stand every instruction which is given you, in the opposite sense, it cannot fail but every thing must be reversed."—It cannot be denied that the Marshal could prophecy with great accuracy, and read the events of futurity better than his master, who in the mysterious book of fate had already discovered the destruction of Russia, which discovery he good-naturedly communicated to all Europe.

An architect who had arrived only a short time at Wilna, received suddenly an order in the beginning of October, to collect all carpenters, masons, painters, &c. &c. &c. belonging to the army, and to betake himself without delay, to Moscow with them.-The architect made preparation for the journey, with every possible dispatch and eclat, and told every body, who felt inclined to listen to him, that he was called upon to rebuild Moscow.—Many envied this fortunate man his great appointment, and we must confess it certainly was a gigantic undertaking.-At length the architect commences his journey, but on reaching Minsk, he and all his companions fell into the hands of the Cossacks, and he has now time to consider the best plan for the structure which he is to execute.

After the French Emperor had quieted the fears of all Frenchmen, who had not joined in the crusade to Moscow-through the 29th Bulletin, and, by deceiving them with false statements of victories and honours gained, notwithstanding the sufferings they had endured, and by endeavouring to impress all Europe with a most sovereign contempt for the Cossacks, he quitted Malodetchnie for France, as he neither credited himself the stories he had told to his good and faithful Frenchmen, nor entertained the same contempt for the undisiplined horde of Cossacks which he wished others to do. The following night he remained at Osmiana, fancying himself perfectly safe from the enemy's pursuit; however suddenly some Cossacks galloped in full speed through the street where the Emperor lodged.-Napoleon instantly put out all the lights in his room, the Cossacks passed the darkened house, and broke into an adjoining one, which shewed lights, and plundered the same, after which they galloped away in the manner they had come. Thus again his genius saved him from falling into the hands of his friends the Cossacks.

The inhabitants of Wilna were kept a long time ignorant of the retreat of the French, at least as a retreat, for that the army was moving upon Smolensk, to threaten Petersburgh, was well known;

however, unexpectedly the news arrived, that Napoleon would be at Wilna in a few hours.-Monsieur de Bignor, the Governor, did not fail to announce the expected arrival of the Emperor to the town as a peculiar mark of favour, and gave orders that his master should be received with the usual marks and demonstrations of joy. The magis trates were not adorned with their robes of office, the colours of the corporations were yet unfurled, when the news was brought that the Emperor, that moment, had passed through the skirts of the town and taken the road to Kowno; every body ran instantly to the spot by which the Emperor was said to have passed, and no person knew how to account for this sudden appearance and disap. pearance; confusion and terror reigned every where-the French authorities however spread a report of it not having been Napoleon, but the Duke of Vicenza; yet this deception did not last long; for it actually was the Emperor, accompanied by an escort of about 200 of the Neapolitan guard and Uhlans; this escort however would only follow him for a few miles beyond Wilna, and from thence only a few of the officers remained with him, (mentioned in the 29th Bulletin,) as members of the holy squadron near the Emperor-these holy remains mounted peasant sledges, as their horses were knocked up, and lost sight of their master one after another.

The French Emperor has frequently been charged with being proud and haughty; the following occurrence will prove however the contrary.

On the 11th December the Emperor arrived on his flying journey from Russia to Stawisko, a village between Stutzin and Lomiga.--He was unaccompanied by any of the carriages, and of course intent upon remaining incognito. To hasten the further progress of his journey he got out of the carriage, and condescended to inquire after another conveyance; the bystanders recognised him, and shewed the respect due to the Emperor, who uninterrupted by the demonstration of astonishment and respect, continued to bargain for a sledge with two horses: after the bargain was made the Emperor allowed a Jew to sit near the driver as guide, and thus the journey was continued in full speed to Lomiga, where his Majesty, for the first time, changed cloaths and linen at the postmasters, since his victory on the Berezyna-the cast-off cloaths were left behind as a mark of high favor, and to indemnify the town for the loss sustained by the Emperor's short stay.

An officer belonging to Hohenzoller's light cavalry, was passing near Ostrolenka with a number of remount horses for the Austhe trian army, when suddenly a Kibetke in full speed came upon column, upon which the officer ordered the driver to halt, to prevent confusion, when somebody from the vehicle inquired the reason of the unexpected halt.-The officer explained; the traveller, however, who most likely had no time to lose, would not listen to explanations, and both parties growing warm, some harsh words and threats passed the scene however terminated as usual, the stronger party had his order enforced, and so the traveller had to halt until the whole column had passed.-About half an hour after, the Duke of Vicenza followed and inquired if the Emperor Napoleon had passed long since, and on the officer asking the description of the Emperor's equipage, the Kibitke was described to him, when it was found that the French Emperor, whose will and pleasure decides the fate of millions, had been obliged to obey a subaltern officer: it may perhaps appear strange that he should not have made himself known in his passion, but it occurred to him most likely that even if he had done so the officer would have doubted his assertion, in conlike un-emperor appearance. sequence of his unusual and

