23rd of July; and as the French remained in possession of that town at the end of the day, the Russians found themselves under the necessity of altering the line of their retreat.  Bagrathion informed Barclay that he was now marching, not on Vitepsk, but on Smolensko, and the commander-in-chief felt the necessity of abandoning Vitepsk also.  During three days (the 25th, 26th, and 27th of July), his troops were engaged with the French at Vitepsk; and, though Napoleon’s bulletins announced three splendid victories, the result was that the Russians left their position in admirable order, and retired altogether unmolested on the proposed point of junction.  Meantime Regnier, on the right wing, and Oudinot, on the left, were defeated; the former by Tormazoff, the latter by Witgenstein, both with severe loss.  The Emperor halted at Vitepsk for several days; “his troops,” as the bulletins admitted, “requiring refreshment.”  The Russian plan of defence was already ascertained—­and alarming.  The country was laid utterly desolate wherever they retired; every village was burned ere they quitted it:  the enthusiastic peasantry withdrew with the army and swelled its ranks.

Napoleon quitted Vitepsk on the 8th of August, and after a partial engagement at Krasnoi on the 14th, came in sight of Smolensko, on the 16th.  The first and second armies of the Czar (Bagrathion having at length effected his junction with Barclay), lay behind the river which flows at the back of this town; but it was occupied in great force.  Three times did Buonaparte attack it, and three times he was repulsed.  During the night the garrison withdrew, and joined the army across the river—­but before they went they committed the city to the flames, and, the buildings being chiefly of wood, the conflagration, according to the French bulletin, “resembled in its fury an eruption of Vesuvius.”  “Never” (continues the same bulletin) “was war conducted with such inhumanity:  the Russians treat their own country as if it were that of an enemy.”  Such was indeed their resolution.  They had no desire that the invader should establish himself in winter quarters at Smolensko.  With the exception of some trivial skirmishes, they retreated unmolested from Smolensko to Dorogobuz, and thence on Viasma; halting at each of these towns, and deliberately burning them in the face of the enemy.

It now, however, began to be difficult in the extreme to prevail on the Russian soldiery to continue their retreat.  They had consented to retire in the beginning solely because they were assured that such was the will of their Father—­as they affectionately call their sovereign; but reinforcements were now joining them daily from the interior, and the skirmishes which had occurred had so inflamed their spirits, that it seemed impossible to restrain them much longer.  At this period also, Barclay was appointed to the war-ministry at St. Petersburg, and Kutusoff, who assumed the command in his stead,