Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/554

 5 1 6 Readings ill European History Napoleon The emperor awaited daylight in a poor hut, and in the overcome morning said to Prince Berthier, " Well, Berthier, how can with grief and despair. we get out of this?' He was seated in his room, great tears flowing down his cheeks, which were paler than usual ; and the prince was seated near him. They exchanged few words, and the emperor appeared overcome by his grief. I leave to the imagination what was passing in his soul. . . . When the artillery and baggage wagons passed, the bridge was so overweighted that it fell in. Instantly a backward movement took place, which crowded together all the mul- titude of stragglers who were advancing in the rear of the artillery, like a flock being herded. Another bridge had been constructed, as if the sad thought had occurred that the first might give way, but the second was narrow and without a railing ; nevertheless it seemed at first a very val- uable makeshift in such a calamity. But how disasters fol- low one upon another ! The stragglers rushed to the second bridge in crowds. But the artillery, the baggage wagons, — in a word, all the army supplies, — had been in front on the first bridge when it broke down. . . . Now, since it was urgent that the artillery should pass first, it rushed impetuously toward the only road to safety which remained. No pen can describe the scene of horror which ensued; for it was literally over a road of trampled human bodies that convey- ances of all sorts reached the bridge. On this occasion one could see how much brutality and cold-blooded ferocity can be produced in human minds by the instinct of self-preserva- tion. ... As I have said, the bridge had no railing; and crowds of those who forced their way across fell into the river and were engulfed beneath the ice. Others, in their fall, tried to stop themselves by grasping the planks of the bridge, and remained suspended over the abyss until, their hands crushed by the wheels of the vehicles, they lost their grasp and went to join their comrades as the waves closed over them Entire caissons with drivers and horses were precipitated into the water. . . . Officers harnessed themselves to sleds to carry some of their companions who were rendered helpless by their