with Turkey was urged, under the mediation of England, so effectually, that a peace with that Power also was proclaimed early in August.  By these means Alexander was enabled to withdraw whatever troops he had been maintaining on the two flanks of his European dominions, and bring them all to the assistance of his main army.  Admiral Tchichagoff, at the head of 50,000 soldiers, hitherto opposed to the Turks on the side of Moldavia, marched towards the left wing of Barclay de Tolly’s force; and the right, which had gradually retired until it reached a strong camp formed on the river Dwina, was reinforced from Finland, though not so largely.  The enthusiasm of the Russian nation appeared in the extraordinary rapidity with which supplies of every kind were poured at the feet of the Czar.  From every quarter he received voluntary offers of men, of money, of whatever might assist in the prosecution of the war.  The Grand Duchess, whose hand Napoleon had solicited, set the example by raising a regiment on her estate.  Moscow offered to equip and arm 80,000 men.  Platoff, the veteran hetman of the Cossacks, promised his only daughter and 200,000 roubles to the man by whose hand Buonaparte should fall.  Noblemen everywhere raised troops, and displayed their patriotism by serving in the ranks themselves, and entrusting the command to experienced officers, chosen by the government.  The peasantry participated in the general enthusiasm, and flocked in from every province, demanding arms and training.  Two hundred thousand militiamen were called out, and in separate divisions began their march upon the camp.

Napoleon, having done whatever lay in his power to remedy the disorders of his commissariat—­and this, after all, does not appear to have been much—­at length reappeared in the field.  He had now determined to make St. Petersburg his mark:  he counted much on the effects which a triumphal entry into the capital would produce throughout the country; and the fleet at Cronstadt was in itself a prize of the utmost importance.  He directed, therefore, all his efforts towards the Dwina, where the Russian commander-in-chief had now halted on extensive intrenchments, and Riga.  This town, however, was now defended, not only by Essen, but by the English sailors of Admiral Martin’s fleet, and resisted effectually; and, to the confusion of Napoleon, he was repelled in three successive attempts to force Barclay’s camp at Dunaburg.

He upon this changed his plan of operations, and resolving to march, not for Petersburg, but for Moscow, threw forward the centre of his army, under Davoust, with the view of turning Barclay’s position, and cutting off his communications with Bagrathion.  That general was compelled by this movement to pass the Dnieper (or Borysthenes); and Barclay, on perceiving the object of Davoust’s march, broke up from the camp on the Dwina, and retired upon Vitepsk, where he hoped to be joined by Bagrathion.  Davoust, however, brought Bagrathion to action near Mohilow, on the