeared that he had 103,000 infantry and 30,000 cavalry-in all, 133,000 combatants present with the eagles: 420,000 had crossed the Niemen, about 120,000 had been detached to the flanks or left in garrison;-his loss up to this period alone, therefore, must have amounted to the enormous number of upwards of 160,000 men. It was six o'clock on the morning of the 7th September when the strife of giants began at Borodino: 115,000 Russians, with 640 pieces of artillery, struggled there from the rising till the setting of the sun against 127,000 French and 580 guns. No such terrible contest had yet occurred even in that age of ceaseless strife. Three redoubts covered the Russian left, one large fieldwork protected their centre. Around these the storm of battle ebbed and flowed-now surging over their blood-stained ramparts, now rolling down the heights beyond. Now heavy columns of French infantry forced their headlong way with the bayonet, anon with horrid yells the sturdy Russian foot, closing with a desperate courage, would win back their ground; then the glittering cuirasses of charging horsemen would sweep through the struggling crowd, or loose hordes of long-lanced Cossacks go swarming along the rear. When mutual exhaustion and the failing light brought this terrible battle to a close, the covering-works both on the Russian centre and left were in the hands of the assailants; but behind them, on the heights in rear of the ravines of Gorizkoe and Semenowski, the Muscovite masses lay, exhausted, but unbroken. About 80,000 killed and wounded men were stretched upon that field of blood, divided in about equal proportions between the two sides. But the French had two decided advantages: the guard, 20,000 strong, had never taken their muskets from their shoulders, while the last Russian reserves had been engaged; and on their right they had gained ground, which enabled * For these numbers compare Thiers, xiv. 318, and Chambray, ii. 33, with Boutourlin, i. 320, and Wilson, 136. them to menace the Russian line of retreat. These circumstances decided Kutusoff to retire, and accordingly, before dawn on the following morning, he evacuated the position, and fell back slowly, and in perfect order, to Mojaisk on the Moscow road. Benningsen, who had a keen eye for strategy, urged Kutusoff here, "Not to fall back on Moscow, but to move with the main body of his forces in the direction of Kalouga, on which line he would be most advantageously posted in case the enemy persisted in his movement on Moscow to baffle his operation, or render it finally disastrous." (WIL SON, 161.) But the commander-in-chief fell back leisurely along the main road, and, with some sharp rear-guard combats, arrived in front of Moscow, where he took up a defensive position on the 13th. Many of the generals, and the mass of the army, were eager for another combat beneath the walls of the capital; but at a council of war, held to decide the question, the opinion of Kutusoff prevailed, -that there was no good position covering the capital, "That the Russian army, in another battle before Moscow, might be so shattered as to be rendered incapable of resuming offensive operations in conjunction with the other armies on march, or mancœuvring to act on the rear and flank communications of the enemy, the success of which operations, as well as their own safety, depended on the co-operating support of the Russian main army; that the enemy would be obliged to weaken his disposable force by the occupation of Mosc Moscow, whereas the Russian army would be daily gaining strength; and finally, that it must always be kept in mind that the contest was for the Russian empire, and not for the preservation of any particular city, or the capital itself." (WILSON, 164.) There can be no doubt that these reasons were perfectly sound, and fully justified by the event. "On the morning of the 14th," says Wilson, "before day-dawn, the troops commenced filing through the city, and were soon accompanied by all the inhabitants and populace who could find any means of conveyance. A hundred and eighty thousand souls, out of two hun dred thousand, with sixty-five thousand carriages of every description, exclusive of the artillery and military ambulances, passed the barriers in funeral march." (WILSON, 165.) The nation accompanied their army, and the empty shell of the capital was alone left to the invaders. We now come to the very curious and much-vexed question, Who burnt Moscow? Wilson agrees with Thiers and Alison in attributing the deed to the governor Rostopchin. The reasons he assigns seem quite decisive upon the subject. When Kutusoff fell back towards the capital, Rostopchin publickly avowed his "Resolve, if the city were not to be defended by the Russian army, to convoke all the authorities and inhabitants for the purpose of arranging a general and municipally regulated conflagration-a sacrifice which he was confident would unhesitatingly be made by their patriot ism, excited by their horror of the invader. As a further security against the counteraction of his design, he