From a 'state' furnished to me by General Gourgaud, and scored all over with notes in Napoleon's hand, it appears that the army which crossed the Niemen amounted to 325,000 men actually present, of whom 155,000 were French; and 984 guns. The 2nd corps, of which my regiment formed part, crossed by the first bridge on June 23, and marched direct for Janowo. It was intensely hot, and towards night a heavy storm came on, with floods of rain. The army did not, however, as has been stated, regard this as a bad omen; soldiers are well used to hail and thunder in summer time. Moreover, the Russians had also their bad omen, for on the same night the Emperor Alexander nearly lost his life during a ball at Wilna, by the floor of a room giving way under his chair, just at the time when the first French detachment was landing on Russian soil. However, the storm made the weather very cold, and our horses, who had to eat wet grass and sleep on muddy ground, suffered a good deal. We also lost some thousands of men from acute colic.

Beyond Kowno flows a small stream called the Wilia, the bridge over which: had been cut by the enemy; and the storm having swollen it, Oudinot's leading scouts were stopped. The Emperor came up just as I reached the spot with my regiment. He ordered the Polish lancers to sound the ford, and one man was drowned. I took down his name, which was Tzinski. If I emphasise this detail it is because the accident to the Polish lancer at the passage of the Wilia has been vastly exaggerated. 1

Meanwhile the Russians were retiring, and the French army soon occupied Wilna, the capital of Lithuania. Near this town a cavalry action took place, in which Octave de Ségur, elder brother of the general and historian, was captured when leading a squadron of the 8th Hussars. On the day when the Emperor entered Wilna, Marshal Oudinot's troops encountered the Russian corps under Wittgenstein at Wilkomir, and the first serious engagement of the campaign took place. I had never served under Oudinot, and this beginning confirmed my high opinion of his courage, but still further reduced that which I held of his military talents.

One of the chief faults of the French in time of war is to pass without reason from the most minute caution to unbounded confidence. Thus the Russians having let us cross the Niemen and occupy Wilna unopposed, it became the thing among some officers to say that the enemy would always run away, and nowhere make a stand. Oudinot's staff, and the marshal himself, often vented this opinion, and treated the reports of the peasants as to a great Russian force posted before the little town of Wilkomir as fables. This incredulity was very near being the ruin of us, in this wise. Light cavalry, being the eyes of an army, usually marches in front and on the flank. My regiment then was a short league in advance of the infantry divisions, when, on getting near Wilkomir, without having seen a single enemies picket I found myself in front of a forest of mighty pines, among which cavalry could easily move in sections, while the branches masked all distant view. Fearing an ambush, I halted the regiment, and sent a single squadron forward to reconnoitre. In a quarter of an hour the captain in command, a very intelligent man, returned with the news that the enemy was present in force. Hastening to the extreme edge of the forest, I saw, a cannon-shot away, the town of Wilkomir, covered by a stream and a hill upon which were drawn up in line 25,000 to 30,000 infantry, with cavalry and artillery. It may seem strange that these troops had thrown out neither grand guards, nor pickets, nor scouts; but when the Russians mean to defend a strong position their way is to let the enemy approach as near as possible without any warning from the fire of skirmishers of the resistance with which he is to meet; and not till his masses are within easy range do they open with artillery and musketry, so as to bewilder and throw into confusion the enemy's soldiers. This plan, which perhaps offers advantages, has often resulted well for the Russians; so Wittgenstein was preparing a reception of this sort for us.

Matters seemed to me so serious that, without showing my regiment, I withdrew it into the forest, and hastened off myself to warn Marshal Oudinot of the state of affairs. I found him outside the wood, having dismounted and halted his troops quietly breakfasting in the middle of his staff. I expected that my report would draw him from this false security, but he received me with an incredulous air, and said, patting my shoulder 'Oh, come! here has Marbot just found 30,000 men for us to drub!' General Laurencez, his son-in-law and chief of staff, was the only one who believed; he had formerly been aide-de-camp to Augereau, and knew me of old. So he took my part, remarking that when the commander of a regiment says, 'I have seen-----------,' he ought to be believed; and that to neglect the warnings of light cavalry officers was to run a great risk. This made the marshal reflect, and he was beginning to ask me further questions about the enemy, of whose presence he still seemed to have doubts, when a captain on his staff, M. Duplessis, came up all out of breath, to say that he had been all over the place, and even into the crest, and had not seen a single Russian. Hearing this, the marshal and his staff fell to laughing at my fears, much to my vexation. I contained myself, however, knowing that the truth would soon appear.

