St. Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1845-1863, 1862-02-27
BOEODINO.
EY JOHN :. G AEEOTT.

On the 9th of May. 1872. Napoleon
left Paris to join his grand army for the
invasion et Russia. which was rendexvoucd
ct Dresden. liz Saxony. about six hundred
nilcs from Paris. lie remained ia pres-
den fortnight. preparing for the Immense
ca.npaigu before hin. Ia the foll"wing
words he gave mtteranc", at that time, ~
his peculiar idea. i dc.tin,
Il feel myself i,npcllcd ,owarsls goss
of which | AIN ignorant. Tho no
,urnt l have reached it. as s.Hn N l
am no longer Of service. an xt-m will
t'en suffice to put me down. But till
ten nll human effort will avail nothing
:gairst me. Wh. tl-r ! atm in Paris or
with the army is. ,h.s. fnre. quite iudif-
1.rclt. Whcn my hour co,n.s. fever.
"r fall frvm NY horse in hun.ing. will
Kill ne as .fte'ually as bullet. Our
,'ay~ are mum h"rc.i."
On the 18th uf June the army resrh-
c.i the Niem.n, seven hundred miles be-
>"nd Dresden. The enurn"us host con-
sisted Of Ii. arly milli"n of men. ia:
cluLing eighty Thousand cavalry. thir-
teen hundred and sixty -two pieces Of Ar
: tillery, ,wsnsy sh.,usand Wagons. snd ossr
hundred and rightly seven thusanl hor-
= =. Ii was midsummer. and th. wet :.
rr Was superb A delay of three day.
Was allowed ut the river for rest. and
for the st.agglcrS to came up. In ,hr c
great divisions the ARRAY Crossed the
stream. at point. nearly enc hundred
miles dieiaht from, each other. with orders
to concentrate at wilma, about QUO hun.
drrd miles hc, ond.
On the as,h of june Napoleon made
n trium2hal cn'ry int" this capital ef
the Polish pro, IleEcrs of Russia. The
rsles h ping that he wenld lr"vc
their deli, errr, rcc,.ived h M IN slm"st .
dclirium Of joy. Thrt MAS = delay Of
cigtcen days in wilma. in collecting sup.
,lics, aud in preparing for march six
hundred miles further into the heart OF
one uf the moot p'wrrful empires upon
the globe. Alexander was concrntrat-
ing bis army la forti6cssions which he
decn.cd imprrguablc "n the n.'rshern
banks of tht Dwina. ab.ut two hundred
and fifty miles Lcyoni wilma. Ten
thousand horses had already perished.
and twenty five thousand sick cncum-
bercd the hosIitalr. Aluost At the +smc
hour the various divisions Of the sr,sy
of Napoleon. traversing different roads.
appeared en the banks f the Dwina
near Wi,epsk. The Russians. alarmed
at the formidable array. ~ il came pour
lug dow, over the hills. rstrcsisl in
abe night. Nap"leon was now nearly Eve
h..ndlrrd n.ilrs beg yord the y .eueu, andas u !
he had met no foe
The Russians. as they retired, de-
..ruy~d all the provisions aud f,rage on
their line of march. Again N.polron
pressed forward One hundred a,iles to
Smolsnsk, where he arrived on the 10Th
of August. Around tho walls Of tbs
strongly fortified town . terrific fight for
one day cnsurd. Iu the night the Rus
slams again commenced ,Arir retreat.
having set fire to the tswn in al qua:
t.rs. so tina. before morning it Was Ii
assics.
The spectacle" said Napoleon. re-
semblrd that offered to the imhabitsuts Ut
Naples by aa eruption Of vcsuvius.
From Sm"lcnsk to Moscow there wxs
.,iil required q weary msrrh of 6vc
hundred miles. On the 28sh Of Angus,
N.polcun resumed the pursuit. ocession-
ally engaging the fse in short and fierce
skirnisL. until the evening VI the 4sh
vi Sept mbcr. when he mai one hundred
aud seventy thousand Russians strongly
en,r. nehed, with f.e hu, 4 sd cann"a
in battery. ou the banks "f the M.sl-
VA. near the village Ut B.srolise. They
were nsw within few milcs vt N.e.
COW. Nap leon bal ~ scattered his
array in CARTON up.a his long line
of Marc that hc had l,nt ous huus Z Il
and .wcn., thousasd to lead against The
ra,nnarts at th.- fe. VI
The Mig y. ich eusu.d Mss enld and
dark ~ ur zzline rsin dsrEchet the
weary ar,py,. Ct,uriers tom Flsnec ss-
sived With heav, tidings '.ss<esing .f-
fairs ii fp-in. The i.sur Of he bat
ale 10 esac was doubtful aud m unus-
ual gloo.u oYes-shalsm.d the spirit es