y had lately been, were terrified at what they
conceived to be a fatal presage. To them it appeared that those
combustible vapours were collecting over our heads, and that they would
descend upon the territory we approached, in order to prevent us from
entering it.

It is quite certain, that the storm in question was as great as the
enterprise in which we were engaged. During several hours, its black and
heavy masses accumulated and hung upon the whole army: from right to
left, over a space of fifty leagues, it was completely threatened by its
lightnings, and overwhelmed by its torrents: the roads and fields were
inundated; the insupportable heat of the atmosphere was suddenly changed
to a disagreeable chillness. Ten thousand horses perished on the march,
and more especially in the bivouacs which followed. A large quantity of
equipages remained abandoned on the sands; and great numbers of men
subsequently died.

A convent served to shelter the emperor against the first fury of the
tempest. From hence he shortly departed for Kowno, where the greatest
disorder prevailed. The claps of thunder were no longer noticed; those
menacing reports, which still murmured over our heads, appeared
forgotten. For, though this common phenomenon of the season might have
shaken the firmness of some few minds, with the majority the time of
omens had passed away. A scepticism, ingenious on the part of some,
thoughtless or coarse on the part of others, earth-born passions and
imperious wants, have diverted the souls of men from that heaven whence
they are derived, and to which they should return. The army, therefore,
recognized nothing but a natural and unseasonable accident in this
disaster; and far from interpreting it as the voice of reprobation
against so great an aggression, for which, moreover, it was not
responsible, found in it nothing but a motive of indignation against
fortune or the skies, which whether by chance, or otherwise, offered it
so terrible a presage.

That very day, a particular calamity was added to this general disaster.
At Kowno, Napoleon was exasperated, because the bridge over the Vilia
had been thrown down by the cossacks, and opposed the passage of
Oudinot. He affected to despise it, like every thing else that opposed
him, and ordered a squadron of his Polish guard to swim the river. These
fine fellows threw themselves into it without hesitation. At first, they
proceeded in good order, and when out of their dep