e immense equipments of the expedition.

It was known in the army that the Russians had done an immense amount of
work at Drissa, where they had constructed an enormous intrenched camp;
and the number of troops collected there, the considerable sums expended
in the works, all gave reason to believe that the Russian army would
await the French at this point; and this belief was all the more
reasonable since the Emperor Alexander, in his numerous proclamations
disseminated through the army, and several of which fell into our hands,
boasted of conquering the French at Drissa, where (said these
proclamations) we should find our grave. It was otherwise ordained by
destiny; for the Russians, constantly falling back towards the heart of
Russia, abandoned this famous camp of Drissa on the approach of the
Emperor: I heard it said by many general officers that a great battle
would have been at that time a salutary event for the French army, in
which discontent was beginning to increase, first, for want of enemies to
fight, and second; because privations of every kind became each day more
unendurable. Whole divisions lived, so to speak, by pillage. The
soldiers devastated the dwellings and cottages found at rare intervals in
the country; and, in spite of the severe orders of the Emperor against
marauding and pillaging, these orders could not be executed, for the
officers themselves lived for the most part on the booty which the
soldiers obtained and shared with them.

The Emperor affected before his soldiers a serenity which he was far from
feeling; and from a few detached words which I heard him pronounce in
this grave situation, I am authorized to believe that the Emperor desired
a battle so ardently, only in the hope that the Emperor Alexander would
make him new overtures leading to peace. I think that he would then have
accepted it after the first victory; but he would never have consented to
retrace his steps after such immense preparations without having waged
one of those great battles which furnish sufficient glory for a campaign;
at least, that is what I heard him say repeatedly. The Emperor also
often spoke of the enemies he had to combat with an affected disdain
which he did not really feel; his object being to cheer the officers and
soldiers, many of whom made no concealment of their discouragement.

Before leaving Wilna, the Emperor established there a kind of central
government, at the head of which he had placed th