nal was still burning. A
soldier of the police had been found in it. He was brought in, and
Napoleon caused him to be interrogated in his presence. This man was the
incendiary; he had executed his commission at the signal given by his
chief. It was now evident that everything was devoted to destruction,
the ancient and sacred Kremlin not excepted.

The gestures of the emperor bespoke disdain and vexation: the wretch was
hurried into the first court, and there the enraged soldiers despatched
him with their bayonets.

Sec. 6. The fire compels Napoleon to leave the city.

This occurrence decided Napoleon. He hastily descended the northern
staircase, famous for the massacre of the Strelitzes,[149] and requested
to be conducted out of the city, to the distance of a league on the road
to St. Petersburg, towards the imperial palace of Petrowski.

But we were besieged by an ocean of fire, which blocked up all the gates
of the citadel, and frustrated our first attempts to escape. After some
search, we discovered a postern-gate[150] leading between the rocks to
the Moskwa. It was by this narrow pass that Napoleon, his officers and
guard, made their way from the Kremlin. But what had they gained by this
movement? They had approached nearer to the fire, and could neither
retreat nor remain where they were; and how were they to advance? how
force a passage through the billows of this sea of flame? Those who had
traversed the city, stunned by the tempest and blinded by the ashes,
could no longer find their way, since the streets themselves were not
distinguishable amid smoke and ruins.

There was no time to be lost. The roaring of the flames around us became
every moment more terrific. A single narrow winding street, completely
enveloped in fire on either side, appeared rather the entrance than the
outlet of this hell. The emperor, however, on foot, and without
hesitation, rushed into this frightful passage. He advanced amid the
crackling of the flames, the crash of floors, and the fall of burning
timbers, and of fragments of red-hot iron roofs which tumbled around
him. These ruins impeded his progress. The flames, while with impetuous
roar they consumed the edifices between which we were proceeding,
spreading beyond the walls, were blown out by the wind, and formed an
arch over our heads. We walked on a ground of fire, beneath a fiery
canopy and between two walls of fire. The intense heat burned our eyes,
which we were nevert