lone was
eminently aggressive, inasmuch as it separated the two hostile rivers
and armies. From that position, he would be enabled to turn the broken
army of his rival, cut him off from his southern provinces, and crush
his weakness with superior force. He concluded that, if Barclay had
anticipated him in reaching that capital, he would doubtless defend it:
and there, perhaps, he was to expect that so-much-coveted victory which
had escaped him on the Vilia. He, therefore, instantly directed all his
corps on Beszenkowiczi; thither he summoned Murat and Ney, who were then
near Polotsk, where he left Oudinot. For himself, he proceeded from
Klubokoe (where he was surrounded by his guard, the Italian army, and
three divisions detached from Davoust), to Kamen, always in a carriage,
except during the night, either from necessity, or, perhaps, with a view
to keep his soldiers in ignorance of the inability of their chief to
share their fatigues.

Till that time, the greater part of the army had proceeded with
astonishment, at finding no enemy; they had now become habituated to the
circumstance. By day the novelty of the places, and impatience to get to
their journey's end, occupied their attention; at night the necessity of
choosing or making for themselves a place of shelter; of finding food,
and dressing it. The soldiers were so much engaged by so many cares,
that they considered themselves less employed in making war than a
troublesome journey; but if the war and the enemy were to fall back
always thus, how much farther should they have to go in search of them?
At length, on the 25th, the report of cannon was heard, and the army, as
well as the emperor, indulged their hopes of a victory and peace.

This was in the direction of Beszenkowiczi, Prince Eugene had there
encountered Doctorof, who commanded Barclay's rear-guard. In following
his leader from Polotsk to Witepsk, he cleared his way on the left bank
of the Duena to Beszenkowiczi, the bridge of which he burnt as he
retired. The viceroy, on capturing this town, came in sight of the Duena,
and re-established the passage; the few Russian troops left in
observation on the other side feebly opposed the operation. When
Napoleon contemplated, for the first time, this river, his new
conquest, he censured sharply, and not unjustly, the defective
construction of the bridge which made him master of the two banks.

It was no puerile vanity which induced him then to cross that rive