men, by almost
superhuman exertions, checked Bagawout, who was ready to penetrate our
left flank, and restored the fortunes of the day; while Claparede and
Latour-Maubourg cleared the defile of Spaskapli, two leagues in the rear
of our line, which was already occupied by Platoff. Two Russian generals
were killed, and others wounded: the loss of the enemy was considerable,
but the advantage of the attack, our cannon, our position, the victory,
in short, was theirs.

As for Murat, he had no longer an advanced guard. The armistice had
destroyed half the remnant of his cavalry. This engagement had finished
it; the survivors, emaciated with hunger, were so few as scarcely to
furnish a charge. Thus had the war in earnest recommenced; and it was
now the 18th of October.

At these tidings Napoleon recovered the fire of his youth. A thousand
orders, general and particular, all differing, yet all in unison and all
necessary, burst at once from his impetuous genius. Night had not yet
arrived, and the whole army was already in motion. The emperor himself
quitted Moscow before daylight on the 19th of October. "Let us march
upon Kaluga," said he, "and woe be to those whom I meet with by the
way!"

Sec. 10. Departure from Moscow; the first battle.

On the southern side of Moscow, near one of its gates, is an extensive
suburb, divided by two high roads; both run to Kaluga: that on the right
is the more ancient, the other is quite new. It was on the first that
Kutusoff had just beaten Murat. By the same road Napoleon left Moscow on
the 19th of October, announcing to his officers his intention to return
to the frontiers of Poland. One of them, Rapp, observed that "it was
late, and that winter might overtake them by the way." The emperor
replied "that he had been obliged to allow time to the soldiers to
recruit themselves, and to the wounded collected at Moscow, and at other
places, to move off towards Smolensk." Then, pointing to a still serene
sky, he asked "if in that brilliant sun they did not recognize his
star." But this appeal to his fortune, and the sinister expression of
his looks, belied the security which he affected.

Napoleon entered Moscow with ninety thousand fighting men, and twenty
thousand sick and wounded, and quitted it with more than a hundred
thousand combatants. He left there with only twelve hundred sick. His
stay, therefore, notwithstanding daily losses, had served to rest his
infantry, to complete his sto