insisted on and obtained a solemn promise from Kutusoff, that if any change should occur in his resolution to defend the city, he would give him three full days' notice." (WILSON, 162.) Kutusoff could or did not fulfil his promise; the meeting could not be held, and thus "Rostopchin, the governor, was placed in a false position. He could neither deny nor adopt the act; but his previous announcement of that intention, his demand of Kutusoff for three days' notice,' the removal or destruction of all the fire-engines and apparatus, the release of several hundred malefactors, and the organisation of their bands under directing superiors, impress conviction that Rostopchin was the author and abettor of the transaction. He never forgave Kutusoff for the infraction of the promise-a promise which he publicly declared Kutusoff'swore by the white hairs of his head' to keep, and the breach of which compelled him to make clandestine preparations, and take measures as if he were instigating an offence against his countrymen and country; whereas, if it had been kept, an occasion would have been presented to him to assume the avowed responsible lead in an act of public virtue enhancing national fame." (WILSON, 173.) Of the stern character of the man, and the fierce patriotic spirit which burned in every Russian breast, from the Emperor to the serf, the following anecdote will afford an illustration worth pages of declamation. Rostopchin possessed a magnificent palace residence at Woronowo, fitted up in the most superb and costly manner with articles of antique vertu. When the French approached the place, he desired the presence of several Russian generals and the English Commissioner. "At the morning dawn a deputation ، of elders from the village appeared, stating that they had all made their dispositions to retire with the troops, and soliciting to be permitted to go to an estate of their suzerain's in Siberia, as they preferred to be removed there, or to any other province of the empire, rather than to be subjected to French dominion.' The permission being granted, the whole colony, seventeen hundred souls, began their march, and presented one of the most affecting sights ever beheld: but not a plaint was heard. 'God give our Emperor and Russia victory, with benedictions on their lord,' were the only exclamations or expressions that escaped their lips. Having posted their declaration on the church doors in three languages, Rostopchin, on hearing the pickets commence skirmishing, and seeing the enemy in movement, entered his palace, begging his friends to accompany him. On arriving at the porch, burning torches were distributed to every one. Mounting the stairs, and reaching his state bed-room, Rostopchin paused a moment, and then said to the English General, That is my marriage-bed; I have not the heart to set it on fire; you must spare me this pain.' When Rostopchin had himself set on fire all the rest of the apartment, then, and not before, his wish was executed. Each apartment was ignited as the party proceeded, and in a quarter of an hour the whole was one blazing mass. Rostopchin then proceeded to the stables, which were quickly in flames, and afterwards stood in front, contemplating the progress of the fire and the falling fragments. When the last cast of the Cavallo group was precipitated, he said, 'I am at ease:' and as the enemy's shots were now whistling around, he and all retired." (WILSON, 179, 180.) When Kutusoff evacuated Moscow, cow, he fell back for two marches along the Kolomna road; wheeling then to his right, he made a semicircular march round Moscow at a distance of about twenty-five miles from it, up the stream of the Pakra, till he reached Krasnoi Pakra on the old road to Kalouga; here he arrived on the 19th. By this most able movement the Russian general at once drew near to his own reinforcements, threatened the line of retreat of the enemy, and secured his own upon the important city of Kalouga, whilst he preserved to himself, and debarred them from, the richest provinces of the empire. Here he remained until the end of the month, when Napoleon despatched a strong force under Murat and Poniatowski against him; he then fell back still along the old Kalouga road, from the banks of the Pakra to those of the Nara, and established himself at Taroutino, where he put a period to the the long retreat of the Russian armies, and preserved in a much more secure position all the advantages of his former more advanced one on the Pakra. The camp of Taroutino was strong in itself, and now became the real capital of the mobilised Russian empire. It was the Torres Vedras of the Moscow campaign. In it Kutusoff remained undisturbed from the 2d October till the 24th of the same month, reorganising and recruiting his army. Of this period Wilson has left the following striking picture : "The reinforcement and provisioning of the assembling army was one of the most extraordinary efforts of national zeal ever made. No Russian who possessed any article which could be rendered serviceable to the state, withheld