Shouting and fighting naturally followed."
The really good people of Moscow had given proofs of high moral qualities,
worthy of admiration, under the sad circumstances. Poor moujiks who had
learned of the defeat of the Russians at Borodino said their place was no
longer in a city which was to be desecrated by the presence of the enemy,
and, leaving their huts to be burned down, their miserable belongings to be
pillaged, they went on the highways at the mercy of God, disposed to march
as long as their eyes could see before them. Others, running before the
flames, carried their aged and sick on their shoulders, showing but one
sentiment in their complete ruin, namely, absolute resignation to the will
of God.
Some readers may say that the foregoing chapter does not give the medical
history of the campaign. To these I wish to reply that it is impossible to
understand the medical history without knowing the general conditions of
the Grand Army, which were the cause of the death of hundreds of thousands
of soldiers from cold and starvation.
ROSTOPCHINE
The conflagration of Moscow in 1812 and the fall of the French empire are
two facts which cannot be separated, but to the name of Moscow is attached
another name, that of Rostopchine. Count Fedor Wassiljavitch Rostopchine is
connected with one of the greatest events in universal history. He caused a
crisis which decided the fate of Russia and arrested the march of ascending
France by giving the death blow to Napoleon.
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