was about to cross his own frontier,
the Russian emperor addressed a proclamation to his troops, completely
filled with images, comparisons, and eulogiums, which the winter had
much better deserved than his army.

CHAP. XI.

It was not until the 22d of January, and the following days, that the
Russians reached the Vistula. During this tardy march, from the 3d to
the 11th of January, Murat had remained at Elbing. In this situation of
extremity, that monarch was wavering from one plan to another, at the
mercy of the elements which were fermenting around him; sometimes they
raised his hopes to the highest pitch, at others they sunk him into an
abyss of disquietude.

He had taken flight from Koenigsberg in a complete state of
discouragement, when the suspension in the march of the Russians, and
the junction of Macdonald with Heudelet and Cavaignac, which doubled his
forces, suddenly inflamed him with vain hopes. He, who had the day
before believed that all was lost, wished to resume the offensive, and
began immediately; for he was one of those dispositions who are making
fresh resolutions every instant. On that day he determined to push
forward, and the next to flee as far as Posen.

This last determination, however, was not taken without reason. The
rallying of the army on the Vistula had been completely illusory; the
old guard had not altogether more than five hundred effective men; the
young guard scarcely any; the first corps, eighteen hundred; the second,
one thousand; the third, sixteen hundred; the fourth, seventeen hundred;
added to which, most of these soldiers, the remains of six hundred
thousand men, could scarcely handle their arms.

In this state of impotence, with the two wings of the army already
detached from us, Austria and Prussia failing us together, Poland became
a snare which might close around us. On the other hand, Napoleon, who
never consented to any cession, was anxious that Dantzic should be
defended; it became necessary, therefore, to throw into it all that
could keep the field.

Besides, if the truth must be told, when Murat, when at Elbing, talked
of reconstituting the army, and was even dreaming of victories, he found
that most of the commanders were themselves worn out and disgusted.
Misfortune, which leads to fear every thing, and to believe readily all
that one fears, had penetrated into their hearts. Several of them were
already uneasy about their rank and their grades, abou