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

the manœuvres, and pleading as an excuse the state of my eyes, which are not yet cured.

The dust of the camp is, I am told, insupportable to every body; it might cost me the loss of my sight. The Duke of Leuchtenberg must be endowed with an unusual quantum of indifference to be able coolly to witness the spectacle prepared for him. They assure me that in the representation of the battle, the emperor will command the corps of Prince Eugene, father of the young duke.

I should regret not seeing a spectacle so curious in its moral aspect, if I could be present as a disinterested spectator; but, without having the renown of a father to maintain, I am a son of France, and I feel it is not for me to find any pleasure in witnessing a representation of war, made at great cost, solely with the view of exalting the national pride of the Russians, on the occasion of our disasters. As to the sight itself, I can picture it very easily ; I have seen plenty of straight lines in Russia. Besides, in reviews and moek fights, the eye never gets beyond a great cloud of dust.

The Russians have reason to pride themselves on the issue of the campaign of 1812 ; but the general who laid its plan, he who first advised the gradual retreat of the Russian army towards the centre of the empire, with the view of enticing the exhausted French after it, — the man, in fact, to whose genius Russia owed her deliverance—Prince Witgenstein, is not represented in this grand repetition ; because, unfortunately for him, he is living, half disgraced: he resides on his estates; his name will not be pronounced at Borodino, though an eternal monument is