There was a good deal of laughing at the blunder, especially when the marauders were seen coming back, some with quarters of meat stuck on top of bayonets, others with half-plucked fowls or hams to make your mouth water. I was outside of the tent, and I shall never forget the first movement of the sentinel when the alarm was given. He lowered the pan of his musket, to see if the priming was all right, shook the hammer by striking it with his wrist, and then shouldered his weapon again, saying coolly: "Well! let them come; we shall see them." I told this story to the Emperor, who was much amused, and repeated it to Prince Berthier. The Emperor made this brave soldier drink a glass of his Chambertin wine.

The Duc de Dantzic was the first to enter Moscow. The Emperor did not come till afterwards. He made his entry during the night. Never was night more gloomy; there was something truly frightful in that silent march of the army, suspended from time to time by messages which came from within the city, and which appeared to be of the most sinister description. No Muscovite figures could be distinguished but those of some mendicants covered with rags, who watched the army defiling past in stupid astonishment. Some of them seemed to be asking alms. Our soldiers flung them bread and some pieces of money. I could not avoid a somewhat painful reflection on these wretches, the only beings whose condition is not varied by great political upheavals, the only ones without affections, without national sympathies.

As we advanced into the streets of the faubourgs, we looked at the windows of the houses on either side, and were astonished not to perceive a single human face. One or two lights appeared in the panes of some houses; they were quickly extinguished; and these traces of life, so suddenly effaced, produced in us a feeling of dismay. The Emperor halted at the entrance of the faubourg Dorogomilow, and was lodged, not in an inn, as some persons have said, but in a house so dirty and miserable that the next morning we found in his bed and clothing a sort of vermin very common in Russia. We had them also, to our great disgust. The Emperor could not sleep during the night he spent there. As usual, I lay in his chamber, and, notwithstanding the precaution I had taken of burning vinegar and aloe wood, the odor was so disagreeable that His Majesty was calling to me every minute: "Are you asleep, Constant?" "No, Sire." — "My son, burn some vinegar; I cannot endure this frightful odor; it is torturing; I cannot sleep." I would do my best; a moment afterwards, when the fumes of the vinegar had evaporated, it was necessary to burn sugar or aloe wood again.

It was two o'clock in the morning when word was brought to the Emperor that fire had broken out in the city. It came from some French people established in the country, and an officer of the Russian police, who confirmed this news and entered into details too precise to permit the Emperor to doubt the truth of it. Still he persisted in not believing it. "That is impossible. Do you believe that, Constant? Go and find out whether it is true." And, thereupon, he threw himself down on his bed again, seeking to rest a little; then he would call me back to repeat the same questions.

The Emperor passed the night in extreme agitation. When day arrived, he knew all; he sent for Marshal Mortier and threatened both him and the young guard. Mortier, for all response, showed him some houses covered with iron whose roofing was still perfectly intact. But the Emperor made him notice the black smoke that was issuing from them, clenched his hands, and kicked the wretched floor in his bedroom.

By six o'clock in the morning we were at the Kremlin. Napoleon occupied the apartment of the czars. It opened on a rather vast esplanade from which one descended by a great stone stairway. On the same esplanade might be seen the church containing the tombs of the former sovereigns, the Senate House, the barracks, the arsenal, and a fine bell-tower, whose cross dominates the city. It is the gilded cross of Ivan the Great. The Emperor gave a glance of satisfaction at the beautiful view spread out before him; for not a sign of conflagration was yet manifest in any part of the buildings which surround the Kremlin. This palace is of both Gothic and modern architecture, and the blending of styles gives it a most singular aspect. It is in this vast edifice that the old dynasties of the Romanoffs and Ruriks lived and died. It is the same palace which was so often blood-stained by the intrigues of a ferocious court at that epoch when the poniard usually settled all domestic quarrels. His Majesty was not to find there even a few hours of tranquil slumber.

In effect, the Emperor, somewhat reassured by the reports of Marshal Mortier, had written to the Emperor Alexander some message of peace. The letter was to be carried by a Russian with a flag of truce, when the Emperor, who was walking back and forth in his apartment, saw from his windows an immense glow at some distance from the palace. It was the fire, which had broken out again with greater force than ever, and the north wind was driving the flames in the direction of the Kremlin. It was midnight. The alarm was given by two officers who occupied that wing of the building which was nearest the centre of the conflagration. Some wooden houses painted in different colors, devoured in a few moments, had already fallen in, some warehouses of oil, brandy, and other combustible materials, darted forth flames of a livid blue, which communicated themselves to other buildings in the vicinity with lightning-like rapidity. Sparks, a rain of enormous embers, fell on the roofs of the Kremlin. We trembled at the thought that a single one of them, happening to fall on an ammunition wagon, might produce an explosion which would blow up the Kremlin; for, by some inconceivable negligence, a whole park of artillery had been established underneath the Emperor's windows.

