the spark of a great conflagration. On the
same day, at the same hour, the whole of Russia had resumed the
offensive. The general plan of the Russians was at once developed. The
inspection of the map became truly alarming.

On the 18th of October, at the very moment that the cannon of Kutusoff
were destroying Napoleon's illusions of glory and of peace,
Wittgenstein, at one hundred leagues in the rear of his left wing, had
thrown himself upon Polotsk; Tchitchakof, behind his right, and two
hundred leagues farther off, had taken advantage of his superiority over
Schwartzenberg; and both of them, one descending from the north, and the
other ascending from the south, were endeavouring to unite their forces
at Borizof.

This was the most difficult passage in our retreat, and both these
hostile armies were already close to it, at the time that Napoleon was
at the distance of twelve days' journey, with the winter, famine, and
the grand Russian army between them.

At Smolensk it was only suspected that Minsk was in danger; the officers
who were present at the loss of Polotsk gave the following details
respecting it:--

Ever since the battle of the 18th of August, which raised him to the
dignity of marshal, Saint Cyr had remained on the Russian bank of the
Duena, in possession of Polotsk, and of an entrenched camp in front of
its walls. This camp showed how easy it would have been for the whole
army to have taken up its winter quarters on the frontiers of Lithuania.
Its barracks, constructed by our soldiers, were more spacious than the
houses of the Russian peasantry, and equally warm: they were beautiful
military villages, properly entrenched, and equally protected from the
winter and from the enemy.

For two months the two armies carried on merely a war of partizans. With
the French its object was to extend themselves through the country in
search of provisions; on the part of the Russians, to strip them of what
they found. A war of this sort was entirely in favour of the Russians,
as our people, being ignorant of the country as well as of the language,
even of the names of the places where they attempted to enter, were
incessantly betrayed by the inhabitants, and even by their guides.

In consequence of these checks, and of hunger, and disease, the strength
of Saint Cyr's army was diminished one half, while that of Wittgenstein
had been more than doubled by the arrival of recruits. By the middle of
October, the Russian