The French laboured during the whole night by the light of the enemy’s fires, which shone on the heights of the opposite bank, and within reach of the artillery and musketry of the division Tchaplitz.  The latter, having no longer any doubt of our intentions, sent to apprise his commander-in-chief.

CHAP.  V.

The presence of a hostile division deprived us of all hope of deceiving the Russian admiral.  We were expecting every instant to hear the whole fire of his artillery directed upon our workmen; and even if he did not discover them until daylight, their labours would not then be sufficiently advanced; and the opposite bank, being low and marshy, was too much commanded by Tchaplitz’s positions to make it at all possible for us to force a passage.

When he quitted Borizof, therefore, at ten o’clock at night, Napoleon imagined that he was setting out for a most desperate contest.  He settled himself for the night, with the 6,400 guards which still remained to him, at Staroi-Borizof, a chateau belonging to Prince Radzivil, situated on the right of the road from Borizof to Studzianka, and equidistant from these two points.

He passed the remainder of that night on his feet, going out every moment, either to listen, or to repair to the passage where his destiny was accomplishing; for the magnitude of his anxieties so completely filled his hours, that as each revolved, he fancied that it was morning.  Several times he was reminded of his mistake by his attendants.

Darkness had scarcely disappeared when he joined Oudinot.  The sight of danger tranquillized him, as it always did; but on seeing the Russian fires and their position, his most determined generals, such as Rapp, Mortier, and Ney, exclaimed, “that if the Emperor escaped this danger, they must absolutely believe in the influence of his star!” Murat himself thought it was now time to think of nothing but saving Napoleon.  Some of the Poles proposed it to him.

The Emperor was waiting for the approach of daylight in one of the houses on the borders of the river, on a steep bank which was crowned with Oudinot’s artillery.  Murat obtained access to him; he declared to his brother-in-law, “that he looked upon the passage as impracticable; he urged him to save his person while it was yet time.  He informed him that he might, without any danger, cross the Berezina a few leagues above Studzianka; that in five days he would reach Wilna; that some brave and determined Poles, perfectly acquainted with all the roads, had offered themselves for his guards, and to be responsible for his safety.”

But Napoleon rejected this proposition as an infamous plan, as a cowardly flight, and was indignant that any one should dare to think for a moment that he would abandon his army, so long as it was in danger.  He was not, however, at all displeased with Murat, probably because that prince had afforded him an opportunity of showing his firmness, or rather because he saw nothing in his proposal but a mark of devotion, and because the first quality in the eyes of sovereigns is attachment to their persons.