enance
at the critical moment. Kamenski, who was seventy-six years old, was
retired on the ground of his health, and Bennigsen succeeded him, but
the bad commissary administration was not remedied. The Russian army
was strong in regular infantry, but weak in well-disciplined cavalry,
although the latter defect was largely supplied by the Cossacks, a
peculiar body of riders from the Volga and the Don, who paid the
rental of their lands to the crown by four years' military service at
their own charges. Then, as now, they fought with barbaric ferocity;
they attacked in open formation, each man for himself, and gave no
quarter until the Czar offered a ducat for every live Frenchman. They
were known to ride a hundred miles in twenty-four hours, and their
services in pursuing an enemy were invaluable.

The one remarkable and unique feature of the Russian army in every
branch of the service has ever been its personal devotion to the Czar.
This feeling is a compound of religious fervor, patriotism, and
dynastic loyalty; these elements, welded inseparably, form a sentiment
of tremendous strength, which is a fair substitute for enlightened
patriotism. The case is different with the Tatar hordes from Central
Asia, who fight only for plunder, and in a crisis are often utterly
unreliable. At this time both Cossacks and Tatars were in the field,
the former in considerable numbers. The appointment of Bennigsen as
commander-in-chief, and the results of Pultusk, awakened great
enthusiasm among his hungry soldiers, who were now clamorous for a
decisive battle. He had ninety thousand men,--at least on paper,--and
was not disposed to leave the French in peace to recruit their numbers
and physical strength in comfortable winter quarters. Unlike the
Prussian officers, he had learned the lessons of recent campaigns, and
had the strength of his character been equal to the cleverness of his
strategy, he would have been a fair match for Napoleon. Moreover, the
King of Prussia, shut up in Koenigsberg with a few thousand men, was in
a most precarious situation, both Ney and Bernadotte being within
striking distance. Finally, the garrison of the fortress at Graudenz
was dependent on the precarious supplies which they received as
Lestocq found an opportunity to send them.

Very soon, therefore, the Cossacks were sent out to scour the country.
In their repeated skirmishes with the French light cavalry they showed
such daring and address that their