24th. I propose having 2016 carts, 4 battalions totalling 2424 carriages, 4 battalions of ox teams making 1224 carts, one battalion of ox teams for the kingdom of Italy with 306 carts; grand total 17 battalions with close on 6000 vehicles, and carrying 5500 to 6000 tons, equal to one million rations of flour, or enough to supply an army of 200,000 men for two months.

February 18th. (To Marshal Marmont.) You are superior to the enemy, and yet instead of taking the initiative you accept the defensive. You are constantly moving your troops and fatiguing them. That is not the art of war. The capture of Ciudad Rodrigo is a check for you.

19th. (To Marshal Bessières.) Start the 3d regiment of the grenadiers of the Guard to-morrow, the 20th, for Metz, without going through Paris. The regiment will take its guns and wagons with it. Order the Polish light horse to Compiègne to-morrow. Keep the secret, so that the Poles shall not know where they are going. Take good care to make these movements at night and that the troops do not know their destination.

21st. Order for the Prince of Eckmühl to begin his movement immediately.

24th. (To the Emperor Alexander.) After the arrival of the courier sent off by Count Lauriston on the 6th of this month, I decided to have a talk with Colonel Tschernitchef on the unfortunate events of the last fifteen months. It lies entirely with Your Majesty to settle everything. I hope Your Majesty will never doubt my anxiety to display every proof of my highest regard.

March 28th. (To Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy.) Get everything ready for a start, as in three or four days I will send for you to come to Paris, and it may be that from Paris you will proceed directly to Glogau, and from Glogau to your army corps. I must not leave you in ignorance of the fact that I concluded an alliance with Austria several months ago, and that she will make common cause with me, and furnish me with a contingent of 40,000 men.

April 23d. (To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) We are getting closer to war, and must increase in firmness and vigilance. Here are my instructions: It is in conformity with the spirit of the treaty that no Prussian general or officer should command in Berlin; there must be no Prussian troops in the city; it must be under the control of a French general. The best way of insuring the tranquillity of Prussia is to leave her incapable of making a single movement.

The Duke of Belluno must always show the greatest respect for the King and the Prussian government; this may be carried to the point of affectation on all ceremonial and similar occasions.

May 4th. (To Berthier.) On Tuesday you may hand over to the Minister of War all business relating to the armies in Spain, so that you can be ready to start on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.

21st, Dresden:
I arrived here day before yesterday with the Empress, and the Emperor and Empress of Austria. I expect to remain several days. My whole army is on the Vistula. As yet there are no new developments. Hostilities have not yet begun.

26th. I may possibly open war operations on the 6th of June, without being at war, however, as I shall have six or eight days' marching in the territory of Prussia and the Grand Duchy.

June 5th, Thorn:
(To General Clarke.) It would seem that people in Paris view the army as the end of all things, and try to find excuses for not joining. Recall all officers on leave and send them to the front.
 

The fortress of Thorn appears to be in a state of anarchy.

The Guard is concentrating here. I expect to parade it to-morrow, to settle some questions of administration, and to push on to Marienberg and Dantzig.

6th. (To Jerome.) I believe I have already told you how best to open the campaign: first, make a show of entering Volhynia, and hold the enemy there as much as possible while I outmarch them on their extreme right, and gain twelve or fifteen days' march in the direction of St. Petersburg. I shall cross the Niemen and take Vilna, which is the first objective of the campaign.

When our manœuvre is unmasked, the enemy will decide on one of the two following alternatives: they will either retreat into the interior so as to concentrate for battle, or they will take the offensive.

8th, Dantzig:
(To Josephine.) It will always be with the greatest interest that I hear from you, dear friend. I hope the waters will do you good, and I look forward with pleasure to seeing you on your return. I will attend to all the matters you refer to.

10th, Dantzig:
To-morrow I start for Koenigsberg, which I shall reach at 2 A. M. on the 12th.

