On the diplomatic side, all Napoleon’s expositions of his magnaniit and justice, both to Tutolmin and to Yakovlev (the latter was principJ interested in finding himself a great-coat and a conveyance for traveils turned out to be fruitless. Alexander would not receive these envoys, n made no reply to the message they brought.
On the side of lav/, of order, after the execution of the supposed ini diaries, the other half of Moscow was burnt down.
The establishment of a municipal council did not check pillage, n was no benefit to any one but the few persons, who were members (i and were able on the pretext of preserving order to plunder Moscow their own account, or to save their own property from being plunda
On the religious side, the difficulty had so easily been settled by poleon’s visit to a mosque in Egypt, but here similar measures led t|r results whatever. Two or three priests, picked up in Moscow, did at™
j arry out Napoleon’s desire; but one of them was slapped in the face yi French soldier during the service, and in regard to the other, the aliwing report was made by a French official: ‘The priest, whom I had hovered and invited to resume saying the Mass, cleaned and closed the h ch. In the night they came again to break in the doors, break the alocks, tear the books, and commit other disorders.’
s for the encouragement of commerce, the proclamation to ‘indus- :ias artisans and peasants,’ met with no response at all. Industrious nans there were none in Moscow, and the peasants set upon the usengers who ventured too far from the town with this proclamation n killed them.
he attempts to entertain the people and the troops with theatres were qally unsuccessful. The theatres set up in the Kremlin and Toznyakov’s cse were closed again immediately, because the actors and actresses 't,e stripped of their belongings by the soldiers.
wen philanthropy did not bring the desired results. Moscow was full Gaper money, genuine and counterfeit, and the notes had no value. '!: French, accumulating booty, cared for nothing but gold. The coun- jeit notes, which Napoleon so generously bestowed on the unfortunate, r ie of no value, and even silver fell below its standard value in relation gold.
Jut the most striking example of the ineffectiveness of all efforts me by the authorities was Napoleon’s vain endeavour to check plunder, 1 to maintain discipline.
lere are reports sent in by the military authorities:
Pillage continues in the city, in spite of the orders to stop it. Order ; ot yet restored, and there is not a single merchant carrying on trade i. lawful fashion. But the canteen-keepers permit themselves to sell the • ts of pillage.
Part of my district continues to be a prey to the pillaging of the lliers of the 3rd corps, who, not satisfied with tearing from the poor tches, who have taken refuge in the underground cellars, the little :y have left, have even the ferocity to wound them with sword-cuts, as ,ave seen in several instances.
Nothing new, but that the soldiers give themselves up to robbery and inder. October 9th.
Robbery and pillage continue. There is a band of robbers in our :rict, which would need strong guards to arrest it. October nth.
The Emperor is exceedingly displeased that, in spite of the strict !ers to stop pillage, bands of marauders from the guards are continually .irning to the Kremlin. In the Old Guards, the disorder and pillaging r e been more violent than ever last night and to-day. The Emperor b, with regret, that the picked soldiers, appointed to guard his person, p should set an example to the rest, are losing discipline to such a i;ree as to break into the cellars and stores prepared for the army, hers are so degraded that they refuse to obey sentinels and officers on ird, abuse them, and strike them.
‘The chief marshal of the palace complains bitterly that, in spit)( ; repeated prohibitions, the soldiers continue to commit nuisances in all J courtyards, and even before the Emperor’s own windows.’
The army, like a herd of cattle run wild, and trampling underfoot ie fodder that might have saved them from starvation, was falling to pits, and getting nearer to its ruin with every day it remained in Moscov
But it did not move.
It only started running when it was seized by panic fear at the cap e of a transport on the Smolensk road and the battle of Tarutino. The n>s of the battle of Tarutino reached Napoleon unexpectedly in the mice of a review, and aroused in him—so Thiers tells us—a desire to puili the Russians, and he gave the order for departure that all the army s clamouring for.