it: horses, arms, equipment, provisions, and, in brief, everything that can be imagined, was poured into the camps. Militia performed the most remarkable marches, even for Russians, to reach the headquarters. Old and young, under and over the regulated ages, flocked to the standards and would not be refused service. Fathers of families, many seventy years of age and upwards, placed themselves in the ranks, and encountered every fatigue as well as peril with all the ardour of youth. Governors of distant provinces, without waiting for orders or requisitions, urged forward every supply they could collect; and so many cannon were despatched by relays, that a hundred and sixty beautiful new guns were in one day sent away as superfluous. When the army amounted to a hundred and ten thousand men, not only were they regularly fed, but fifty thousand horses received full rations of hay and corn without the extension of the foraging range above twenty miles. The camp resembled a beehive in the activity of its swarming hosts. The whole nation was solicitous to fill it with stores and useful largesses." -(WILSON, 194, 195.) cow. We now come to one of the most curious of the many curious revelations contained in this work, and that is as to the decisive part taken by Sir Robert in preventing Kutusoff from concluding an armistice with Napoleon for the evacuation of MosWhen Napoleon first entered the Russian capital, he never doubted that a few days would bring proposals from Alexander, offering to con.. clude peace upon the most favourable terms, and conceding all the points at issue when the contest began. The burning of the town was the first rude shock which this pleasant anticipation received. But still he believed that, so long as he held Moscow, the Russians would be only too happy to conclude a convention, agreeing to his unmolested retreat in exchange for it. Yet as time passed on, and the negotiators came not, Napoleon grew anxious; his acute mind saw at a glance the enormous and frightful extent of the peril to which he would be exposed should he be ultimately compelled to fall back, and he took the first step on his own side, by sending General Lauriston on a secret mission to Kutusoff's headquarters to propose an armistice. Sir Robert Wilson, on the 4th October, was at Milaradowich's bivouac when he received a message from General Benningsen, requesting him to return instantly to headquarters. He found an assembly of general officers anxiously awaiting his return. "They afforded him proof that Kutusoff, in answer to a proposition made by Lauriston on behalf of Napoleon, had agreed to meet him this same at a several miles from his most advanced videttes, on the road to Moscow, there to confer on the terms of a convention, 'for the immediate retreat of the whole invading army from the territories of Russia, which convention was also to serve as the basis of a peace to which it was to be the preliminary.' They added that 'Napoleon himself might be expected at the interview, as Lauriston had stated that he would be accompanied by a friend.' They therefore required from the English General 'that he would act as commissioner of the Emperor under his delegated authority,' and 'as an English commissioner charged with the protection of the British and allied interests:' adding 'the resolve of the chiefs, which would be sustained by the army, not to allow Kutusoff to return and resume the command if once he quitted it for this midnight interview in the enemy's canip. They declared that they wished to avoid extreme measures, but that their minds were made up to dispossess the Marshal of his authority if he should inflexibly persevere.'" - (WILSON, 183.) This was a dangerous mission to undertake and a delicate one to execute, but Sir Robert did not hesitate. Kutusoff, at the private interview which ensued, admitted the truth of what Sir Robert had heard as to an interview, and added that "he would admit that he already knew those propositions to be of a pacific character, and perhaps they might lead to an arrangement satisfactory and honourable for Russia," concluding by an assurance that his determination was "irrevocable," and justifying it by the state of the empire and the condition of the army, which, although becoming numerous, was still far from being efficient in proportion to its numbers. Sir Robert then reminded the Marshal "of the Emperor Alexander's last words to himself, the Marshal, on quitting St Petersburg, relative to the rejection of all negotiation whilst an armed Frenchman was in the country; and of the renewal of that solemn pledge to him, the English General, with instructions to intervene when he saw that pledge and connecting interests endangered by any one, of whatsoever rank he might be," and he entered his protest and brought forward his arguments. But in vain; Kutusoff remained firm. The English General then brought in to aid his representations the Emperor's uncle (Duke Alexander of Wirtemberg), his brother-inlaw (the Duke of Oldenberg), and his aide-de-camp (Prince Wolkonsky). |