Great Chiefs and Commanders must know how to benefit by the most trifling occurrences.—It is well known from the French reports themselves, that their cavalry was become a very insignificant part of the army; but notwithstanding this the Emperor would not entirely give up their use, as appears from the following circumstance.-Not far from Smolensk a Russian patrole perceived a French vidette, without the least motion. The patrole, astonished at the singular appearance of the vidette, approached slowly, when the vidette began all manner of violent gesticulation on the horse, and on coming still closer, the vidette jumped off the horse, and made his escape in an adjoining wood, the horse remaining quietly on its post; which was found on closer examination to be near its end, and incapable of putting one leg before another; and before the patrole retired it expired.

The Russians had discovered a method to collect and make prisoners the stragglers of the French army, with surprising facilityWhen it became dark they made fires at some distance from the roads; instantly the scattered and congealed Frenchmen came forth from the woods and lurking places to warm them. selves, and were caught with the greatest ease.

The great desire which the French soldiers had manifested to warming themselves, in more than one instance was very fatal to them. In Maloditchni more than a thousand were left behind, being incapable to proceed further, and as the greatest part of the town had been laid waste, the irritated inhabitants refused all shelter and assistance to French soldiers so left behind. The cold being extremely severe, ten soldiers heated an oven with the ruins of an old house, and when they thought it sufficiently heated, they took out the coals and cinders and all erept in; they had, however, mistaken the proper degree of temperature, for instead of warming themselves, they were roasted, and the next morning their bodies. were found dreadfully burnt, and their clothing burned to ashes.

It is well known what care and good treatment the French soldier expects to receive when he comes into quarters after a march; so much so, that they often demand delicacies from the Polish peasant : the retreat from Moscow, however, which astonished so much all Europe, greatly changed the appetite of the French soldiery, as will appear by the following occurrence in the town of Thalodetchnir, where the wife of a professor was standing at a window and making observations upon the deplorable appearance of the French Guards, as they passed by, when suddenly several officers ran into her room towards the stove to warm themselves. In the middle of the room stood a kettle with melted tallow, which the officers had hardly perceived, when they quitted their post at the stove, and hastened to the kettle, swallowing with the greatest avidity the melted tallow, which they took in large quantities out of the kettle. When they had satisfied their hunger, the lady of the house expressed her great surprise at the false appetite which they displayed; to which the officer replied, "that after the fare they had met with since being at Moscow, their stomachs did not turn at any thing, and that after having lived for some time on nearly putrid horseflesh, melted tallow was a great treat to their palate.”

From the increase of every misery that could possibly attend an army, the French had arrived at what the ancients termed the golden age, for in regard to the several gradations of rank, at other times so strictly adhered to by the military, it had so entirely ceased, that as to dress, mode of living, and due respect, not the least difference existed between the soldier and the officer; and in regard to money, that article had so completely lost its value, that nothing could be pur

chased with it, and consequently he who had his pockets well supplied with Napoleons, was by no means richer than he who was not possessed of a single penny. Bread was purchased with tobacco, spirits, pieces of fur, &c. and the period when money might again be of service or value appeared to be so distant, that but few of the most able and bodily-strong speculated on such secondary and trifling concerns as gold and silver. The spirit and habit of exchanging was become so habitual that on the march of the Grand Army through the several Polish towns and villages, where the Jews had assembled and lined the streets on both sides, to see the columns pass, the Guards used to take the warm fur caps quietly from off the heads of the Jews, in passing, replace them with their own fine and elegant regimental caps, and march on without uttering a syllable: the Jews returning home with their cold head-dress to their warm rooms, frightened their wives and children by their martial appearance.

In Smolensk, where the first, and something like a regular dis tribution of provision was made, the most sanguinary contests were fought at every magazine. An officer had the good fortune to obtain a large cheese, and was moving off as fast as possible to his quarters, when some soldiers met him, and wanted to take the cheese from him he, however, resisted vigorously, and as the noise became greater, more soldiers came to the spot. The officer was knocked down; nevertheless he continued to keep hold of the cheese with his hands and teeth: the soldiers drew their sabres-death appeared before the officer's eyes, but still he held fast his treasure: the soldiers, however, had no intention of murder, but only used their sabres to divide as quick as possible the cheese on the officer's body, and every one of them went off with a good piece, and left only a bit of crust to the officer.

The total dissolution of discipline in the French army can easily be imagined, if we consider that order and regularity had been greatly neglected long before the army passed the Russian frontiers. At Lautenburg, in East Prussia, an order was issued to all Commanding Officers of corps, to take away, and drive on with them all cattle near their cantonments, and what they met on their line of march. After such an order no bounds were to be expected from the soldiers taking what came in their way, and marauding and plundering were the general orders of the