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Circumstantial Narra Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Rochester Public Library Reference Book Not For Circulation Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection *?D. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection CIRCUMSTANTIAL NARRATIVE CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA, EMBELLISHED WITH TLASTS OF THE BATTLES OF THE MOSKWA AND MALO-.TAROSLAVITS. COJiTAIiriXfi FAITHFUL DESCRIPTION OF THE AFFECTING AND INTERESTING SCENES OF WHICH THE AUTHOR WAS AN EYE-WITNESS. BY EUGENE LAEAUME, Captain of tlte Royal Geographical Engineers; Ex-Officer of the Ordnance of Prim.*- Eugene ; Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, suul of the Iron Crown, Author of an Abridged;jSstory of the Republic of Venice. TRASRT.ATEI) FROTT THH HtEKCIl. HARTFORD, PUBLISHED BY SILAS ANDRUS iSD BY E. PECK & CO., BOCHKSTEK, isir.. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection PREFACE, I RELATE that which I have seen. A witness of the greatest disasters that ever befel a great nation ; a spectator and an actor in every scene of this sad and memorable expedition. I present the reader with no fictitious narrative, artfully arranged, and heightened by false coloring. The events that pas­ sed around me were daily recorded, and I now sim­ ply endeavor to communicate the impressions which I then felt. It was by the light of the burning of Moscow, that I described the sack of that unfortu­ nate city. It was on the borders of the Beresina, that I traced the recital of that fatal passage. The plans of the battles of the Moskwa, and Malo- Jaroslavitz, which accompany this work, were taken on the spot, at the command of prince Eugene. It is scarcely possible to conceive what diffi­ culties I had to surmount in the progress of my work. Compelled, like my companions in arms, to struggle with the most urgent necessities, pierc­ ed by the cold, tormented with hunger, a prey to Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection IV PREFACE. every aecumulatedliorrorf": uncertain at the rising of the sun; whether: V-should see its setting rays, and doubtful: at: night; whether I should witness the m6rifo^'s';da^ij^ :every thought seemed con­ centrated'in the ardent desire to live, that I might perpetuate the memory of what I had seen. Ani­ mated by this irresistible feeling, I retraced, each night, the events of the day, sitting beside a wretched fire, under a temperature of ten or twelve degrees, and surrounded by the dying and the dead. The knife with which I had carved my scanty morsel of horse flesh, was employed in cut­ ting a raven's quill, and a little gun-powder, mixed with some melted snow, in the hollow of my hand, served me for ink and ink-stand* 1 have composed this work without personal ill will, and without prejudice ; yet I must confess, that during the recital of the most horrible enter­ prise, which the genius of ambition had ever con­ ceived, I could often scarcely restrain my indigna­ tion against the author of all our misfortunes. But the respect with which his former well earned reputation had inspired me, and the memory of the glorious victories that I had witnessed, and in the honours of which I had shared, compelled me to speak of that conqueror with moderation and reserve. Having constantly before me the mournful image of a crowd of warriors, doomed to perish miserably in remote deserts, I was sustained by the hope of rendering my feeble homage, to a courage acknowl- Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection PREFACE. V edged even by their enemies ; and to exploits the more heroic, since their object was no longer the safety of their country, nor even of their lives, but the preservation of their\fame. I shall account my­ self most happy, if my reader is convinced, that in the midst of so many disasters, our brave soldiers were always worthy of themselves ; that they stain­ ed not their ancient renown, and that, always form­ idable to their enemies, they wqre conquered by the elements alone. Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection 1»l» - «•« I *1 "•:* I »*{*> dpif* »&/«# v^ ^mtt sPi$^R j***w <n» «M ftJifMW* '.(«P o*m ifo*# <** M,. r fi pd) h«n inn**.** .n^-n*^* <*«|i ,(W„,.„ iafte unfit tu'iruMnvxi' nMw^^jdFwwr fe«*#i^»4 «Mp£ *J* sum «rtw taamj * %%i homf^^ypmmjgm '•4m $ms{sL,fWib*»iU-| *'!**» fl«f>n« «wwftwli^|.