Davoust, irritated in his turn, accused the king of temerity; according to him “his thoughtless ardour was incessantly compromising his troops, and wasting to no purpose, their lives, their strength, and their stores.  It was right that the emperor should at last know what was daily occurring in his advanced guard.  Every morning the enemy had disappeared before it; but this experience led to no alteration whatever in the march:  the troops, therefore, set out late, all keeping the high-road, and forming a single column, and in this manner they advanced in the void till about noon.

“The enemy’s rear-guard, ready to fight, was then discovered behind some marshy ravine, the bridges over which had been broken down, and which was commanded from the opposite bank.  The light troops were instantly brought into action, then the first regiments of cavalry that were at hand, and then the artillery; but in general out of reach, or against straggling cossacks, who were not worth the trouble.  At length, after vain and sanguinary attempts made in front, the king took it into his head to reconnoitre the force and position of the enemy more accurately, and to manoeuvre; and he sent for the infantry.

“Then after having long waited in this endless column, the ravine was crossed on the left or on the right of the Russians, who retired under a fire of their small arms to a new position; where the same resistance, and the same mode of march and attack, exposed us to the same losses and the same delays.

“In this manner the king went on from position to position, till he came to one which was stronger or better defended.  It was usually about five in the evening, sometimes later, rarely earlier; but in this case the tenacity of the Russians, and the hour, plainly indicated that their whole army was there, and was determined to pass the night on the spot.

“For it could not be denied that this retreat of the Russians was conducted with admirable order.  The ground alone dictated it to them and not Murat.  Their positions were so well chosen, taken so seasonably, and each defended so exactly in proportion to its strength, and the time which their general wished to gain, that in truth their movements seemed to form part of a plan which had been long determined on, carefully traced, and executed with scrupulous exactness.

“They never abandoned a post till the moment before they were likely to be driven from it.

“In the evening they established themselves early in a good position, leaving under arms no more troops than were absolutely necessary to defend it, while the remainder rested and refreshed themselves.”

Davoust added that, “so far from profiting by this example, the king paid no regard either to the hour, the strength of the situation, or the resistance; that he dashed on among his tirailleurs, dancing about in front of the enemy’s line, feeling it in every part; putting himself in a passion, giving his orders with loud shouts, and making himself hoarse with repeating them; exhausting every thing, cartouch-boxes, ammunition-waggons, men and horses, combatants and non-combatants, and keeping all the troops under arms till night had set in.