The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1851-07-03
EBEIsBURG. JULY J. 1851.

the startled Emperor. He arose and walked to
and fro, stopping convulsively and gazing ON
the terrific scene. Murat, Eugene, and Berthier
| rushed into his presence, and on their knees
beeeught him to Zee, but he stin hung 70 slaa.
naughty palace as if it were his empire
'sBut at length the shout, sthe Kremlin is on
fire /? was heard above the roar of the confagra-
ton, and Napoleon reluctantly consented to
leave. He descended to the street with his
staff, and looked about for way of egress, but
the flames blockaded every passage. Atlength
they discovered a postern gate leading to the
| Moskwa and entered it, but they had only en-
tered still further into the danger. As Napo-
leon cast his eyes around the open space, girded
and arched with fire, smoke, and cinders, he
| saw one single street yet open, but all on fire.
| Into this he rushed, and, amid the crash of
falling houses, and raging of the flames, over
burning ruins, through clouds of rolling smoke,
and between walls of fire, he pressed on, and
at length, half suffocated, emerged in safety in
| the imperial palace of Petrowsky, nearly three
| miles distant. Mortier, relieved of his anxiety
for the Emperor, redoubled his efforts to arrest
| the conhagration. His men cheerfully rushed
into every danger Breathing nothing but smoke
and ashes-canopied by flame, smoke and Gin
| ders-surrounded by walls of fire that rocked to
| and fro, and fell with a crash amid the blazing
ruins, carrying down with them red-hot roofs
of iron, he struggled against an enemy that no
boldness could awe, or courage overcome
| These brave troops had heard the tramp of
| thousands of cavalry sweeping to battle without
fear; but now they stood in terror before the
march of confagration, under whose burning
footsteps was heard the incessant crash of fall
| ling houses, and palaces, and churches The
continuous roar of the flames was more terri
bic than the roar of the artillery, and before
| this new foe, in the midst of the elements, the
awe-struck army stood powerless and affrighted.
1 "When night again descended on the city 1T
presented q spectacle the like or which was
never seen before and which battles all descrip-
| ton The streets were streets of fire, the
heavens canopy of fire, and the entire body
| of the city a mass of fire, fed by the hurricane
| that whirled the blazing fragments in constant
stream through the air. Incessant explosions
from the blowing up of stores of oil, tar, and
spirits shook the very foundation of the city,
and sent vast volumes of smoke rolling furi-
ously towards the sky Huge sheets of canvass
on fire came foating like messengers OF death
through the fames-the towers and domes OF
the churches and palaces glowed with red-hot
| heat over the wild sea below, then tottering
moment on their basis were hurled by the temp
est into the common ruin. Thousands of
wretches before unseen were driven by the heat
from the cellars, and streamed in an Incessant
| throng in the street Children were seen car
rying their parents-the strong the weak, while
thousands more were staggering under the
loads of plunder they had snatched from the
flames This, too, would frequently take hre
in the falling shower, and the miserable crea-
lures would be compelled to drop it, and nee
for their lives Oh it was a scene of fear and
wo. inconceivable and indescribabe! mighty
and close packed city of houses, and churches,
and palaces, wrapped from limit to limit In
flames which are fed by whirling hurricane is
a sight this world will seldom see
"But this was all within the city To Napo-
leon without the spectacle was still more sublime
and terrific. When the flames had overcome all
obstacles, and had wrapped every thing IN their
red mantle, that great city looked like sea oI
| rolling fire swept by a tempest that drove IL
into vast pillows. Huge domes and towers
throwing off sparks like blazing fire brands
now lowered above the waves, and now dIsaP-
peared in their maddening flow as they broke
high over their tops, scattering their spray OF
fire against the clouds. The heavens themselves
seemed to have caught the confiaSratlon, ana
the angry masses that swept it rolled over a
bosom of fire. Columns of flame would rse
and sink along the surface of this sea, and huge
volumes of black smoke suddenly shoot into
the air, as if volcanoes were working below
The black form of the Kremlin alone lowered
above the chaos, now wrapped In name anu
smoke, and then began merging INTO Vie"-
standing amid the scene of desolation and ter
ror like virtue in the midst of burning worid'
enveloped but unscathed by the devouring eie-
ments. Napoleon stood and gazed on this scene
in silent awe Though nearly three miles dist-
ant, the windows and walls of his apartment
were SO hot that he could scarcely bear ms
hand against them. Said he, years afterwards
, 1T was the spectacle of a sea and biiiows Of
: fire, a sky and clouds of flame, mountains o'
red rolling flame, like immense waves OF the
, sea, alternately bursting forth, and eievaune
, themselves to skies of fire, and then SINKING
into the ocean below. Oh! it was the mos
, horrid, the most sublime, and the most terrih'
sight the world ever beheld.'"
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