13th, Koenigsberg:
(To Berthier.) I send you a letter of to-day's date from Commissary Deschamps which reveals the had situation of the 2d corps for provisions. It is entirely the fault at the Duke of Reggio and of the commissary. Tell the Marshal that it is most important he should have his supplies assured.

15th. I am inclined to think the first shot will be fired on the 22d or 23d. To-morrow I shall carry my headquarters to Wehlau.

16th. (To Berthier.) Write to the Duke of Elchingen that his corps should not leave the route marked out for it, and that it is carrying devastation everywhere.

17th, Insterburg:
(To Eugène.) Stop your advance until further orders for above all things you must have provisions. Let know what amount of bread you had on the evening of the 19th. I shall decide then whether to order you forward. In this country bread is the chief thing.

(To Davout.) I assume you have supplies for twenty-five days.

22d, Imperial headquarters, Wilkowyski:
(Proclamation to the Grand Army.) Soldiers! The second Polish war has begun; the first ended at Friedland and Tilsit. At Tilsit Russia pledged an eternal alliance with France, and war on England! To-day her oath is broken. She refuses all explanations of her strange conduct unless the French eagles recross the Rhine. Fate draws Russia on; her destiny must be accomplished! Does she then think us degenerate? Are we no longer the soldiers of Austerlitz? She places us between dishonour and war; can our choice be in doubt? Forward, then, across the Niemen, and let us carry the war on to her own soil!
 

The Emperor orders the marshals and generals in command of army corps, of divisions and of brigades, and colonels, to take all measures for maintaining the strictest discipline and for preventing the disorders that are beginning to ravage the country.

24th, Kovno:
(To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) Tell the King of Naples that until he reaches the steppes he had better not encumber himself with too much cavalry; he must use the cuirassiers as little as possible; he only has to brush aside the enemy's light troops, and to try for news in the direction of Vilna.

29th, Vilna:
We entered Vilna yesterday; the enemy had evacuated the town after burning the bridge and immense quantities of stores.

30th. We are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our transport trains from Tilsit.

(To Marshal Davout.) Herewith is a report of General Bordesoulle, which shows the movement of Doktourof's corps on Ochmiana; try to discover the direction of the Russians.

July 1st. (To the Emperor Alexander.) After having for eighteen months constantly refused to give me an explanation, Your Majesty has at last, through your Minister, placed a summons before me to evacuate Prussia as a preliminary to an understanding. A few days later this Minister asked for his passports, and three times repeated that demand. From that moment I was in a state of war with Your Majesty, and by that step Your Majesty was taking from Prussia that very independence which it appeared that Your Majesty wished to guarantee, while pointing out to me the Caudine Forks. I pity the wickedness of those who could give Your Majesty such advice. But however it may be, never shall Russia use such language to France; it might possibly be accepted in the mouth of the Empress Catherine and addressed to the last of the Kings of Poland.

War has therefore begun between us. God himself cannot undo what is done; but I shall always be ready to listen to proposals for peace, and when Your Majesty really attempts to cut loose from the influence of men who are the enemies of your family, of your glory, and of that of your Empire, you will always find me of the same mind and of equal friendship.

3d. The whole of the Guard is at Vilna. The Viceroy's corps is here.

4th. (To Berthier.) Write to the Duke of Elchingen that the condition of his corps is alarming. Tell him to send out detachments of cavalry, commanded by staff officers, to bring the stragglers up; many of them are committing crimes, and will finish by getting picked up by the Cossacks.

7th. The Guard must march. But I shall not feel easy until the Guard and headquarters have secured twenty days' provisions, as they come last and must set an example of discipline.

8th. We lose so many horses in this country that with all the resources of France and Germany it will be very difficult to keep up the present strength of our mounted troops.

10th. (To Berthier.) Send a brigade of gendarmes to Voronovo. They will arrest the looters of the 33d, who are devastating that country horribly.

14th. Deputies of the Polish Confederation, I have listened to your address with interest. The love of country is the highest virtue of civilized man. My position entails the harmonizing of many interests and the carrying out of many duties. Had I lived in the days of the first, the second, or the third partition of Poland, I would have armed my whole people to support you. I feel affection for your nation; during sixteen years your soldiers have fought by my side on the fields of Italy as on those of Spain.