« tv*i*fl a*« M vw«i **«•«< «*& ^i^;**MiiA*i ',l»t,fe,0*i Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection A CIRCUMSTANTIAL NARRATIVE OF THE CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA. PART I....BOOK 1. WILNA. IF we were to look into our annals for the most brilliant period of our glory, we should find that France had never been more powerful than after the treaty of Tilsit. Spain, under the name of an ally, was, in reality, one of our provinces, whence we were supplied with money, men, and ships. Italy, wisely governed by a prince who was at once a skilful warrior and an able politician, being sub­ ject to, and obeying the same laws, as the French empire, enjoyed an equal share of prosperity with ourselves; and saw with pride that her legions, transported to the Baltic, had given proofs of the noblest courage, in order to procure for France, a Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection 8 WILA'A. peace as glorious as it was beneficial. Germany, alarmed by our colossal aggrandizement, far from opposing our successes, endeavoured merely to in­ sure her own existence, by a submission to all the great changes which subverted the German consti­ tution. England, the only constant opponent of an ambition so fatal to mankind, saw, in the prosperity of Napoleon, a new cause of fear to herself, and of terror to the continent. Jealous of the honour of circumscribing that boundless ambition, she anx­ iously represented to the sovereigns of the north, how much it was their interest to arrest the rapidly increasing progress of our excessive power. Vain efforts ! these sovereigns had-fiot yet acquired the requisite degree of conviction, that they must all be united to crush the giant who wished to devour them. Napoleon's passion for invasion, suggested to him on his return from Tilsit, the idea of declaring an unjust war on Spain, which not only tarnished his laurels, but afterwards furnished his enemies with the long wished for occasion of subverting his power. A weak prince nominally presided over that un­ happy peninsula; but a perfidious minister, treache­ rous towards his country, and ungrateful to bis king and benefactor, in reality governed the state with a partial hand ; and by the most abject deference to the evilcounsels of foreigners, degraded the nation, whose rights he seemed to have usurped only to drag it in­ to long and shameful servitude. The credulity of the father, and the moderation of the son, alike promo­ ted his criminal views. He incensed them against Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection WILNA 9 each other, and parties were soon formed. The art­ ful Napoleon profited by the discord, which was thus prdduced, to excite a civil war, and to kindle that flame which was necessary for the execution of the most unjust and abominable project, a project which presents in the history of a civilized nation, an example of atrocious ingratitude, unparalleled even amongst barbarians. Spain, notwithstanding its proximity to France, was little known ; and the character of its inhabit­ ants was still less understood. This fatal ignorance misled the conqueror,' and induced him to attempt an unfortunate invasion; the miseries of which will, however, be easily forgotten, when we consider that, like the campaign of Moscow, it was the primitive cause of those events which led tp the happy de­ liverance of the world. It does not enter into my plan to recapitulate an ill fated aggression, which made enemies of two na­ tions equally generous, and who, always united by a reciprocal esteem, would yet have retained the most friendly sentiments, had it not been for the perfidious politics of the tyrant. The struggle which ensued, memorable for its obstinacy and its vicissi­ tudes, will furnish the historian with an interesting subject, and the military man with ample matter for meditation. I shall only briefly observe, that Prov­ idence appears to have excited in Napoleon the idea of these two unjust wars, to convince the Spaniards and Russians that an alliance with the vicious" will 2 Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection 10 WILNA. unavoidably prove fatal. This instrument, which the Almighty had employed to accomplish his pur­ pose, was now precipitated from error to error, to show that tyranny is a crime against the common and inalienable rights of man, and that it may, at all times, be successfully opposed by those who march united under the banners of justice. Whilst Napoleon vainly endeavored to chase the English from the peninsula, a new storm was gath­ ering in Germany. Austria, whom he had so often humbled, could not tamely submit to the disgrace­ ful yoke under which her defeats had placed her. The resistance of the Spaniards, and the powerful armaments of England, offered her a favourable opportunity for again having recourse to arms, and endeavoring to recover the territories which she had lost, and that political preponderance of which she had always been so jealous.
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