Very soon the most incredible reports reached the Emperor. Russians themselves had been seen feeding the flames and throwing inflammable materials into those parts of the houses which were still untouched. Those Russians who did not mingle with the incendiaries crossed their arms and contemplated the disaster with an impassibility of which no idea can be formed. They neither clapped their hands nor shouted with delight, but otherwise they were like men witnessing a brilliant display of fireworks. The Emperor did not hesitate to believe that the whole thing had been planned by the enemy.

His Majesty came down from his apartment by the great stairway of the north, made famous by the massacre of the strelitz. The fire had already made such enormous headway on this side that the external doors were half consumed. The horses would not pass them; they reared, and it was with great difficulty that they could be made to cross the thresholds. The Emperor's gray greatcoat was burned in several places, and so was his hair. A minute later we were marching on hot firebrands.

And yet we were not out of danger even then. We had to get out of the inflamed building rubbish which blocked our passage. Several sorties were attempted, but without success; the hot breath of the flame blew into our faces and drove us back in horrible confusion. At last a postern was discovered which opened on the Moskowa; through this the Emperor, his officers, and his guard succeeded in escaping from the Kremlin. But it was only to fall back again into narrow streets, where the fire, shut up as in a furnace, redoubled its intensity; where the nearness of the roofs brought the flames together above our heads in heated domes which shut out from us the sight of heaven. It was time to leave this dangerous passage; one sole exit presented itself; this was a little, crooked street, encumbered with rubbish of every sort, pieces of iron detached from the roofs, and burning timbers. There was a moment of hesitation amongst us. Some offered to cover the Emperor from head to foot with their cloaks and carry him on their arms through this terrible passage. The Emperor refused, and settled the question by plunging, on foot, into the middle of the blazing rubbish. Two or three vigorous strides put him in a place of safety.

Then took place that touching scene between the Emperor and Prince d'Eckmühl, who, wounded at the Moskowa, had had himself brought back into the flames to save the Emperor or die with him. As soon as the Marshal caught a glimpse of him, issuing calmly from so great a peril, this good and tender soul made an immense effort and ran to throw himself into his arms. His Majesty pressed him to his heart as if to thank him for having given him an emotion so sweet in one of those moments when danger usually makes men selfish and insensitive.

But, at last, even the air, crossed by all these flames, grew so hot as to be unbreathable. The atmosphere became burning; the window-panes of the palace broke; we could no longer remain in the apartments. The Emperor was as if stricken with immobility. His face was red and bathed in burning sweat. The King of Naples, Prince Eugène, and Prince de Neufchâtel entreated him to leave the palace; but the only answer he made was by gestures of impatience. At this instant shouts proceeding from the most northerly wing of the palace announced that a part of the walls had just fallen in, and that the fire was gaining ground with inconceivable rapidity. The position being no longer tenable, the Emperor said it was time to depart, and he went to inhabit the imperial palace of Pétrowski.

On arriving at Pétrowski, the Emperor commissioned M. de Narbonne to go and examine a palace which, I think, was that of Catherine. It was a fine edifice, and the apartments were completely furnished. M. de Narbonne came to acquaint the Emperor with this fact; but hardly was it known that he meant to make it his habitation when fire broke out in every part of it, in a short time it was consumed.

Such was the ravenous fury of these wretched hirelings to burn everything, that the boats, of which there were very many on the Moskowa, laden with grain, hay, and other agricultural products, were consumed and sank in the water with a frightful crackling. Soldiers of the Russian police had been seen bricking up the fire with lances smeared with tar. In the stoves of several houses shells had been placed, which exploded and killed a number of our soldiers. In the streets, filthy and hideous women and drunken men ran to the burning houses, and seized flaming brands, which they meant to carry elsewhere; and our soldiers were many a time obliged to beat their hands down with sabre-thrusts to make them loose their hold. The Emperor had such incendiaries as were taken in the act hanged on posts in one of the city squares. The populace prostrated themselves at the base of these gibbets and kissed the feet of those executed, praying, meanwhile, and blessing themselves with the sign of the cross. There are few examples of such fanaticism.

Here is a fact of which I was a witness, and which proves that the inferior executors of this vast conspiracy were evidently acting in accordance with superior instructions. A man, covered with a torn and dirty sheepskin, and wearing a wretched cap, went boldly up the steps that conducted to the Kremlin. But these filthy vestments did not conceal a distinguished bearing, and, at a moment when the surveillance was most rigid, the audacious beggar appeared suspicious. He was arrested and taken to the guard-house, where he was questioned by the officer of the post. As he offered some resistance, probably considering the proceeding a trifle arbitrary, the sentinel put his hand on the man's breast to force him to enter. This rather abrupt movement pushed aside the sheepskin that covered him, and decorations were visible. His wretched vestments were at once pulled off, and he was recognized as a Russian officer. He had kindling matches on his person, which he was distributing to the rabble. Subjected to an interrogatory, he avowed that he had a special mission to accelerate the burning of the Kremlin. Several questions were asked, tending to wrest new avowals from him. He replied with perfect calmness. He was put in prison. I think he was punished as an incendiary, but I am not certain. Whenever one of these wretches was brought into the Emperor's presence, he would shrug his shoulders and, with a gesture of contempt and anger, order him to be taken out of his sight. The grenadiers sometimes did justice on them with their bayonets. It is not difficult to understand such an exasperation on the part of soldiers driven in this cowardly and odious manner from a resting-place won by the sword.