If your efforts are united you may hope to compel your enemies to recognise your rights.

15th. The enemy have attacked Sebastiani's cavalry. The King of Naples is taking position at Ikazni with the 2d, 3d, and part of the 1st corps, and all his cavalry.

19th, Gloubokoie:
I have just got fresh news from Drissa. The enemy have abandoned their fortified camp. Their movements seem very uncertain.

22d. The King of Naples is marching on Polotsk and has overrun the whole of the right bank of the Dwina with his cavalry.

(To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) Reply to General Jomini that it is absurd to say there is no bread when we have 25 tons of flour a day. Instead of complaining let him be up at four in the morning, proceed to the mills and to the baking ovens in person, and have 30,000 rations of bread baked every day; if he goes to sleep, or if he whines, he will get nothing.

We shall soon have a battle that will eat up an enormous amount of powder and supplies: how are we to replenish our stores? Must we send empty wagons back to Vilna? That would mean a month or six weeks before we could get them to the front again.

24th, Kamen:
The enemy appear to be at Vitebsk; we are marching there.

25th, Biechenkovitchi:
The Prince of Eckmühl was in action on the 23d at Mohilef; I have no details. Bagration attempted to force his way through but was thrown back.

26th. I am starting immediately. If the enemy hold their positions we shall have a battle day after to-morrow.

29th, Vitebsk:
The enemy are retreating on all sides; we cannot catch them up.

August 1st. General Guyon's light cavalry brigade has pushed as far as Nevel, and found nothing; the Viceroy has also pushed out detachments as far as Velije.

2d. Nothing new.

6th. I propose marching straight on the enemy, probably by the left bank of the Dnieper, capturing Smolensk and bringing the Russian army to battle if it chooses to remain in its present position.

7th. (To Barbier.) The Emperor would like a few amusing books. If there are any good new novels, or old ones he has not read, or some interesting memoirs, you might send them on, for we have spare time here that is not easy to kill.

10th. My information is that the enemy have completely withdrawn; we have pushed out parties for several leagues and have not seen them.

15th, bivouac at Boyarintsova:
I am marching on Smolensk. We may have a great battle to-morrow. The advance guard was engaged yesterday, and the 27th Russian division was smashed.

18th, Smolensk:
I am just in, the heat is oppressive and there is much dust, which is rather tiring. The whole of the enemy's army was here; it was under orders to fight, but didn't dare to. We had to force our way into Smolensk.

The Russian army, which is very discouraged and dissatisfied, is retreating in the direction of Moscow.

23d. (To the Countess de Montesquiou.) I have received the King (of Rome's) portrait, and think it a good likeness. I have pleasure in taking this opportunity to express all my satisfaction for the good care that you take of him.

(To Marshal Davout.) On hearing from you to-night, I shall move the Guard forward so that if the enemy will wait for us we can give battle.

26th, Dorogobouje:
After throwing up earthworks, batteries, and redoubts, and after announcing their intention of holding them, the enemy, as usual, have shown the white feather. We are now in this town, which is sizable, that is to say has eight or ten churches. The country is good, and people say it remains fertile all the way to Moscow. The heat is excessive, the weather splendid. Reports state the enemy are resolved to make a stand at Viazma.

29th, Viazma:
We have reached Viazma. The enemy continue their retreat on Moscow.

September 1st, Velitchevo.
The enemy are across the main road in front of the King of Naples and our advance guard.

2d, Ghjiatsk:
(To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) My Cousin: Order the King of Naples, the Prince of Eckmühl, the Viceroy, Prince Poniatowski, the Duke of Elchingen, to take a day's rest, to get in their stragglers, to have a roll-call at three in the afternoon, and to let me know precisely the number of men they can place in line.

The staff is useless; not one of the officers does his duty properly, not the provost-general, nor the quartermaster.

