ts were dwelling on Charles
the Twelfth; but that if the expedition to Moscow wanted a fortunate
precedent, it was because it was deficient in a man capable of making it
succeed; that in war, fortune went for one-half in every thing; that if
people always waited for a complete assemblage of favourable
circumstances, nothing would ever be undertaken; that we must begin, in
order to finish; that there was no enterprise in which every thing
concurred, and that, in all human projects, chance had its share; that,
in short, it was not the rule which created the success, but the success
the rule; and that, if he succeeded by new means, that success would
create new principles.

"Blood has not yet been spilled," he added, "and Russia is too great to
yield without fighting. Alexander can only negotiate after a great
battle. If it is necessary, I will even proceed to the holy city in
search of that battle, and I will gain it. Peace waits for me at the
gates of Moscow. But with his honour thus saved, if Alexander still
persists, I will negotiate with the Boyards, or even with the population
of that capital; it is numerous, united, and consequently enlightened.
It will understand its own interests, and comprehend the value of
liberty." He concluded by saying, that "Moscow hated Petersburgh; that
he would take advantage of their rivalry; that the results of such a
jealousy were incalculable."

It was in this manner that the emperor, when animated by conversation
and the banquet, revealed the nature of his hopes. Daru replied, "That
war was a game which he played well, in which he was always the winner,
and that it was natural to infer, that he took a pleasure in playing it.
But that, in this case, it was not so much men as nature which it was
necessary to conquer; that already the army was diminished one-third by
desertion, sickness, or famine.

"If provisions failed at Witepsk, what would be the case farther on? The
officers whom he had sent to procure them, either never re-appeared, or
returned with empty hands. That the small quantity of flour, or the few
cattle which they had succeeded in collecting, were immediately consumed
by the imperial guard; that the other divisions of the army were heard
to murmur, that it exacted and absorbed every thing, that it
constituted, as it were, a privileged class. The hospital and
provision-waggons, as well as the droves of cattle, were not able to
come up. The hospitals were insufficient f