ish at its close, dispersed all that had remained together. They lost
themselves in the darkness of these great forests and long nights. They
halted at night and resumed their march in the morning, in darkness, at
random, and without hearing the signal; the dissolution of the remains
of the corps was then completed; all were mixed and confounded together.

In this last stage of weakness and confusion, as we were approaching
Borizof, we heard loud cries before us. Some ran forward fancying it was
an attack. It was Victor's army, which had been feebly driven back by
Wittgenstein to the right side of our road, where it remained waiting
for the Emperor to pass by. Still quite complete and full of animation,
it received the Emperor, as soon as he made his appearance, with the
customary but now long forgotten acclamations.

Of our disasters it knew nothing; they had been carefully concealed even
from its leaders. When therefore, instead of that grand column which had
conquered Moscow, its soldiers perceived behind Napoleon only a train of
spectres covered with rags, with female pelisses, pieces of carpet, or
dirty cloaks, half burnt and holed by the fires, and with nothing on
their feet but rags of all sorts, their consternation was extreme. They
looked terrified at the sight of those unfortunate soldiers, as they
defiled before them, with lean carcasses, faces black with dirt, and
hideous bristly beards, unarmed, shameless, marching confusedly, with
their heads bent, their eyes fixed on the ground and silent, like a
troop of captives.

But what astonished them more than all, was to see the number of
colonels and generals scattered about and isolated, who seemed only
occupied about themselves, and to think of nothing but saving the wrecks
of their property or their persons; they were marching pell-mell with
the soldiers, who did not notice them, to whom they had no longer any
commands to give, and of whom they had nothing to expect, all ties
between them being broken, and all ranks effaced by the common misery.

The soldiers of Victor and Oudinot could not believe their eyes. Moved
with compassion, their officers, with tears in their eyes, detained such
of their companions as they recognised in the crowd. They first supplied
them with clothes and provisions, and then asked them where were their
_corps d'armee_? And when the others pointed them out, seeing, instead
of so many thousand men, only a weak platoon of officers and