490

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

near Moscow, where, in conjunction with Marshal Ney , hemasked and covered the first dispositions of Napoleon towards a retreat.

Happy am I in some degree at being spared the task ofdepicting the horrors attendant on the calamitous retreat,the particulars of which have been so ably written by com-petent eyewitnesses; but inasmuch as the history of Joa-chim Murat is concerned, I am compelled to dwell a littlelonger, in order not to leave incomplete the sketch of thatromantic history with which I have already got so far, fromthe day of his humble birth. The first great service ren-dered by Murat in favour of the retreat was an opportuneattack upon a Russian redoubt at the pass of Woronowo, inconjunction with Prince Poniatowski , so as to make theRussians believe that the French had determined on theadvance, whilst in fact Napoleon had begun the generalretreat, and was by a circuitous route joined by Murat andPoniatowski at Borowsk.

At this place Napoleon summoned a council of his mar-shals; the Russian army teas again in full retreat uponKaluga . The question was, whether there would be suffi-cient time before the setting in of the frost to pursue thewar towards Kaluga , as one more great battle would decideit; or whether a retreat by the way of Smolensko intoLithuania should be forthwith commenced, so as to escapethe rigours of winter by obtaining shelter, which Moscow no longer afforded l Murat opined that, c< to stand still wasimpossible; when there was no other safety but in attack,that which some called ‘ temerity ’ was real prudence. Itwere far better to advance than to lose one single hour inindecision. Give me all the remaining cavalry, includingthat of the guard, and I will stake my head to follow theRussians through all their forests, and destroy their bat-talions* so as to open the road to Kaluga , and thus at once