the hay and all the grass, the artillery and the train were obliged to take
from the fields the green barley and oats, and the army altogether ruined
the population where it passed. The men obliged to disperse during a part
of the day as foragers, got into the habit of disbanding and of looseness
of discipline, and the impossibility manifested itself to keep in order and
in ranks the multitude of different races, different in languages, who with
their many vehicles represented a regular migration.

Everything became monotonous--the country, the absence of an enemy. They
found Prussia and especially Poland, ugly, dirty, miserable, all the houses
were full of dirt and vermin, domestic animals of all kinds were the
intimate syntrophoi of the peasants in their living rooms. The soldiers
bore badly the inconvenience of the lodging, the coolness of the night
following the burning heat of the day, the fogs in the mornings. But they
consoled themselves with illusions, painting the future in rosy colors,
hoping to find across the Niemen a better soil, a different people, more
favorable to the soldier, and longed for Russia as for the promised land.

The Grand Army had arrived at the Niemen. It was on June 24th., the sun
rose radiant and lightened with his fire a magnificent scene. To the troops
was read a short and energetic proclamation. Napoleon came out of his tent,
surrounded by his officers, and contemplated with his field glass the sight
of this prodigious force; hundreds of thousands of soldiers united in one
place! One could not find anything comparable to the enthusiasm which the
presence of Napoleon inspired on that day. The right bank of the river was
covered with these magnificent troops; they descended from the heights and
spread out in long files over the three bridges, resembling three currents;
the rays of the sun glittered on the bayonets and helmets, and the cry
_Vive l'Empereur_! was heard incessantly.