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Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was in fact fulfilled. Next day
during the service at the palace church in honor of the Emperor's
birthday, Prince Volkonski was called out of the church and received
a dispatch from Prince Kutuzov. It was Kutuzov's report, written
from Tatarinova on the day of the battle. Kutuzov wrote that the
Russians had not retreated a step, that the French losses were
much heavier than ours, and that he was writing in haste from
the field of battle before collecting full information. It followed
that there must have been a victory. And at once, without leaving
the church, thanks were rendered to the Creator for His help and
for the victory.
Anna Pavlovna's presentiment was justified, and all that morning
a joyously festive mood reigned in the city. Everyone believed
the victory to have been complete, and some even spoke of Napoleon's
having been captured, of his deposition, and of the choice of
a new ruler for France.
It is very difficult for events to be reflected in their real
strength and completeness amid the conditions of court life and
far from the scene of action. General events involuntarily group
themselves around some particular incident. So now the courtiers'
pleasure was based as much on the fact that the news had arrived
on the Emperor's birthday as on the fact of the victory itself.
It was like a successfully arranged surprise. Mention was made
in Kutuzov's report of the Russian losses, among which figured
the names of Tuchkov, Bagration, and Kutaysov. In the Petersburg
world this sad side of the affair again involuntarily centered
round a single incident: Kutaysov's death. Everybody knew him,
the Emperor liked him, and he was young and interesting. That
day everyone met with the words:
"What a wonderful coincidence! Just during the service.
But what a loss Kutaysov is! How sorry I am!"
"What did I tell about Kutuzov?" Prince Vasili now
said with a prophet's pride. "I always said he was the only
man capable of defeating Napoleon."
But next day no news arrived from the army and the public
mood grew anxious. The courtiers suffered because of the suffering
the suspense occasioned the Emperor.
"Fancy the Emperor's position!" said they, and instead
of extolling Kutuzov as they had done the day before, they condemned
him as the cause of the Emperor's anxiety. That day Prince Vasili
no longer boasted of his protege Kutuzov, but remained silent
when the commander in chief was mentioned. Moreover, toward evening,
as if everything conspired to make Petersburg society anxious
and uneasy, a terrible piece of news was added. Countess Helene
Bezukhova had suddenly died of that terrible malady it had been
so agreeable to mention. Officially, at large gatherings, everyone
said that Countess Bezukhova had died of a terrible attack of
angina pectoris, but in intimate circles details were mentioned
of how the private physician of the Queen of Spain had prescribed
small doses of a certain drug to produce a certain effect; but
Helene, tortured by the fact that the old count suspected her
and that her husband to whom she had written (that wretched, profligate
Pierre) had not replied, had suddenly taken a very large dose
of the drug, and had died in agony before assistance could be
rendered her. It was said that Prince Vasili and the old count
had turned upon the Italian, but the latter had produced such
letters from the unfortunate deceased that they had immediately
let the matter drop.
Talk in general centered round three melancholy facts: the
Emperor's lack of news, the loss of Kutuzov, and the death of
Helene.
On the third day after Kutuzov's report a country gentleman
arrived from Moscow, and news of the surrender of Moscow to the
French spread through the whole town. This was terrible! What
a position for the Emperor to be in! Kutuzov was a traitor, and
Prince Vasili during the visits of condolence paid to him on the
occasion of his daughter's death said of Kutuzov, whom he had
formerly praised (it was excusable for him in his grief to forget
what he had said), that it was impossible to expect anything else
from a blind and depraved old man.
"I only wonder that the fate of Russia could have been
entrusted to such a man."
As long as this news remained unofficial it was possible to
doubt it, but the next day the following communication was received
from Count Rostopchin:
Prince Kutuzov's adjutant has brought me a letter in which
he demands police officers to guide the army to the Ryazan road.
He writes that he is regretfully abandoning Moscow. Sire! Kutuzov's
action decides the fate of the capital and of your empire! Russia
will shudder to learn of the abandonment of the city in which
her greatness is centered and in which lie the ashes of your ancestors!
I shall follow the army. I have had everything removed, and it
only remains for me to weep over the fate of my fatherland.
On receiving this dispatch the Emperor sent Prince Volkonski
to Kutuzov with the following rescript:
Prince Michael Ilarionovich! Since the twenty-ninth of August
I have received no communication from you, yet on the first of
September I received from the commander in chief of Moscow, via
Yaroslavl, the sad news that you, with the army, have decided
to abandon Moscow. You can yourself imagine the effect this news
has had on me, and your silence increases my astonishment. I am
sending this by Adjutant-General Prince Volkonski, to hear from
you the situation of the army and the reasons that have induced
you to take this melancholy decision.
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