Breakfast ended, the march was resumed, and I returned to my regiment at the head of the column. As before, I took it through the wood, for I foresaw what would happen as soon as we emerged in front of the enemy's position. In spite of all I could say Oudinot insisted on following a very broad road cut straight through the forest; but no sooner had he got near the edge of it than the enemy, perceiving the numerous group formed by the staff, opened a rolling fire from their guns, which were placed facing the road so as to enfilade it. The gilded squadron, lately so cheerful, was thrown into disorder. Happily, no man was touched by the balls, but the marshal's horse was killed, as well as those of M. Duplessis and several others. I was well revenged, and to my shame I admit that I found it hard to conceal the satisfaction which I felt at seeing all those who had laughed at my report and treated what I had said about the enemy's presence as mere fancy running in all directions under a storm of shot and jumping the ditches with all their might to take shelter behind the great pines. Good General Laurencez, whom I had advised to remain in the forest, laughed heartily at the scene. I must do Marshal Oudinot the justice of saying that he was hardly on horseback again when he came to express his regret to me for what had happened at breakfast, and begged me to give him information as to the position of the Russians, and point out the ways by which he could bring his infantry columns through the forest without exposing them too much to artillery fire. Several officers of the 23rd, who had explored the wood with me in the morning, were bidden to guide the divisions. These were received on emerging with a terrible cannonade, which might have been avoided if, warned as we were of the presence of the Russians, we had manœuvred to turn their flank instead of marching straight on their front. Once out of the wood, I was thus compelled to attack the position by the best defended point, and to take the bull by the horns.

At all events, our brave troops attacked the enemy with resolution, and drove him back on all sides, until after two hours' fighting he effected a retreat. This he did not do without danger, for to accomplish it he had to pass through the town and cross a bridge over a stream with steep banks. The operation, always a difficult one when it has to be done fighting, was begun in good order; but our field artillery having come into position on a height commanding the town, its fire soon carried disorder into the enemy's masses, and they fled headlong towards the bridge. After crossing, instead of re-forming their ranks we could see them flying in a crowd over the plains on the opposite bank, their retreat soon turning to a rout. The Toula regiment alone still held its ground at the end of the bridge towards the town. Marshal Oudinot was most anxious to force this passage and complete his victory over the flying troops; but as our infantry columns had barely reached the suburbs, it would take them at least a quarter of an hour to come up before the bridge, and every moment was precious. My regiment, having made a successful charge at the entrance of the town, was now assembled on the promenade not far from the stream. The marshal sent word to me to bring it up at a gallop, and as soon as we reached him he ordered me to charge the battalions which were covering the bridge, cross it, and at once pursue the fugitives on the plain. Experienced soldiers know how hard it is for cavalry to break a brave infantry which defends itself with resolution in the streets of a town. I understood in their full extent the dangers of my task; but it was necessary to obey at once, and, besides, I knew that a regimental commander makes a favourable impression or otherwise on his troops by his conduct in the first fights. My regiment was composed of brave soldiers. I brought them along at a gallop and charged the Russian grenadiers at their head. These received us bravely with the bayonet; but so impetuous was our rush that they were nevertheless broken at the first shock. Having once pierced the enemy's ranks, my chasseurs, dexterously using their points, did fearful execution. The enemy retired across the bridge, we following so closely that they tried in vain to re-form; they could not succeed in doing so, our troopers being mixed up with them and killing all whom they could reach. The Russian colonel fell dead, and his regiment, losing heart at the loss of their commander, and seeing the French light infantry already at the bridge, laid down their arms. I lost six men killed and about a score wounded, while we captured a colour and 2,000 prisoners.

