MOSCOW, 1812.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1631, 24 December 1912, Page 7

MOSCOW, 1812.

DESTRUCTION OF THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL. EVENTS BEFORE AND AFTER. . • [By A.B.] The present year is the centenary of tho historic burning of Moscow. The following article is by a Wellington writer wlio visited Napoleon's battlcilc!d3 and afterwards tho famous old Hussion city. The historian of 1812, in describing tlio firo of Moscow, departs from tho carcfuliy-thought-out, calculated, and moro preciso terms of historical narrative, and resorts to languago that is weirdly and picturesquely eloquent. A city of Oriental splendour and opulence, and of garish, magnificence, was reduced to ashes; a no less wonderful city has risen in its placo; and a century of timo has not dimmed tho elements of interest—of wonder, of patriotism, of stupendous and foiled ambition, of heroism and self-sacrifice—that cluster round this supremely fascinating drama. The Battle of' Borodino left tho French in a state of destitution and distress; 30,000 men lay dead; 10,000 were mortally wounded; the army was living on horscilesh; 00,000 rounds of ammunition had been expended, and tho reserves wcro several days behind. Napoleon was almost within reach of his goal. Moscow, ho fondly imagined, placed within his grasp vast treasures, unlimited resources, and a luxurious abundance; while to his army it fed hopes of repose and revel "as vain as those of tho thirsty traveller 'in tho desert when ho first beholds tho mirage's evanescent flood."

Tiie Russians had not only retreated, but vanished, excepting a shadowy Cossack rearguard, and Napoleon, fearful of an attempt to cut his lines of communication, pressed feverishly on until, from the crest of the Sparrow Hills, he beheld in an ecstatic moment the glittering domes of Moscow. Kutusow, the Russian Commander-in-Chief, had been urged by his generals to delay, if he could not prevent, the occupation _ of tho sacred city. Defence's of sufficient strength could have been constructed on the intervening plain to check the advance of the French until reinforcements and supplies were collected, which, with tho Moscow garrison, and aided by an armed and devoted populace, could have presented a united and formidable resistance. Napoleon was not strong enough either to storm or invest tho city, the Russians having abundant artillery, and falling back on their baso were meeting with constant additions to their array with no lack of strong and fleet horses; but it would tako several days to assemble a margin strong onough to ensure absolute safety. Kutusow, however, rejected the entreaties of his generals and tfms. gratuitously incurred a great national misfortune. . If in the present year one thing sufficed to- convert I ho demoralised and beaten Turkish rabble into an army prepared to stand its ground with air-un-wavering firmness and a fanatical courage it was the fear that the sacred city of the Caliphs, Constantinople, would fall into the hands of the enemy. The Russians were no loss determined and no less courageous, but Moscow was sacrificed to Kutiisow's crazed and inscrutable vagaries. Tho evacuation of the city was accomplished with order and calmness. Two hundred thousand people, with 65,000 carriages, exclusive of artillery, . military avagona,, aftd,,ambulances, filed past tho barriers' in funeral march' without a sound or a lament and passed to an immense encampment thirty miles beyond. When Napoleon reached the city in the afternoon he was astonished to find it a vast solitude. His pride had filled him, with flowing expectations. He had anticipated u submissive magistracy. and humbled people to implore his mercy and had imagined himself ablo to proceed at once a's Dictator of Russia to the palace of tho Tsr.rs and there make peace on whatover terms ho chose. Disillusioned, he proceeded gloomily to his residence, and then followed one of those extraordinary periods in Napoleon's life when in spite of thickening dangers his prodigious energy gave way to inaction and apathy and a kind of fatalism overwhelmed his fiery genius. Towards dark of tho first day of occupation alarms of fire came from various quarters. Napoleon, profoundly abstracted and no one able to fathom the thoughts of that cavernous mind, paid no heed but in a sentence attributed tho outbreaks to accident. But quickly the huge bazaar with its thousand shops teeming with costly merchandise, the Crown stores of forage, of wine (13,000,000 quarts), of brandy, and military stores busst into simultaneous flame, followed by the grim discovery that every means for the conveyance of water, oven'to buckets, had been removed and the equinoctial gales suddenly bursting upon the city its doom was sealed. Eye-witnesses of the scene who were with thc'Russian Army encamped twenty miles beyond have left many thrilling, narratives. , ~ "The hourly, almost momentarily, increasing spread arid intensity of tho crimson canopy of the sky over Moscow impressed an awful feeling. All (the Russians) hoped, all prayed that it might be a city of ashes and a tomb of the lnvadWhen the writer, accompanied by an educated Russian,' climbed to of the famous Ivan tower in the Kremlin and from this lofty eminence surveyed the vast and dazzling panorama (and could exclaim like the O.ueen of Sheba when she visitf-d Solomon and saw his palace and temple, "I believed not until I came, and my eves had seen it: and, beho d, the half was 'not told me"), he asked that the course of the fire be pointed out. With pride nnd unerring accuracy the Russian indicated the various centres at which the fire began, nnd then traced its progress ns the equinoctials toyed with and' fanned the flames until all but a tenth of. the city was destroyed. All the houses of the nobility, the merchants' warehouses, public buildings, streets and squares burnt, as if by enchantment, and out of 40,000 houses in stone 200 escaped; of 1(100 churches, 100 were left; and of 21.000 wounded and sick persons left behind, more than 20,000 were burnt alive. The responsibility for the fire has remained a nvretery; the question fascinates; tho problem has often Veen raised but never satisfactorily solved. Evidence seems to point to the Governor of Moscow. Rostopchin, a wealthy and cultured Russian, as instigator and incendiary. In the suburbs to the east, ot Moscow". Rostopchin, who was the last official to leave Moscow, owned a "palnee residence of great magnificence. . Tho very stabling was of rare grandeur, surmounted over the gateways by colossal costs of horses and fimires brought from Rome, with costly models of all tho nrnicinal buildings and statues that filled a lor<r« gallery in the nalaco. the interior nf which was most splendidly and tastefullv furnished with every article of luxurious ease and irnn.ment that foreiVn countries could supply." With inflexible receive Rostnnchin supplied his household staff with torches, and, under his pprponn.l direction, himself settimr fir» to th"* costliest portions, he witnessed with exultation the di>strnf.Hon of this magnificent mansion, rather than a'W the invader to crew its threshold. This same sriirit permeated the entire nrmv nnd populace; nil afforded ex-imfles of disinterested patriotism, aid all disdained to mourn over or fnmplii'u of any personal loss. AVith Moscow converted into a vast tomb. Napoleon kn»w his danger, but a stubborn. pride rendered him morally insensibl" te> t*>e safety of h ; « army. He misunderstood the moral fibre of the emMnv.' and wasted five critical weeks in a. futile attempt lb onen negotiations for pence. Tho French army was dangerously short of provisions; tho horses were dnilv growing weaker; Cessackß and IHit cavalry invested all th» environs and i«tnvminted communication,; beinraen tl+> different corp«; fores!"? was impossible pvepntinc in Ijitcp bodies, and for want nf t-ransuo-t ninny tens of ammunition h/vl te b" destroyed. Nnp"l»mi was faced with the prospect nf r"fr-"«t ihrnii"' ! i n ''■n-nstnted country with nil tho hazards, difficulties, and terrors of an ap-

