domination of Russia; and with this view marched towards Moscow with a large army, where he arrived on the 14th September, after a hard fought battle with the Russians; the number of slain amounted to 100,000. It was dark when Napoleon entered Moscow; he took up his quarters for the night in the Dorogomilow suburb, appointing Mortier governor of the capital; at two o'clock in the morning there was an alarm of Fire, at daybreak Napoleon hastened to the spot, he threatened the guard, but Mortier pointed out to him houses, as yet unentered, from which smoke was rising, which plainly showed it to be a premeditated act of the Russians. He pensively entered the Kremlin. At the sight of the palace of the Ruriks and Romanoffs his hopes became reanimated; he was in the superb palace of the Russian Cæsars, and every portion yielded a gratification to his pride or curiosity. At this period he wrote a letter to the Czar, with proposals of peace, but no answer was returned. As night came on the flames rose again in different parts of the city, changing with the direction of the wind as it happened to blow towards the Kremlin; and it was discovered that the water-pipes had been cut-that trains had been deliberately laid, and that a number of wretches, horrible and disgusting in appearance, were
