The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

5;0 LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
destroying the invader and his army. Even Bou- On the 17th of November, Ney, last of the intourlin, a friendly critic, where the reputation of the vading army, left Smolensk at the head of seven or
old Russian general is concerned, regrets he had eight thousand fighting men, leaving behind 5,000
not taken the bold course of placing his army across sick and wounded, and dragging along with them
the direct line of Bonaparte's retreat, when the the remaining stragglers whomr) the cannon of Platotf,
French, overcome at once by physical suffering and who entered the town immediately on Ney's deparmnoral depression, must, even supposing them equal ture, had compelled to resume their march. They
in numbers, have been extremely inferior to their advanced witholt much inter.ruption till they reachopponents. Upon the whole, Koutousoff seems to ed the field of battle of Krasnoi, where they saw
have acted towards Napoleon and the Grand Army, all the relics of a bloody action, and heaps of' dead,
as the Greenland fishers do to the whale, whom they from whose dress and appealance they could reare careful not to approach in his dying agonies, cognize the different corps in which they had served
when pain, furIy, and a sense of revenge, render the in Napoleon's army, though there vwas no one to tell
last struggles of the leviathan peculiarly dangerous. the fate of the survivors. They had not proceeded
The battle, or cannonade of Krasnoi, was con- much farther beyond this fatal spot, when they apcluded by the appearance of Davoust and his co- proached the banks of tlhe Losmina, where all had
lumn, surrounded and followed by a large body of been prepared at leisure for their reception. MiloCossacks, fiom whom he endeavoured to extri- radovitch lay here at the head of a great force;
cate himself by a precipitate march. WVhen they and a thick mist, which covered the ground, occacame in sight of Krasnoi, most of the soldiers, who sioned Ney's column to advance under the Russian
had been horribly harassed since they left Smo- batteries before being aware of the danger.
le:slk, broke their ranks, and hurried across the A single Russian officer appeared, and invited
fields to escape the Russians, and gain the cover of Ney to capitulate. " A marshal of France never
the town, in the streets of which their officers rallied surrenders," answered that intrepid general. The
them with difficulty. In this miserable condition officer retired, and the Russian batteries opened a
was the third corps of the army, according to its fire of grape-shot, at the distance of only two hunlatest division, when it was reunited to the main dred and fifty yards, while at the concussion the
body. Upon inquiring after Ney and the rear- mist arose, and showed the devoted co'umn of
guard, Napoleon had the mortification to learn that French, %vithi a ravine in front manned by their eneNey was probably still at Smolensk,. or, if upon mies, subjected on every side to a fire of artillery,
the road, that he must be surrounded with diffi- while the hills wvere black with the Russian troops
culties out of which it was impossible he could ex- placed to support their giuns. Far fionm losing heart
tricate himself. in so perilous a situation, the F,ench geards, with
In the meantime, Napoleon learned that the rare intrepidity, forced their f-sy througlih the ravine
Russians were acting with more vigour, and that of the Losmina, and rushed w ith tile utniost fury on
Prince Galitzin was about to occupy Krasnoi; and the Russian batteries. Ttey were, howve Per, charged
further, that if he did not advance with all dispatch in their turn with the bayonet, and such as had
on Liady, he might probably find it in possession of crossed the stream sltffered dreadfuilly. In spite of
the enemy. Gladly as Napoleon would have kept this failure, Ney persevered in the attempt to cut
the field, in order to protect the approach of Ney, his passage by main force throagh this superior
he now saw that such perseverance must necessa- body of Russians, who lay opposed to himn in fiont.
rily expose himself and the remnant of his army to Again the French advanced upon the cannon, losthe greatest peril, without, in all human probabi- ing whole ranks, which were supplied by their
lity, being of use to his marshal. Under this conl- comrades as fast as they fell. T'he assault was
viction, he put himself at the head of the Old once more unsuccessfil, and Ney, seeing that tile
Guard, to march on as fast as possible, and secure general fate of his columni was no longer dot:btfil,
Liady, and with it the passage of the Dnieper, endeavoured at least to save a part from the wreck.
from which he might otlherwise have been excluded. Having selected about fotr thousand of the best
Davoust and Mortier were left to defend Krasnoi, men, he separated himself from the rest, and set
if practicable, till night fall, and then to follow forth under shelter of the night, moving to the rear,
under cover of the darkness. The retreat of Napo- as if about to return to Smolensk. This, indeed,
leon seemed to remove the charm, which had chill- was the only road open to him, but he did not pursue
ed the Russians and warmed the French. A very it long; for as soon as he reached a rivulet, which
fierce assault was made on the second and third had the appearance of being one of the feeders of
divisions, and Mortier and Davoust, having both the Dnieper, he adopted it for his,gide to the
suffered greatly, made their escape to Liady with banks of that river, which he reached in safety
much difficulty. The French left on this fatal field near the village of Syrokovenia. Here he f;bund a
fiorty-five pieces of cannon, upwards of six thousand single place in the river fiozen over, though the ice
prisoners, with a great number of slain, and as was so thin that it bent beneath the steps of the
mainy wounded, who were necessarily left to the soldiers.
mercy of the Russians. To complete their losses, Three hours were permitted, to allow stragglers
Ney's division of the army was, by the direction of from the column during the night-march to rally at
the other columns upon Liady, left with the whole this place, should their good fortune enable them to
Russian army betwixt himself and Napoleon. The find it. These three hours Ney spent in profound
retreat of that celebrated soldier must next be sleep, lying on the banks of the river, and wrapped
narrated. up in his cloak. When the stipulated time had