The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-11-25
VII.

On arriving At Smolensk, Napoleon found that
almost all o: the inhabitants had fled, thus de-
priving him OF one OF the most potent instru-
ments OF conquest. 1t seems that, while he was
at Vitepsk, Napoleon had ordered two OF his
agents TO sound the minds Of the Russian serfs.
His plan then was to offer them freedom and
bind them TO the French cause by a more or less
general uprising. But 1t had only proved possi-
bic TO act on a few isolated and brutalized peas
ants, whom the Russians perhaps had left be-
hind as spies. The attempt served only to expose
the design and to put the Russians on their
guard. Moreover, this instrument OF action was
repugnant to Napoleon. who was naturally dis
posed to sympathize rather with the cause OF
royalty than with that Of the common people.
In the end he decided not to use this lever.
While nj Moscow he received petitions from
divers heads Of serf communities. They COM
planned of being treated by their lords as so
many cattle that are sold or exchanged at will.
They bcsought Napoleon to proclaim the aboli-
tlon of serfdom. They offered to head several
partial instructions, which they promised
would soon become general. These offers were
rejected. A people as barbarous as the Rus
slams, the Emperor thought, would have made
a savage use OF liberty. Certain sporadic
revolts had already given proofs of this. Tho
Russian mobiles, like the white planters in Hayti,
would have been exterminated. The dread
of such a catastrophe prevailed In Eapoleon's
mind, as his words testify. 1t determined him
TO abandon the stimulation of a movement
which he would be unable TO regulate. II APP
pears that the Russian serf owners were, at this
time, mistrustful OF their serfs. Amid the many
dangers that environed them, they looked on
this as the most serious. They proceeded first
to act upon the minds of their unhappy serfs,
brutalized by every kind OF servitude. The
priests, whom they were accustomed to believe,
dpratvpt than Nth pnanAartpua atnrtaa MAR
suading the peasants that the French forces
were legions OF demons commanded by anti
christ; Internal spirits, the very sight of
whom excited horror, and contact with
whom defled. The French prisoners observed
that 10 they employed a kitchen uten-
sill, the peasants never used IL again, but re-
served 1t for unclean animals. Yet. in spite of
this, the French were drawing near, and IL was
certain that close contact with them would ex-
plode such fables. Recognizing this. the Russian
mobiles drove their serfs into the interior Of tho
country. as IL before the onset of a pestilence.
Their homes, their property, everything that
could hold them back or serve the French, were
sacrifced. The purpose was to set famine. fire,
and the desert between the Russian serfs and
the Frenchmen; for 1t was quite as much against
their own serfs as against Napoleon that this
resolve was carried out. II was no longer, then.
a war between sovereigns that was being waged,
but a class war, a religious war, a national war,
all kinds of war at once. 1t was when he saw
this that Napoleon measured all the vastness Of
his enterprise. Tho further he advanced, the
more its dimensions seemed TO swell before him.
So long as he had only kings to deal with, to de-
feat them had been sport for him. But, when
the kings were conquered. he had peoples to en-
and behold. 1t was a second Spain, re-
mote, barren, boundless. that confronted him
at the further end Of Europe.