-Yaroslawetz, for soldiers who had never yet run away, had
dispirited the army; that the affair at Wiazma had shaken its firmness;
and that lastly, the deluge of snow and the increased cold which it
betokened, had completed its disorganization: that a multitude of
officers, having lost every thing, their platoons, battalions,
regiments, and even divisions, had joined the roving masses: generals,
colonels, and officers of all ranks, were seen mingled with the
privates, and marching at random, sometimes with one column, sometimes
with another: that as order could not exist in the presence of disorder,
this example was seducing even the veteran regiments, which had served
during the whole of the wars of the revolution: that in the ranks, the
best soldiers were heard asking one another, why they alone were
required to fight in order to secure the flight of the rest; and how any
one could expect to keep up their courage, when they heard the cries of
despair issuing from the neighbouring woods, in which large convoys of
their wounded, who had been dragged to no purpose all the way from
Moscow, had just been abandoned? Such then was the fate which awaited
themselves! what had they to gain by remaining by their colours?
Incessant toils and combats by day, and famine at night; no shelter, and
bivouacs still more destructive than battle: famine and cold drove sleep
far away from them, or if fatigue got the better of these for the
moment, that repose which ought to refresh them put a period to their
lives. In short, the eagles had ceased to protect--they destroyed. Why
then remain around them to perish by battalions, by masses? It would be
better to disperse, and since there was no other course than flight, to
try who could run fastest. It would not then be the best that would
fall: the cowards behind them would no longer eat up the relics of the
high road." Lastly, the aide-de-camp was commissioned to explain to the
Emperor all the horrors of his situation, the responsibility of which
Ney absolutely declined.

But Napoleon saw enough around himself to judge of the rest. The
fugitives were passing him; he was sensible that nothing could now be
done but sacrifice the army successively, part by part, beginning at the
extremities, in order to save the head. When, therefore, the
aide-de-camp was beginning, he sharply interrupted him with these words,
"Colonel, I do not ask you for these details." The Colonel was silent,
aware that in