492

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

united into a corps, died off eo fast, that in three daysmore than half of the squadron were on foot, and in a fewdays more every horse had perished.

All this time Murat kept close to the side of his brother-in-law, and was prodigal of all those cares and attentionswhich his situation required. All his thoughts were di-rected and concentrated in one idea, which was, the safetyof the Emperor ’s person. He endeavoured to induce him topass the Beresina previously to the army, and procured achosen band of Poles to act, and guides, and escort; butNapoleon refused with some warmth to quit the army atthat difficult juncture. The imminent danger of the Frencharmy on that occasion was entirely owing to the bad stateof the bridges over the river, and to the almost defencelessstate of the troops with frozen fingers, toes, noses, unsup-ported by cavalry, artillery-—unfurnished with shoes, cloth-ing, or provisions. All these evils were quite adventitious, andhad flowed from circumstances by no means under thecontrol of the commander. The frost that year had set infull five weeks earlier than usual and there had been nomeans of sending forward to place the bridges in a fittingstate, or to make any other prospective arrangements.

Murat crossed the Beresina by the side of Napoleon ,without taking any part in the combats which raged on bothbanks of the river. He was wholly intent upon the safety ofthe Emperor , and to that alone attended. Parties ofRussian cavalry and Cossacks had frequently to be drivenfrom the immediate vicinity of the General Imperial Staff,and to repulse these, gave him ample occupation.

On the 3d December, Napoleon and Joachim arrived atMalodetchno, from whence the former issued his last bul-letin, which proclaimed to the world the dreadful ravagesthat the cold had made in the French army. But now thiscold increased to such a point as to render any human