presented a most singular aspect; and I experienced feelings of bitter
melancholy as I saw our soldiers compelled to bivouac at the gates of a
large and beautiful city of which they were the conquerors, but the fire
still more than they. The Emperor, on appointing Marshal Mortier
governor of Moscow, had said to him, "Above all, no pillage; you will
answer for it with your head." The order was strictly enforced up to the
moment the fire began; but when it was evident that the fire would devour
everything, and that it was useless to abandon to the flames what would
be of much value to the soldiers, liberty was given them to draw largely
from this great storehouse of the north.

It was at once sad and amusing to see around poor plank sheds, the only
tents our soldiers had, the most magnificent furniture, silk canopies,
priceless Siberian furs, and cashmere shawls thrown pell-mell with silver
dishes; and then to see the food served on these princely dishes,--
miserable black gruel, and pieces of horseflesh still bleeding. Good
ammunition-bread was worth at this time treble all these riches, and
there came a time when they had not even horseflesh.

On re-entering Moscow the wind bore to us the insufferable odor of
burning houses, warm ashes filled our mouths and eyes, and frequently we
drew back just in time before great pillars which had been burned in two
by the fire, and fell noiselessly on this calcined soil. Moscow was not
so deserted as we had thought. As the first impression conquest produces
is one of fright, all the inhabitants who remained had concealed
themselves in cellars, or in the immense vaults which extend under the
Kremlin; and driven out by the fire like wolves from their lairs, when we
re-entered the city nearly twenty thousand inhabitants were wandering
through the midst of the debris, a dull stupor depicted on faces
blackened with smoke, and pale with hunger; for they could not comprehend