aordinary men; they encouraged one another by repeating
the name of Smolensk, which town they knew they were approaching, and
where they had been promised that all their wants should be supplied.

It was thus, after this deluge of snow, and the increase of cold which
it foreboded, that each one, whether officer or soldier, either
preserved or lost his fortitude, according to his disposition, age, or
constitution; while he who of all our leaders had hitherto been the most
strict in enforcing discipline, now paid but little attention to it.
Thrown out of his established ideas of regularity, order, and method, he
was seized with despair at the sight of such universal confusion: and
conceiving, before the rest, that all was lost, he felt himself ready to
abandon all.

From this point for some distance, nothing remarkable occurred in the
imperial column except that it was found necessary to throw the spoils
of Moscow into the Lake of Semlewo; cannon, Gothic armor, the ornaments
of the Kremlin, and the cross of Ivan the Great, were all buried in its
waters. Trophies, glory, those acquisitions to which we had sacrificed
everything, all now became a burden to us: our object was no longer to
embellish life, but to preserve it. In this vast wreck, the army, which
might be compared to a mighty ship tossed by the most tremendous of
tempests, threw without hesitation into that sea of ice and snow
everything that could burden or impede its progress.

The attitude of Napoleon was the same that he retained throughout the
whole of this dismal retreat. It was grave, silent, and resigned:
suffering much less in body than others, but far more in mind, and
brooding with speechless agony over his misfortunes. At that moment
General Charpentier sent him from Smolensk a convoy of provisions.
Bessieres wished to take possession of them; but the emperor instantly
ordered them to be forwarded to the Prince of Moskwa, saying that "those
who were fighting must eat before the rest." At the same time, he sent
word to Ney "to defend himself long enough to allow him some stay at
Smolensk, where the army should eat, rest, and be reorganized."

The Russians, however, advanced under favor of a wood and of our
forsaken carriages, whence they kept up a fire of musketry on Ney's
troops. Half of the latter, whose icy arms froze their stiffened
fingers, became discouraged; they gave way, excusing themselves by their
want of firmness on the preceding day, an