hour after midnight the Russian general set fire to the
town, and abandoned it, having lost 12,000 men in the defence. At a
council of war which followed the capture of the place, Ney strongly
recommended that the Grand Army should establish itself upon the banks
of the Dwina and the Dnieper, and occupying Smolensk and its environs
with a vanguard, there await the Russian attack. His advice was
overruled, however, and he was forced to follow the retreating foe
upon the road to Moscow. But Russia was thoroughly dissatisfied with
the way in which the war had so far been carried on, and Barclay de
Tolly was at this juncture superseded by Kutusof, who, having
intrenched himself strongly near the little village of Borodino,
prepared to dispute the farther progress of the invaders. The battle
which followed, on September 7th, was one of the most obstinate and
sanguinary of modern times. It lasted from early morning till late at
night, and more than eighty thousand men were killed or wounded. Ney
fought like a common soldier in the very thickest of the conflict. The
Russian positions were at last carried, and Ney sent to the emperor
for reinforcements with which to complete the victory. The emperor had
only his guard in reserve, and refused this request. "If there should
be another battle to-morrow," he said, "with what am I to fight it?"
"Let him go back to Paris, and play at emperor, and leave fighting to
us," cried Ney, scornfully, when he heard this message. Had his
request been granted, and the Imperial Guard been hurled into the
conflict at the right moment, it seems probable that the Russian army
would have been entirely destroyed. As it was, they drew off in good
order, under cover of night, and Kutusof even had the effrontery to
claim a victory. For his services during this memorable day Ney
received the title of Prince of the Moskowa.

The result of the battle of Borodino was to leave Moscow at the mercy
of the invaders, and a barren prize indeed it proved to them. In the
horror of the fearful retreat from the ruined city the fame of Ney
reached its highest point. Nothing in all history surpasses the record
of his indomitable courage and cheerfulness in the most hopeless
situations, and amid the most frightful hardships. As in Spain, he had
the command of the rear-guard, and the soldiers, preyed upon alike by
the Cossacks and the cold, died in the path like flies. Without
artillery and without cavalry, they yet succe