We set off the next day; and reached the great road from Moscow by Mojaisk.

The cold, the privations, were extreme; the hour of disasters had come on us! We found our wounded lying dead on the road, and the Russians waiting for us at Viasma. At the sight of these columns the soldiers collected a remnant of energy, fell upon them, and defeated them. But we were harassed by troops animated by abundance, and by hope of plunder. At every step we were obliged to halt, and fight; we slackened our march over a wasted country, which we should have gone over with the greatest rapidity. Cold, hunger, the Cossacks,—every scourge was let loose upon us. The army was sinking under the weight of its misfortunes; the road was strewed with the dead: our sufferings exceeded imagination. How many sick and wounded generals did I meet in this terrible retreat, whom I believed that I should never again see! Of this number was General Friant, whose wounds were still open; General Durosnel, who travelled with a nervous fever, almost continually delirious; and the brave General Belliard, who was wounded by a gun-shot, in the battle of the Moskowa. He had formerly penetrated nearly into Ethiopia; he had carried our colours farther than ever the Roman eagles had flown; he must have found a difference between the two climates.

We marched for Smolensko: it was to have been the end of our miseries; we were to have found there food and clothing, wherewith to defend ourselves from the pests which were consuming us: we were not more than eighteen leagues from it. Napoleon lodged in one of those little block-houses that had been constructed to receive detachments from fifty to sixty men, employed to protect the correspondence and communications. I was on duty: some time had elapsed since any despatches had arrived; at last one came. I delivered it to the Emperor. He opened the parcel with haste; a Moniteur was uppermost. He ran it over; the first article which caught his eye was the enterprise of Mallet; he had not read the despatches, he did not know what it was. "What is this! what! plots! conspiracies!" He opened his letters, they contained the detail of the attempt: he was thunderstruck. That police which knew every thing, which guessed at every thing, had suffered itself to be taken by surprise. Napoleon could not recover himself. "Savary in La Force! The minister of the police arrested, carried to a prison, and there shut up!" I went to transmit some orders. The event had already transpired. Surprise, astonishment were depicted on every countenance; and some reflections were made which till then had been withheld. The carelessness of the agents of the police was manifest. They are only alert because there is a general belief in their vigilance. Napoleon was not astonished that these wretches who frequent saloons and taverns, who obstruct every thing, who insinuate themselves every where, should not have found out the plot; but he could not conceive the weakness of Rovigo. "Why did he not rather let them kill him, than be arrested! Doucet and Hullin showed much more courage."

We proceeded on our journey; we crossed the Borysthenes. The Emperor fixed his head-quarters in a country-house that had been laid waste, twelve leagues from Smolensko, and one and a half behind the river. The banks, on the water-side, are very step in this part; they were covered with hoar frost. Napoleon was afraid that the artillery would not be able to get over them; he charged me to join Ney, who commanded the rear-guard, to remain with him till every thing was out of danger. I found the Marshal engaged in giving chase to the Cossacks: I communicated to him the orders that I had to transmit to him, and we retired to a block-house which was to support the passage, and where the head-quarters were fixed.

A part of the infantry crossed over, the remainder bivouacked in a little wood, on the bank where we were. We were engaged all night in getting the cannon across. The last was on the ascent, when the enemy appeared. They attacked immediately, with considerable masses; we received their charges without being shaken; but our end was attained: we had no object in fighting; we retreated. We left behind a few hundreds of men, whom wounds and exhaustion had put out of a condition to follow. Poor creatures! they complained, they groaned, and called for death; it was a heart-rending sight; but what could we do. Every one was bending under the burthen of life, and supported it with difficulty; no one had sufficient strength to share it with others. The Russians pursued us, they wished to pass by main force. Ney received them with that vigour, that impetuosity, which he always displayed in his attacks: they were repulsed, and the bridge became a prey to the flames. The firing ceased, we withdrew during the night. I joined Napoleon at Smolensko the day after the next in the evening. He knew that a ball had grazed my head, and that another had killed my horse; he observed to me: "You may be at ease now, you will not be killed this campaign."—"I hope that your Majesty may not be deceived; but you often gave the same assurance to poor Lannes, who nevertheless was killed."—"No! no! you will not be killed."—"I believe it; but I may be still frozen to death." The Emperor bestowed eulogiums on Marshal Ney. "What a man! what a soldier! what a vigorous fellow!" He only talked thus by exclamations; he could not find words to express the admiration which this intrepid Marshal inspired him with. The Prince de NeuchÂtel entered; the conversation again turned on Mallet and Savary. Napoleon was merry at the expense of the Duke; his surprise, his arrest, were the subject of a thousand pleasantries; of which the burthen always was, that he should rather have been killed, than have allowed himself to be taken.