377

X.--Conduct of Schwartzenberg and defection of the Austrians--Atrocities
committed on the French prisoners at Wilna and Koenigsberg 396

XI.--Defection of Murat 401

XII.--Conclusion 403

DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.

I. Portrait of Napoleon to face Title, Vol. I.

II. Map of the countries between Paris and Moscow page 1

III. Passage of the Niemen 124

IV. Portrait of Murat, King of Naples 311

V. Portrait of the Emperor Alexander to face Title, Vol. II.

VI. Conflagration of Moscow 48

VII. Portrait of Marshal Ney 268

VIII. Passage of the Berezina 315

[Illustration: Map of the countries between Paris and Moscow]

HISTORY

OF

NAPOLEON'S EXPEDITION

TO

RUSSIA.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I.

Ever since 1807, when the space between the Rhine and the Niemen had
been overrun, the two great empires of which these rivers were the
boundaries had become rivals. By his concessions at Tilsit, at the
expense of Prussia, Sweden, and Turkey, Napoleon had only satisfied
Alexander. That treaty was the result of the defeat of Russia, and the
date of her submission to the continental system. Among the Russians, it
was regarded by some as attacking their honour; and by all it was felt
to be ruinous to their interests.

By the continental system Napoleon had declared eternal war against the
English; to that system he attached his honour, his political existence,
and that of the nation under his sway. That system banished from the
Continent all merchandise which was English, or had paid duty in any
shape to England. He could not succeed in establishing it but by the
unanimous consent of the continental nations, and that consent could not
be hoped for but under a single and universal dominion.

France had besides alienated the nations of Europe from her by her
conquests, and the monarchs by her revolution and her new dynasty.
Henceforward she could no longer look forward to have either friends or
rivals, but merely subjects; for the first would have been false, and
the second implacable: it followed that all must be subject to her, or
she to all.

With feelings of this kind, her leader, influenced by his position