of the people of Koenigsberg, gave information of the beginning of a
defection, of which it was impossible to foresee the consequences. The
consternation was excessive. The seditious movement was at first only
kept down by representations, which Ney very soon changed into threats.
Murat hastened his departure for Elbing. Koenigsberg was encumbered with
ten thousand sick and wounded, most of whom were abandoned to the
generosity of their enemies. Some of them had no reason to complain of
it; but prisoners who escaped declared that many of their unfortunate
companions were massacred and thrown out of the windows into the
streets; that an hospital which contained several hundred sick was set
fire to; and they accused the inhabitants of committing these horrid
deeds.

On another side, at Wilna, more than sixteen thousand of our prisoners
had already perished. The convent of St. Basil contained the greatest
number; from the 10th to the 23d of December they had only received some
biscuits; but not a piece of wood nor a drop of water had been given
them. The snow collected in the courts, which were covered with dead
bodies, quenched the burning thirst of the survivors. They threw out of
the windows such of the dead bodies as could not be kept in the
passages, on the staircases, or among the heaps of corses which were
collected in all the apartments. The additional prisoners that were
every moment discovering were thrown into this horrible place.

The arrival of the Emperor Alexander and his brother was the only thing
that put a stop to these abominations. They had lasted for thirteen
days, and if a few escaped out of the twenty thousand of our unfortunate
comrades who were made prisoners, it was to these two princes they owed
their preservation. But a most violent epidemic had already arisen from
the poisonous exhalations of so many corses; it passed from the
vanquished to the victors, and fully avenged us. The Russians, however,
were living in plenty; our magazines at Smorgoni and Wilna had not been
destroyed, and they must have found besides immense quantities of
provisions in the pursuit of our routed army.

But Wittgenstein, who had been detached to attack Macdonald, descended
the Niemen; Tchitchakof and Platof had pursued Murat towards Kowno,
Wilkowiski, and Insterburg; shortly after, the admiral was sent towards
Thorn. Finally, on the 9th of January, Alexander and Kutusoff arrived on
the Niemen at Merecz. There, as he