The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-02-01

the command of the army to Murat
The departure of the Emperor in
creased the Reorganization of the troops
The officers ceased to obey their gen
erals, the generals disregarded the mar
shals, and the marshaIs set at defiance
the authority Of Murat. The private
soldiers, relieved from the duty Of pro-
tecting their Emperor, forgot everything
but the instinct of selfpreservation. -
The colonies hid the eagles in their
haversacks or buried them in the ground
the inferior officers dispersed themselves
to look after their own safety; and in
deed nothing was thought of but the
urgent pangs of hunger and the terrible
severity of the cold. If soldier drop
ped, his comrads instantly fell on him,
and, before life was extinct. tore from
him his cloak, his money, and the bread
he carried in his bosom; when he died,
some one of them would sit on his body
for the sake of the temporary warmth it
afforded; and when it became cold, he,
too, would often drop beside his COM
panion to rise no more. The watch
fires at night were surrounded by ex-
hausted men, who crowded like spectres
about the blazing piles; and, in the
morning, the melancholy bivouacs were
marked by circles of bodies as lifeless
as the ashes at their feet.
Nevertheless, the fatal retreat con-
tinued to wilma; and although between
Smorgoni and that city no less than
twenty thousand men in Struggling de-
tachments had joined the army, scarcely
forty thousand in ali reached its gates.
Here, the troops found an abundance of
food; but they had scarcely begun to
refresh themselves from the immense
magazines that the city contained, when
the roar of the Russian cannon compell-
ed them to renew their flight. They
rushed out of the gates on The evening
of December 10, and at the foot of the
first hill beyond the town abandoned the
remainder of their cannon and wagons,
including the equipage OF Napoleon and
the treasure-chest of the army. The
Russians Immediately took possession
of wilma, and found within its walls, in
addition to a large amount of magazines
and military stores, fourteen thousand
soldiers and two hundred and fifty off,
GERS, who preferred surrendering as
prisoners Of war to continuing their
march.
On the 10Th of December the army
arrived at Kowno, on the Neimen, and
on the 18th, they passed over the river.
As the covering force in the rear, under
the command of Ney, defiled across the
bridge, it was seen that the remnant of
the Imperial Guard consisted of but
three hundred men. Before quitting
Kowno, Ney seized musket, and made
final stand with the few men he could
rally around him. He maintained his
post for several hours against the whole
Russians advanced guard when the
retreat of all the men who would march
was secured, he slowly retired; and he
was the last man of the Grand Army
who left the Russian territory.
The first hating place on the German
side of the Nieman was Gumbinnen;
and General Matthew Dumas had Just
entered the house of French physi-
clan in that town, when man followed
him wrapped in large cloak, having
long beard, his visage blackened by gun
powder, his whiskers half burned by
fire, but his eyes sparkling with unde-
cayed lustre. cat last, then, here I
am" said the stranger: "what Gen.
Dumas, do you not know me2 I am
the rear-guard of the Grand Army,
Marshal Ney. | have fired the last
musket-shot on the bridge of Kowno; |
have thrown into the Neimen the last
gun we possessed; and [ have walked
hither, as you see me, across the for
ests."
The scattered French troops contin-
ued to retreat through the Polish terri
tories, still hunted down by the Russians
and Cossacks. They made brief stand
at Konningsberg, and, Fastening thence
with an additional loss Of ten thousand
men, they finally reached Dantzic in the
latter part of January, 1918, when the
Russians gave over the pursuit. The
losses of the French in this disastrous
may be thus estimated:
Slain in battle, 1876 900; Died of cold
and famine, 132, 900; Prisoners, soldiers,
Prisoners, officers, 5000
Prisoners, Generals, 48. Total, $780,
048.
From the Weekly Herald and Philanthropist
Serious Difficulties in TuMis.