in the Kremlin until the 19th of October; and it
seems probable that he would have lingered even more days there, had he
not received the tidings of a new reverse, near at hand, and which
effectually stirred him. His attendants have not hesitated to say that,
from the time when he entered Russia, his mind had seemed to be in a
state of indecision and lethargy, when compared with what they had been
accustomed to witness in previous campaigns. From this hour his decision
and activity (if indeed they had ever been obscured) appear to have been
displayed abundantly.

Murat had, without Napoleon's command, and indeed in opposition to his
wishes, established a strange species of armistice with Kutusoff, under
articles which provided that three hours' notice must precede any
regular affair between the two armies confronted to each other, but
allowed the petty warfare of the Cossacks and other light troops to
proceed without interruption on either flank. This suited Kutusoff's
purpose; for it in effect left him in full possession of the means to
avoid a general action until he chose to hazard one, and yet offered no
interruption to the measures by which he and his nation were
deliberately and systematically straitening the supplies of the invader.
Napoleon alleged that Murat had entered on the compact from the desire
of gratifying his own vanity, by galloping about on a neutral ground,
and attracting the admiration of both armies, but especially of the
Cossacks, by his horsemanship, and the brilliant, if not fantastic,
dresses in which it was at all times his delight to exhibit his fine
person. But King Joachim never displayed his foppery so willingly as on
the field of battle: he committed only, on a smaller scale, the same
error which detained his master in the Kremlin.

CHAPTER XXXI

Napoleon quits Moscow--Battles of Vincovo and
Malo-Yaraslovetz--Retreat on Verreia--and Smolensko--Repeated
Defeats and Sufferings of the French--Smolensko--Krasnoi--Passage
of the Beresina--Smorgonie--Napoleon quits the Army--his arrival at
Warsaw--at Dresden--in Paris.

The armistice, such as it was, between Joachim and Kutusoff, was broken
through so soon as the latter had sufficiently disciplined the new
recruits who had crowded to his standard from every region of the
empire. Murat then received considerable reinforcements from Moscow,
together with Napoleon's commands to gain possession, if possible, o