You have my order for the baggage. See to it that the first baggage wagons I order burnt are not those of the general staff.

3d. (To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) Write to officers commanding army corps that we lose many men daily because there is no system in the supply service; it is urgently necessary that they should take measures in concert with their colonels to put an end to a state of things that threatens the army with destruction. Every day the enemy pick up several hundred prisoners. During the twenty years in which I have commanded French armies, I have never seen the commissariat service so hopelessly bad; there is no one; the people sent out here have no ability and no experience.

7th, on the heights of Borodino:
Soldiers, here at last is the battle that you have so long expected! Victory now depends on your efforts, and is essential. It will give us abundance, good winter quarters, and a speedy return to our country. Do what you did at Austerlitz, at Friedland, at Vitebsk, at Smolensk, and let posterity point with pride to your conduct on this day: let people say of you: "He was at that great battle fought under the walls of Moscow!"

8th. Battle of Borodino.
The battle of Borodino is the most glorious, most difficult, and most creditable operation of war carried out by the Gauls, of which either ancient or modern history makes mention. Dauntless heroes, - Murat, Ney, Poniatowski, - it is to you the glory is due! What great, what splendid deeds History might place on record! How our intrepid cuirassiers charged and sabred the gunners, on their guns; the heroic devotion of Montbrun, of Caulaincourt, who found death in the midst of their glory; our gunners, in the open and without cover, firing against a heavier artillery protected by earthworks; and our brave infantry, at the most critical moment, not in need of their general's steadying voice, but calling out to him.: "It's all right! your soldiers have sworn they will conquer, and they will!"

The Russian army of Austerlitz would not have been driven from the field of Borodino.

9th, Mojaisk:
(To Francis I, Emperor of Austria.) I take the earliest opportunity of informing Your Majesty of the fortunate result of the battle fought on the 7th of September at the village of Borodino. Knowing the personal interest Your Majesty is good enough to take in me, I wished to announce the event myself; and to add that my health is perfect. I estimate the enemy's loss at 40,000 or 50,000; they had 120,000 to 130,000 men in line. I lost 8000 or 10,000 killed and wounded. I captured 60 guns and a large number of prisoners.

10th. We are in great need of French muskets; we want them at Vilna, at Minsk, at Smolensk, and at the abbey near the battlefield, to arm the stragglers and the wounded who have lost theirs.

18th, Borisovka:
We had marched but a few miles from Mojaisk when we were astonished to find ourselves, notwithstanding our proximity to one of the great capitals of the world, in the midst of a sandy and absolutely desert waste.

The army crossed the place with difficulty. Our horses were harassed and worn out with hunger and thirst, for water was as scarce as forage. The men suffered very much.

14th, Moscow:
We arrived at Moscow in the evening.

15th. The fire of Moscow begins.

18th. We are following the enemy, who have withdrawn beyond the Volga. We have found immense quantities of valuables in Moscow, which was a beautiful city. Russia will not recover from her loss in two hundred years. Without exaggeration it must amount to a thousand millions of francs.

20th. (To the Emperor Alexander.) Monsieur mon Frère: The beautiful and splendid city of Moscow no longer exists. Rostopchin has burnt it down. Four hundred incendiaries have been caught in the act; all declared they were starting fires by order of the Governor and of the Chief of Police: they were shot. The fire seems to have died out at last; three quarters of the houses have gone, a quarter remains. Such conduct is atrocious and aimless. Was the object to deprive us of a few resources? Well, those resources were in cellars that the fire did not reach. Even then the destruction of one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the work of centuries, for so slight an object, is inconceivable. If I supposed that such things were being done under the orders of Your Majesty, I should not write this letter; but I hold it impossible that any one with the high principles of Your Majesty, such heart, such right feelings, could have authorized these excesses, unworthy as they are of a great sovereign and a great nation.

I have conducted the war against Your Majesty with no animosity. A line written to me before or after the last battle would have stopped my march, and I would gladly have foregone the advantage of entering Moscow, If anything of our old friendship remains, Your Majesty will take this letter in good part. In any case I shall deserve thanks for rendering this account of what is happening in Moscow.
 

