; the victory which he had so eagerly
pursued, and so dearly bought, was incomplete. Was this he who had
always pushed his successes to the farthest possible limits, whom
Fortune had just found cold and inactive, at a time when she was
offering him her last favours?

The losses were certainly immense, and out of all proportion to the
advantages gained. Every one around him had to lament the loss of a
friend, a relation, or a brother; for the fate of battles had fallen on
the most distinguished. Forty-three generals had been killed or wounded.
What a mourning for Paris! what a triumph for his enemies! what a
dangerous subject for the reflections of Germany! In his army, even in
his very tent, his victory was silent, gloomy, isolated, even without
flatterers!

The persons whom he had summoned, Dumas and Daru, listened to him, and
said nothing; but their attitude, their downcast eyes, and their
silence, spoke more eloquently than words.

It was now ten o'clock. Murat, whom twelve hours' fighting had not
exhausted, again came to ask him for the cavalry of his guard. "The
enemy's army," said he, "is passing the Moskwa in haste and disorder; I
wish to surprise and extinguish it." The emperor repelled this sally of
immoderate ardour; afterwards he dictated the bulletin of the day.

He seemed pleased at announcing to Europe, that neither he nor his guard
had been at all exposed. By some this care was regarded as a refinement
of self-love; but those who were better informed thought very
differently. They had never seen him display any vain or gratuitous
passion, and their idea was, that at that distance, and at the head of
an army of foreigners, who had no other bond of union but victory, he
had judged it indispensable to preserve a select and devoted body.

His enemies, in fact, would have no longer any thing to hope from fields
of battle; neither his death, as he had no need to expose his person in
order to insure success, nor a victory, as his genius was sufficient at
a distance, even without bringing forward his reserve. As long,
therefore, as this guard remained untouched, his real power and that
which he derived from opinion would remain entire. It seemed to be a
sort of security to him, against his allies, as well as against his
enemies: on that account he took so much pains to inform Europe of the
preservation of that formidable reserve; and yet it scarcely amounted to
20,000 men, of whom more than a third were new