of December this division had come to Smorgoni where Napoleon
took leave from his marshals and from his army, after he had entrusted
Murat with the command.
The division Loison, during the eventful night from December 5th. to 6th.,
had rendered great services. Without the presence of Loison's soldiers
Napoleon would have fallen into the hands of his enemies, and the wheel of
the history of the world would have taken a different turn.
Dr. Geissler describes Napoleon, whom he saw at a few paces' distance on
the day of his departure, and he writes "the personality of this
extraordinary man, his physiognomy with the stamp of supreme originality,
the remembrance of his powerful deeds by which he moved the world during
his time, carried us away in involuntary admiration. Was not the voice
which we heard the same which resounded all over Europe, which declared
wars, decided battles, regulated the fate of empires, elevated or
extinguished the glory of so many."
It may appear strange that in a medical history I record these details, but
I give them because they show how the personality of Napoleon had retained
its magic influence even in that critical moment.
The soldiers wanted to salute him with their _Vive l'Empereur_! but, in
consideration of the assumed incognito of the Imperator without an army, it
was interdicted.
Up to this day Napoleon has been blamed for his step, to leave the army. At
the Beresina he had refused with pride the offer of some Poles to take him
over the river and to bring him safely to Wilna.
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