Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

ERROR OF NAPOLEON.291

army to the puerile satisfaction of swelling the list of the capitals which he had occupied. Rejecting the wisest councils, he did violence also to his own judgment, in order to have the gratification of installing himself in the fortress of the Czars, and of sleeping-there, as he had done in the palaces of nearly all the other potentates of Europe ; and this vain triumph of the bold adventurer cost the emperor the sceptre of the world.

A passion for capitals was the cause of the annihilation of the finest army that France and the world ever saw, and two years later, of the fall of the Empire.

The following fact, furnishing one proof more of the unpardonable error committed by Napoleon when he marched upon Moscow, is unknown among us; I can answer for its authenticity.

Smolensk was viewed by the Russians as the bulwark of their land ; they hoped that our army would be satisfied with occupying Poland and Lithuania, without venturing farther: but when they learnt the conquest of this city, the key of the empire, a cry of terror rose up from all quarters ; both court and country were in consternation, and Russia believed herself in the power of the conqueror. It was at Petersburg that the Emperor Alexander received this disastrous news.

His minister of war partook of the general opinion; and wishing to place beyond the reach of the enemy his chief valuables, he put a considerable quantity of gold, papers, diamonds, and other jewels into a small chest, which he sent to Ladoga by one of his secretaries, the only man to whom he believed he might о 2