Despite the poet's art, all the imaginary details of the burning of Troy can never equal the reality of that of Moscow. The city was built of wood, the wind was very strong, all the fire engines had been removed. It was literally an ocean of fire!

23d. I have just levied a conscription of 140,000 men in France, and of 30,000 in Italy. The result of the battle of Borodino and our entry into Moscow must not reduce our energy.

October 4th. The enemy's movement towards Kief shows clearly that they are expecting reinforcements from the army of Moldavia. To march against them would be to operate in the line of their reserves, and without any supporting positions. Moscow, now that it is burned down and deserted by its inhabitants, is of no use to us; it cannot even accommodate our sick and wounded.

If the army is to fall back on Smolensk, is it wise to follow up the enemy and to run the risk, while executing a movement that would look like a retreat, of losing several thousand men in the face of an army that knows the country, that has many spies, and a large force of light cavalry?

If we should decide to fall back so as to take up winter quarters in Poland, is it the best course to retire directly by the same road by which we came?

5th. (To Berthier.) I find it hard to believe that we need forty-five days to evacuate the wounded from Mojaisk; for I calculate that, even if we do nothing, in those forty-five days part of them will die, part of them will get well; we should therefore only have to evacuate those that remained, and experience shows that three months after a battle only one-sixth of the wounded remain. Reckoning on 6000, there would therefore be at the end of three months only 1000 to move. My purpose is to keep control of my line of operations and to evacuate the wounded.

6th. The Russian army of Moldavia, amounting to three divisions, crossed the Dnieper early in September. General Koutousoff's army, which was beaten at Borodino, is now near Kaluga, which suggests that it is to be reinforced from Moldavia by way of Kief.

14th. (To Berthier.) Send orders to the Duke of Abrantes not to let through any artillery convoys for Moscow after to-morrow the 15th, and to turn them all back to Smolensk.

15th. (Decree.) There shall be at our Imperial Conservatory eighteen pupils preparing for the Théâtre Français, nine of each sex. They may attend courses in music, but they are more especially to study the art of declamation, and shall diligently follow the courses of the professors, according to the branch they intend to pursue.

For this purpose there shall be, in addition to the professors, two instructors in the dramatic art, who shall teach the students every day at such hours as may be appointed. There shall also be a professor of grammar, and of history and mythology applied to the dramatic art, who shall instruct especially those pupils who are intended for the Théâtre Français.

18th. (To Berthier.) Inform the King of Naples that the whole army is moving. The Duke of Istria with the cavalry of the Guard will march four leagues before camping; I shall start in person to-night.
 

The Guard will bivouac in square around the Emperor's quarters.

19th. General Sebastiani, placed about one league to the left of the King of Naples, was caught napping by a horde of Cossacks, at five in the morning of the 18th. He lost six guns at his bivouac. The enemy's infantry then marched on the rear of the King of Naples, to cut him off. The King of Naples, at the head of the carabiniers and cuirassiers, broke them and cut them up.

The army is in motion; to-morrow we shall decide to blow up the Kremlin and to march by Kaluga or by Viazma, so as to arrive before severe weather sets in, and get into winter quarters. All is going well.
 

Well, Rapp, we are retiring on Poland; I shall find good winter quarters; I hope Alexander will make peace.

(Rapp: The natives say we shall have a severe winter.)

Bah! bah! with your natives! Look! See how fine it is!

20th, Troitzkoie:
(To Berthier.) Order the Duke of Treviso to start the invalids of the corps of the Prince of Eckmühl, of the Viceroy, of the dismounted cavalry, and of the Young Guard at daybreak to-morrow. At two in the morning he will set fire to the Kremlin. When the Kremlin is well alight in several places the Duke of Treviso will move by the Mojaisk road. At four o'clock the artillery officer detailed for this service will blow up the Kremlin. On his way he will set fire to all abandoned wagons, will have as many bodies as possible buried, and will smash all the muskets he may find.

