Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1862-04-04
The reunited bands, forgetfaI of pas

iae reunited bands, iorgetlul OF pas
perils and the still greater ones they were
yet to encounter, returned rejoicingly tc
Orcha. As Marshal Ney, with simple.
Il iiy and unosteniation, gave a recital Of
the dangers and difficulties he had sur
mounted, and the hardships be had en-
dured, Napoleon grasped his hand and
immortalized him with the title of the
" brayest Of the brave" Again Napo-
leon said in reference to this same action,
in words which will never die, Better
is an army Of deer commanded by a lion,
than an army of lions commanded by "a
deer"
During this retreat, an unnatural moth
er, who was one Of the camp followers,
weary Of nursing her crying child, threw
it into the snow TO perish. Noy CHANGED
to witness the inhuman deed, and, lifting
the child, soothed it tendery, and restor-
ed it 10 its mother in the sledge, COM
manding the mother 10 take charge Of it.
But soon again the woman, whose heart
was rendered callous by misery, threw
the child into the snow, The Marshal
again rescued the little one, took it under
his special protection, carrying it for
some tune in his own arms. The indig-
nant soldiers hurled tue mother from the
sledge, and left her to be picked up by
the Cossacks, or 10 perish on the frozen
ground. The little orphan was watched
over wi;a the greatest care by the SOL
diers, as they covered it up with furs and
blankets in one Of the sledges, The child
was carried in the arms Of soldier thro
al. the horrors Of the passage Of the
Beresjna, and surviving the hardships OF
the most disastrous retreat recorded in
the history Of war, at length reached
Paris ia safety,
In The passage OF the Beresina, which
soon ensued, Ney again displayed his
leroism through scenes Of horror which .
have hardly been parailelcd, and never
9een surpassed upon this globe The /
genius of tue French engineers speedily /
hrew two bridges across the stream
The French army consisted Of bat 27,-
700 fighting men, ana a disorganzed
mass Of 10000 straggIers. While the
renzied mass were struggling over these
ridges, the Russians, from The adjacent
heights, were huring upon them storm
f shot and shell. Sixty thousand Rus
ians manned these batteries Ney, tax
ng with him but eight thousand troops,
.!unged into the densest masses of the
oe, drove them before him, and took six
housand prisoners.
Through the long hours Of a winters
light, this horrid scene Of tumut aud
arnage continued. Thousands were
rowded from the bridges into the icy
tream, and sank with shrieks which rose
bovc the thunder Of battle. A fearful
empest arose Of wind and smothering
now. The black mass Of men and wag-
Ms, enabled the Russians to direct their
uns with more unerriug aim. The
owlings of the storm, the gloom of the
light, the flash and the roar of the arGl-
Fry, the explosion OF shells and whistling
{ balls aud bullets, the cries of the on
ct and the shrieks of the dying, present
d a spectacle which has given the pas
age Of the Beresina perhaps the most
rominent position among all the horrors
hich have occurred in this lost world.
he numbers lost have never fully been
5certained. Thousands were swept to
n unknown burial But, in the spring,
) the ice melted, twelve thousand corps
} were dragged from the river.-J s.
6b0H IN tie ". y Ledger.
.