fear, and dying undaunted, they had
saved the moiety of the grand army which reached Smolensk; the other
half had perished by the way. Eugene had taken a long circuit, but his
division had lost fewer and was less demoralized than those of his
colleagues. Murat's recklessness in fighting the Cossacks had resulted
in the loss of nearly all his horses; his men arrived on foot.

The scenes in Smolensk were shameful. At first the garrison shut the
gates in the very faces of the human wolves who clamored for food and
shelter. Discipline having been restored, the guard was admitted. The
stores were ample for a fortnight's rations to all survivors; but the
ravening mob could not be restrained, and the distribution was so
irregular that precious supplies were tumbled into the streets; in the
end it was discovered that the guard had secured sustenance for a
fortnight, while the line had scarcely sufficient for a week. The sick
and wounded were, however, housed and made fairly comfortable. These
nauseating tumults over, the Emperor seemed to regain much of his
bodily vigor, and with it returned his skill and ingenuity: stragglers
were reincorporated into regiments; supply-wagons were destroyed in
large numbers and the horses assigned to the artillery, many of the
guns being abandoned so that the service of the remainder might be
more efficient; the army was rearrayed in four divisions, under the
Emperor, Eugene, Davout, and Ney respectively; and the French made
ready to leave Smolensk with a bold front. Napoleon's contempt for his
enemy was matched only by their palpitating fear of him. Most men
would have abandoned hope in such a crisis. Napoleon was fertile not
merely in strategic expedients, but in devices for realizing his
plans. Accordingly he arranged that the four columns should move on
parallel lines toward Lithuania, a day's march distant from each
other, he with six thousand of the guard in the van; Ney, taking the
other four thousand to strengthen his own line, was to keep the rear.
The movement began on the twelfth, that is, before the last stragglers
had come in; on the fourteenth Napoleon took his departure; and three
days later, on the seventeenth, the towers of the ramparts having been
blown up, the last of the newly ordered ranks marched out. The sick
and wounded had found shelter in houses adjacent to the walls; many
were killed by the explosions, the rest were abandoned to the foe and
found humane treatment. Dis