him to take the command from the Duke of
Abrantes:--he would dismiss him from the army! he had lost his
marshal's staff without retrieve! this blunder would probably block the
road to Moscow against them; that to him, Rapp, he should intrust the
Westphalians; that he would speak to them in their own language, and he
would know how to make them fight. But Rapp refused the place of his
old companion in arms; he appeased the emperor, whose anger always
subsided quickly, as soon as it had vented itself in words.

But it was not merely on his left that the enemy had a narrow escape
from being conquered; on his right he had run a still greater risk.
Morand, one of Davoust's generals, had been despatched from that side
through the forests; he marched along woody heights, and was, from the
commencement of the action, on the flank of the Russians. A few paces
more, and he would have debouched in the rear of their right. His sudden
appearance would have infallibly decided the victory, and rendered it
complete; but Napoleon, unacquainted with the localities, ordered him to
be recalled to the spot where Davoust and himself had stopped.

In the army, we could not help asking ourselves, why the emperor, in
making three officers, independent of one another, combine for the same
object, had not made a point of being on the spot, to give their
movements the unity indispensable, and without him impossible. He, on
the contrary, had returned to Smolensk, either from fatigue, or chiefly
from not expecting so serious an affair; or finally, because, from the
necessity of attending to every thing at once, he could not be in time,
or completely any where. In fact, the business of his empire and of
Europe, having been suspended by the preceding days of activity, had
accumulated. It was necessary to clear out his portfolios, and to give
circulation to both civil and political affairs, which began to clog; it
was, besides, urgent and glorious to date from Smolensk.

When, therefore, Borelli, second in command of Murat's staff, came to
inform him of the battle of Valoutina, he hesitated about receiving him;
and so deeply was he engaged in the business before him, that a minister
had to interfere to procure that officer admittance. The report of this
officer agitated Napoleon. "What say you?" he exclaimed: "what! you are
not enough! the enemy shows 60,000 men! Then it is a battle!" and he
began storming at the disobedience and inactivity of Junot.