"The attack of the French was not less vigorous or terrific. Their numerous artillery gave bloody answer to that of the Russian position; whilst their multitude and concentrating movements, bore along upon their adversaries with a force that seemed formed to sweep all before them.-The battle now raged with the most desperate fury. In spite of a dreadful fire from the Russian artillery, the enemy pushed on to the entrenched suburbs, and in the very mouths of the guns attacked the Russian troops at the point of the bayonet. The havoc on both sides was prodigious. The earth was covered with the wounded and the dead. For upwards of two hours the bloody conflict was maintained. At last their movements were impeded by the numbers of the slain, and finding that hostile troops pressed upon their thinned ranks, the Russians retired to Smolensko."

Such was the carnage in the suburbs.

"The city now became the immediate object of attack.— The dreadful hours of destruction rolled on, and the ruin and death of thousands became the horrible marks of French aggression. Hosts continued to fall on both sides.

"The interior of this once beautiful and flourishing capital began to present a scene heart rending to the eye of a common spectator. Every magazine was destroyed, every edifice fired which could offer the means of resource to the enemy.

"No person can describe the rage of Napoleon on beholding the spectacle which presented itself. To preserve some means for quartering his troops he ordered every exertion to stop the progress of the flames. The men employed gave themselves little trouble in their duty-and entering the houses and churches, pillaged whatever valuable they found, and murdered with the most unheard of cruelties all whom accident or attachment to their native city had left in their passage." From p. 111 to 116.

Labaume was not present at the battle of Smolensko, but arrived soon after. He says

L." August 19th we entered Smolensko by the suburb that is built along by the bank of the river. In every direction we

1

marched over scattered ruins and dead bodies. Palaces, still burning, offered to our sight only walls half destroyed by the flames; and thick among the fragments were the blackened carcases of the wretched inhabitants.-The few houses that remained were completely filled by the soldiery, while at the door stood the miserable proprietor deploring the death of his children and the loss of his fortune. The churches alone afforded some consolation to the unhappy victims who had no other shelter.-On one side was an old man just expiring. On the other an infant whose feeble cries, the mother, worn down with grief, was endeavoring to hush, and while she presented it with the breast, her tears dropped fast upon it. In the midst of this desolation the passage of the army into the interior of the town formed a striking contrast. On one side was seen the abject submission of the conquered-on the other the pride attendant on victory. The former had lost their all-the latter, rich with spoils and ignorant of defeat, marched proudly on to the sound of warlike music." pp. 97, 98.

Was it thus that Christ loved his disciples !

mu

THE BATTLE OF BORODINO.

"See how these Christians love one another." Pagans.

"THE night passed slowly over the wakeful heads of the impatient combatants. The morning of the 7th of September at length broke, and thousands beheld the dawn for the last time. The moment was arrived when the dreadful discharge of two thousand cannon was to break the silence of expectation, and arouse at once all the horrors of war.

"General as the attack seemed, the corps of Prince Bagration had to sustain the accumulating weight of nearly half the French army; and the determination shown by its cavalry was so desperate, that they charged even up to the very mouths of the Russian guns. Whole regiments of them, both horses and men, were swept down by the cannon shot; and all along the front of Bagration's line rose a breast work of dead and dying.

"Napoleon ordered up fifty additional pieces of artillery, and a fresh division of infantry, with several regiments of dragoons. This new force rushed on over the bodies of their fallen countrymen and did not allow themselves to be checked until they reached the parapets of the Russian works. Their vigorous onset overturned with fierce slaughter every thing that opposed them, and obliged Bagration to fall back nearer to the second line of the army.

"The rage of battle at this crisis was not to be described. The thunder of a thousand pieces of artillery was answered by the discharge of an equal number on the part of the Russians. A veil of smoke shut out the combatants from the sun, and left them no other light to pursue the work of death than the flashes of musketry, which blazed in every direction. The sabres of 40,000 dragoons met each other, and clashed in the horrid gloom; and the bristling points of countless bayonets, bursting through the rolling vapor, strewed the earth with heaps of slain. p. 152.