11st, Krasnoie:
The Duke of Elchingen will command the rearguard.

23d, Borovsk:
The natives are amazed at the weather of the last three weeks. We are having the sunshine and lovely days of the trip to Fontainebleau. The army is in a very rich country that is comparable with the finest of France and Germany.

26th. (To Berthier.) Write to the Duke of Abrantes to inform him that the Russian army had marched on Malo-Yaroslavetz; that its advance guard reached it on one bank at the same moment as ours did on the other; that the city lay on the enemy's side and on a considerable height, so that an engagement followed which lasted the whole of the 24th; that while our advance guard was engaged the whole Russian army came up; that on our side the Prince of Eckmühl's troops reinforced those of the Viceroy; that we remained in possession of the battlefield. Write further that on the 25th the army was deployed; the Russian army faced us about one league behind Malo-Yaroslavetz, but the necessity of moving the wounded who are with the army made the Emperor decide to march towards Mojaisk.

30th, Ghjatsk:
The general headquarters train will move forward as far as it can go. The division of the Old Guard will remain here all day to rally its stragglers.

November 1st, Viazma:
The 8th corps will reach Dorogobouje to-morrow, where it will find headquarters. We shall be in great need of provisions at Dorogobouje.

3d, Sembvo:
The weather continues very fine, which is most fortunate.

(To Maret.) You must buy all the horses you can get, and above all buy them at once.

5th, Dorogobouje:
Order for the 5th corps to march to-morrow behind the Viceroy, and to press on for Smolensk.

6th. (To Berthier.) Write to the Prince of Eckmühl that if, as I fear, at nine o'clock this morning his corps has no supplies, he must move ten or twelve leagues from Smolensk on the Yelvia road. The country is said to be good and full of provisions. This move will be all the more useful as there is no forage at Smolensk.

7th, Mikhailovka:

(To Berthier.) Write the following letter to the Duke of Belluno, not ciphered:
I have shown the Emperor your letter of the 2d. His Majesty's orders are that you should concentrate your six divisions, attack the enemy at once, drive them beyond the Dwina and reoccupy Polotsk!

Ciphered:
This movement is of urgent importance. In a few days your line of communication may be flooded with Cossacks: the army and the Emperor will reach Smolensk to-morrow, but worn out by a continuous march of 120 leagues. Take the offensive; the safety of the army depends on it; every day lost is a disaster. The cavalry is dismounted, the cold has killed our horses. March, that is the order of the Emperor, and of necessity.

9th, Smolensk:
We must employ to-morrow in getting the troops together, so that on the following day the corps can be formed up to start on their march.

11th. Order for the corps of General Baraguey d'Hilliers to be disbanded.

14th. I am having the fortifications of Smolensk blown up, and shall then start for Orcha.

(To Berthier.) Write to the Duke of Elchingen that it is necessary for him to continue in command of the rearguard.

18th, Doubrovna:
I shall reach Orcha to-morrow.

(To Maret.) Since my last letter to you our situation has become worse. Ice and frost of near zero (Fahr.) have killed off nearly all our horses, say 30,000. We have been compelled to burn nearly 300 pieces of artillery, and an immense quantity of transport wagons. The cold has greatly increased the number of stragglers. The Cossacks have turned to account our absolute want of cavalry and of artillery to harass us and cut our communications so that I am most anxious about Marshal Ney, who stayed behind with 3000 men to blow up Smolensk.

19th. My intention is to move on Minsk, and, after getting possession of that point, to make for the Berezina.

20th, Orcha:
We have found here about 60 guns that are quite useless to us. My health is excellent. I have no news from Marshal Ney; I have given him up.

I have two hundred millions in my cellars; I would give all of it for Ney!

Baran:
My anxiety about Ney has passed; he has just joined us.

21st. We have no maps.

23d, Bobr:
(To Berthier.) Send an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Reggio to tell him that I am impatient to hear from him in the course of to-night that he controls a passage over the Berezina and that he is throwing bridges.

