ous engagement; then their terror was increased by seeing the
wounded returning from it; and, last of all, they were thrown into the
utmost consternation by the batteries of the Russian left wing, some
shot from which began to fall among them.

They had been already crowding one upon the other, and the immense
multitude heaped upon the bank pell-mell with the horses and carriages,
formed there a most alarming encumbrance. It was about the middle of the
day that the first Russian balls fell into the midst of this chaos, and
they were the signal of universal despair.

Then it was, as in all cases of extremity, that the real dispositions of
men exhibited themselves without disguise, and actions were witnessed,
some of them the most base, and others the most noble and even sublime.
In accordance with their character, some furious and determined, with
sword in hand, cleared for themselves a horrible passage. Others, still
more cruel, opened a way for their wagons by driving them without mercy
over the crowds of unfortunate persons who stood in their way, and
crushed them to death. Their detestable avarice made them sacrifice
their companions in misfortune to the preservation of their baggage.
Others again, seized with a pusillanimous terror, wept, supplicated, and
sank under the influence of a passion which completed the exhaustion of
their strength. Some were observed (and these were principally the sick
and wounded) who, renouncing life, went aside, and, resigned to their
fate, sat themselves down, gazing with a fixed and motionless eye on the
snow which was shortly to be their winding-sheet.

Numbers of those who started first among this crowd of desperadoes,
missing the bridge, attempted to scale it by the sides, but the greater
part were pushed into the river. There were seen women in the midst of
the stream and among the masses of floating ice, with their children in
their arms, raising them by degrees as they felt themselves sinking, and
when completely submerged, their stiffened arms still holding them above
the water.

In the midst of this horrible disorder, the artillery bridge gave way
and broke down. The column entangled in this narrow passage in vain
attempted to retrograde. The crowds which were following behind,
ignorant of the calamity, and not hearing the cries of those before
them, kept urging them on until they pushed them into the gulf, into
which they in their turn were precipitated.

Every one then