On the 1st of January, 1813, however, at Koenigsberg, where Murat then was, the desertion of the Prussians and the intrigues forming by Austria were not known, when suddenly Macdonald’s despatch, and an insurrection of the people of Koenigsberg, gave information of the beginning of a defection, of which it was impossible to foresee the consequences.  The consternation was excessive.  The seditious movement was at first only kept down by representations, which Ney very soon changed into threats.  Murat hastened his departure for Elbing.  Koenigsberg was encumbered with ten thousand sick and wounded, most of whom were abandoned to the generosity of their enemies.  Some of them had no reason to complain of it; but prisoners who escaped declared that many of their unfortunate companions were massacred and thrown out of the windows into the streets; that an hospital which contained several hundred sick was set fire to; and they accused the inhabitants of committing these horrid deeds.

On another side, at Wilna, more than sixteen thousand of our prisoners had already perished.  The convent of St. Basil contained the greatest number; from the 10th to the 23d of December they had only received some biscuits; but not a piece of wood nor a drop of water had been given them.  The snow collected in the courts, which were covered with dead bodies, quenched the burning thirst of the survivors.  They threw out of the windows such of the dead bodies as could not be kept in the passages, on the staircases, or among the heaps of corses which were collected in all the apartments.  The additional prisoners that were every moment discovering were thrown into this horrible place.

The arrival of the Emperor Alexander and his brother was the only thing that put a stop to these abominations.  They had lasted for thirteen days, and if a few escaped out of the twenty thousand of our unfortunate comrades who were made prisoners, it was to these two princes they owed their preservation.  But a most violent epidemic had already arisen from the poisonous exhalations of so many corses; it passed from the vanquished to the victors, and fully avenged us.  The Russians, however, were living in plenty; our magazines at Smorgoni and Wilna had not been destroyed, and they must have found besides immense quantities of provisions in the pursuit of our routed army.

But Wittgenstein, who had been detached to attack Macdonald, descended the Niemen; Tchitchakof and Platof had pursued Murat towards Kowno, Wilkowiski, and Insterburg; shortly after, the admiral was sent towards Thorn.  Finally, on the 9th of January, Alexander and Kutusoff arrived on the Niemen at Merecz.  There, as he was about to cross his own frontier, the Russian emperor addressed a proclamation to his troops, completely filled with images, comparisons, and eulogiums, which the winter had much better deserved than his army.

CHAP.  XI.