24th. (To Berthier.) Order General Zayonchek to transfer 200 horses, and more if he can, to General Sorbier. If this draft is not made, when I pass to-morrow I shall order every carriage and transport wagon of his corps to be burnt.
 

General Dombrowski, who held the bridge of Borisof, allowed his position to be forced on the 21st. The Duke of Reggio arrived on the 23d, recaptured the city, and defeated the two Russian divisions that were there. But the bridge is burnt; we hope to build another to-day. The weather is cold. I am anxious to get news from Vilna and from Paris.

25th, Lochnitsa:
The Duke of Belluno will reach Kostritsa about noon, and will be ready to cross the river to-night.

General Eblé has arrived with a number of engineers.

27th, Studienka:
I have just crossed the Berezina; but the river is full of floating ice and our bridges are therefore very insecure. The army that had been facing Schwarzenberg tried to prevent our passage, and is to-night concentrated on the right bank opposite Borisof. The cold is very severe; the army is excessively fatigued.

29th, Zanivki:
(To Maret.) I have received your letter of the 25th in which there is not a word of French news, nor of Spanish. This makes two weeks during which I have heard nothing and am in the dark about everything.

Yesterday we were sharply engaged with Admiral Tchichagof and Wittgenstein. We defeated the first-named, who attacked us on the right bank on the Borisof road. The latter, who attempted to carry our bridges over the Berezina, was contained. The Duke of Reggio was wounded, and many other generals.

The army is numerous but in a frightful state of disbandment. We need two weeks to reform the men into regiments, and where can we get two weeks? Cold and privation have broken up the army. We shall soon reach Vilna; can we stay there? Yes, if we can hold on for eight days; but if we are attacked during the first eight days, it is doubtful whether we can stay there. Food! food! food! Otherwise there are no horrors which this undisciplined mob is not capable of wreaking on the city.

Possibly the army cannot be rallied short of the Niemen.

In this state of things I may decide that my presence in Paris is necessary for the safety of France, of the Empire, of the army itself. Give me your opinion. I am anxious that there should be no agents of foreign powers at Vilna. The army is not good to look at now. As to those who are in the city, they must be got out of the way; you might say to them that you are going to Warsaw, and that I am too, and convey them there, starting at a fixed hour.

30th Plechtchennisky:
If 100,000 rations of bread are not awaiting us at Vilna, I am sorry for the city. An abundance of supplies is the only thing that can bring back discipline. The Governor can meet me to let me know the position of things. The army is horribly worn out. This is the 45th day's march.

December 2d, Selitché:
M. de Montesquiou will start immediately for Paris, and will hand the inclosed letter to the Empress. He will announce everywhere the arrival of 10,000 Russian prisoners and the victory at the Berezina, where we captured 6000 Russian prisoners, 8 flags, and 19 guns.

3d, Molodetchna:
(Bulletin.) Until the 6th of November the weather was perfect and the movement of the army was carried out with complete success. On the 7th the cold set in; from that moment we lost several hundred horses at each night's bivouac. On reaching Smolensk we had already lost an immense quantity of cavalry and artillery horses. The cold became more intense, and between the 14th and 16th the thermometer fell to zero (Fahr.) The roads were covered with ice, the horses were dying every night, not in hundreds but in thousands, especially the French and German horses. More than 30,000 horses died in a few days; our cavalry was dismounted, our artillery and transport had no teams. Without cavalry we could not risk a battle; we were compelled to march so as not to be forced into a battle, which we wished to avoid because of our shortness of ammunition.

The enemy, marching in the footsteps of the frightful calamity that had overtaken the French army, tried to profit by it. All our columns were surrounded by Cossacks who, like the Arabs in the desert, picked up every cart or wagon that lagged behind. This contemptible cavalry, which only knows how to shout and couldn't ride down so much as a company of light infantry, became formidable from the force of circumstances!

