The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-02-26
The LOVE LETTERS 9.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Burning of Moscow


QUILT on seven hills like
Rome, with its 200
churches and 1000 bellfreys
painted every color, Moscow
offered a fascinating spec
tacle to an observer posted
on the heights Of Fill. Ma
poleon placed high hopes in
the occupation of the city;
its aristocracy was said to
be disconnected, rebellious
and quite ready to join al
legiance with the French.
On Sept. Is, 1872, with Murat
at its head, the Grand Army be-
gan its progress through the
great city, which General Milora-
dowitch, with the Russian rear
guard, had only just evacuated.
Some volleys of musketry from
the Kremlin were silenced by a
few rounds Of gunfire. At last, it
seemed, the troops would have
welcome spell Of rest;. what was
more, the vast warehouses of the
city. where the great middlemen
of European and Asiatic trade
housed their goods, had eight
months stock laid up in them.
Then-the fire broke out.
1t started, so Meneval says, in
the Kitaigorod quarter China
town amongst depots of shawls,
furs and Chinese silks. 1t spread
to the Bourse. New fires sprang
up at various points. Rostopchin,
the governor, had had number
of fire bombs made, intending to
drop them from balloon on the
French troops; now hundreds of
incendiaries, splicing them be-
tween strips of wood, began hurl-
ing these fire bombs on to the
houSetOps.
The governor had had all the
fire engines removed, so there was
no means of arresting the spread
of the fire, despite the severe PEN
alties i'm posed on incendiarieS
and the summary execution Of 300
fire raiSerS." Thousands of Rus
sian sick and wounded, abandoned
to their fate by Koutousof, per-
ished in the flames.
The originator of the appalling
holocaust was 'die-hard" patriot
though in a subsequent polemic
with Colonel Boutourlin he siren
uously denied the imputation.
The truth was that Rostopchin,
governor of Moscow, had organ
lied the burning of the city as if
it had been a fireworks display.
Yet. so tender-hearted was this
man-if we are to believe Coun-
tess Chotock-that he refused TO
attend shooting parties as he
could not bear to kill poor de-
fenseleSS animals; he was, it
seems, a charming conversational
ist. a tender father and adoring
husband. 1t may be noted, how
ever. that Countess Chotok de-
scribes his appearance as "repul-
sive."
OUCH was the man who Sacrl-
- feed many thousand lives,
and. as recorded in the Bulletins
de la Grande Armee, inflicted on
Russia a loss of several billion
francs"
But he had gained his end. Ma
poleon had intended to strike at
the heart of Russia, and all he
found, where a great capital had
been, was-a heap of stones. His
letters to the Empress betray his
CONSERVATION at this unpredicta-
bic disaster, whose magnitude
grew daily more apparent to him.
This was one of the rare occa-
sions-perhaps the only one in the
Russian campaign-when the En-
peror departed from his wonted
imperturbability. When he heard
the cries of Fire rising in diff
ferent quarters of the city, he re-
allied that the burning of Moscow
had been planned deliberately.
Its incredible!" he exclaimed
in broken voice, his breast heav-
ing with emotion. 1T is war of
determination, an atrocious form
of tactics that has no parallel in
the annals of civilization. May
the curse of centuries to come fall