yr.

Eighty leagues in front of Wilna, the Duena and the Boristhenes separate
Lithuania from old Russia. At first, these two rivers run parallel to
each other from east to west, leaving between them an interval of about
twenty-five leagues of an unequal, woody, and marshy soil. They arrive
in that manner from the interior of Russia, on its frontiers; at this
point, at the same time, and as if in concert, they turn off; the one
abruptly at Orcha towards the south; the other, near Witepsk, towards
the north-west. It is in that new direction that their course traces the
frontiers of Lithuania and old Russia.

The narrow space which these two rivers leave between them before taking
this opposite direction seems to constitute the entrance, and as it were
the gates of Muscovy. It is the focus of the roads which lead to the two
capitals of that empire.

Napoleon's whole attention was directed to that point. By the retreat of
Alexander upon Drissa, he foresaw that which Bagration would attempt to
make from Grodno towards Witepsk, through Osmiana, Minsk, and
Docktzitzy, or by Borizof; he determined to prevent it, and instantly
pushed forward Davoust towards Minsk, between these two hostile bodies,
with two divisions of infantry, the cuirassiers of Valence, and several
brigades of light cavalry.

On his right, the king of Westphalia was to drive Bagration on Davoust,
who would cut off his communication with Alexander, make him surrender,
and get possession of the course of the Boristhenes; on his left, Murat,
Oudinot, and Ney, already before Drissa, were directed to keep Barclay
and his emperor in their front; he himself with the _elite_ of his army,
the army of Italy, the Bavarian army, and three divisions detached from
Davoust, was to march upon Witepsk between Davoust and Murat, ready to
join one or the other of them; in this manner penetrating and
interposing between the two hostile armies, forcing himself between them
and beyond them; finally, keeping them separate, not only by that
central position, but by the uncertainty which it would create in
Alexander as to which of his two capitals it would be requisite for him
to defend. Circumstances would decide the rest.

Such was Napoleon's plan on the 10th of July at Wilna; it was written in
this form on that very day under his dictation, and corrected by his own
hand, for one of his chiefs, the individual who was most concerned in
its execution. Immediately, the movement,