"Such was the scene for an extent of many wersts, and the dreadful contest continued without cessation until the darkness of the night. Thus closed that memorable day, and with it terminated the lives of EIGHTY THOUSAND human beings. The horses which lay on the ground from right to left, numbered full 25,000." From p. 147 to 154.

L. "The next day, says Labaume, very early in the morning, we returned to the field of battle.-In the space of a square league almost every spot was covered with the killed and wounded. On many places the bursting of the shells had promiscuously heaped together men and horses. But the most horrid spectacle was the interior of the ravines; almost all the wounded who were able to drag themselves along had taken refuge there, to avoid the shot. These miserable wretches heaped one upon another, and almost suffocated with blood, uttering the most dreadful groans, and invoking death with piercing cries, eagerly besought us to put an end to their torments." pp. 148, 149.

See how these Christians murder one another!

THE DESTRUCTION OF MOSCOW.

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbor." Paul.

"Beye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” Messiah.

THAT the French might be deprived of a place of refuge and means of subsistence, the Russians determined to abandon and to destroy their great and ancient city.

P. "On the 14th of September at midday the enemy appeared before the walls of Moscow. His advanced guards entered the gates with all the pride and pomp of conquest. The troops moved towards the Kremlin. A part of the selfdevoted citizens had taken refuge there; and, closing the gates, desperately attempted its defence. The gates were instantly forced, and the brave victims of patriotism massacred upon the floor of their ancient fortress.

"Scarcely had the murderous act been perpetrated, when the pyres of loyalty were lighted, and Moscow appeared at different quarters in flames. The French troops as they poured into the devoted city had spread themselves in every direc tion in search of plunder; and in their progress they committed outrages so horrid on the persons of all whom they discovered, that fathers, desperate to save their children from pollution, would set fire to their place of refuge, and find a surer asylum in its flames.

"The streets, the houses, the cellars, flowed with blood, and were filled with violation and carnage. Manhood seemed to be lost in the French soldier; for nothing was to be discerned in him but the wild beast ravening for prey; or rather the fiend of hell gluttoning himself in the commission of every horrible crime. Every corps of the army marching in from the camp without the barriers could prove the same right to plunder, as that which had been exercised by those whose good fortune had sent them first into the field of pillage. NAPOLEON HAD PROMISED THEM THE TREASURES OF Mos

COW.

"While on his march, and perceiving the spires and min

arets of Moscow at a distance, he pointed to them and exclaimed to his followers, Behold the end of your campaign! Its gold and its plenty are yours." pp. 181, 182.

As Porter was on the side of the Russians, some may think the account is exaggerated. I will therefore make some extracts from Labaume, who was on the side of the French.

L. "The most heart-rending scene which my imagination had ever conceived, far surpassing the most afflicting accounts in ancient or modern history, now presented itself before our eyes. A great part of the population of Moscow, frightened at our arrival, had concealed themselves in cellars or secret recesses of their houses. As the fire spread around, we saw them rushing in despair from their various asylums. They uttered no imprecations, they breathed no complaint, but carrying with them their most precious effects, fled before the flames. Others of greater sensibility, and actuated by the genuine feelings of nature, saved only their children, who were closely clasped in their arms. Many old people, borne down with grief rather than by age, had not sufficient strength to follow their families, and expired near the houses in which they were born.

"How shall I describe the confusion and tumult when permission was granted to pillage this immense city! Soldiers, suttlers, galley slaves and prostitutes, eagerly ran through the streets, penetrating into the deserted palaces, and carrying away every thing which could gratify their avarice.-This horrible pillage was not confined to the deserted houses alone, but extended to those which were inhabited; and soon the eagerness and wantonness of the plunderers, caused devastations which almost equalled those occasioned by the conflagration. Every asylum was soon violated by the licentious troops.

"Towards evening, when Napoleon no longer thought himself safe in the city, the ruin of which seemed inevitable, he left the Kremlin and established himself with his suit in the castle at Peterskoë. When I saw him pass by I could not without abhorrence, behold the chief of a barbarous expedition, who evidently endeavored to escape the decided testimo