Rapp, whose dogged defence
of an abandoned city is without compare in the story of war, had the
manners and the mind of a peasant. These gentlemen dealt more in
deeds than in words. They had not much to say for themselves.
As for the Russians, Russia remains at this time the one European
country unhampered and unharassed by a cheap press--the one country
where prominent men have a quiet tongue. A hundred years ago
Russians did great deeds, and the rest was silence. Neither
Kutusoff nor Alexander ever stated clearly whether the retreat to
Moscow was intentional or unavoidable; and these are the only men
who knew. Perhaps Napoleon knew; at all events, he thought he did,
or pretended to think it long afterwards at St. Helena, for Napoleon
the Great was a consummate liar.
Be that as it may, the Russians retreated, and the French advanced
farther and farther from their base. It was a great army--the
greatest ever seen. For Napoleon had eight monarchs serving with
the eagles; generals innumerable, many of them immortal--Davoust,
the greatest strategist; Prince Eugene, the incomparable lieutenant;
Ney, the fearless; four hundred thousand men. And they carried with
them only twenty days' provision.
They had marched from the Vistula, full of shipping, across the
Pregel, loaded with stores, to the Niemen, where there was no
navigation. Dantzig, behind them--that Gibraltar of the North--was
stored with provision enough for the whole army.
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