iau, and from thence, by means of the Niemen and the
Vilia, to Kowno and Wilna. But the water of the Vilia having shrunk so
much through drought as to be incapable of floating these transports, it
became necessary to find other means of conveyance.

Napoleon hated jobbers. It was his wish that the administration of the
army should organize the Lithuanian waggons; 500 were assembled, but the
appearance of them disgusted him. He then permitted contracts to be made
with the Jews, who are the only traders in the country; and the
provisions stopped at Kowno at last arrived at Wilna, but the army had
already left it.

CHAP. IV.

It was the largest column, that of the centre, which suffered most; it
followed the road which the Russians had ruined, and of which the French
advanced guard had just completed the spoliation. The columns which
proceeded by lateral routes found necessaries there, but were not
sufficiently careful in collecting and in economizing them.

The responsibility of the calamities which this rapid march occasioned
ought not, therefore, to be laid entirely on Napoleon, for order and
discipline were maintained in the army of Davoust; it suffered less from
dearth: it was nearly the same with that of Prince Eugene. When pillage
was resorted to in these two corps, it was always with method, and
nothing but necessary injury was inflicted; the soldiers were obliged to
carry several days' provisions, and prevented from wasting them. The
same precautions should have been taken elsewhere; but, whether it was
owing to the habit of making war in fertile countries, or to habitual
ardour of constitution, many of the other chiefs thought much less of
administering than of fighting.

On that account, Napoleon was frequently compelled to shut his eyes to a
system of plunder which he vainly prohibited: too well aware, also, of
the attraction which that mode of subsistence had for the soldier; that
it made him love war, because it enriched him; that it pleased him, in
consequence of the authority which it frequently gave him over classes
superior to his own; that in his eyes it had all the charm of a war of
the poor against the rich; finally, that the pleasure of being, and
proving that he was the strongest, was under such circumstances
incessantly repeated and brought home to him.

Napoleon, however, grew indignant at the intelligence of these excesses.
He issued a threatening proclamation, and he directed moveab