“Now, is there any man among you who will stand up here and declare to me that all that was human?  No; it was written above; and may the scurvy seize ’em who deny that he was sent by God himself for the triumph of France!

“Well, here’s the Emperor of Russia, that used to be his friend, he gets angry because Napoleon didn’t marry a Russian; so he joins with the English, our enemies—­to whom our Emperor always wanted to say a couple of words in their burrows, only he was prevented.  Napoleon gets angry too; an end had to be put to such doings; so he says to us:  ’Soldiers! you have been masters of every capital in Europe, except Moscow, which is now the ally of England.  To conquer England, and India which belongs to the English, it becomes our peremptory duty to go to Moscow,’ Then he assembled the greatest army that ever trailed its gaiters over the globe; and so marvellously in hand it was that he reviewed a million of men in one day.  ’Hourra!’[9] cried the Russians.  Down came all Russia and those animals of Cossacks in a flock.  ’Twas nation against nation, a general hurly-burly, and beware who could; ‘Asia against Europe,’ as the Red Man had foretold to Napoleon.  ‘Enough,’ cried the Emperor, ’I’ll be ready.’

“So now, sure enough, came all the kings, as the Red Man had said, to lick Napoleon’s hand!  Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Poland, Italy, every one of them were with us, flattering us; ah, it was fine!  The eagles never cawed so loud as at those parades, perched high above the banners of all Europe.  The Poles were bursting with joy, because Napoleon was going to release them; and that’s why France and Poland are brothers to this day.  ‘Russia is ours,’ cried the army.  We plunged into it well-supplied; we marched and we marched—­no Russians.  At last we found the brutes entrenched on the banks of the Moskva.  That’s where I won my cross, and I’ve got the right to say it was a damnable battle.  This was how it came about.  The Emperor was anxious.  He had seen the Red Man, who said to him ’My son, you are going too fast for your feet; you will lack men; friends will betray you.’  So the Emperor offered peace.  But before signing, ‘Let us drub those Russians!’ he said to us.  ‘Done!’ cried the army.  ‘Forward, march!’ said the sergeants.  My clothes were in rags, my shoes worn out, from trudging along those roads, which are very uncomfortable ones; but no matter!  I said to myself, ’As it’s the last of our earthquakings, I’ll go into it, tooth and nail!’ We were drawn up in line before the great ravine—­front seats, as ’twere.  Signal given; and seven hundred pieces of artillery began a conversation that would bring the blood from your ears.  Then—­must do justice to one’s enemies—­the Russians let themselves be killed like Frenchmen; they wouldn’t give way; we couldn’t advance.  ‘Forward!’ some one cried, ’here comes the Emperor!’ True enough; he passed at a gallop, waving his hand to let us know we must take the redoubt.  He inspired