preaching winter season, a ruined cavalry, and an inadequately-horsed artillory. Meanwhile tho Russians were extraordinarily active. They knew the destruction of the French wns inevitable, and could be accomplished without risk, but tho Russian generals took care lo inspire tho army with a flerco determination to urcngo.tho burning; of Moscow, tho responsibility for which disaster they sagaciously charged against the French. The reinforcement and provisioning of Kutusow's army was ono of tho greatest offorts recordod in military history. Horses, arms, equipment, and provisions poured into trio camp. Largo numbers of reserves reached headquarters daily, having performed incredible inarches from distant provinces. All flocked to the standards, and governors from the vicinity of tho Urals and Black Sea urged forward enormous supplies and cannon wero dispatched by relays in such numbers that it is recorded that in ono day alono 160 now guns were rejected as superfluous. When it became apparent that the Russians wcro determined on the offensive Napoleon at last decided to lcavo the ruined capital. Then began the memorablo retreat. A magnificent Arc do Ti'iompho now marks the point of departure from the city. The 700 cannon that accompanied tho retreating army all found their way back to Mocow, and the writer has seen them picturesquely strewn about tho Kremlin grounds with armed sentinels on guard. As tho French rccrosscd the field of Borodino 30,000 bodies of former comrades lay unburied; it was a ghastly spectacle. Napoleon moved on in silence; two months before, alter tho battle, ho had ridden across tho held and pronounced it "superb." It is not remarkable that of tho army of 110,000 that left Moscow only 1000 reached the frontier eight weeks later; it is remarkable that a .single soldier was left alive with tho frontier hundreds of miles away.