Chapter XXII

Destiny soon made it impossible that Vera Demidof should meet again either her cousin D'Estreville or Louise Dupré, for both presently left Moscow with their regiments in order to engage the armies of Kootoozof without the city walls, for the doings of the Russian Commander-in-Chief rendered Napoleon anxious and disquieted.

Moscow was becoming uninhabitable, for food was scarce and the Russian forces were so strategically disposed as to cut off the city from communication with the grain- and meat-producing provinces. Moreover, though the weather was still moderately warm, the frost would begin in a month or so, and under wintry conditions life in this latitude would become unpleasant if not impossible.

Napoleon's state of mind at this time, as evidenced by his appearance and conduct, has been described by a Russian eye-witness as unnerved and anxious. He walked with a quick, uneven tread, having abandoned his usual calm and regular movements. He looked constantly about him, fidgetted continually, frowned, tweaked his nose and stood to think, dragged his gloves on and off again, or took one out of his pocket and rolled it into a ball and, still in deep thought, put it into the other pocket, repeating the process many times. Meanwhile the generals standing behind him stood like statues, not daring to move. He grew irritable and performed many acts of needless and wanton cruelty. He issued numerous "bulletins" to his army, full of elusive promises and rose-coloured announcements of his "intentions". He made foolish speeches upon the subject of Peter the Great, courted the Tartars, but failed to convince them, issued proclamations to the Russian people, pointing out the advantages of rebellion, to all of which the sturdy Russians remained blind, and up to the last moment concealed his intention of abandoning Moscow.

This abandonment of the old city took place, as all the world knows, in October, and was preceded by an abortive attempt to blow up the Kremlin. The attempt was entrusted to Marshal Mortier, who--whether designedly or by miscalculation--entirely failed in his object, though he used nearly one hundred tons of explosives in mining the palaces and cathedrals and outer walls of the historic fortress.

The French soldiers indulged in a final and universal campaign of outrage and robbery just before quitting the city, and this time Vera was obliged to abandon her house, which was pillaged like the rest, and to fly for her life. Sasha Maximof had before this been recalled to his duties with his regiment, and had left Vera with a sore heart, having failed to persuade her to leave Moscow and go to St. Petersburg where she would find most of her friends and relatives.

"I shall wait to see the end of the drama," Vera said, "unless I am menaced with serious danger. So far, I have run but little risk."

The behaviour of the French troops at the end of their month in Moscow seems to have been almost more ruffianly than at the beginning. Houses and property of all sorts were ruthlessly destroyed, both within the city and in the suburbs. Occasionally they would come upon notices nailed to the outer gates of some boyar's residence, setting forth that rather than abandon his property to be desecrated by French hands the owner had himself destroyed every atom that he had been unable to remove. Here is an example: a letter affixed to the gate of his palace by no less a person than Rostopchin, Governor of Moscow, who thus addressed those who approached his home, intent upon looting and destruction:--

"For eight years I found my pleasure in embellishing this
country retreat. I lived here in perfect happiness, within the
bosom of my family; and those around me largely partook of my
felicity. But you approach and lo! the peasantry of this domain,
to the number of 1,720 human beings, have fled far away. As for my
house, it is burnt to the ground! We abandon all, we consume all,
that neither ourselves nor our habitations may be polluted by your
presence.

"Frenchmen, I left at the mercy of your avarice two of my
houses in Moscow full of furniture and valuables to the amount of
half a million of roubles. Here, you will find nothing but ashes.

"(Signed) FEDOR, COUNT ROSTOPCHIN."

No sooner did the news reach the Russian Commander-in-Chief, old Kootoozof, that Moscow had been abandoned by the invaders, than he issued the following address to his army and the Empire generally:--

"ORDER ISSUED TO THE ARMIES, 31ST OCTOBER.

"The following Declaration is given for the Instruction of all
the Troops under my Command:--

"At the moment in which the enemy entered Moscow he beheld
the destruction of those preposterous hopes by which he had been
flattered; he expected to find there Plenty and Peace, and on
the contrary he saw himself devoid of every necessary of life.
Harassed by the fatigue of continued marches; exhausted for want
of provisions; wearied and tormented by ever active soldiers who
intercept his slender reinforcements; losing, without the honour
of battle, thousands of his troops, cut off by our provincial
detachments, he found no prospect before him but the vengeance
of an armed nation, threatening annihilation to the whole of his
army. In every Russian he beheld a hero, equally disdainful and
abhorrent of his deceitful promises; in every state of the empire
he met an additional and insurmountable rampart opposed to his
strongest efforts. After sustaining incalculable losses by the
attacks of our brave troops, he recognised at last the madness
of his expectations, that the foundations of the empire would be
shaken by his occupation of Moscow. Nothing remained for him but a
precipitate flight; the resolution was no sooner taken than it was
executed; he has departed, abandoning nearly the whole of his sick
to the mercy of an outraged people, and leaving Moscow on the 11th
of this month completely evacuated.

"The horrible excesses which he committed while in that city
are already well known, and have left an inexhaustible sentiment
of vengeance in the depths of every Russian heart; but I have
to add, that his impotent rage exercised itself in the savage
attempt to destroy a part of the Kremlin, where, however, by a
signal interposition of Divine Providence, the sacred temples and
cathedrals have been saved.

"Let us then hasten to pursue this impious enemy, while other
Russian armies, once more occupying Lithuania, act in concert with
us for his destruction! Already do we behold him in full flight,
abandoning his baggage, burning his war carriages, and reluctantly
separating himself from those treasures, which his profane hands
had torn from the very altars of God. Already starvation and famine
threaten Napoleon with disaster; behind him arise the murmurs
of his troops like the roar of threatening waters. While these
appalling sounds attend the retreat of the French, in the ears
of the Russians resounds the voice of their magnanimous monarch.
Listen, soldiers! while he thus addresses you! 'Extinguish the
flames of Moscow in the blood of our invaders!' Russians, let us
obey this solemn command! Our outraged country, appeased by this
just vengeance, will then retire satisfied from the field of war,
and behind the line of her extensive frontiers, will take her
august station between Peace and Glory!

"Russian warriors! God is our Leader!

(Signed) MARSHAL PRINCE GOLENISHCHEFF KOOTOOZOF,

"_General-in-Chief of all the Armies_."