w commit nothing but faults?"

Meanwhile Marshal Oudinot, who was already marching towards Minsk,
totally ignorant of what had happened, halted on the 21st. In the middle
of the night General Brownkowski arrived to announce to him his own
defeat, as well as that of General Dombrowski;[175] that Borizoff was
taken, and that the Russians were following close at his heels.

In fact, every disaster which Napoleon could anticipate had occurred;
the melancholy conformity, therefore, of his situation with that of the
Swedish conqueror, threw his mind into such a state of agitation that
his health became still more seriously affected than it had been at
Malo-jaroslavetz. Among the expressions he made use of, loud enough to
be overheard, was this: "See what happens when we heap faults on
faults!"

His orders, however, displayed decision. Oudinot had just sent to inform
him of his determination to overthrow Lambert: this he approved of, and
he also urged him to make himself master of a passage across the
Berezina, either above or below Borizoff. He was desirous that by the
24th the place for this passage should be fixed on and the preparations
begun, and that he should be apprised of it, in order to make his march
correspond. Far from thinking of making his escape through the midst of
these three hostile armies, his only idea now was to beat Tchitchakoff
and retake Minsk.

It is true that, eight hours afterward, in a second letter to the Duke
of Reggio, he resigned himself to crossing the Berezina near Veselowo,
and by retreating directly upon Wilna, by Vileika, to avoid the Russian
admiral.

But on the 24th he learned that the passage could only be attempted near
Studzianka; that at that spot the river was only fifty-four fathoms
wide, and six feet deep; and that they would land on the opposite side
in a marsh, under the fire of a commanding position strongly occupied by
the enemy.

Sec. 21. March through the forest of Minsk; passage of the Berezina.

All hope of passing between the Russian armies was thus lost: driven by
the armies of Kutusoff and Wittgenstein upon the Berezina, there was no
alternative but to cross that river in the teeth of the army of
Tchitchakoff, which lined its banks.

After having made his preparations, Napoleon plunged into the gloomy and
immense forest of Minsk, in which there was only here and there an open
spot surrounding some wretched hamlet or single habitation. The noise of
Wittgenste