But the enemy held the passage of the Berezina, a river 80 yards wide; the water was full of floating ice, and the banks are marshy for a distance of 600 yards, which made it a difficult obstacle to overcome. The enemy had placed four divisions at four points where they supposed the French army would attempt to pass. After having deceived the enemy by various manœuvres on the 25th, the Emperor marched on the village of Studienka at break of day on the 26th, and, in the face of a division of the enemy, had two bridges thrown across the river. The army was crossing all through the 26th and the 27th.

It may be concluded from what has been said that the army needs to reëstablish its discipline, to be reëquipped, to remount its cavalry, its artillery, and its transport.

During all these events the Emperor constantly marched in the midst of the Guard, the cavalry commanded by the Duke of Istria, the infantry by the Duke of Dantzig. Our cavalry was so reduced that it became necessary to form all the officers who were still mounted into four companies of 150 men each. Generals acted as captains; and colonels as corporals. This Sacred Squadron, commanded by General Grouchy, and under the orders of the King of Naples, kept the closest watch over the Emperor.

His Majesty's health has never been better.

4th. There seems to be nothing of much importance about Spain in the Moniteur. The defence of the citadel of Burgos is a fine feat of arms. Lord Wellington has drawn back to operate against the army of Andalusia. If we lose a battle there, affairs in that country would become critical.

(To Maret.) If you cannot make the necessary commissariat arrangements at Vilna, we must prepare to evacuate everything, and first and foremost the military chest. We have three or four millions here. I am informed that there is twice as much at Vilna; have all removed to Dantzig.

5th, Binitsa:
(To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) The inclosed decree is to be published in orders two or three days after my departure. Circulate the report that I am proceeding to Warsaw with the 7th and the Austrian corps. Five or six days later, as circumstances may dictate, the King of Naples can issue an order informing the army that I have had to proceed to Paris and have left him in command.

Smorgoni:
(To Prince Eugène.) I have received your letter. Do your duty and trust me. I am always the same, and know best what is good for you. Never doubt my paternal affection.

44th, Dresden:
(To Francis I, Emperor of Austria.) I am stopping for a moment at Dresden to write to Your Majesty and to give you my news. In spite of severe hardships my health has never been better. I started on the 4th from Lithuania, after the battle of the Berezina, leaving the Grand Army under the command of the King of Naples, the Prince of Neuchâtel still acting as chief of staff. In four days I shall be in Paris; I shall stay there through the winter to attend to my most pressing affairs.

I have every confidence in the sentiments of Your Majesty. Our alliance is a permanent arrangement so advantageous to our countries that I feel certain Your Majesty will carry out all the engagements entered into at Dresden to assure the triumph of the common cause and to lead us promptly to a suitable peace.

18th, Paris:
(To the Prince of Neuchâtel.) I note with regret that you did not stop seven or eight days at Vilna, so as to take advantage of the clothing stores and rally the army a little.

19th. I am working incessantly at reorganising all my resources. I have already got an army of 40,000 men in the neighbourhood of Berlin and the Oder.

26th. (To General Clarke.) We must assume that the whole of the artillery belonging to the cavalry and to the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 6th corps is lost. If necessary I will set the naval arsenals at work on artillery material; that would be better than requisitions. One or two ships more or less are of no weight one way or the other, but the slightest deficiency of artillery might be a very serious matter.

29th. (To Pope Pius VII.) Holy Father: I hasten to send one of the officers of my household to express press all my gratification at what the bishop of Nantes has told me of the satisfactory condition of Your Holiness' health; for I had been for a moment alarmed this summer on hearing that Your Holiness had been seriously indisposed. The new residence of Your Holiness will give us an opportunity for meeting, and I have it much at heart to declare that, notwithstanding all that has passed, I have always maintained the same sentiments of friendship for Your Holiness. Perhaps we can now reach a settlement of all those questions that divide State and Church. I, on my side, am altogether disposed that way, so that it will depend entirely on Your Holiness.

30th. (To Berthier.) I have received your dispatch of the 21st, also your memorandum: actual losses; I shall consider it most anxiously. This year's conscription is splendid: I had about 25,000 or 30,000 men on parade Sunday.

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