The Cossacks, whose sole delight was war, under their celebrated leader, the Hetman Platoff, now mercilessly assailed the retiring legions, wrought fearful havoc, broke down bridges in the line of march, and harassed them on all sides. Scarcely had the French, after a day's toilsome march, stretched themselves on the ground to enjoy a little repose, when these vigilant foes rushed impetuously into the camp, and, ere the sleepers could resist, slaughtered them in heaps, and carried off stores and artillery. A scene of unparalleled horrors ensued; and the situation of the French forces became quite desperate. Cold and famine preyed upon the troops; flights of ravens hovered over their line of march; and troops of dogs followed in the rear to consume their remains. The horses perished by thousands; the cannon and wagons were abandoned; and all military order was at an end.
With his army in this evil plight, Napoleon, on the 23d of November, had to cross the Beresina in presence of the enemy, and a scene, replete with horrors, occurred. The river, though covered with floating ice, was not yet frozen over, and rafts had to be constructed and launched under the enemy's fire. Multitudes were engulfed in the waters; and the passage of the Beresina proved more fatal than the most sanguinary field.
On the 5th of December, Napoleon, mortified and sick at heart, abandoned the miserable wreck of his once magnificent army, and repaired to Paris.
Though the mighty Emperor had been defeated more by the elements than the Russian foe, the result of the campaign was to raise the renown of the Czar's arms; and Alexander, to complete the work thus begun, called upon the other powers of Europe to vindicate their independence against his former ally. The invitation was not unavailing; for with the reverses of the French arms commenced the defection of Napoleon's allies. A triple alliance was formed between Russia, Austria, and Prussia; the Emperor of the French was designated as the common enemy; the allied sovereigns undertook their campaign for the liberties of Europe, and their army marched triumphantly into Paris.
The Congress of Vienna assembled in 1814; and while Prussia was bent on the acquisition of Saxony, Alexander applied his energies to obtaining the duchy of Warsaw, which was still occupied by his troops. He was successful in his object; and what remained of Poland was handed over to the Czar, on condition of his ruling it by a special and constitutional government.
Ten years passed over; Alexander, in 1825, died of a fever at Taganrog; Constantine, the next son of the murdered Paul, a man of savage spirit, renounced his hereditary claim to the crown, and the vacant throne was ascended by his younger brother, Nicholas. That daring autocrat, within a year of his accession, undertook against Persia a war, which terminated in his favor; and, in 1828, he availed himself of the temporary weakness of Turkey to commence hostilities, to cross the Balkan mountains, and to impose upon the Sultan, among other hard terms, the Protectorate of the Danubian Principalities.
Meanwhile, the policy of Nicholas, and the personal character of the Grand Duke Constantine, rendered the condition of the Poles intolerable; a general insurrection took place in 1830; and the Czar, deeming that this outbreak released him from his engagements, determined upon the extir-