Pétrowski was a handsome house belonging to one of Alexander's chamberlains. A man was found hidden in the chamber His Majesty was to occupy, but as he had no weapons, he was released, on the supposition that fear alone had led him to this habitation. The Emperor arrived during the night at his new residence. He waited there in mortal anxiety for the fire to be extinguished at the Kremlin, so that he might go back thither. The villa of a chamberlain was not his place. In fact, thanks to the active and courageous measures taken by a battalion of the guard, the Kremlin was preserved from the flames, and the Emperor gave the signal for departure.

To re-enter Moscow it was necessary to traverse the camp, or rather the different camps of the army. We marched over a cold and muddy ground, amidst fields where everything had been ruined. The aspect of the camp was most singular, and I experienced a feeling of bitter sadness on beholding our soldiers constrained to bivouac at the gates of a vast and beautiful city of which they were the masters, but the fire still more than they. In appointing Marshal Mortier governor of Moscow, the Emperor had said to him: "Above all, no pillage, you will answer to me for that with your head." The order had been rigidly obeyed, up to the hour of the conflagration; but when it was plain that the fire was going to devour everything, and that it was useless to abandon to flames things of which the soldiers could make use, then liberty was given them to draw largely from this vast storehouse of all the luxury of the North.

Hence nothing could be at once more droll or more melancholy than to see the costliest furniture lying about in the wretched board hovels which were the only tents of our soldiers; silken sofas, the richest of Siberian furs, cashmere shawls, and silver dishes; and what messes in those princely vessels! a wretchedly bad black broth and morsels of still bleeding horseflesh. Good munition bread was then worth three times as much as all these riches. Later, there was no horseflesh to be had.

On re-entering Moscow, the wind brought us the insupportable odor of burning houses; hot cinders flew into our mouths and eyes, and very often we had barely time to get out of the way of great pillars ruined by fire, which crumbled with a noise henceforth without an echo on this calcined soil. Moscow was not so deserted as we had believed. As fear is the first impression produced by conquest, all the remaining inhabitants had concealed themselves in cellars or in the immense vaults which underlie the Kremlin. The conflagration chased them like wolves from these lairs, and when we returned to the city, nearly twenty thousand inhabitants were wandering among the ruins, with stupor depicted on faces blackened by smoke and drawn by hunger; for they had not expected, having lain down at night under the roofs of men, to rise in the morning in an open field. We saw some of them whom need was urging to the last extremities; vegetables that remained in the gardens they were devouring raw; and several poor wretches were noticed throwing themselves repeatedly into the Moskowa, to fish out of it the grain which Rostopchine had had flung in. Numbers perished in the water after unsuccessful efforts. Such was the scene of misery the Emperor was obliged to pass through in order to reach the Kremlin.

The apartment which he occupied was very large and well lighted, but almost unfurnished. He had his iron bedstead, as in all the châteaux where he slept while in campaign. His windows looked on the Moskowa. One could get a good view of the fire which was still burning in various quarters of the city, and which was extinguished at one point only to reappear in another. His Majesty said to me one evening, in profound affliction: "Those wretches will not leave one stone upon another." I do not think there can be in any other region so many crows as there were at Moscow. The Emperor was really put out of patience by their presence, and he said to me: "But, my God, will they follow us everywhere?"

There were some concerts in the Emperor's apartments during his stay in Moscow. Napoleon was very gloomy. Parlor music no longer made any impression on this disordered soul. He knew but one which always moved him, that of camps before and after battles.

The day after the Emperor's arrival, MM. Ed—— and V—— came to the Kremlin with the intention of seeing His Majesty. After waiting for him in vain and not seeing him, they were exchanging regrets for having failed in their attempt, when they suddenly heard a blind open above their heads. They raised their eyes and recognized the Emperor, who said to them; "Gentlemen, who are you?" "Sire, we are Frenchmen." He invited them to come up to his apartment, and continued his questions: "What is the nature of the occupations which have settled you in Moscow?" "We are tutors in the houses of Russian nobles, who have been driven away by the arrival of Your Majesty's forces. We could not resist their entreaties that we should not abandon their estates, and we are now alone in their palaces." The Emperor inquired if there were other Frenchmen in Moscow, and begged them to fetch them to him. He then proposed that they should charge themselves with the maintenance of order, and appointed as their chief M. M——, whom he decorated with a tricolored scarf, and enjoined them to prevent the French soldiers from pillaging churches, to shoot down malefactors, and to be rigorous against the galley slaves, who had been set at liberty by Rostopchine on condition that they should set fire to the city.

A part of these Frenchmen followed our army in its retreat, foreseeing that a longer stay in Moscow would expose them to annoyances. Those who did not imitate their example were condemned to sweep the streets.

The Emperor Alexander informed of Rostopchine's conduct toward them, rebuked the governor roundly and ordered him to restore their liberty at once to these unfortunate Frenchmen.