After the fight I hastened on with my people into the plain, where we took a great number of fugitives, many horses, and several guns. Marshal Oudinot, who had seen the whole affair from the town, came to compliment the regiment. From this day he had a special predilection for it, which it deserved in all respects. I was proud to command such soldiers, and when the marshal informed me that he intended to ask for a colonelcy for me I was quite afraid lest the Emperor might renounce his first intention and give me the first vacant regiment. Things fall out strangely. The action at Wilkomir, where the 23rd covered itself with glory, very nearly became the cause of its destruction later on, because the courage which it had shown on that occasion caused it to be selected for an impracticable operation, of which I shall presently speak.

But let us return to Wilna, where the Emperor was beginning to meet with some of the difficulties which were to wreck his mighty enterprise. The first of these was the organization of Lithuania. This had to be done in such a way as to attach to us not only the provinces still in Russian operation, but also the duchy of Posen and Galicia, incorporated by treaty in Prussia and Austria, allies whom it was at this moment of such importance to Napoleon to conciliate. The most ardent among the Polish nobility proposed to Napoleon to raise all the provinces and place more than 300,000 men at his disposal as soon as he would officially declare that all the partitions of their country were annulled and the kingdom of Poland reconstituted. But while he saw the advantages which he might derive from this universal levy, the Emperor could not disguise from himself that its first result would be to set him at war with Prussia and Austria, who, rather than see those fair provinces torn from them, would join forces with the Russians. Above all, however, he feared the unstableness of the Polish nation, who, when they had embroiled him with the three greatest Powers of the North, would perhaps not keep their promises. He answered, therefore, that he would not recognise the kingdom of Poland until the population showed itself worthy of independence by rising against its oppressors. Thus they were revolving in a vicious circle, Napoleon unwilling to recognize Poland until it rose, and the Poles unwilling to act until their nationality was reconstituted. Moreover, what proved that the Emperor's only aim in invading Russia was to re-establish the continental blockade was, that he had made no provision for arming and equipping the troops which the Poles were to raise.

However that may be, some influential noblemen, wishing to force Napoleon's hand, formed themselves at Warsaw into a national Diet, which was joined by a few deputies from different ‘circles.' The first act of this assembly was to proclaim the reconstitution and independence of the ancient kingdom of Poland, which patriotic declaration made an immense stir throughout all the provinces, whether Russian, Prussian, or Austrian. For some days people believed in a general rising which would probably have supported Napoleon; but this unreflecting exaltation lasted but a short time, and barely a few hundred Poles came to join us. So quickly did it cool down, that the town and circle of Wilna could not furnish more than twenty men for Napoleon's guard of honour. If the Poles had displayed at that time a fraction of the energy and enthusiasm which they showed in the insurrection of 1830-31, they would perhaps have recovered their independence; but, so far from coming to help the French troops, they refused them the most necessary things, and in the course of this campaign our soldiers had often to take by force the provisions which the inhabitants, and especially the nobles, concealed from us, and yet gave up on their first demand to their persecutors the Russians. This partiality in favour of our enemies disgusted the French soldiers, and gave rise to some unpleasant scenes, which M. de Ségur calls horrible pillage. But you cannot stop unlucky soldiers, worn out by fatigue, and receiving no rations, from laying hands upon the bread and the animals which they require to feed them.

The necessity of maintaining order compelled the Emperor to appoint prefects and sub-prefects chosen from among the most enlightened Poles; but their administration was illusory, and did no service to the French army. The apathy of the Lithuanian Poles arose mainly from the attachment of the nobles to the Russian Government, which secured their rights over the peasants, whose enfranchisement by the French they dreaded. For all these Polish nobles, who were for ever talking of liberty, held their peasants in the most brutal serfdom.

Although the massing of French troops on their frontiers must have given the Russians notice of the approaching commencement of hostilities, the passage of the Niemen no less took them by surprise; nor did they oppose it at any point. Their army retreated on the Dwina, on the left bank of which river, at Drissa, they had constructed an immense entrenched camp. The various French corps followed the enemy in all directions. Murat commanded the cavalry of the advanced guard, and came in contact every evening with the Russian rear-guard, but after a slight engagement they would retire by forced marches in the night; nor was it ever possible to bring them to a serious action.