of Napoleon and his lieutenants to save these desperate men
by restoring order among them, were for a long time completely
fruitless. The disorder was so great, that, about two o'clock, when the
Emperor presented himself in his turn, it was necessary to employ force
to open a passage for him. A corps of grenadiers of the guard, and
Latour-Maubourg, out of pure compassion, declined clearing themselves a
way through these poor wretches.

The imperial head-quarters were established at the hamlet of Zaniwki,
which is situated in the midst of the woods, within a league of
Studzianka. Eble had just then made a survey of the baggage with which
the bank was covered; he apprised the Emperor that six days would not be
sufficient to enable so many carriages to pass over. Ney, who was
present, immediately called out, "that in that case they had better be
burnt immediately." But Berthier, instigated by the demon of courts,
opposed this; he assured the Emperor that the army was far from being
reduced to that extremity, and the Emperor was led to believe him, from
a preference for the opinion which flattered him the most, and from a
wish to spare so many men, whose misfortunes he reproached himself as
the cause of, and whose provisions and little all these carriages
contained.

In the night of the 27th the disorder ceased by the effect of an
opposite disorder. The bridges were abandoned, and the village of
Studzianka attracted all these stragglers; in an instant, it was pulled
to pieces, disappeared, and was converted into an infinite number of
bivouacs. Cold and hunger kept these wretched people fixed around them;
it was found impossible to tear them from them. The whole of that night
was again lost for their passage.

Meantime Victor, with six thousand men, was defending them against
Wittgenstein. But with the first dawn of the 28th, when they saw that
marshal preparing for a battle, when they heard the cannon of
Wittgenstein thundering over their heads, and that of Tchitchakof at the
same time on the opposite bank, they rose all at once, they descended,
precipitated themselves tumultuously, and returned to besiege the
bridges.

Their terror was not without foundation; the last day of numbers of
these unfortunate persons was come. Wittgenstein and Platof, with forty
thousand Russians of the armies of the north and east, attacked the
heights on the left bank, which Victor, with his small force, defended.
On the right bank, Tchit