people have been too much astonished at the virtues as
well as at the vices of that army. They were the virtues of the moment,
the vices of the age; and for this very reason, the former were less
praiseworthy, and the latter less reprehensible, inasmuch as they were,
if I may so express myself, enjoined by example and circumstances. Thus
every thing is relative, which does not exclude fixed principles and
absolute good as the point of departure and aim. But here the question
relates to the judgment formed of this army and its chief; and he who
would form a correct judgment of them must put himself in their place.
As, then, this position is very elevated, very extraordinary, very
complicated, few minds are capable of attaining it, embracing the whole
of it, and appreciating all its necessary results.

CHAP. IX.

Meanwhile Kutusoff, on leaving Moscow, had drawn Murat towards Kolomna,
to the point where the Moskwa intersects the road. Here, under favour of
the night, he suddenly turned to the south, proceeding by way of Podol,
to throw himself between Moscow and Kalouga. This nocturnal march of the
Russians around Moscow, the ashes and flames of which were wafted to
them by the violence of the wind, was melancholy and religious. They
advanced by the baleful light of the conflagration, which was consuming
the centre of their commerce, the sanctuary of their religion, the
cradle of their empire! Filled with horror and indignation, they all
kept a sullen silence, which was unbroken save by the dull and
monotonous sound of their footsteps, the roaring of the flames, and the
howling of the tempest. The dismal light was frequently interrupted by
livid and sudden flashes. The brows of these warriors might then be seen
contracted by a savage grief, and the fire of their sombre and
threatening looks answered these flames, which they regarded as our
work; it already betrayed that ferocious revenge which was rankling in
their hearts, which spread throughout the whole empire, and to which so
many Frenchmen fell victims.

At that solemn moment, Kutusoff in a firm and noble tone informed his
sovereign of the loss of his capital. He declared, that, "in order to
preserve the fertile provinces of the south, and his communication with
Tormasof and Tchitchakof, he had been obliged to abandon Moscow, but
emptied of the inhabitants, who were the life of it; that as the people
are the soul of every empire, so wherever the Russian peo