ch excess, they were a satire either on the governors
or the governed, and, perhaps, on both.

During this time the advanced-guard pushed the Russians as far as Gjatz,
exchanging a few balls with them,--an exchange which was almost always
to the disadvantage of the French, the Russians taking care to employ
only their long pieces, which would carry much farther than ours.
Another remark which we made was, that from Smolensk the Russians had
neglected to burn the villages and the mansions. As they are of a
character which aims at effect, this obscure evil probably appeared to
them to be a useless one. They were satisfied with the more signal
conflagrations of their cities.

This defect, if that negligence proceeded from it, turned, as is
frequently the case with all other defects, to the advantage of their
enemies. In these villages, the French army found forage, corn, ovens
for baking, and shelter. Others observed on this point, that all these
devastations were allotted to cossacks, to barbarians; and that these
hordes, either from hatred or contempt of civilization, seemed to take a
savage and particular pleasure in the destruction of the towns.

CHAP. IV.

On the 1st of September, about noon, there was only a copse of fir-trees
between Murat and Gjatz. The appearance of cossacks obliged him to
deploy his first regiments, but in his impatience he soon sent for some
horse, and having himself driven the Russians from the wood which they
occupied, he crossed it and found himself at the gates of Gjatz. This
sight animated the French, and they instantly made themselves masters of
the town as far as the river which parts it into two, and the bridges of
which had been already set on fire.

There, as at Smolensk and Wiazma, whether by chance, or from the relic
of a Tartar custom, the bazaar was on the Asiatic side, on the bank
opposite to us. The Russian rear-guard, secured by the river, had time,
therefore, to burn that whole quarter. Nothing but the promptitude of
Murat saved the rest.

The troops crossed the Gjatz as they could, on planks, in a few boats,
and by fording. The Russians disappeared behind the flames, whither our
foremost riflemen followed them,--when they saw an inhabitant come
forth, approach them, and cry out that he was a Frenchman. His joy and
his accent confirmed his assertion. They conducted him to Davoust, who
interrogated him.

According to the account of this man, there had been a grea